The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1914-11-14

He had looked across the table with
g. look in his eyes hers could not
bear
"Will-you-shut-up"
She had sat stunned for a moment,
and then, choking down a dry sob,
said:
I'm sorry, Dick You've been so
worried. It's been terrible-this
year"
His face did not soften, and he
laughed harshly,
Eyes, this year and last, and the
year before that, and all the rest Of
the years to come probably" He
stood up abruptly. I'm going to
town"
She noticed the slight stoop of the
boyish shoulders and the listless drag
of his feet and then she turned and
looked out across the baking fields,
where the crowding rows of gray
green corn dropped as If the heat
were heavy and bearing them down.
The child that lay on the bed tossed
and walled fretfully After she had
| soothed it back into an uneasy slum.
Der, she commenced to clear the
table, working swiftly to ease the con-
striction in her breast
When her fingers touched the fine
ly-chiseled edges Of the cut-glass sugar
bowl that stood SO anonymously amid
their homely ware she paused and
whispered aloud the thought that this
bare touch had awakened.
He travels the fastest who travels
alone"
His mother had said 1.-THE same
who had given them the sugar-bowl-
said it in her presence when she and
Dick had gone to tell her their re-
solve, that they were going to be mar
ried
Placing the ironing-board across the
backs Of two chairs, she lifted the
iron from the stove and tested it with
a moistened finger. The light breeze
that stirred the curtains felt cool on
her damp brow, but she did not look
up to see the green haze.
Neither did she note the far-off hum,
like the hum of bees when they gath
er at the home hive at nigktfall- a
hum that grew louder, and swelled in
volume till it sounded like the rumble
of thousand busy looms-louder.
louder
An eery note sang through it; loud
er and higher, and louder and higher
like the increasing roar of advancing
war
The shrieks of the child seemed fee
bic and impotent in the face of the
roar, as she seized it up and plunged
head down into the swirling dust out
side
For moment she was but a play
thing of the storm that whirled her
skirts above her head and blinded her.
She was hurtled along until she Stun
bled and fell to her knees on a mound
of earth, which with a heart-leap OF
JOY she recognized as the storm-house
Then the door yielded. crashed down
over their heads, and from pande-
monium she stepped into peace.
Long she sat with wide-stretched
eyes staring into the darkness of their
refuge, until things began to take on
a dim. ghostly shape, and even the
dirt wall opposite came into view.
The mutter was dying lower and
lower, and the whine was stilled,
when suddenly there came a clear,
sharp tap on the tin door of their
refuge. She caught her breath and
strained to hear. Yes, there was an
other, and two three, four, until it
sounded like the preliminary rattle
and then the full rolling Of drum.
The woman breathed in deeply, au.
dibly, and then she screamed:
"Babyl-the raini-the raini"
Swiftly she rushed up the four steps
and pushed back the trap-door half
sobbing. half laughing crafty. She
lifted her arms and let the water
stream down her upturned face. as IL
she were drinking it in along with
the thirsty earth.
It was salvation to her life that had
been so near ruin that very day. for
Il was salvation 10 the corn wherein
lay their hopes. and with a glad heart
she turned TO watch the torrents pour
ing on their fields.
Il crept into her face, into her eyes,
until she could no longer bear to look. |
and turned. There lay the house in a
ludicrous mass, one beam erect, like
a man lying on his side, his foot in
the afr.
She did not hear the mad splashing
OF a horse down the road. where her
husband. bareheaded, came galloping
wildly through the rain. a terrible
fear in his eyes.
He did not notice the fields, nor
even the house. but when he saw her
standing there disconsolate, his eyes
lighted up with a great Joy, and the
look OF terror fed Swiftly he came
up to her
"Dicki" she cried. "Oh. Dick. look
at the corni" but he opened his arms
and stilled her against his breast.
The corn7 What do I care for the
sonr And be kissed her again and
again
TRY a LEADER WANT 40 n FAYG