The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-05-20
THE N STORY
B~1ANCHARD's REBELLION.

turkey red. and what you doin' with
all that truck?"
Rufus waved airily toward the yard
for which he was headed with the
spade and hoe. Coin to make gar
den for Miss Sharpe" he called back
a strangely Independent toss of hts
head.
Mary Ellen's voice rose with it's us
ual rasping twang, but all at once fell
n silence. n she sat down very
suddenly and gazed speculatively at
her father Importantly at work break
ing the hard soil. Its Jest this way"
she inwardly commented. the lease on
the farms up the comm month ana
I'm scared to death-father's been
actin so home-sick late-that he'll up
and say he won't rent nj longer. And
if he goes back there-I jest know
he's got the Widder Perkins bee in
his hat-she1l get him shore. Sos I
don't know that 1t amt a good thing
to get him interested in Matte
Sharpe's garden. There amt no dam
ger in that quarter, poor, drab Mat
tie"
Therefore, on account of the "drab-
ness of Matte. Rufus. unmolested by
Mary Ellen. put in the sweet May days
making a garden for the little dress
maker: coming in to dinner with an
appetite new to him: never minding
any more Mary Ellen's petty tyranny.
And when the lettuce and radishes
began to show. his laugh rang clear
and pleased as a child's. and drab lit
tie Mattie's rang with it.
You don't know how it's put in
the time. MI. Blanchard.' she said one
day. working with the hoe as he told
her. Then coloring under the mad
Nertcnt admission Of dearth of bust
ness. she went on stumblingly. You
see-you see-after Easter time things
is slack for solne time-p'rhaps till on
in June"
Yes. I see," Rufus said, slowly.
And that jest calls to me that the
lease on my farm is up in June. Don't
think III be rentin' it again. neither
shouldn't think a body fond's you
are of workin' in the soil would want
to, anyways" Miss Sharpe said, quiet
ly.
Never wanted to, but Mary Ell
Rufus paused at some new pulse
stirring within him and looked search
ingly at the little dressmaker busy
about the lettuce, a slow wonder
dawning in his eyes. For three years
he had been of no Importance to any
body. He had not had the slightest
responsibility, he. who in the old days,
had had SO much. He had been quiet
lN submitting to being relegated to
the ranks of old men with their life's
tasks ended. And he did not feel old.
He was not old. He glanced swiftly
at his strong, Drowned hands. at his
muscular forearm hardened with the
work that had come to him, and as
he looked through the new
innShin which h& c,a1nolv r1o1i1n1
meant so much to him there was born
i'm him a wonderful rebellion. Once
more his glance went to the little
~dressn1aker and quickly he went up
to her.
Il never would have rented the
farm if it hadn't been for Mary Ell
len, he said. And now
For long minutes Rufus whispered
earnesly. eagerly. while Miss Sharpe
listened with e little drab face quiv-
erins strangely. When at last she look
ed up the lines worry had been
ploushing about her poor little mouth
seemed to have mysteriously disap-
peared and when Rufus had left her
and gone uptown "on a matter of
business" and she went into her cot
tase. for the first time since the new
one. had come into her life, the tears
shed on the old horse-hair sofa We're
tears of hopeless misery.
1T was on toward evening when
Mary Ellen was on the point of hitch
ing up and driving out to the farm
to see if father could possibly have
gone out there, since she had not set
eyes on him since he had Cleaned up"
after dinner and gone out for a
SPELL that the boy from Browns
grocery turned in the gate, with eyes
bullying and a letter in his hand.
u seen EN- CO." he gasped and inn
mediately Mary Ellen grabbed the let
ter, frenzied thoughts of the Widow