Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-10-07

wall, now QraWleu tue mioSiOh
airy, Il hain't skeercely as well ac-
quainted hyarabouts as further up
Tribulation. What name O. lookin'
man air he?"
He don't look like nothin' much,
replied his wife morosely. Hes Jest
an ornery-lookin' old man."
whittier did he sot out ter go when
he left hyar?"
The woman shook her head, then
a grim flash of latent wrath broke in
her eyes.
"Ill jest let ye hev the truth,
stranger. Some trifiin' fellers done
sa'ntered past hyar with a jug OF
ticker, an thet fool Fletch hes Jest
done follered 'em off. Thet's all thar
is to hit, an he hain't got no license
ter ack thetaway nuther. | reckon
by o he's a-layin' drunk some
whars."
For a moment there was silence,
through which drifted the distant
tinkle of cowbells down the creek.
Beyond the crests fingered only a
lemon afterglow as relict of the dead
day. The brown, colorless man astride
his mule sat stupidity looking down at
the brown, colorless woman across the
stile. The waiting girl heard the
preacher inquiring which way the
master of the house had gone and
surmising that "mebby he'd better set
out in search of him." the words
seemed to come from a great dis
lance, and her head swan giddlly.
; Then. overcome with disgust and
> WEAKNESS, Juanita Holland saw the
afterglow turn slowly to pale gray
and then to black, shot through with
orange spots. Then she grew sud
denly Indifferent to the situation
, swayed in her saddle, and slipped
Imply to the ground.
The young woman who had come tc
u conquer the mountains and carry q
torch of enlightenment to their Hit
eracy had tainted from discourage
ment and WEAKNESS at the end Of tht
first days march.
The WEAKNESS which caused TN
fainting spell must have heightened
: it's duration, for when Juanita's lashe'
! fickered upward again and her braii
came gropingly back to consciousness
she was no longer by the stile.
She was lying in the smotherini
softness of a feather bed. On her pal
: ate and tongue fingered an unfamiliar
\ sweetish taste, while through he
/ veins she felt the coursing Of a warn
glow.
Over her stood the woman who ha
N been across the stile when she tainted
N her attitude a%nXiously watchful.
IN one hand she held q stone jug, and i
the other a gourd dipper, So thu
accounted for the taste and the GLOW
and as Juanita took in the circun
stance she heard the high, nasal voic'
pitched none the less in a tone
kindly reinsurance.
yell be spry as a squirrel in a leetl
spell, honey. Don't fret yoreself non
Ye war Jest plumb tuckered out a.
5 We swooned. I've been a rubin vol
! hands an a-pourin' a little whit
Ticker down yore throat. Don't worn
q yoreself none. We're pore folks a
3 we hain't got much, but l reckon v
/ kin make out ter enjoy we somehow
The four walls of the cabin mig.
have been the rocky confines of
mountain cavern, so formlessly d
they merge into the impalpable al
sooty murk that hung between the
o%bliterating all remoter outline. On
things in a narrow circle grew visib
and at the center of this lighted ar
,ov was the slender figure of a girl no
NV ing up a lard taper, its radius of Zig
yellow and Pickering.
AS the mountain girl felt the ey
of the strange and, to her, wonderi
woman from the great, unkno'
Ioo world on her, her own dark lash
fell timidly and the hand that hi
the taper trembled, while into /
~. cheeks crept a carmine ~self-conscio
ness. Juanita, for her part, sensed
her veins a new and subtler glow th
that which the moonshine whisky b
~ouickened. The men and women
the hills had made her heartsick W
their stolid and animallike coarsene
Now she saw a slender figure in VIII
the lines were yet transitory betwt
o. the straightness of the child and
budding curves Of womanhood
It was to such children of the h
az this that Juanita Holland was
bring the new teachings. But ever
- she smiled the child-for she seen
~ to be only fifteen or sixteen-surI
."~, dered to her shyness and, thrust
~, the taper into her mothers ha
- shrank out Of sight in some 81
80 owed corner of the place.
no. Then ~Juanita's ayes occupied tn
selves with what fragmentary Diet
yoro the faint light revealed. The ba
.,obt of q rife caught the weak flare
q glittered. The uncarpeted floor
rude puncheon slabs lay a thing
gaping cracks, and overhead there
Tb,s a vague feeling Of low rafters, (
no. which hung strings Of ancient
4 ma shriveled peppers and a few GRIN
hands" of natural leaf"
bvar Dawn" commanded the wor
a IN take yore foot in your hand an
out ter Their barn an see Of ye
find some aigs."
AS Juanita watched the door
him caught a glimpse of a slight q
> that vanished with the same q