The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1914-09-18

worse. lie ulu not cut tne AFtS COT
rectly. His fingers were all thumbs,
and he came periIOuSly near having
one less TO get in his way while cut
ting his fourth potato.
Arm bound up the cut deXterously,
Then she set her foot down" You
hand me the potatoes, and Ill cut
'em," she said decidedly and fell to
work with a will.
Stephen 0beyed. Seems to me you
are rather little to be boSsing your
elders" he said, with q flash of his
much dreaded fun.
Ann hung her head and blushed un-
comfortably. She considered it a dis
grace to be so small, an opinion shared
by her dressmaker.
ITS much as ever that | can find
where Ann Wrights waist begins or
ends" complained the latter individual
bitterly. She's all waist. Nights
we'll try to fit Il broomstick. Best |
can do is to hang her clothes on her
and let it go at that. With her sister
Belle, now, it's different"
SO Ann meekly accepted the dress
makers hangings and surveyed with
longing Bellies plump proportions. SHE
sighed the morning of May 16 as, at 5
o'clock, she dOnned her short blue den,
i'm skirt and looked at her small but
muscular arms white down to the el.
bows and brown beyond She took
pride and comfort in her garden. but
she wished her hands were us white as
Bellies.
Her face lighted as she opened the
gate in her hedge and saw Stephen
leaning on one of the line fence posts
impatiently awaiting her. In his new
role as gardener. with overallS and big
hat and with that odd expression Of
dependence on his clean cut face. he
did not seem TO her half as formidable
as the Stephen Long who had for ten
years gayly sauntered through the
hearts of half the girls in Bridgeport
his own untouched: danced at their
weddings and stood godfather to their
babies.
Il tell you what" he began as soOD
as Ann appeared. I'm glad to see
some one looming over the horizon who
knows a trife about gardening. What
are YOU going To plant neXt:'
"Nothing' replied Ann promptly.
This morning I'm going to SOW thing
onions, for Instance"
To her own surprise, her voice wa
misclipvouS. \ strange feeling Of buo;
ancv possessed her The SIM was SEN
lng red heraldS NJ from tie east to pro,
claim a perfect day Belle was asleep
unconscious Of the drama of the gar.
den. and Stnphcn-we9 Stephens eye
wore smiling at her, hut not just as
they smiled on the public ut large.
Mother isn't up yet" he began hest
tatin%lY. so | brought along RAG anG
a string He paused anil held hand
OFT 20 her a10aalngly. It was the mem,
Der wounded the previous morning.
Ann promptly dropped her hoe and
attended to her surgery.
"Sav." began SteNhen su'denlr
watching the operation. "do yon NJ
WAYS wear that bonnet in the garden"
eyes" returned Ann innocently, al
WAYS"
Stenhen sighed 81 should think T.
would he awfully hot away back il
there" meditativeIy gazing within as
Ann raised her head
But the bonnet slowly shaken was
the only reply. In some ways its
wearpr could not see beyond its pro
iecting sides For fifteen minutes 81
lence reigned IN the gardens. Ann
worked with her back to the wire
fence lest Rella should chance to see
her through the little gate. She drew
the end Of her hoe handle along the
smoothed surface Of her yard square
onion plot and was carefully dropping
the seeds when a voice of trump
sounded behind her:
1--WE finished mine Now what are
you going to plant nextT There was
a step beside her. and the voice OF tri
umph became voice of dismay. "Je
ru-Sa-lem! Is that the way you fix
EN-?
Ann turned and glanced into the
ueyt garden Eyes. What have You
l0ne%
Stephen stuffed his hands deep in
mis- overalIs pockets. "NIe? Why. !
sowed 'em broadcast" He removed
one hand and m0tioned as though SOW
ing oats.
Again Ann was convulsed with
mirth "Uow--how would you weed
them if they came up thick all over?" :.
Stephen wormed toe into the soft
soil. Weed! Why. l never thought
about the wedding. think" quite
humbly chat l better stick to the
store and give up gardening"
AIMS heart unaccountably sank. So
did her sunbonnet
no, won't, either" with sudden
energy. IF You'll bolster me up with
advice, I'll stick to it."
AIMS heart unaccountably arose. So
did her sunbonnet.