Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1915-07-15
His t1appiest
Day
By F. A. mitchell

insects. and p%leasanter still is the sound
of a distant moving machine. 1t is
this mellowed rattle that bespeaks
July. 1t denotes long swaths Of rip
ened grain lying on the ground ready
to be gathered into barns, then to be
made into bread to give strength to
millions of people.
1t was such a morning as this that
Mary Robbins, a farmers daughter,
caught the sound of the moving ma
chine down in her fathers wheatield.
The day before a young man had ap-
piled for work. He was a strapping,
manly fellow, with q pair of honest
eyes toward which his thick hair grew,
and he was continually tossing his
head to throw it back. He had been
engaged for the harvest, and now he
was driving that moving machine
whose rattle was waited up to the
farmhouse on the breeze.
ITS a mighty hot mornin'," said
Mary to herself, land l don't envy that
young Teller swelterin' u there in the
sun, drivin' round that square field.
He's been out there since I o'clock,
and it's now 10. He must need a
snack. III just put some O that bacon
that was left over from breakfast be-
tween two slices of bread, get some
milk out O. the springhouse and take
'em down to him.''
A little later John Horton, the farm
hand, paused to give his lathered
horses a rest and, looking up, saw the
farmers daughter from the waist up
ward above the waving wheat.
Purity as a sail ridin' the waves
he remarked to himself. "She seems
to be heading straight this way"
Presently Mary emerged from the
standing wheat, treading upon that
which had fallen. Then the young
man saw that in one hand she carried
something rolled in Il napkin, While in
the other was Il large tin cup. He
wiped the sweat from his brow that
ne might see more clearly, and some
thing pleasurablc rose up in his breast
when he realized what Was coming.
"Gettin' hungry" said Mary, with
Il smile, as she reached tIae farm hand
and, unrolling the White napkin. dis
played the sandwich.
"Waal, now, amt this jist TOO fine
for anything?:'
He took the sandwich, and as his
teeth struck the succUlent bacon the
expression on his face would have
served for al advertisement for Il pre-
pared food. Then he took the cup and
drained half of it at a gulp, and il
seemed as If be had poured the es-
sence Of Joy into his stomach.
It's Il Tong spell between breakfast
and dinner said Mary. Il just thor
you'd like a leetle sittin' up SO
brought you d snack"
They had never mot till the nigh,
before, and, since the young man was
a stranger to her aud Mary did no,
wish to appear bold, she turned to sc
back to the house.
Cant you wait g Bit said John
till l finish tase milk so you kin take
back the cup?"
"Oh, Pm in no considerable hurry
replied the girl n she stood still.
This milk is cold" said John, "anC
they say a heap o. cold milk put sud
dent into the stummzck is liable te
bring on collie"
He looked at g tree beyond the fence
Mary took the hint ard said it would
be better for him to eat his snack IL
the shade. He let down a few rails
they stepped over the rest and, goine
to the tree, sat down on the grass
John finished his Refreshments, bu;
Mary made NO move to return to the
farmhouse. and he did mot resume hi
moving.
The sweetest moments ,neither wealth
nor power can buy. The cool breeze:
blew upon these 'tMo young persons
the t1ecked sunbeams danced upon til,
grass about them. They we're tastins
the incipient sensation of two heart.
lsdrawing together, delicious as the frs
swallow of rare Wine. The July seer
cry was around them with lis odor o
production. The moving machine wa:
silent. The horses We've switching the
flies with their tails.
Mary
A woman's voice, the voice Of Mary's
mother, came over the fields from the
house. At the same time the sound o.
a horn came from q %neighboring Farm
LA sakes." cried Mary, Its dinnel
time!"
That evening after supper Farmer
Robbins paid John Horton a days
wages and told him to move on. Joha
knew the reason, but said nothing. In
wardly he remarked that the two hours
he had spent with Mary We're worth
discharge ten times over.
Farmer Robbins locked tue stable
door after the horse had been stolen
1t may require a burglar ten minutes
to steal a watch; a girls heart may be
stolen during a flash of lightning. John
Horton had stolen, through no fault OF
his, Mary's heart, but he declined to
steal Mary from her father. He went
away, but several years later he passed
that way and found Farmer Robbins
dead and Mary working the farm. He
was engaged as manager and married