Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1918-05-04

to carry her through whatever black
days might come To her here alone.
she would gladly have cooked her
supper in the kitchen fireplace, and
laid down to sleep under her own roof.
1t seemed the natural thing to do. But
she had NOT expected to find the cabin
livably arranged. and she had prom
Used the Lauers to spend the night
With them. So presently she closed the
door and walked away through the
woods
September and October trooped
past, and as they marched the willow
thickets and poplar groves grew yell
low and brown, and carpeted the floor
of the woods with fallen leaves. Shrub
and tree barred gAunt limbs to every
autumn wind. Only the spruce and
pine stood forth in their year-round
habiliments of green. The days short
enCd steadily. The nights grew long,
and bitter with frost. Snow fell, blank
citing softly the dead leaves. Old Win
ter cracked his whip maSterfully over
all the North.
Day by day, between tasks. and
often while she worked, Hazel's eyes
would linger on the edges of the clear
ing. Often at night she would lift her
self on elbow at some unexpected
sound. her heart leaping wild with ex-
pectation. And always she would lie
down again, and sometimes press her
clenched hand to her lips to keep back
the despairing cry. Always she ad
jured herself to be patient. to wait
doggedly as Bill would have waited. to
make Due allowance for immensely of
distance, for the manifold delays which
might Overtake messenger faring
across those silent miles or a man hur-
rying to his home. Many things might
hold him back. But he would come.
1t was inconceivable that he might
not come.
Meantime. with only a dim CON
sciousness Of the fact, she underwent
a marvellous schooling in adaptation,
Self-restraint, She had work of a sort,
tasks such as every housewife finds
self-imposed In her own home. She
was seldom lonely She marveled at
that. It was unique in her expert
ence. All her Old dreod of the pro-
found silence. the painless forests
which infolded like j prison wall, dis
tances which seemed impossible Of
span, had vanished. In its place had
fallen over her an abiding sense of
peace, of security. The lusty storm
winds whlstling about the cabin sang
restful lullaby. When the wolves
lifted their weird, melancholy plant
TO the cold, star-jeweled skies, she lis
tened without the old shudder. These
things, which We're wont 10 oppreSs
her, to send her imagination Keeling
along morbid ways, seemed but ma
tural aspect of life, of which she her
self was part.
Often, sitting before her glowing
fireplace, watching a flame kindled
with her own hands with wood she
herself carried from the pile outside
she pondered this. 1t defied her pow
crs of self-analysis. She could only
accept it as a fact. and be glad. Gran
Vile and ali 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 bc
elsewhere to do otherwise II 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 sn0wshoes. and with
n little rife in the crook Of her arm
prowled 1t random through the woods
partly because it gave her pleasure
to range sturdily afeld, partly for the
phySice! brace of exertion in the crisp
'ir. Otherwise she curlcd comfortabiy
before the fireplace and sewed. or read
something out Of BiI's catholic as
Sortment Of books
II was given her, also to learn the
true meaning of uel1hborliness. that
kindness Of spirit which Is stined by
stress in the crowded places. and stim-
nlated by ike stress amid surround
ines where life is n0ncOmplex, direct
where cause and effect tread en- each
others heels. Every day. if she failed
70 drop into their cabin. came one of
her neighbors to see if all were well
with her.
EJHitp as 2 matter of rnIirep lake.