The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1920-12-25


The voung man Saluted and sat down
on the other side Of the berry bushes
Ills fingers biz and brown ana CUM
sy, made slow work of the berry p'ch-
inc. He stopped moment TO watch
his companion in labor as she s'flpPeu
the bushes with the easy SIKH OF "a
perence. From her fingers MS e9tS
| travelled to her face and he holed 'iie
/ healthy glow of color in her cileeh'
and the thick mass Of chestnut MN
that was drawn back under her coarse,
! wide hat.
Dan Willard summed her up rs tle
! lyrical farmers daughter-skllieu III
her tasks, healthy, unthinking' happs'
! Then he went back 10 his own LABOR
! iOus task.
"If you'd begin at the bottom OF the
buSh-so," she illustrated, ANA piuch
them off-so-you'd get on faster
Dan looked into her pretty liquid eyes
and learned his lesson.
There was no further conversation
| while they worked at varying speeuS'
while the droWsy hot sound or the
locuSts came to them, and the breath
Of the haytields. freshly cut sweet
with n thousand blended perfumes.
They both Strengthened up at the
sound of the horn blowing across the
fields.
| DINNER"
They both stopped with relief ana
the man rose stifily.
81 guess you're not used to this
the girl smiled. Her voice, huskliF
sweet, was as pretty as her eyes, ne
decided. Then he lifted his pail ana
hers and strobe off beside her.
Not berry picking" he explained,
looking down on her pink sun-bonnet
that she had tossed on to cross the
fields. 1--WE been haylng over to
Farmer Dicks, and now he's set me
to berryfng."
"Oh," said the girl. In a flash she
knew he was the new hand at the
Dicks, who tossed the hay on the
ricks 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 an
swered
He remembered now this was the
same girl he had noticed hanging out
the clothes and working around the
place. Old Mayberry's daughter.
She was a pretty thing he thought,
as he watched her swing down the
road to the next farm. The girl, al
!. most as though she had read his
thoughts, turned at the pasture to
wave to him. He waved back awk-
, wardly, knowing that he was not used
to this easy give and take Of farm
life, as he should be.
But he was more disappointed than
the occasion warranted when she did
not rejoin him that afternoon at the
berry bushes They must have needed
, her at home, but still He noticed
, how tedious the work was and how
J his fingers were stiff with thorn
pricks and how hot the sun beat down
, on the fields.
u
last and he had washed out at the
pump with the other two hands" and
had eaten his supper Of hearty farm
, food, he found that he had no desire
as usual to throw himself out under
the stars on the cool grass and lie
there until bedtime.
With his pipe between his teeth he
walked off hazily down the road until
; he had come to the white farmhouse
cuddling down under the trees-where
she had said she lived.
"Clssy!" he heard 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 60.
ing past the house, and when he came
back he saw figure out under the
Rose-of- Sharon bushes. and he knew II
was she.
| He ought to go past But he gave
: In and called, Good EVENING"" and
she answered him in that husky, sweet
, voice that blended In with the nigh,
sounds and came out to where he
. waited in the road. AS she came to
: him her little Bingham dress had taken
on the glamour Of mOonshine and the
, fragrance of the roses; he knew he
, was going to be sorry later But he
found himself strollng up the road
, and sitting on the crumbling stone
wall that shut In the Mayberry or
chard.
, what do you do all the timer" he
: asked her.
, And she told him about the kitchen
, garden and the wedding, and how she