Evening star., 1921-09-18


March. Hephsibah Preston vis-
ited the Home for Orphans in
Des Moines. and she chose Stephen.
perhaps because he had a quaint little
twist to his smile, or because she
saw. or thought she did, wistful
look in his solemn gray eyes. or per-
haps because his middle name was
Isezekiah. Hephzibah Preston came
from New England. too. and she be-
lieved that all the fundamental vir-
sippi. Not. of course, that the boys
middle name was any proof OF his
origin, but it pointed that way.
At any rate. Mrs Preston signed a
efficient and starchy matron that she
and her husband would take care OF
the boy and see that he finished the
grades. Stephens travelling outfit,
packed in the photogravure section
OF . Chicago Sunday paper. and Ste.
phen and his new protector departed
on the 1913 for Green Mountain. Iowa.
window. but his eyes were fixed upon
a perambulating cockroach that trav-
ersed the red plush of the seat oppo-
site them. A. curious. numb empar-
sha sss'es %antes aa1n to say some
thing to this little chap. whom yes
terday she never had heard of and for
whom today she was irrevocaply re-
born west of the mississippi she
might have tousled his hair and
bought him a box of indigestioie
honey coated popcorn which nasal
voiced newsboy was shouting through
the train.
'This town we're stoppin' at is New
Castle and the next one Is Roaring
Brook. and then Green Mountain,
she said at last I'VE get off there:
the Jet glossy back Of the cockroach.
The news vender, on his return
through the train. thrust a yellow,
and-black checkered boz OF lemon
drops into her hands; Five % cents'
Hephsibah Preston bought II.
"Here, Hezekiah.' she said.
Nobody never calls me that. ne
protested But he smiled his queer
the box. unopened. clasped tightly IN
his hands.
HOT rush of tenderness surged
"A through her, and something like
sob caught in her throat. Zeke would
be mad, she knew. Zeke wanted
somebody big enough to be hand.
The thrifty theory that it was cheaper
to adopt than to hire was the motive
back of his slowly matured purpose
to take a boy. Hephzibah consoied
herself with the thought that there
hadn't been many big boys to choose
grow. Just the same. as the jogging
day coach approached Green Noun
tain, the size of Stephen Hezekfah
began to shrink and her apprehen-
sions to increase.
1t was a gray day. heavy with the
portent of more rain. and the roads
were still logy from the late thaw
Zeke had driven the plow horse to
the spring wagon. and it was stand
ing now outside the dreary station:
where many another plow horse had
paved restless hollows in the soft
earth while his master gossiped with
Trim Hiatt in the waiting room.
zeke Preston vast s,a.. the he. soIt 1s VINO snS
he didn't like people. Into the easy
going, generous. loose-fisted middle
west he had brought the grim innerit-
ance Of long line OF Vermont farm
ers. men whose lives never lifted more
horizon Of poverty. Against those
rocky. unrequiting hillsides they had
rubbed out their existence. like steel
against milestone. When the little
colony Of New England pioneers had
never caught up with them. Though
they brought to a mountainless. creek
less prairie the old Vermont names OF
Green Mountain and Roaring Brook'
they left much behind; HI.
loosely, extravagantly. successfully.
It was a young soil. wantonly fertile
and responsive. Men staked out Dig
farms and helped one another IN , tns
no help-nor did he give any. Iowa
farming seemed to him wasteful and
a sin. Not possessing the gift or ex-
preston. he was understood by no,
body. Nobody tried to understand
"Zeke Preston's as close aa sunday
But Trim Hiatt was no great psy,
chologist. II Zeke Preston seemed
from motive. of greed Every foot
% that stnhhorn New England ram,
had been ti,'ed pa a French Deasart
tins his garden. The et-u@ele TO I'VE
I,ad groovad something deener t"tn
his corscionsness then mere th-Tt
He owed comethinr 70 his land 'rst
as it owed something to him. If he
had called that something name: II
might have been loyalty. but the
Prestons had no gift OF spsecn. Inc Inc
pioneer people seemed sacrilege to
him. "They cheat the land" he pro-
Perhaps they did, but It appeared
When Green Mountain heard that
Zeke Preston and his New England
wife. who kept house with the same
shortsighted thrift with which Zeke
farmed. were going to take BOY.
there was much sOecuiation and not q
little concern in the village.
'I suppose old Zeke'1l give him one
square meal a day and an orange on
Christmas" remarked Trim Hiatt.
There were those who distrusted
even this abundance.
ITS a durn fool thing for them
to do" announced Dade Fellows.
zeke. as he walked up and down
hugEed up tightly against a raw
March wind. thought SO too. When
he saw his wife and the thin-legged
gray-eyed urchin at her side he knew
"Zeke. this is Hesekiah' she said.
She could not know the pleading that
burned in her eyes.
Zake stared and grunted.
.Wellc" she said.
He seems awful little.' the man
answered. "Git into the wagon
wedRed in between the two. the bor
from the home for orphans watched
the reins flop un and down on the
dered whv it was they never quite
Topped off. Then he wondered why
it seemed to hurt so much just to
swallow, and whv his eyes smarted.
He hugged the little boz of lemon
drops SO hard his fingers ached and
grew white.
saving. Hephsibah Preston never
talked back. 1t was wiser not to.