Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-07-01
tomorrow" remarked MI. Mitchell

mildly. will be the glorious Fourth"
Lizzie says her wisdom tooth's been
aching her dreadfully." rejoined Ma
Mitchell, with apparent i~rrelevance.
But it wasn't irrelevant by u long
shot, as Pa MitchelPs answer evidenced
at once:
We'll, my wisdom tooth amt achin'
a darned bit, and it tells me that there
old gun has got to be fired off toinor-
row morning at 8 o'clock, same as al
ways"
Ma looked at his lean old nutcracker
face with all the majesty she could add
70 her portly figure. :,
We'll see about that" she remarked
grimly.
"Uh-huh!" groaned Lizzie. adding a
twinge to her tooth by sheer power OF
the imagination.
Cant she git it yanked QUIZ IN
quired Charles, Fannie's oldest. hope
fully.
His grandmother reduced him to ter
rified silence with one look. AT that
his mother, who submitted meekly to
her dependent position of a widow with
three children earning their bread IN
her parents house. bridled on the one
provocation which could inspire her to
defy ma.
"Yeu needn't try to kill MIN. ma.
with them eye of yours" she an
nounced. IF Lizzie had the sense she
was born with, she'd have that old
tooth out long ago.
Fannie" returned ma, for an old
married woman you seem to have the
shortest m about who's head OF
the house, of any imbudent thing l
ever saw. When l was your age my
children didn't last put their oar in
when grown folks was talking. l don't
wonder you never could get along with
your husband. If you run your house
that way"
My husband" retorted Fannie. with
a mic adjustment of the barb that
aimed 1t to ankle in some wholly I'M
expected place, had a happy nome,
and that's more than yours ever had,
70 far as l can remember"
You let me out of this!' i~ntcrposed
pa, rising n making for the front
door.
Behind his tired old form, as he
sought the cool stiffness of the evening,
the raucous quarrel rose to It's due
climax; then broke in daughter Fan
MES usual rush of sObs and tears. h
scene and the words would not pass
from his thoughts, as commonly such
incidents did.
Fannie's pitiless blow had struck him
more deeply than it did ma. A flash
of recollection Illuminated the two
score years of the tanning his high
spirits had suffered at mas relentless
hands.
For Pa Mitchell. when he wooed and
won his wife, was a game sport and a
rouSing, cheerful liver. He had. taken
his sedate bride by the gallant attacks
of a dashing lover, and, until Fannie
was born, he had never suspected the
steady, changeleSs, u%nyielding force of
character that lay dormant in her,
awaiting, as in Fannie, only mother
mood to assert itself in every phase of
her existence.
Perhaps if he had fought her from
their first small dispute over the rul-
ing of their lives, he might have pre-
served at least joint authority. But he
vas one of your fond, good natured,
admiring souls who fall in love once
and for all, and accept any fresh facet
of the jewel they prize as another ray
more adorable in her firmness and he4
dignity. Thus had his simple nature
helped to rivet his shackles upon him
He still chung to the fiction of his
independence, still told himself he need
only assert his authority to run things
OF the Fourth of July. And he hao
descended to base subterfuge, unwor-
thy OF man. for that.
Down in his serene Did heart Pc
Mitchell hadn't the smallest belief thai
burglars would ever honor this poor
little dwelling with a visit. But wher
| Ma put her broad, unyielding foot
| down On all firecrackers, squibs and
| even ~torpedoes he liked to crack or
| the doorstep with Charles and Horace
and Daisy, he had the sensation tina,
he was reduced at last to the mere
apology for a man. And he rebelled tc
the extent of insisting that the salute
! to the Glorious Fourth from the deer
barrel of the old cap and ball gun must
be observed.
1t hung, always loaded, owe the din
ing room mantelpiece. Ma regarded il
with mingled horror md trust. She
relied on it,. in Pas expert hands, tc
blow any gang of burglars into king
dom come; but she lived in chronic
blow up, or do one or all of the count
less other dreadful things a loaded CUR
can do If you SO much as loo at it.
Pas secret-often poignant-shame
was that he had never told her no bur
| glars would apply. What he did aver
firearm must be shot off al least once
a year, to make sure it's in working
order. And, although he had to wage
battle for his rights and the guns or
every occasion, once a year he did fire
it off. the Fourth Of July being the APP
propriate occasion. Between Fourths
Ma called his attention sternly to sucf
items in the newspapers as accorded
the fatalities incident to the discharg.
Ing Of guns that hadn't been fired fol
a generation.
This year their second daughter:
toothache was putting into Mas hand.
a powerful argument. Pa Mitchell re.
allied it's force only too well. How
like an unnatural father he would APP.
pear If he raised such a racket mex
morning and strained poor Lizzie's al,
ready tense. nerves to breaking pitch.
For a man who all his life had cher.
ished q sublime faith in Providence h,
vas dangerously near to infidelit.
when, with a sigh. he trudged back in
to the house at bed time. thinking o
the raw deal, his Providence was Civ
ing him.
Breakfast on the morning Of TIL
Fourth was a grewsome feast. Lizzi
appeared with her jaw bound up in
towel and the odor Of arnica riotous
Fannie. as the hour neared when tn
die of ceremony should be cast. gaze
with apprehension on the flags pro
vided FOR her brood by Pa. as noise
less, tastelcss substitutes for the tn
mutt children relish. Those flags sig
nified excitement and carnage. NJ
doomed portentious and forbiddins
waiting her chance to Issue her awfu
decree. And Hannibal, the pup. name
by Pa in heroic remembrance Of tn
days of his conauering youth, wore hi