The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-09-14
Eoening Story
The Romance of a Survey.
BY FREDERICK HART.


talked TO itself as It had done for. the
past thousand years, the scattered
trees wore the same air of permanency
as the surrounding hills. On Friday;
on Saturday the scene had changed
radically. The cows fled in terror. the
brook babbIed angrily; even the trees
seemed indignant The cause OF all
this disturbance was the appearance
| Of a number of young men in flannel
shirts and high laced shoes, some OF
whom performed strange feats with
tripods and long red-and-white poles
and interminabie steel tapes, Ehauting
and waving their arms in way to
frighten any self-respecting COW into
bovine Mysteries, while others drove
stakes in the ground. It was all very
strange, thought the COWS and the
J brook and the trees; no one had ever
acted that way in the back pasture
before. These sentimen were echoed
by pretty Mary Langhorn when she
made her-m orning trip to the back
pasture. But Mary shared none Of the
cows terror. She walked straight to
the young man who seemed to be in
charge of things and demanded of
| him who he was, what he wanted
there, where he came from, what he
was doing and why he was doing it,
all in a breath. The young man took
he was working hard-and mopped
his brow with a bandana before
answering. He had a rather nice
brow, thought Mary; in fact, he was
rather nice to look at, in his rough
clothes, with the upturned sleeves
showing his muscular forearms and
his shirt, open at the throat, reveal
ing the white skin below where the
sun had not tanned il But she waited
for her reply without giving any Egin
| of this admiration. The young man
seemed apologize, and was quite nice
about it.
We'll. you see. Miss
Mary Langhorn's my name, and
this is my fathers farm
Miss Langhorns we're surveying
for railroad line that's to run thru
here Your father was to see our at
torneys this morning. We're running
the preliminary now
Mary hadn't the slighteet idea what
he meant by running a preliminary"
out ne really was nice. even il he was
on her fathers land; and then, the
mention of attorneys was reassurirg
and business-like. So she treated the
young man TO smile, which he
seemed to appreciate to the full, and
returned to the house, where she
ment
What do you think. Mary-girl ?;'
ae began. Her mother, standing be-
hind him, echoed What do YOU
think %
They're goin' to run a line o rail-
was tallin' to their lawyer lust this
rnlnute-an' they're goin' to pay $500
an acre fer the right o'way! WHY. il
comes to more'n $1,000! It's a big
| thing for US. Mary-it means school
am AM coiseg g fo5 you, fer one thing.
"oh, Dad" The dream of Mary
ne was to be realized at last. and she
could hardly fine words to express her
| happiness. Then her mother spoke.
Ihat young engineer-the chief O.
tine gane-Andrews is his name
John Andrews-is goin' to live here
Whlle they put the line thru. Near's
l cen Ilnu out he has~to stay nearby
! 70 tend to some job-gradin', er
somethlnL Ike that-an' the lawyer
asked could put him up, an O. course
=! said yes. So wen have him around
Ter awhile. Did you see him when
you was down TO the back pastu' this
| rather NICE -ss s''fNe
Wel1;" Jonas Langhorn's word was
short I'm glad you liked his looks.
KEN come in fer dinner"
AT dinner he appeared, and the
sLanghorn family took to-" him at
! &
humor that kept them All IaurItnr
when ne chose to exercise it. Heewa :
handsome, too, thought Mrs. Ianehorn
as she looked at the bronzed face thai
1daIy mad admired in the afternoon.
5 i1i1u ne seemed to'hke the farm cook
! iue, Whlch was the surest way to Kind
~ mrs; Langhorn's heart. But Mary
was silent and subdued before mir, |.
IN iact, thru the months that followed
NE waiting for materials and the
eIo4esS surveying and re-surveyine-
she grew more and more quiet Her
father saw fit to rally heron fhe s,1S.
reply, ~ ~ u'see'
4 wonder if the ehiid's teelip,
wei Z" inquired his wife of him one
rsenlng IN an anxious tone. But he
Shes little peaked, I'll admit /"
ne said. But you jist wait till fail.
"hen she goes to school. Itu make a
new girl OF her. You jist wait" So
mrs: Lanshorn dutifully waited.
Mary was to leave for school on the
18th of September The might before
her departure the young engineer an
nounced that the. first shipm emit of
material would arrive the next day.
ana that work on the digging and
sraalng would begin at once HIS
news cheered the good people of the
tarna. Tor they were anxious to see the
work begun; but Mary received IL in
silence. After the evening meal she
slipped away for a moment and ala
not return at once.
The engineer thought he would take
last look at his stakes, to see that
no hhtschtevious small boys had ex-
Taeted any OF them He went down
70 the pack pasture in the twilight, His
Pine OF stakes stretched clean ana true
across the green, and he was about to
ieave when he heard something that
! caused him to check himself Il was
the sound. OF some one sobbing as tho
her heart would break. He looked
about and saw Mary, a huddlea white
neap on the grass, crying her heart
out. In surprise he went up to her.
/ what's the NATTER" he asked.
"Oh, please go away and let me
alone!" sobbed Mary. But he was not
to be put off. He sat beside her until
/ her sobs had given way to sfghs.