Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1917-03-30
BENI1A's CHOICE
BY JOSEPH SHAW.

benlta fingered most prOVOKlngly
and deliberately on the road home.
There are times when home seems the
very last desirable place in the world
to go, and this was one of them. First
her at least seven times that day to
count her blessings one by one. and
she'd be surprised to see what the
Lord had done.
Then her mother had said:
"Benita, child, what does all your
You are bewitched. You drop every
thing you touch, and you haven't de-
cent word for anybody in the family"
Why should she have? thought Ben
ita haughtily. Weren't they all
against her? Wasn't it bad enough to
have a name tackled on one like Bonita
Dusenberry, coupled with an artistic
temperament, and then have a family
without any of the finer instincts at
all? Somehow she had never noticed
the lack of these finer instincts until
Jessica and her brother had come to
stop awhile at the Three Pines.
Wallace, the tall, fair musician
brother, was dreamy and alOof. He
took long, solitary walks through the
woods and roads, and came back to
imprOvise marvellous airs on his viO-
lin. Once Bonita had met him, stand
ing enraptured, gazing at something In
his hand.
Little girl" he had said. "can you
tell me the name of this"
ladders tongue" answered Bonita.
She thought everybody knew what
plain, everyday adder's tongue looked
like. She told Len about it when he
came up to help Tom with the wood
cutting. Len was twenty and nearly
six feet tall. He looked fearfully
hearty beside Wallace.
Len had laughed and said he looked
sort Of peaked" Genius should look
ethereal. Bonita had thought. Then
the climax came. Jessica told her that
she, Bonita, was the inspiration for
Wallace's latest improvisation. "The
Maid O. the Pines"
81 hope he will be able to capture
1t and write 1t down. 1t has all the
wailing of the wind in the pines In 1t,
and the mystical warnings Of the I'M
6edged SOUL" she explained.
After the dishes were finished Ben
lta threw a cape around her and went
out under the three tall pines in front
of the house, to catch the mystical
yearning herself. But Len came along
from the barn, and stayed talking to
her until her mother called her in. He
reminded her that they were engaged.
Bonita had put the thought from her
for several weeks.
81 guess by Easter I'll have things
settled so we can be married. Think
your mother can spare you by then,
Benita?'
81 don't Know" Bonita had said
vaguely. 81 think eighteen is plenty
old enough to get married. and won't
be seventeen till next month"
Now had come this final day. Mrs.
Brewster. Lens mother, had sent for
her to help with some quilting.
"You might as well, cause half Of
them are for you and Len" she said
cheerfully. And all the afternoon
Bonita had quilted and listened to long
accounts of this piece and that piece,
and whose dresses they had come
from back in the annals Of Lens fam
lily. All the way up the hill road Ben
lta told herself she would break her
engagement to Len the next day, and
find what Jessica called the path to
higher happiness. And then over the
edge Of the woods, just where the east
ern sky was darkening at nightfall she
saw a rising column of smoke, followed
by a squirt of yellow flame. 1t came
from the house, she felt sure, as she
broke into quick, light run along the
frozen road.
Then, just as she reached the gate
she saw Wallace. He sat on the stone
wall with his violin, quite like Nero.
Bonita thought later, drawing sweet
strains from his violin, and Jessica
was beside him with three suit cases
packed safely.
"Where is mOther?" Bonita ex-
claimed.
"Oh, the young man who cuts wood
Is fighting the fire in the Kitchen" Jes-
sica told her happily. isn't it an in
spring sight? Wallace has a theme
already, Cleaning Embers.' Do you
like it, Benita?"
| ha1 aaI hxv 1n
back way. Her mother was helping
Tom draw buckets Of water from the
well and soaking blankets and old bur-
lap sacks to pass up to Len on the
81" roof. Several times when the
flames and smoke hid Len from sight,
she found herself praying for the
safety of her Len, brave and fearless.
1t was nearly nine before the last
smoldering was extinguished. The fire
had been confined to the e." thanks
to Len, and he stood cycling the result
proudly, smoky and begrimed, his
arms bare. Bonita was beside him.
Len glanced down at the slim figure
beside him, and smiled, slipping one
arm around Benita's waist.
Hello, DEAR" he said. "We beat 1t,
didn't we?"
"YOu were splendid" Bonita an
swered, solemnly, ''just splendid, Len
The whole house would have gone II
you had not fought the way you did
I'm awfully proud of you"
"Even If 1 can't fiddler" Lens blue
eyes were twinkling. He had not been
| altogether blind TO current events the