Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-08-03

ing IAe SKY, d great cue SKY WIN
cloud ships floating at anchor in its
depths, while the fndescribable fra
GRANGE Of May in moist places filed
my n0strils and a song sparrow prac-
tfCed in the alderS. AS I got I'D to
return to my work, I saw suddenly
that the old apple trees in my orchard
were showing pink-iust a frail hint
of it in the veil Of young green A
great cumulus cloud piled up like a
Himalayan peak in the west beyond
my mOuse-gray dwelling. To the left,
the new lawn was shiny brown, and as
7 climbed the slopes the smell Of it
came to me. Out still farther to the
left my land was already staked in
rows of packed earth, neatly. The
scene was beautiful to my eyes. and
the imagined beauty of tomorrow made
me almost run through the orchard
to leave my lunch basket in the kitchen
and get my tools for the afternoons
work. At five o'clock, as Joe was leav-
ing the garden, and Mike had gone to
the barn to milk the COWS, I, too, put
up my tools, resolved to enjoy an
hours Ioaf-my first since I bought the
farm!
1 scrubbed my hands and face at
the kitchen sink in a tin basin which
recalled my childhood, took a long
draft from the tin dipper, filed my
pipe, and strolled down through the
budding orchard toward the brook.
The song sparrow was still singing
The cloud ships were still riding at an
Choir Even with my pipe in my mouth
I could smell the odor of moist places
in May. Walking beside the brook, l
suddenly found the green spears Of an
iris plant amid the grasses. A few
steps farther on, under the naples, the
ground was blue ard white with vio
let's and anemones. Then the brook
entered the pines, Esping a secret as
it went, and I followed it into their
cool hush.
had scarcely gone six PAGES when I
heard the crackIe of footsteps on dead
twigs somewhere ahead of ne, and a
moment later the vague form of a
woman was visible making her way
amid the impeding dead branches I
stood still. She did not see me till
she was close up. Then she gave a
slight start and said, II beg your par
don. [ trust I am not trespassing."
[ looked at her, while my pipe bowl
was hot in my call0used hand. She
was scarce More than a girl, fancied,
pale and Enthusiastically not Of this
country world. | cannot say how she
was dressed save that she wore no hat
and looked white and cool. But I saw
that she had very blue eyes on each
side Of a decidedly tilted nose, and
these eyes were Enthusiastically the kind
which twinkle.
''Trespa ssing is q relative term
said I, after this, fear, rather rudeIy
prolonged scrutiny.
you talk like Hills Rhetoric"
she smiled, with a quick glance at the
incongruity of my clothes.
Naturally" I replied. at was the
classes"
There was a little upward gurgle
OF laughter from the girl. "Clearness,
force and elegance, wasn't that the
great triumvirate?' she said
Something like that, believe" said
L. Il am trying to forget"
And are these pines yours to for
get in? It should be easy. l was
walking out there in the road, and I
spied the brook over the wall and
climbed through the briers to walk be-
side it, because it was trying so hard
to talk to me. That was wrong of
me, perhaps, but I never could resist
brook-nor pine trees. They are
such nice old men,
"Why, then" [ asked, care the little
virgin birches always running away
from tnem?"
Her eyes contracted a second, and
then tWinkled. ''The birches plague
them" she replied.
How do they plague them?" I de-
handed.
Pull their pine needles when they
are asleep, of COURSE" she answered
THANK you for letting me walk here"
Not at ALL said I, sit is always
pleasure to entertain a true natural
list"
She smiled and made to pass on. [
stood a little aside. in silence. And
in that moment of silence suddenly,
from near at hand, from somewhere
In these very pines, there rang out the
golden thrOb of a hermit thrush so
close that the grace notes of his song
We're audible, cool and liquid and love-
~. The suddenness, the nearness, the
W1ldness of this song made it indie
scribably thrilling, and the girl and
both stood rigid, breathless, peering
into the gloom of the pines. Again the
call rang out, but a little farther away
this time, more plaintive, more fairy
like with distance. She took a step as
If to follow, and instinctively I put
out my hand, grasping her arm to re-
strain her. SO we stood and waited,
while from farther still. evidently from
the tamarackS in the corner of my lot,
came the elfin clarion. The singer
was good one; his attack was flaw
less, and he scattered his triplets with
Mozartian ease and precision. Still we
waited, in silence, but he did not sing
again. Then in a kind of wonder the
girl turned her face to mine, and in
kind Of wonder [ realized that l was
still holding her arm. She appeared as
uno0OS cipJ1C Of II LOT