Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-05-29


and he's so big and robust. l know
loved the columbines that grew in her
garden. They we're the prettiest any
where around, and one day he moved
the whole lot down. Then there was
one place in the lower meadow where
arbutus grew around the gray rocks.
He blasted them all out.
"But that's Just mans way about
such things. child" sighed her moth
er. 'Hewers Of wood and drawers OF
water the bible says they are and l
don't see what else the pesky things
are for. but woman must be patient.
I remember Ann Satterlee, too-Ann
Jennings she was before she married
him. Used to teach school for awhile
over at Hampton Roads. Naturally
curly hair and sang in the choir. Seem
ed as if Mel did"
did what. MOTHER
"Oh. Just took it all ont Of her. Even
as a boy he was set in his ways
Course he took his fathers place 50
young. They say he's worth SIT 600
now besides the two farms and all HIS
timber"
"She died young, didn't she !" Mary
Ellen's tone was full Of compassion
'sE3wood was telling me how sweet she
looked the hast time he saw her He
was only boy. but he remembers She
wanted to die in the east room. where
she could see the sunrise, but her hus-
band put her down in the north bed
room of the parlur"
"Efwood's gossipy. Nobody had
better funeral nor handsomer grave
stone than Ann"
Mary Ellen smiled as she got ur
from the chair beside the stove. The
sick chick was doing IN its box. Out
Of doors the spring held full sway over
the land. She stood on the threshold
for an instant her eyes uplffted to the
beauty of the distant hills, then took
the short cut through the fields to the
little village burial ground behind the
church. 1t stood within its four square
rock walls, guarded by pine and hem
lock sentinels. Some of the old head
stones were of slate and half s.rnken
in the earth. century and half old
or more. Mary Ellen made her way
carefully along the narrow paths until
she came to the one spot she sought.
1t was the last resting place Of Ann.
beloved wife of Melvin Satter}ee. Rib
bon grass and myrtle grew thck1y
over it. and white rose bush stood at
the head under the shadow of tan,
dark granite shaft
It was Just shutdown. Against the
rrdening sky the pines showed in dark
silhouette. Mary Ellen knelt down,
pulling out some stray weeds. Some
how she felt yeaning sympathy to-
ward the woman whose life she re
membered so we'll She felt as if Ann
alone could understand now and shield
her from Mel Satteriees wooing- from
money and prestige, his woodlots and
two farms, and if she refused him she
knew she could not remain at home.
And besides there was Efwood-El-
wood. only a year older than herself,
who had never settled down, never
made a success of anything he had put
his hand to.
They had gone to school together.
and she had always helped him to
pass his examinations. Later. when
she had gone ahead, he had written to
her of all his trips away from home,
of the long. joyous road jaunts he took
by himself youths vagabond. with
only hone for comrade. Now he had
come into possession of the sawmill in
the valley. Half the time when people
came there he was away and the big
wheel idle. Yet Mary Ellen loved him.
He knew every flower and plant in the
hills, the call of every native bird and
every favorite spot that she herself
loved we'll.
All the arguments of her father ran
through her head. all the obligations
child owed to its parents. as he ex-
pressed it. 1t was flying in the face
of Providence to throw away the
chance of being Mel Satteriee's second
wife. But Mary Elten wondered as she
knelt in the myrtle and clover whether
Ann in her last summing up would not
have placed love and tenderness ahead
of woodlots and farms.
All at once from the old road wind
ing up the hill she heard can. 2
whistle that initiated the whippoorwill
over in the old hemlock near the iron
gate. II was Elwod walking leisurely
along up from the postoffce. bare
headed as usual, with his two Gordon