The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-05-28
CHAPT. XXxIT.
UNACCEPTABLE.

Four days later, Olive Anderson
found a strangely battered letter IN
her mail boz. at the Anamoose post
office. Opening it, size read the note,
which Collins had enclosed first, after
which, she read Jacks letter. 1t would
be difficult to describe her emotions,
as she read the simply written account
of the boys lonely wandering in the
vastness of the mountain solitude.
From out of that almost infinite
silence, he had spoken to her, from
the innermost recesses of his soul, he
had send Message by putting his
words on paper. He, in the lonliness OF
the mountains, following the elk and
The deer among the frs and thel
cedars, over rocky ranges end thru
canyons, had made her a part OF all
!.e saw, had woven memoirs of her
into those grand and majestic scenes,
which he so simply described. And
after all his feelings were not different
from hers, for she too, in the lon
liness of her home, mentally adrlft on
the storm swept sea of new ideas, had
often spoken to him from out of the
silence of the night, with voice OF
mingled longing and despair. She too,
had written down her thoughts in
letters to him, letters which were never
mailed, for two reasons, one was
she dared not mail them. and the other
was she did not know where to send
them. She destroyed the pages as
soon as they were written, as he had
doubtlessly destroyed many pages
which ne had written. And now out
of the unknown, by the hand of a
total stranger some of these pages had
come to her. And with them had
come the information as to his where
aborts. From now on she could reach
min, that very thot seemed to bring
him strangely near.
She read the letter three or four
times while in the post office. How
strange it all seemed that she should
he attracted to a "jail bird" 20
a man who was almost total strang-
er to her. For the first time in her
l;fe the woman and the lady within
her came into conflict, but as usual
Against her will, wild thoughts forced
themselves into her brain. Tho letter
the woman proved to be the stronger.
had tapped the springs of atavism,
and sent the blood of her forbears
ingling thru her veins. Leaning against
} the writing desk in the postofficc,
from between half closed lids she could
, see the boy whom she had met in
} |iail, rambling down the mountain side
into the depths of the canyons, fol
lowing the trail of the wild life of
the forest Mentally she could see
herself seated beside him in the bark
shelter he had described. She coull
see the giant shadows play like weird
ghosts among the forest trees, as the
blaze of the campfire rose and fell
lShe was conscious of wild desire to
live the life of the primitive ages Of
human evolution, altho she did not
phrase it that way.
Wien Olive left the post office
' she met Frank Cartwright, who had
been her sweetheart for more than q
z year, and as was his habit he walked
home with her He was an entirely
different type from the girl. Ills mind
was not adapted to serious thought
, His highest ideal was to have a CIR
y by his side, cigarette in his mouth
{. and nothing on his mind. His conver
q sation was limited to such subjects as
=, directly affected his senses. lie might
|, he described as, "a we'll dressed
v bundle of perambulating flesh and
4 bones" When he was with Olive ht
either chartered like a magpie about
/ nothing or made crude and almost
disgusting love. He was a typical mid
. die class youth. The wonder was tha
= Olive tolerated him. ''Love does no
reason" But was theie love?
This night as they walked home
: Olive who on other occasions did mos
= of the sensible talking or listened Il
his gibberish with kindly federation
= now was strangely silent. She seemct
!, rre-occupied, Her mind was not OF
u Frank, or the coming dance, or pos
!, sible sleigh ride. In fact it was no
on her immediate surround in any sense
: 1t was entirely on Jack, who was fa
y beyond the Rocky Mountains in
Q little woJd cabin by the lake.
Frank asked her few Of his usul
Q questions, but received only monosyl
- Liable replies Nothing he could va,
f interested her He spoke the Language
o of her class and that class she ha,
e learned to despise. Tonight she hate,
Y II more than ever before, for his YER,
r chatter brot back to her mind tn
? preacher, the Judge, the editor and he
- own father.
/. Finally unable to restrein himsel
o any longer the boy blurted out, "wha
is alls you 0llief Feel grouchy abou
:. somethingi"
o "No," she answered wearily. 9TH
just thinking"
G. "What do YOU meant" he presisted
"0h, | mean, I have gone 4
school for three years and have leara
Cd nothing that is really worth know
ing.n
4. "Whati You think you won't grad
\. nate this summeri" he asked will
some solicitude in his voice.
"0h, no, not that, / can't hell
% graduating. But what good is iti"
|. "Aftsr that you ean teach school i
r. you want TO, Crank urged.
"No could not, and what Is moro
i ) would not if / could" And tn,
r way she said the last words made ho
} companion vince. She went on, "I
II ! want to teach school, I will nave /,
, 20 to Normal. That will prepare m,
= to go into a school house and becom,
= childish. There is other work in tn,
world better suited to may Temperament
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