The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1914-03-25

Only wait TILL Aunt daphne Bote yOu
polished up, and on the sideboardi
You're the ono thing the place has
needed"
With the dog for comrade he ira
versed the garden and plunged across
the valley below. humming as he went.
The place was painless and over
grown with paw-paw bushes and sassa-
fras. Great trees stood SO thickly
in places as to make q twilight and the
SUMMER spots were masses Of pink
laurel. poison4vy. flaming purple rho
dodendron and wine-red tendrils Of in
terbraided briers. This was the for
est land of whose possibilities he had
thought. In the heart of the woods he
came upon q great limb that had been
wrenched OF hg storm. The broken
wood was Of a deep rich brown, SHADING
to black. He broke OF his song. snap
ped q twig and smelled it, Its sharp
acrid odor was unmistakable. He sud
denly remembered the walnut tree at
Rosewood and what Shirley had said:
"I know q girl who had two in her
yard, and she went TO Europe on
them
He looked about him; as far ~ be
could see the trees reared. hardy and
perfect, untouched for a generation.
He selected one Of medium size and
pulling a creepef. measured its cir
conference and gasing this measure
with his eye. made a penciled calcula-
ton on the back of an envelope.
Great sootti" he said jubilantly to
the dog: that would cut enough TO
wainscot the Damory Court library
and build twenty sideboards!"
He sat down On q mossed boulder.
breathless, his eyes sparkling. He had
thought himself almost a beggar. and
here in his hand was = small fortunel
Talk about engagement ringsi" he
uuttered. why. . dozen of these
ought to buy . whole tiara!"
At length he rose and climbed on.
presently turning at . right-angis to
bisect the strip to It's boundary before
ne paused to rest I'm no timber
cruiser" he said to himself a. he
wiped his brow, but I calculate there
are all of three hundred trees big
enough to cut Why. suppose they are
worth on an average only q hundred
apIscs. That would Good
lordi" he muttered. and I've been
incoming about poverty"
The growth was smaller and spsrser
now and before long he came. on the
hills very crest. to the edge Of .
ragged clearing. II held q squalid ST.
Element, perhaps . score Of dirt-daubsd
cabins little better than bowels. some
Of them mere mud-wailed lean-toa.
with sod room and windoV-panss Of
noarsacking. Fences and outhouses
there was none. Uttered paths ram
bled aimlessly hither and thither from
chip-strewn yards to starved patches
Of corn. under-cuitivated and blighted.
Over the whole place hung an indie
scribable atmosphere Of disconsolats
filth, Of unredeomed squalor and Vile
ness.
With one hand on the dogs collar.
hushing him to silence, Valiant, un-
seen, looked At the wretched place
with Q shiver. He had glimpsed many
wretched purlieus in the slums Of
great cities, but this. in the open sun
light. with the clean woods about It
oAAo SAo bWoot CAo0I Ulu0 hOOV0s BtoOo
out with an unrelieved holiness and
contrast that was doubly sinister and
forbiddins. He knew instantly that
the tawdry corner was the community
known as Hell's-Half-Aore. the place
to which Shirley had made her night
ride to rescue Hickey Snyder.
A quick glad realization of her cour-
age rushed through him. On it, heels
came a feeling of shame that . spot
Ike this could exist, . foul blot on
such . landscape. It was on his own
landi Its denisens held place by
sQuatter sovereignty, but he was,
nevertheless, their landlord. Tho
thought bred q new sense Of respond
bility. Something should be done for
them, too.
As he gazed. an uproar In q cabin
reached climax. A red-bearded dg-
ure in nondescript garments shot from
the door and collapsed in q heap in
the dirt. He got up with . dreadful
OATH Jug thrown at him grazing
his temple as he did so-and shaking
his fist behind him, staggered into .
nearby lean-to.
Valiant turned away with feeling
almost Of nausea, and plunged back
down the forest hillside.
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