Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-02-12
o. the pay. Of AuId Lang syne!

To The Register:-The lonely bust
ness woman sat at her desk in Los
Angeles. 1t was one Of her whats
the Use9" days. Brain weary from
wrestling with forest problems; tired
with thinking of rights of way for
transmission lines, disguised with the
s~enseless questions of aspiring home
steaders, depressed by the general
"cussedness' Of all things; a slight
sound caused her to raise her eyes.
There wal IRoNToN in the person of
charming Annie Kindell Flowers and
"Doss." Permits and rights of way,
homesteaders and toll passed away
into nothingness and the old days
stalked triumphant. The B. W. and
Annie proceeded right back to Iron
ton; they skated on Emerson's and
Russell's ponds; they played ''crack
the whip and "T've come to see Miss
jimmy Ann Jones" in the yard beside
the old red schoolhouse while "Miss
Fannie" looked on smiling. They
climbed Shepherd Mountain and Pilot
Knob to see the sun rise, or set. They
picnicked under the elephant rock
at the "Quarry" and in the "Shut-In."
Sang shrill and inharmonious things
and spoke pieces on the last day of
school, waxing inordinately vain over
bouquets rendered by Harry AXE and
other young g of their day and
age. They played "Hookey" with
Minnie and Vic and Alice and Dora
and sat under the railroad bridge
where they organized a spinsters'
club and took a solemn oath to remain
single to the days of their deaths.
They grew older and put up their
hair and let down their skirts and
swept with dignity into Principal
Edgar's schoolroom, where complica-
tions ensued when they passed notes
from Clark Patton to the big girls.
They went to 4th of July picnics at
Goulding's Park with "Uncle Eli
Jim Peck and the other band boys;
attended the Williams Dramatic Com
, pany's presentation of "East Lynne
, at the Academy of Music and wept
with such abandon that their noses
r were red and their hair came down
+, and they thought the leading mar wal
"simply lovely" Step by step, they
went over the young, the foolish, the
happy days. And then they woke ny
i and realized that there was no path
way by which theycould go back t.
+. dear old wonderland. Both hat
: travelled far since then. Both haC
8 watched the circling sweep of tina
Q scythe which cut down dear ones
}, Both had chung with desperate girl
to the old faith in human nature
8 Both had seen on their heads the frs
Q faint touch of that light which herald
: the eternal morning; n had gon
her way alone; the other had leane'
o upon a strong arm; but both loo
back to the old home town with tn
e golden glow of the dream days upo.
n it as the pilgrim on a weary quest u.
the rocky heights looks back to tn
Is green meadows and still waters of hi
deserted peaceful valley. Other land
-
d and homes claim them; other peopl
= stretch out friendly hands; other tic
ID and duties hold them, but now an
then, clear and sweet and silver-tone
/. the Missouri home calls to them wit
insistent voice, and to the bushes
is woman it whispers that in the shade
l. of the Ozarks is the peace, the joy an
a all the worth while thugs that in he
h busy, lonely life in far countries sh
has somehow missed: that the scout
Or wind, sweeping through the Arcadt
Y, Valley will carry away with it tt
3 struggling years between, and thro
softly upon her head the benedictio
s, that comes only when ones wander
7; ing feet have at last reached "Home.
to R. H. L..
Los Angeles, Jan. 29th.