Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1917-02-10

ReckOn this young man wants to
| board here for a spelI,'' he said, with
| a knowing wink.
The very tone of his voice told that
| prices We're to be raised for the new
comer's benefit.
Mike, taking charge of the situa-
| ton, yelled to two bent figures hoeing
| in a distant turnip patch They
Strengthened, and came at the hail.
Soon John was talking to Farmer
Simms and his son, Peter, the latter
sturdy and bright-faced boy of
eighteen. The youth was very like
his sister, and John imagined, rightly
as it happened, that the girl was some
eighteen months younger.
The whole party entered the house,
Peter carrying Johns portmanteau at
his fathers somewhat gruff command.
In the sitting room John met Jessie,
and the eyes of the two flashed an
to their earlier encounter, however,
since John imagined that day-drenm-
ing would not be encouraged by the
Woodworking farmer and his wife.
That evening after supper John
was going out for a smoke, but was
given to understand that the family
honored by the presence of their guest.
Nothing loath, he listened to the elder
Simms reading a chapter from the
Bible with an JUNCTION which condoned
a great many verbal inaccuracies.
He could not help noticing that
both the boy and girl were FESTIVE,
but attributed their attitude to the
natural exuberance of youth. When
the reading was finished, Peter sprang
up eagerly and invited John to come
with him to his attic. Farmer Simms
frowned but said nothing, and his
manifest disapproval was not noticed
by the stranger.
The reason for the boys request
was soon laid bare. He had fitted
small workbench in his garnet, and
had constructed several crude but in
geniouS models of various sorts of
machinery.
81 am crazy to be an engineer" he
confessed, but father won't hear of
it. Some day I'll have to git out on
my own. That's just all there is to
it,
The door opened, and Peter swung
round in a sudden alarm difficult to
understand. But the intruder was
only his sister. Jessie had recovered
from her fit of shyness, and now car
ried a portfolio of drawings which she
was anxious to exhibit, yet girlishly
diffident as to the opinion this tall,
reserved man, with the singularly SYM
pathetic face, would express on them.
John soon put the. girl at ease. Ex-
aiming the drawings, he found, as
was only to be expected, that they
broke every rule of art, even as he
understood it. Yet they displayed
some force of conception, and the
color sketches were distinctly good.
To his thinking, both brother and sis
ter merely lacked training.
Somehow, the girl seemed to be ex-
cited to pitch hardly warranted by
the conditions of the moment. Her
pretty face was flushed, her bright
eyes were shining, and her hands
manifestly trembled.
II don't want you to feel afraid
merely because you are exhibiting
your work. he said soothingly.
''Oh, it isn't that, Mr.. Burton" tit
tered Jessie. "Soon after seeing you
today 1 was chased by a bull
you were not hurt?" he broke in.
She redeemed still more deeply, the
ly throat and neck.
s'No,'' she said, with stammering
hesitancy. Il might have been-but a
gentleman, an artist-ran up-and-l
and-saved mei''
Now, the fact was that Jessie had
been rescued from really grave pre-
dicament by a young artist named
Robert West, who, like Burton himself,
had fed from the city to seek inspira-
ton in the country. West had quite
valiantly chased away a young bull
which, in the stupid manner of such
animals, was angered because Jessie
happened to stumble and fall while
running across a field. He had there
upon picked the girl up in his arms
and carried her to safety, and her
whole being tingled yet with the MEM
DRY. of that loverlike embrace, since
Robert West, ir1npressionable as any
of his tribe, had been in no hurry to
set this delightful sprite on her feet
again.
Peter Simms was cycling his sister
curiously, and to save the girl further
embarrassment, John turned the talk
back to the sketches.
''It seems to me-" he said, ..that If
you were given lessons by good mas
ter, you could accomplish some really
excellent work. You have a sense of
atmosphere, and your ideas of color