The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1914-05-01
The Life of a. WiIlful Boy
Who Set Upon Himself the
Responsibility Of Avenging
His Fathers Murder : ::

" O'H "NA' viz llIVuAlCu.
"Oh. yes. wells common" he an
swered, and was glad that with that
she again gathered up her reins and
with a couple of Jerks got her horse
once more started in its stunning, un-
even gait.
For a moment David watched her so
slowly up the road, her figure In its for
lornly faded calico swaying slightly
from side to side as the old mare
rolled along, and in his heart he was
conscious Of a vague pity for the girl.
But directly the realization Of his
own wonderful new happiness swept
back upon him, and. throwing his head
up, he poured forth a soft. sweet whis-
tie Of pure ecstasy. swinging along at
a jubilant pace through the delicate
perfumed light Of the vanishing day,
and Ellen Daw and her hardships
speedily vanished into the background
Of his mind.
At David's entrance his mother glanc-
ed up from her kneading board in
greeting, but she did not speak, for
her words now were always few.
Her face still wore the expression it
had caught when, ten years ago. AL
derson Cree had been brought home
from his last hunt. The face was old
now wrinkled and worn by the past
hard years, but the loo sta yed always
new, with Il freshness Of horror, as
though the blow had just fallen.
Used as David was to that live trag-
edy, it anne to him that afternoon. In
the face of his new happiness. with a
reawakening of distress. as though Il
phantom out of the grim past had risen
suddenly to mock him. and with Il
sense that the sunlight of his happi-
ness had been suddenly blighted by Il
cloud he caught the tin wash basin
from its nail on the wall and turned
out to the we'll to make his evening
additions. with a restless feeling al
most OF irritation toward his mother.
With the remembrance of her meet
ing with David Cree still warmly fresh
in her mind. Ellen Daw rode slowly
on her homeward way, following the
main road Of the Draft. Halfway up
the Draft she passed the schoolhouse.
a little square building of gray logs
and white strips OF thinking and daub-
ing. now. in the idleness Of spring and
Oncoming summer. standing deserted
and silent on its grassy kohl. b%rooding,
perhaps, on past and gone sessions,
with only an occasional Sunday prayer
meeting or preaching to break its
peaceful m%onotony. Ellen half wonder
! ed to herself as she passed it whether.
in it's dreams of different children
whom it had lowered. it ever remem-
bered n shy little ~gypsy-like child from
off Drupe mountain, who for three viii
ters had daily trudged the weary miles
from the top of the mountain to its
door. and who had suffered such ago
MES Of ridicule at the hands of the
other children, all because her clothes
We're shabbier and poorer than any
ones else and because she sometimes
had only corn bread for her dinner
Ellen hoped the schoolhouse had for
gotten, and all the scholars rs well.
that pitiful little figure Of herself.
In all the world only God knew what
t a lonesome heart Ellen Daw carried
T with her on her ho,neward way-and
in truth on all her ways through the
world, although there was scarcely Il
! person in all the Jumping Greek Draft
l who had not at time or another
received some little hidden bit of help
from the lonesome dark girl. who lived
such IL dreary, shutaway life on the
mountain and who possessed such Il
meager portion Of either the thoughts
t or hearts of the neighbors whom she so
r eagerly sought to help with her little
secret ~kindnesses.
! Though she saw and heard and felt
like other people, her shyness held her
tongue in II fatal silence.
Ellen Daw had lived her whole life
Of twenty-five years. without ever
r knowing what it was to, have any liv-
ing soul care for her, or, worse still.
without eve having come In contact
s with any one, man., woman or child,
It who desired any Of the store of affec-
ton which she was so easer yet SO
fearful to give.
G At her birth her mother had died
and her father handing Ellen, the only
d child, over to Silas Daw and his wife
for adoption. had sold his small farm
" on Drupe mountain and moved away
into the mining district Of West Nir
a gihia. where he shortly married again
It and in Il vicissitudes Of supporting
IS 4 steadily increasing family probably
e forgot, or certainly did not care to re-
member, the existence Of his other child
)" II the Jumping Greek neighborhood.
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