Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-21

teasing winds. He heard tales Of poor crops
and disappointed hopes--to say nothing Of actual
suffering. Yet on every hand he saw untitled
lands, carrying untold promise in its yirginity.
AT last he struck claim that suited hinl-160
acres Of flowing green, spattered with patches OF
brilliant Wild flowers. gentle slope would pro-
tect buildings from the north winds and strip
of slough was lush with waist high wild hay 1t
was August before he had cut and stacked an
ample supply of hay for the coming winter and
finished duguut for himself and a shack for his
team. -'1, ...
Then he turned the first sod. AS he looked
back down the long black bands that fell away
from the plow he saw fields Of grain, promising
rich harvests-next year He picked out the site
for the house and set out rows OF poplar switches
to form q windbreak. And as he worked he
visioned the home complete, with Edna walt
ing in the door for his homeconng--next year
Long before he was ready for it tho first
blizzard stopped his work. Ono morning he
awoke shiverng; the shrieking of the wind
drowned his senses; swirling snow and frost
laden windows dinned daylight to thick fog.
"Ies come" Lon thought as he started fire
in his little cook stove. IT did hope it would
hold off until got to town again-Im short on
provisions, and coal, too ''s
He had seen blizzards back home; but he
had never been alone in one. Now, as his dug
out walls trembled and the wild keening Of the
wind encompassed him, he was homesick and
lonely. 49,.
Sounds like all the wind In the world was
trying to bust in that door," he muttered as he
swallowed hot coffee and assured himself that 1t
could not last long ~
For three days he huddled over the stove and
listened and waited, while the storm ragged on
with no signs of letup To the lonesome,
heartsick boy it seemed though all the furies
of hell had been turned loose upon that defense
less little sod hut Over and over again he as
sured himself that he glad Edna was not
here-that he would not have her pass through
such an experience. And, stll a long winter
Of storms here alone-how was he to stick 1t
out? t~ .. f.
On the fourth morning, when he opened his
door, he looked upward to depth upon depth
OF blue stiffness; he looked outward over bill
lows of frostcrested snow binding in Its glitter
ing brildance; and then he turned and saw
thread Of smoke rising above the nearest cabin,
two miles away. and his heart thrilled to the feel
Of human companionship.
After he had dug out his we'll and barn he
harnessed his team and struck across fields to
the Prossers-a young couple who had come
from an eastern city the year before. They had
known little Of the difficulties to be overcome
in homesteading a Dakota claim The phlo-
sophie good cheer with which they met priva-
tons and disconforts had already won Ions
admiration. Today Molly singing as she
set her one room in order, though she still
pale and confessed that she had stayed in bed
head to keep out the roaring. Daniel, sitting in
a nice warm den, with a few lions around wasn't
a circumstance to(a Dakota blizzard" she
nounced.
When the men had excayated the hayrack
Molly Joined them. The air was still sharp and
the snowdrifts treacherous yet the three of
them turned the hay hauling into frolic that
Lon wished Edna might have shared. AS he
looked at the homelike comfort Molly had Great
ed in the rough -hoored, mud-wailed room and
remembered the awful loneliness of his own
shack, resolution wavered. Another year of
waiting seemed unbearable perhaps his father
and Edna were right after ALL
There were no more such fierce ordeals, but
Lon spent many days shut in by cold and storm.
thinking, as he twisted prairie hay into knots
that burned fercely-while they lasted-many
thoughts. He knew that Edna would come 20
him il he but spoke the word. She, too, could
make home out of dugout: she was better
fitted for frontier life than Molly Prosser. Yet
visions Of his ncthers folded. toll worn hands,
and recollectfons of her fathers whiplash tongue
mingled and Jared in his mind. And the ter
ror Of doub. obsessed him. He could not speak