The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1915-09-23

Miss Irene's Aunt Cynthia lived on
and ran a farm. She was a hard
worker and a strong-minded woman
and she had married almost without
love, and certainly without romance,
Her neighbors said she vas hard.
hearted and a driver, and seemed ut.
terly without pity, but they were mis-
taken. She had loved her brother
john. and when his only child drove
up to the gate she took her in her
arms and said: you poor child, you.
but you shall have a home with me
for life, and | will be a kind mother
to youi"
The lapse of time is the remedy for
all u griefs. After three months
had passed Miss Irene was like her
old self again, and there was song and
laughter in the house.
A quarter of a mile below Aunt
Cynthia's farmhouse, and near the
highway, was a giant oak tree. The
farmers spoke of it as the old oak
tree, and it was a landmark to be seen
for miles and miles.
Miss Irene had sat and gazed at that
towering tree for an hour at a time,
but it had never occurred to her to
make a closer acquaintance until one
afternoon when she had a reply to
indite to the letter of a girl chum.
She would do her writing at the foot
of the old oak tree.
AS the girl drew nearer and near.
er to the old oak the more 1t ap-
pealed to her, and when at last she
reached it she stood with awe in her
heart. More than a hundred years
they said, and 1t had been buffeted
by hundreds of gales.
Chatter Chatter! Chatter"
1t was a gray squirrel up the trunk
a few feet and looking at the girl. de-
flying her to come nearer.
But | Will" she laughed, as she
plunged into the bushes
The squirrel whisked around to the
other side of the tree.
BY this time she had reached the
trunk and passed around it the SPUR
rel had made his way to the highest
limb. The girl found something else,
however-something that perhaps not
one in a thousand who passed 1t had
knowledge of. At the height OF her
chin was a cup or hollow that would
hold a quart of water. 1t was a
wound that the tree had received In
some way years before, and the bark
had grown again on all sides to leave
a hiding spot. The hand that was
thrust in felt and drew out a small
quantity of dead leaves, but 1t was
too low down for safety, and no wild
thing had pre-empted it for a nest.
"Why, it might be turned into a post
of1ce!" unused the girl.
And instead of writing to her girl
chum she wrote: "A maiden who
lives near here is waiting for her Sir
Knight to come and bear her away"
'Therel" was half defiantly ex-
claimed as the note was deposited in
the cup.
AS Miss Irene got up to wander
through the woods a bit and go
home. the squirrel descended a few
feet and seemed to call out:
SILLY! Silly! Silly!"
"Of course 1t is" said the girl in
reply, "and I'll come back tomorrow
and tear it up. There are no Sir
Knights any more"
Next day Miss Irene went back to
the old oak and took her note from
the post Office and read 1t with a Sigh
and a blush. Two or three times she
started to tear it up, but held her
hand and finally restored 1t to the
cup.
And days and weeks and months
passed away, and the girl did not re-
turn to the old oak tree. She tried
to content herself with looking 1t it
from a distance. 1t was a young girl
romance, and she had a right to keep
it locked In her breast.
One afternoon the gray squirrel
was chattering away as he cut circles
around the trunk of the old oak. There
was nothing to make him afraid.
There was nc other gray squirrel in
the woods to dispute his right to the
tree, as had been decided by battle.
Chatter! chatter! chatter"
A young man was passing In an
auto.
Stop a minute" he said to his
chauffeur. by George! that's a fine
old tree! And that's the first squirrel
I've seen for years. I'd sure like his
head for an ornament"
He had a pistol In his pocket. and
he drew it and approached the tree.
He was led around it as another had
been.
"Hellol Here is the old fellows
nest! | wonder II any of the family
is at home"
Very cautiously a hand was insert
ed. There might be teeth there await
ing it. No, there we're only a few
acorns and a bit of paper.
ga madam uhn Ivno naar here -