The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-07-18

uOWn again, ana sometimes press her
clenched hand to her lips to keep back
the despalrlng cry. Always she I'D
jured herself to be patient, to walt
doggedly as Bill would have waited, to
make due allowance for immensely of
distance, for the manifold delays which
might overtake messenger farlng
across those silent miles or man hur-
rylng to his home. Many things might
hold him back. But he would come.
| 1t was incOncelvable that he might
not come.
Meantime, with only dim con-
sclousness Of the fact, she underwent
marvellous schooling in adaptation,
! self-restraint She had work of sort,
tasks such as every housewife finds
self-lmposed in her own home. She
was seldom lonely. She marveled at
that. 1t was unique in her expert
ence. All her old dread Of the pro-
found silence, the pathless forests
which infolded like prison wall, dis
tances which seemed impossible Of
span, had vanished. In its place had
fallen over her az abiding sense of
peace, of security. The lusty storm
winds whlstlng about the cabin sang
n restful lullaby. When the wolves
lifted their weird, melancholy plalnt
to the cold, star-jeweled skies, she lis
tened without the old shudder. These
oh N
her, to send her imagination reeling
along morbid ways, seemed but ma
tural aspect of life, of which she her
self was part.
Often, sitting before her glowing
fireplace, watching flame klndled
| with her own hands with wood she
herself carried from the pile outside,
she pondered this. 1t defied her pow
ers Of sef-analysis. She could only
accept it as u fact, and be glad. Gran
vile and all that Granville stood for
had withdrawn to a more or less re-
mote background. She could look over
the frost-spangled forests and feel
that she lacked nOthing-nothing save
her mate. There was no impression of
transient abiding; no chatting to be
elsewhere, to do otherwise. 1t was
home, she reflected; perhaps that was
why.
A simple routine served to fill her
days. She kept her house shining, she
cooked her food, carried in her fuel.
Except on days of fortnight storm
she put on her snowshoes, and with
little rife in the crook of her arm
prowled at random through the woods
partly because 1t gave her pleasure
to range sturdily afield, partly for the
physical brace of exertiOn in the crisp
| air. Otherwise she curled comfortably
before the fireplace and sewed, or read
something out of Blll's catholic as
sortment of books.
1t was given her, also, to learn the
true meaning of neighborllness, that
klndliness of spirit which Is stifled by
stress in the crowded places, and stlm-
ulated by like stress amid surround
ings where life is noncomplex, direct,
where cause and effect tread on each
others heels. Every day, If she failed
to drop into their cabin, came one of
her neighbors to see If all were well
with her.
Quite as matter of course Jake
kept steadily replenished for her n
great pile of flrcwoOd. Or they would
come, babies and all, bundled in furs
of Jake's trapping, jngling up Of an
evening behind the frisky bays. And
while the bays munched hay in Roar
ing Bill Wagstaif's stable, they would
cluster about the open hearth, popping
corn for the children, talking always
with cheerful optimism.
Behind Lauer's mild blue eyes lurk-
ed mind that burrOwed necessarily
to the roots of things. He had lived
and worked and read, and, pondering
1t all, he had summed up few of the
verities.
Life, it iss giffen us, und We must
Off it make der best We can" he said
once to Hazel, fondling a few books
he had borrowed to read at home.
Life ISIS goot, yust der lifting of life, If
only We go not astray afder der WOOL
ish dings-und if der self-breservation
struggle wears us not out so dot We
cannot enjoy being alife. SO many
iss struggle und slave under terrible
conditions. Und 1t lss largely because
] of Na l-pntv nnt ynt va pou
do--und We shrink vrOm der unknown.
| Here ISIS acres by der dousand vree
to der man vot can off 1t make USE
und dousands vot lifts und dies und
CLEAN air-und in der shmoke und
shmells und dirty streets ISIS n ravage
| of tuberculosis. Der balance ISIS not
true. Und in der own way der rich
iss full off drouble-drunk NIT eggcte-
ment, weary nit pleasures. Ach, der
woods und mountains und streams,
blenty Off food, und a kindly neighbor
--iss not dot enough? Only der alb
normal wants more as dot. Und dlnk
der drouble iss largely dot der modern,
high-bressure Utilization makes for der
abnormal, vedder man iss a million
alre or works in der brewery, content
ment iss a state Off der mind-und If
der mind works nit logic 1t will content
find in der simple dlngs."
1t sounded like pronouncement Of
Bills. But Lauer did not often grow
serious. Mostly he was jovlally cheer
full, and his wife likewise. The North
had emancipated them, and they were
loyal to the source of their deliver
ance. And Hazel understood, because
she herself had found the wild land n
| 4 IL. III