Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-17

Used to watch it occasionally. and
once when l drove along there after
dark one summers evening l found
her watering it When she saw me
she lodged behind down the fence and
kept quiet. and l pretended not to
See her. Shed have got all fused
up if she'd thought l saw her doing
that.
Other people living round about
noticed that the old lady was wor-
ried. and they were sorry. Smithers,
the banker. thought that if he offered
Granny Harland a real tip-top figure
for that patch of land she might sell
IT, and that he could pull up the
trees and get the worry of the bust
ness out of her old mind. but Smithers
was as much at sea as an ant in d
duck pond.
No" said Granny Harland. u won't
sell the patch.
But it's no good to you for crops
said Smithers. You've got nothing
planted, there"
Yes. / have. she said.
Have you" said Smithers. What?
Hopes" muttered old Granny
Hopes of my son-in law. the count"
1t was enough to make you cry.
That old lady wanted money badly
and yet she wouldn't sell that plot
Of land, although Smithers had offered
her three times it's value. Smithers
Was tHdl Iildu tndl he was sorry the
count had died of bronchitis.
There's a different kind of throat
affection that fellows of his type
mostly die from" he said, land Tn
sorry he didn't catch it here in Hon
melville"
are as hard as mules hoof have
little streaks of softness that you
can see at times. The toughest old
clam in bonneville is old Martin
Swan. but one day out near the Har-
land place I found old Martin. had a
spot that you could drive a nail into.
Ed y he said to me in a whisper. "if
you wouldn't mind asking strangers
to speak kind of quiet about that
little apple tree near the fence it
would be a kindness. l went round
by the back door yesterday, and I
specialized danes that you had driven
out. They had voices like whip-saws,
Ed"
THE years slipped by at Honnet-
vile like they do every other
place. and the counts. children grew
up. Alphonso. the oldest, turned out
to be real Cabrera Just when he
was big enough to help Granny Har-
land on the farm he joined a circus
and went off and left her. Next year
friend of Isabella's asked Isabella
to the city. and bonneville didn't see
much of her. Then the twins got
restless They found it quiet out on
the Harland place after they turned
sixteen, 50 they took letter course
in some trashy game like finger mani
curing. and they went off. too. leav-
ing the two best people that Were
ever on the Harland property-old
Granny Harland and IneZ Cabrera
Those two lived there together. Granny
Harland loving 1neZ and watching her.
and Inez helping Granny Harland and
nursing the old woman when she got a
little sick from overwork. Old Gran
ny had more lines on her face than
you'd see on a road map. while lnez
was the handsomest girl that any Vlsi-
tor to bonneville had ever seen.
Jay Prentice, who was bit of a fool
in lots of things. said to me one day.
Ed. if that apple tree OF hers could
be pulled out by the roots some night
and another decent tree put in its
place. I'd like to do it. That girl is
worrying as much about it as her old
granny is"
That was kind of Jay, considering
how Granny Harland had jumped him
years and years before when he tried
to get her opinion of Count Raphaels
, tree horoscope.
Inez could sing quite some. When
she was about sixteen young Johnny
Templeton, who played the organ in
bonneville Church. used to go out
there with his violin sometimes of a
summer evening. and he'd play and
IneZ would sing. They'd sit on the
porch with old Granny Harland. and
| in front of them were the five apple
| trees. four of them big, vigorous trees
and one near the road little small
and careless-like. People were glad