The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-09-08
THE EVENING STORY
Miss Nora's Judgment.
CBy Marion M. Waters.

(By Marion M. WaterS.)
Miss Nora! oh, Miss Nora!
We've done got a boarder-and ma
says please, marin, lend us the loan
of this pitcherfu1 O. sweet milk
likes not he don't drink nothin' else
and old Brandy and Sock and Bel
Cow. thew amt been up Sence day
before yistiddy," Abner painted, hud-
ding the words all together and shak-
ing the yellow pitcher high over
head.
Miss Nora. the special providence
of the Whitsun family, smiled ra-
diantly. then said heartily, Two
pitcherfuls if you need them, Alb!
am so glad. Now-the boarder
money will buy Sis all sorts of we'd
ding clothes"
"Yessum-that's how-come ma so
set ter keep him. Alb returned.
Miss Nora nodded, smiling again.
The smile broke to a low laugh, half
smothered, as the boy added soberly,
But for my part-Pm right down
jubous. How's Sis goin. ter put up
with Tom-Tit after she's done saw a
"Boarder handsome?" Miss Nora
asked through the gurgles of the fill
ing pitcher.
Alb nodded a little uncertainty: Il
wouldn't shoot at him fer pretty, he
said. 'But-ye see, he's high up and
clothes.''
Most of US do" Miss Nora COM
mented, covering the pitcher tidily.
Think you could take over a basket
of black caps, too?" she asked OF Alb,
who smiled all over his face.
You bet! I kin tote anything fer
the chance O. pie"
The lad dispatched, walking as
though on eggs, Miss Nora Mason sat
down to rock and knit. She was fair,
fat and thirty-but esteemed a con-
firmed spinster by all Goose Creek
eighborhood-a mighty pity, the
neighborhood made haste to add, see
ing some man was not only missing
the best of wives, but the chance to
show what he could do with the best
of farms. 1t lay both sides of Rush
Branch, where it made into Goose
creek-the land was warm, mellow,
level, full of heart-and so rich it
only grew better for steady cropping.
Miss Nora had inherited it along
with the Mason thrift and favor
the favor meaning a most slightly
countenance. 1t was a countenance
still free of lines and shaded by
thick, ripping, light, flaxen hair, also
illumined by clear blue eyes, much in
clined to twinkle and flushed at
cheeks and lips with the WHOLESOME
est red.
She might have taken her pick of
the countryside any time this dozen
years past-only the eligibles were
afraid of her. The twinkling eyes, a
trick of shrewd wit, made them so.
Masculinity everywhere breads to be
laughed at Therefore, at 80, this
supremely desirable lady could de-
clare truthfully she had never had
business beau. Whether or no she
had wanted one, was a matter of
doubt - the men thought yes, the
women mostly no reasoning that
with her, wanting would have meant
having. But nobody was more popu-
lar in a general way-men, young and
old, were glad to render her the small
gallant courtesies due womanhood,
also to talk and laugh with her at the
neighboring gatherings, or in the safe
ty of her own fields. She farmed her
own land-and not half badly; more
over, she was most grateful for adj
vice, most generous in the matter of
lending tools. Indeed, the Whitsuns,
her next neighbors. seldom bought
anything in the tool line-partly be-
cause they had not the money, more
because she had it-and spent it
freely.
Rocking, she smiled softly over her
intimate speculations. Alb had started
them. How would Sis bear the con-
trast? Sis was a mighty pretty girl,
withal ambitious, half a head taller
than the dapper Tom Tit-whose le-
gal name was Thomas Jefferson
Smith, clerk to the crossroads store
keeper, with a habit of taking out
most of his wages in clothes. He would
show up rather i'll beside a man
moreover, man wearing better
clothes. Miss Nora decided instantly
that she must go to church Sunday
to contrast the two, and see for her
self how Sis was handling the prob
lem.
She did not go-Sis and the prob
;em came to her instead, and inside
of three days at that. The boarder
had come Monday, and truly enough
drank nothing but sweet milk. Miss
Nora had furnished it, Brandy Bell
COW refusing to come regularly to
the cowpen. They ran out browsing
along the creek, and found grass and
shade and fair water much too pleas
ant to leave. Late Thursday after
noon, on the edge of dusk indeed.
Miss Nora saw three figures advanc-
ing toward her gate. Intuitively she
perhaps aided a bit
by Abs hints.
AS they came up the walk between
her roses and mignonette, the tall
man at Sis's left bent to snuff the