Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1913-12-12
BEYOND YOUR BARNyARD

FhiSh Soh SS opPAASu ny the farmers
Of the Northwest or any other section
Of the country
The Kid opened the school house
himself, filled the kerosene lamps
and busted little of the summer
dust from the seats and desks. until
he decided that the rest would never
be noticed in the summer twilight
and so ceased altogether.
He went out on the school house
steps, as If out there he could get
away from the grim, gray dread that
had crept into his heart. 1t was far
worse than the terror that used to
seize him during his school DAYS at
examination time, for instance. or
when he thought that he was going
to be thrashed for tying Mamie
Green's curls to Bessie SIMPSONS
braids. This was far, far worse than
such puerile fears.
AS the Kid sat on the school house
steps and watched down the dusty
road for the teams that he knew
should soon be appearing, he knew
that this was mans fear which he
felt-the fear of failing at his work,
For the Kid was 20 years old.
The trouble was this: If there
was one thing in the world that the
Kid believed in, and was ready to
work for and fight for and sweat
blood for, it was the Society of AS
ISOLATED Farmers, cooperative or
ganization for buying and selling and
for making the farming of the COM
munity generally take squirt for
ward. The Kid had cherished the
dream of it long before it came into
existence, and now he had been made
business manager on the percentage
basis. He had begun by getting a
dollar thirty-five for his buckwheat,
when Blinkenson, the agent, had Of
fered them only one-seventeen. That
was a sample of what the Kid in
tended to do for them.
And then the blow had come. Even
yet the Kid couldn't believe it, for
the reason that it was quite unbe-
lievable; it was thunderbolt from
clear sky; it was like the end Of
the world. For this had happened:
blinkenson had suddenly gone up to
one thtrty-seyen, and there wasn't a
mill in the country, so far as the Kid
could discover, that paying more
than one thirty-five. The Kid had
the freight cars there in the freight
yards, ready to be loaded They had
been obtained by the money forward
ed by Green Brothers, the firm with
whom The Kid had arranged to sell:
and Green Brothers were telephoning
to hurry the grain along. Every ar
rangement had been completed. And
row nearly all the men had gone
back on their word and their organi-
cation and were ready to sell to
Blinkenson. 1t was a chance of
lifetime, they said. A dollar thirty
seven! 1t was unheard of! They d
be idiots if they let it go by. A
dollar thirty-seven!
The Kid had been in the village
when he had first heard of it, and
In the sudden despair that had seized
him he had told girl he met on
the street, ,dimpled, red-haired per-
son, that he scarcely knew at all and
with whom he had talked only once
before in his life; had just blurted il
all out to her because he must tell
some one and there was no one else
to tell. 1t was she who had suggest
ed his calling this evening meeting.
Let the women come too" she
had said, and you talk. You just
talk the air blue; talk until you've
used up every word in the English
language and they haven't any left
to answer back with"
You come too" he had begged.
But she had only laughed and had
gone away without promising.
Not too hopefully he had called the
m Getting, and now was waiting for
the members to come. He looked at
his watch. 1t was nearly seven
thirty now. They ought to be COM
ing. Suppose no one came at all!
Suppose that they didn't pay any at
tention to his meeting Or suppose,
worse still, only his father and
mother came!
This awful fear lasted only mo-
ment, however, for a dusty team
came over the crest of the hill. 1t
was Groves and his wife. The Kid
helped him to tie the team, and the
two men walked back to the school
house together.
II think this here is all nonsense,
grumbled Groves. Whats the use
of fussing over this here Associated
Farmers when we can all sell better