The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-09
EVENING STORY
In the Smoky Mountains.
(By Susan E. Clagett.)


BILE in mind and body, and he had
come south because it seemed the only
thing to do. Now he was waiting for
! the team that would carry him into
the pines on the slope of Old Smoky.
He was possessed by weakness and
| irritation. Surely the people who had
answered his advertisement knew the
comings and goings of the trains; then
why should they make him wait in
this hot, stuffy station, he wondered
! fretfully. AS he reached the very
lowest degree of discomfort and de-
preston some one spoke to him.
| He raised his head. A mule stood
nearby Hopping her ears and lazily
twitching bushy tail. In front of
him was young girl, a very little
girl, who said:
Guess 1 came for you. but thought
you was to be a LADY,
| ''Why?" Marshall asked.
Il don't know, 'cept that julie guess
ed it from your letter, you wrote so
ladylike. 1 don't believe she'd have
taken you if she'd known you was
man."
| Amy special reason why she
Shouldn't" he asked, with a show
of interest.
| Maybe was the noncommittaI an
swer. but now you're here, we'd bet
ter start" She looked about with keen
eyes. II wonder where that station
man gone an put your trunk
m sitting on it. But how are we
to get it into the wagon? The agents
kitten"
| She looked at him reflectively. You
are kinder peaked, but you jes' leave
things to me. 1 can manage, by push
ing 1t toward the edge an backin' Bet
10 the platform. You jes' get in an
sit down an you needn't feel skeered
OF the mule: Bet knows when to be-
| have herself
Marshall hesitated before climbing
INTO the blackboard. IF 1 could only
help you," he said, miserable.
Wen, you can't" the child said
oecloedIy, AN the best thing for you
10 do is to climb in. I'm 'fraid you'll
Ilnd 1t hard ridin'. tho. as the road is
some rough, but we'll get home all
right If you'll get in"
Afterward Marshall could never
bring the ride back to his mind All
tnat ne could remember was that
some rough hardly expressed it, and
| that when Mollie pulled up at the
6o9r or her home two hours later he
mad collapsed. He had a faint MEM
DRY of some one coming to the side of
the blackboard. of bearing a surprised
exclamation and Mollies reply: ITS
him, Julie, an he's mighty sick, an
we'll jes' have to take care of him.
Then there was blank
Two weeks later, with Mollie's help,
ne walked to a bench in the shade of
q big oak and there faced a dilemma
He had sensed something wrong as he
| lay IN bed during those first days. but
| had been too listless to ask questions
Now Mollie told him that their gran
| ny had died in the spring and with
her death the little pension she had
received had ceased. Julie had seen
MS advertisement in an old newspaper
and thought they might as well take Il
boarder. as they needed money But"
| Mollie ended, simply, I'VE thought you
was a lady, and now all the folks is
| tall5in'."
What can I do. Mollie?" Tom
| asked, desperately. I'm not we'll
enough to go away"
me an jules been talkin' an we
thought you might go up the noun
tain to Jim Hawn's old cabin. He's
gone, but there's a bed, an me an
Julie can fill a bag with pine needles
for a mattress, an Julie can cook you
something to eat an 1 can tote it
you You can be real comft' able up
there. an we don't neither of us want
you to CO., she finished, wistfully.
And 1 don't want to CO." Marshall
answered. If you and Julie can fix
it that way I'm satisfied. But 1 will
tell you what to do. Get some one to
bring me a chair or two and some
other things from the village, if 1 am
to set up housekeeping. Aid there IS
something else He drew the child
close to him. Il heard you say you
to the district school Wouldn't you
like me to teach you? 1t would be
something for me to do and you could
come to me in your spare time. I'm
pretty sure you will learn more with
me than in that schoolhouse two miles
away. What do you say to my plan?'
Breathless, but with shining eyes.
Mollie looked at him, yet all she said
was: Wont Julie be glad? She cried
| because L couldn't CO."
was settled after Marshall had
his talk with the older sister, and that
some night, after a ride up the noun
tain upon the bare back of old Bet,
he slept upon a bed of fragrant pine
needles in the forsaken cabin.
Ten days later in. the comforting
knowledge of returning strength he
found work ready to his hand. Mollie
was swinging in Il grapevine hanging
from a tall tree in front of the door,
when a tall mountaineer, with rifle
over his shoulder and a hound at his
heels, crossed the clearing to the porch
where Tom was sitting. The man was
embarrassed and evidently shy, but
after minute of silence he blurted
out:
she" with nod toward Mollie,
told we uns you was goin' to learn
her to read an write an figger, an
we uns thought maybe you might
learn us, too.
who are we uns' - Tom asked
with interest.
''Thar's two Honeycutts an Steve
Gray an me. I'm Aaron Burbrige, an
we uns'n pay you" He finished anx-
.ously.
Il would gladly do it for nothing,
Tom answered but l suppose you
wouldn't like that. SO if you will bring
me a partridge now and then, or
rabbit, we will call it even. Come to-
morrow. Any time will suit me- and
as he watched the man swing out OF
sight there was a warm feeling at his
heart that he could in his small way.
learn some one to read and write"
Julie was tho last to come. She
was an entirely unknown quantity, al
tho for a month or more she had cared
for his material needs. Mollie had al
ways been the go-between, but one
evening Julie climbed the path to his