The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-09-17

&uy 1uSd O1 LAdLs
'T have a very good idea man
who came across in the Pullman with
me from Omaha; tall and rather slim
and with a Ratchet face and owlish
eyes. I didn.c learn his name, but he
said he was interested in mines and
timber"
sHThat xHatha way; gh4 rnseffs" was
the instant decision His company
has been cutting timber IN the Lost
river reserve, andshe proba bly, thought
you were chasing him. You didn't
know Honoria2''
E'No; I wasn't expecting E-yousmay
remember that I had never met herr
etammered the young man, who had
risen to his elbow among the. pillows
The father walked away to the win
dow and stood looking out upon the
distant mountains for a full minute
before he turned to say gently: eve
may as wen run the boundary lines on
this one time as another, son. You
don't like Honoria. You've made up
your mind not to- like, her. I'm not
going to make it hard for either Of
you if /, can help'it This is her home,
but it is also yours my boy. Do you
reckon you could''-
Evan Blount made haste to stop the
half pathetic appeal.
Don't 4et that trouble No1rS he in
terposed- ''HMrs. BIount is a very
different person from the woman
have been imagining, and If she were
not think we are both sufficiently
civilized MOTTO quarrel Them ''Have
you breakfasted yet-you and Mrs
Blount? But Of. course you have long
ago"
'Breakfasted7 without your Not
much, SON. Ana that reminds me [
was to come up and seez1 you were
awake, and If you were was to send
Rarnabas up with syour Coffee
-"Kou may tell Bamabas that i
haven't acquired the coffee in bed
habit yet" laughed the lazy one, SIT
ting up. 'tAnd you may make my
apoEogies+to Mrs. BiUunt and tel her
I'll be down. a%prontos There. doesn't
that sound as If I. were getting back
to the good old sagebrush 1dfoma
Great land! I haven't heard anybody
say 'pronto' S1nce was knee high to
a hoptoad!'
In all his forecastings Evan BtOUnt
had never pictured a homecoming like
this IN each succeeding hour of the
day the edges Of the chasm of the
years drew closer together, and when
! finally his father put him on a horse
and rode with him to a corner of the
vast home farm, a corner fenced of
by sentinel cottonwoofs and ETatered
by the small irrigation ditch Of his
boyhood recollections, rode with him
through the screening cottonwoods
and showed him, lying beyond them,
the old ranch buildings Of the Circle
Bar. untouched and undsturbed, his
| nwaE qvH aie,%
came before his eyes to dim the epic-
| ture.
1--WE kept it just as It used# to be-,
Evan,'' his father said gently. ''I
thought maybe you'd come back some
day and be sure enough disappointed
if it were gone
The younger man slipped from his
saddle and went to look in at the
open door of the old ranch house.
Everything was precisely as he re-
! membered 1.-THE simple, old fashion
| ed furniture, the crossed quirts over
the high wooden mantel, his mothers
rocking chair-that was the final
! touch. He sat down on the worn door
log and put his face in his hands, for
| now the gaping chasm of the years
| was quite closed, and he was a boy
again.
Later in the day there were am
bling gallops along Hhe country roads,
! and the father explained how the
! transformation from cattle raising to
agriculture and fruit growing had
come about; how the great irrigation
dam in Quaretaro canyon had put a
thousand square miles of the fertile
mesa under cultivation; how with the
importing of the new population had
! hIOnd methods good
roads, the telephone, the rural mail
route and other civilizing agencies.
Evan groaned. .I know he said.
give lost my birthland- It's as ex-
tinct as the megalosaurian lizards
whose bones we used to find sticking
in the gully banks ON Table Mesa. By
the way, that reminds me. Are there
any of those giant fossils left? I was
telling Professor Anners about them
the other day, and he was immensely
interested
Were all fossils, we older folks of
the cattle raising tiInes,'' laughed the
man whom Richard Gantry had called
| the super governor but there are
some OF the bones left, too, 1 guess,
| and if the professor is a friend OF
yours wen get him a state permit to
dig all he wants to-
| ayes. Professor Anners is a friend
of NINE" was the younger mans half
absent admission, "as much of a
friend as his daughter would ever al
low him to be-
The qualifying clause was not
thrown away upon the senator.
What has the daughter got against
| you, son?' he asked mildly.
Nothing very Serious laughed Pa
| tricia's lover. ffBut I think she is