The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-10-22
CHAPTER w.
"Your mother's grave"

stTg ANT got the tools yet honey
 M went on Brick EtThey's no
 M breaking up and enriching land
 that ain't never bore nothing but buffalo grass without I have picks and spades and blows and harrerS. got to get my tools to begin
 She, stiaened herself %You needn't be afraid I'll cry. I want you to hurt me, if that the way.'
 ''It aip't like pain in the stomach, lLahonaa. All I gets for you will be some books.
 sfBooks2 What are books2g'
 'fBooks?'' WilIock rubbed his bushy head in desperation. t-Bools2 Why, they is just thoughts that somebody has ketched and put in 8 cage where they can't get away. If you want to be civilized you got to 1asso other peo- ple's thoughts-people as has went to and fro and has learned life-ap1 yo1 got to dehorn them ideas and tame 'eTn.''
 Lahoma examined him with new in- terest. Are you civilized ?'' Her coun. tenance fell.
 ssNot to no wide extent, but I can ford toIer'ble deep stream that would drown you, honey. I can write my own name and yours too, I reckon. Lahoma Gledware-yes, I'm toler'ble well versed on a capital G; you just make gap with a flying tail to it-''
 teMy name. not Lahoma Gledware, 9 she interposed in some severity, My name Lahoma Willock. Beautiful nama lovely, like Willock Call me Lahoma Wil1oclS-like song of little stream; Gledware-hard, rough
 Brick Willock stared at her in amaze ment- -eWhere'd you get that from?'
 'sMy name Lahoma Willock-Red Feather tell me-
 He smoked in silence, pufhng rapid ly. How came you to be named La- homa WilIock?''
 Lahoma suggested thoughtfully, ''An white people named lWilIock?''
 "There's a few''-Wil1ock shook his head with less agreeabIs names But, after alI I'm glad you have my name Well, honey, this is enough talk about being civilized Now, let's make the first move on the way. You want to see your mothers grave and lay some of these wild flowers on it That's Q part of being civilized, caring for graves is. It's just saVages as forgets the past and consequently never learns nothing. Come along. Them mocca- y shoes from the settlements. But got a pony the first time I ventured to Deans store, and it'll carry you if have to walk at your side. Wen make a festibuI march of that journey and lay in clothes as girl should wear and books to last through the winter. '
 Willock rose and explained that they must cross the mountain. As they traversed it he reminded her that she had not gathered any of the flowers that were scattered under sheltering powders.
 1sWhy?'' asked LahoIna, showing that her neglect to do so was intentional.
 .sWell, honey, don't you love and l honor that mother that bore so much pain and trouble for you, travelling with you in her arms to the Oklahoma country, trying to make a home for you up there in the wilderness and at last dying from the hardships of the pIains2 Ain'tt she worth d few flow ers?''
 'she dead. She not see flowers, not smell flowers, not know"
 Willock said nothing, but the next time they came to a clump of bloss soms he made a nosegay- Lahou1a watched him with a face as calm and unenotional as that of Red Feather himself.
 What you do with that?'' She point l ed at the flowers in his rough hand
 -'Pm going to put 'em on your moth CTS grave"
 She not know, not see, not smell. 1 She dead; mother dead.''
 .3Lahoraa, do you know anything l about God?'7
 'Yes-Great Spirit God make my path white-'
 Well, I want God to know that somebody remembers your mother. It's God that smells the flowers on the 1 graves of the dead"
 They walked on. Pretty soon Laao- ma began looking about for flowers, but they had reached the last barren ledge, and no more came in sight.
 "Take these, Lahoma.''
 t'No- Couldn't fool God" They be 1 gan the last descent. Willock sudden l Iy discovered that tears were slipping down the gtrfs face. Suddenly she cried joyfuily, ''Oh, look, lookr' She darted towa-l the spot at the foot of i tall cedar where purple and white 1 blossoms showed in profusion. She i gathered an arInful, and they went down to the plain.
 Tier neaQ 5 IOW3rQ the west, ne said as they stood beside the pile of stones. Lahoma placed the flowers at the western margin of the pyramid. Willock laid his at thes foot of the grave.
 
 l During the two years passed by Brick 9ViIlock in dreary solitude conditions i about him had changed The hardships of pioneer life which fifty years ago had obtained in the middle states yet prevailed in 1882 in the tract of land claimed by Texas under the name of Greer county, but the dangers of pio- neer life were greatly Iessened. As La hama rnada tha acnuainfanca of the