The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-11-08
. THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
The Pretenders
Copyright 1929, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate)


antly. The young man sa-
tied and sat down on the other
Ssde Of the berry bushes. His I'm
gers, big and brown and cit sy,
m4de slow work OF the berry pick
in5 He stopped a moment TO
watch his companion in labor as
she stripped the bushes with the
easy skill OF experience. From
her fingers his eyes Travelled TO her
face and ne noted the healthy glow
of color in her cheeks and the
thic'. masses of chestnut hair that
was drawn back under her coarse.
wide hat.
Dan Willard gummed her up as
the typical farmers daughter
sl4iled in her tasks, henlthy, I'M
thinking, happy Then he went
back to his own laborious task.
III you'd begin al the bottom OF
tho bush-so" she Illustrated,
land pluck them on-so--you, d
get on faster!" Dan looked into
her pretty liquid eyes and learned
llig lesson.
There was no further converse
ton while they worked at varying
apeers, while the drowsy hot sOuuu
u the lutusts came to them, and
the breath of the hayhelds, fresh
& ly cut, sweet with thousand
blended perfumes.
They both enlightened up at
the sound OF the horn blowing
across the fields.
.Dinner!"
They both stopped with relief
md the man rose stIffly.
II guess you're not used to
1iis,p the girl smiled. Her voice.
ystuskily sweet. was as pretty as
her eyes, he decided. Then he
u 6fted his pail and hers and STROBE
BESIDE her.
Not berry picking" he explain
ed. looking down on her pink sun
bonnet that she had tossed on to
crtiAs the fields, I've been haying
oSarSto Farmer Dicks. and now
he's set me to berryinG."
Oh" said the girl. In fash
she knew he was the new hand at
the Dicks, who tossed hay on the
Kicks and rode past to the barns
while she had been wedding in the
Kitchen garden Of the farm below.
do you live around here?" 1t
was his turn to question.
over to the Mayberrys'," she
answered.
He remembered now this was
the same girl he had noticed hang
ing out the clothes and working
around the place. Old Mayberry's
She was pretty thing. he
sthought, as he watched her swing
down the road to the next farm.
q The girl, almost as though she
fAta read his thoughts, turned at
SDasture 10 wave to him. He
aYed back awkwardly, knowing
lat he was not used to this easy
give and taks. of farm life, as he
should be.
But he was more disappointed
than the occasion warranted when
she did not rejoin him that after
noon at the berry bushes. They
must have needed her at home, but
still, He noticed how tedious
the work was and how his fingers
were stiff with thorn pricks and
how hot the sun beat down on the
fields.
4 w uGu uA1 ud4 . WI n W 40 w a.
last and he had washed out at the
pump with the other two hands"
and had eaten his supper of hearty
4 farm food, he found that he had no
desire as usual to throw himself
Z out under the stars on the cool
q grass and lie here until bed time.
With his pipe beween his teeth
walked on haZlly down the road
'antil he had come to the white
farmhouse cuddling down under
the trees-where she had said she
had said she lived.
HCissy!" he heard a voice call,
and as soon as he heard the name
he knew that no other could have
suited her so perfectly. He was
very SLOW at going past the house,
: and when he came back he saw a
figure out under the Rose-oC-Sha-
ron bushes, and he knew 1t was
she.
He ought to so past. But he
gave in and called. Good even
ingi' and she answered him in
that husky, sweet voice that blend
A.ed In with the night sounds and
came out to where he waited in the
broad. AS she came TO him her lit
tie bingham dress had taken on
the glamour OF moonshine and the
fragrance OF roses; he knew lie
was going to be sorry later. But
he found himself strolling up the
road and sitting on the crumbling
stone wall that shut in the May
berry orchard.
"What do you do all the time?"
Z he asked her
And she told him about the
kitchen garden and the wedding.
and how she made bread and
churned butter; she told him how
sho drove the cows home at night,
sometimes and tho way she hunted
for the eggs, and laughed at the
funny tricks of the hens who-hid
them so smartly In new hooks and
crannles.
He thought she was very sweet,
this little farm girl, with her know
ledge Of the ways OF all these ami
mails and her natural way OF look
ing on her duties as so many
pleasures. =
But she shook him out Of his
thoughts with the question. And
what do you dog"
"Oh, I'm just a farmland, hay
ing in season, and the chores, milk
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