Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-05-18

ed. instead of taking her to places To-
the summer where she would NEE
them, to pass their outing season on
farm. Mrs. Burrows selected place
in a very attractive region, but dis
tant from any summer resort. Indeed
Miss Nancy was obliged to remain
without any attention whatever unless
her passion for winning hearts should
lead her to prey upon the farm men.
There was no one in the house where
Nancy and her mother boarded except
| the farmer and his wife and several
little children. From the front porch
or from her window looking out over
| the fields Nancy could see nothing that
resembled a man except a scarecrow
set up In the midst Of some growing
corn. "If 1 remain here long enough, y
| she said to herself II do believe I'll
be spooning with the scarecrow. Oh,
my goody gracious. What shall dog
She thought of the summer hotels
full of guests. the country places OF
friends whom she had visited, the ten
mis-, the boating. the bathing, the music
and dancing. and heaved a deep sigh.
Then she went to her mother and
promised that she would be good. very
good, If she might be permitted to
spend at least the month Of August
elsewhere. You'll be good here" re-
piled the stern parent. simply because
you can't help yourself. 1 shall GER
tainly not again trust you where there
Is a man within hundred miles"
Don't you expect me ever TO be
married, mamma? Do you intend to
make an old maid Of me?"
II certainly do expect you to be mar
ried, and that's the reason 1 have
brought you here. When you get the
sense into your head to understand
that marriage is the most serious event
in q woman's life l will let you out
again among men. At present you
seem to have no appreciation what
ever Of the sacredness of love"
From this speech it may be inferred
that Mrs. Burrows was a strong wo-
man, quite capable of controlling her
daughter. The truth Is she desired
when Nancy married to have some
thing to say about the man she should
choose for a husband. With these
flirtations going on, how could she. be
sure that her daughter might not be
caught in some one Of her own traps?
Once caught, 1t might be impossible to
extricate her.
And, since Nancy was still fancy
free, it seemed that this course was
wise. Every year she was older than
the one before, and perhaps by and by
she would have some appreciation of
the importance OF marriage. She
could then possibly be induced TO Sc
Iect for a husband a man to be relied
on to give her a position in the world
rather than one whose only recon-
mendation was that he was an excel
lent dancer or tennis player.
All this is full of wisdom and might |
have been carried out had not GER
tain young man who was as much of |
a scapegrace as Nancy herself heard !
the matter talked about-how a GER
tain girl he had never seen or heard |
Of had been buried in the country TO |
keep her away from men because she |
had mania for breaking hearts for |
paStime. The young man who heard |
the gossip. unterrified by the broken |
hearts of others. straightway was seiz-
ed with desire to have his own heart |
broken.
He asked the young lady's name and
where she had been buried. The for
ner he had no difficulty in learning;
the latter required diligent investiga-
ion.
One morning when the July sun was
shining down on a waving wheatfeld
Nancy Burrows heard the sound of
Instant moving machine. Going TO a
she saw a pair of horses
lrawing the machine in question along
he edge of n field of wheat The
lriver was dressed il wooden shirt.
rousers and hood brimmed, faded
traw hat. Doubtless, the harvest hav-
ng arrived. a farm hand had been
Tired to cut the grain.
Nancy put on n shade hat and stroll
d out TO witness the operation of cut
ing wheat. AS she drew near the ma
hine she noticed that the man driv-
ng it was not old. Indeed. he was not
middle aged; he was young. But his
ress was execrable. He didn't wear
cravat. not even collar. Neverthe-
.ss his figure showed to advantage in
is farmers costume. As Nancy APP
reached nearer she saw that he was
OF bad looking.
'ould pass her and as it did so expect
the driver would give her an admir-.
lg glance such as she had been used
} receiving from men, but at the mo.
lent he seemed to be interested in
about the harness of one of
lie horses and didn't even look ut her.
hen he came back Nancy called to
i'm, motioning him to stop. He pull ,
in and waited to hear what she had |
say TO him.
Would you mind explaining your :
achine to me-" she asked. !
Cant; I'm working by the hour. !
1t up was the response, and the ma :
line ratified on its way.
We'll. / declare" muttered Miss Bur ;
IT'S. How little sense of poiitenees
csc country jakes have =
When the farm hand returned he
ind the lady standing directly in his