Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1920-04-27

loathe it-and I cannot leave It."
she burst out vehemently. I'm chain
Ell to my degradation. dream
creams, ana they'll never come true.
l-l-oh Mr.. Bryce, Mr.. Bryce, I'm so
unhappy"
$50 am l." he retorted. 1--WE all
get our dose of it. you know. and just
ar present I'm having an extra helping
IL seems. You're cursed with too
much Imagination. MORA. I'm sorry
about your father. For all his sixty
years. MORA, your COMPOUNDED parent
can still manhandle any man on the
payroll, and as fast as Dad put in a
new woods-boss old Mac drove him off
the JOB. He simply declines to be
hred. and Dads worn out and too tired
TO bother about his old woods boss any
more. He's been waiting until should
get back"
L know" said MORA YEARLY. "No-
body wants to be Cardigan's woods
BOSS and have to fight my father to
hold his job. l realize what a NUS
ance he has become"
Bryce chuckled. "Of course the mat
ter SINNERS down to this: Dad is so
fond of your father that he just hasn't
got the moral courage to work him
overland now that job is up to me.
Mora, I'm not going to beat about the
Dush with you. They tell me your
father is a hopeless inebriate"
I'm afraid he is, Mr. Bryce"
How long has he been drinking to
excess"
About ten years. I think. OF course
he would always take few drinks
with the men around payday, but after
mother died, he began taking his
drinks between pay-days. Then he
( took to going down to Sequoia on
Saturday nights and coming back on
the mad-train, the maddest Of the lot.
! suppose he was lonely, too. He
didn't get real bad. however, TIL
about two years ago"
well, we have to get logs to the
/ mill, and We can't get them with old
John Earleycorn for a wOodS-boSS.
MORA. So were going to change
woodsboSseS. ana the new woods-bOsS
will not be driven off the job. because
I'm going to stay up here a couple of
weeks and break him in myself. But
how do you manage to get money to
clOthe yourself? Sinclair tells me
Mac needs every cent of his two hun
dred and fifty dollars a month to enjoy
himself"
Il used to steal from him." the girl
admitted. "Then l grew ashamed of
that, and for the past six months I've
been earning my own living. Mr.. Sin
clair was very kind. He gave me a
job waiting on table in the camp din
ing room. You see, had to have
something here. couldn't leave my
father. He had to have somebody tC
take care of him. Don't you see, Mr.
Bryce"
"Sinclair is fuzzy old fool" Bryce
declared with emphasis. THE idea o
our wOods-boss's daughter slingin.
hash to lunlberjacks. Poor MORA !"
He took one Of her hands in his
noting the callOus spots on the plump
palm, the thick finger joints that hint
ed so of toll, the nails that had never
been manicured save by Moira herself
do you remember when l was boy
Mora, how I used to come up to the
lOgging-camps to hunt and fish? I al.
ways lived with the McTavishes then
And In September, when the buckle
berries were ripe. we used to go out
and pick them together. Poor MORA
Why, we're old pals, and I'll be shot
II I'm going to see you suffer Listen,
MORN. I'm going to fire your father,
as I've said, because he's working for
old J. Il. now, not the Cardigan Red.
wood Lumber company. really ought
to pension him after his long years in
the Cardigan service, but I'll be
mOre-particularly to keep a man in
booze; so the best our old wOOds-bOSs
gets from me is this shanty. or another
like 1t when we move to new cuttings,
and perpetual meal-ticket for our
camp dining room while the Cardi-
gans remain in business. I'd finance
him for trip to some state institu-
ton where they sometimes reclaim
such wreckage, If l didn't think he's
too old a dog to be taught new tricks"
Perhaps" she suggested sadly
you had better talk the matter over
with him."
'NO, I'd rather not I'm fond Of your
father. MORA. He was man when
l saw him laSt--such man as these
woods will never see again-and
don't want TO see him again until he's
cold sober. I'll write him letter. As
for you, MOira you're fired. too. Til
not have you waiting on table in my
logging camp-not by jugful You're
to come down to Sequoia and go to
work In our office. We can use you on
the books, helping Sinclair, and re-
lieve him of the task of billing. check
ing tallies. and looking after the pay
roll. I'll pay you hundred dollars
a month. MORA. Can YOU get along
on that?"