Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1917-04-19
BENITA'S Choice
BY JOSEPH SHAW.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

There are times when home seems the
very last desirable place in the world
to go, and this was one of them. First
Of all, Grandmother Rollins had told
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:
Bonita, child, what does all you?
You are bewitched. You drop every
thing you touch, and you haven't a de-
cent word for anybody in the family"
Why should she have? thought Ben
tia 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 addcr'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 fcarfully
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"
II hope he will be able to capture
it and write it down. 1t has all the
Wailing Of the wind in the pines in it,
and the mystical warnings of zbhc I'M
fledgcd soul" she explained. ~
After the dishes were finished Ben
tia threw cape around her and went
out under the three tall pines in front
of the house, to- catch the mystical
yeSSning 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.
az guess by Easter I'll have things
settled so we can be married. Think
your mother can spare you by then,
Benita?"
II 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"
Nov had come this final day. Mrs.
Brewster, Lens mother, had sent for
her to help With some quilting.
''You might rs well, cause half Of
them are for you and Len" she said
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
tia 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 q squirt of yellow flame. 1t came
from the house, she felt sure as she
broke into q 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.
ooh, 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 theme
already, 'Gloaming Embers.' Do you
like it, Benita?"
But Bonita had fled around by the
back way. Her mother was helping
Tom draw buckets of water from the
we'll and soaking blankets and old bur-
lap sacks to pass up to Len on the
81" roof Several times when the
flames sHd smoke hid Len from sight,
she found herself praying for the
safety of her Len, brave and fearless.
It was nearly nine before the last
was extinguished. The fire
had been confined to the a." thanks
to Len, and he stood cycling the result
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 waat.
"Hello, DEAR" he said. eve beat it,