Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1922-04-21
CONTINUED from last week.

The lovers stopped in grove at
noon and fed their horses and Harry
built a fire and made a breach of
green sticks on which he broiled beef
steak,
A Letter from Harry to Sarah Tray
Tor tells of the beauty of the day.
1T was my great day of fulfillment,
all the dearer because l had come back
to health and youth and beloved scenes
out Of those years Swallowed with
loneliness and despair" he writes.
'"The best part of it, / assure you,
was the face I loved and that musical
voice ringing like a bell in merry
laughter and in the songs which had
stirred my heart in the days OF its
tender youth. You-the dear and gen
tie mother of my later boyhood--are
entitled to know of my happiness when
I heard that voice tell me in it's sweet
er tone of the love which has injured
through all these years of stem trial.
We talked Of our plans as we sat
among the ferns and moses in the
cool shade sweetened by the incense
of burning fagots, over that repast to
which we shall be returning often for
refreshment in poorer days. We had
thought of you and of the man so
well beloved of you and us in all these
plans. We shall live in Springfield
so that we may be near you and him
and our friend, Honest Abe"
1t is a long letter presenting minute
details in the history Of that senti-
mental journey and allusion to mat
tiers which have no part in this record.
It's substance being fully in the con
seriousness of the writer, he tenderly
folds it up and returns it to the pack
age-yellow and brittle and faded and
having that curious fragrance of pa
pers that have lain for scores Of years
in the gloom and silence of locked
mahogany drawer. SO alive are these
letters with the passion Of youth in
long forgotten years that the writer
ties the old ribbon and returns them
to their tomb with a feeling Of sad
ness, finding a singular pathOs in the
contrast of their look and their CON
tents. They are turning to Gust, but
the soul of them has gene into this
little history.
The young man and woman mounted
their horses and resumed their jour
ney. It was after two o'clock. The
Grand Prairie lay ahead of them. The
settlement of Plains End was twenty
one miles away on it's farther side.
They could just see it's tall oak trees
in the dim distance.
"We must hurry, if we get there
before dark" said the girl. "Above
all, we must be careful to keep our
direction. It's easy to get lost down
i'm the great prairie"
They heard cat-bird singing in
a near thicket as they left their camp.
1t reminded BIN of her favorite bal
lad and she sang it with the spirit of
old:
"My sweetheart, come along
Don't you hear the glad song
AS the notes of the nightingale flow?
Don't you hear the fond tale of the
sweet nightingale
AS she sings in the valleys below?
AS she sings in the valleys below"
They went on, shoulder-deep in the
tall grass on the lower stretches of
the prairie. Here and there it gave
Harry the impression that he was
swimming his horse in NOISY, vivid
green water" They startled herd
of deer and number of wild horses.
When they lost sight of the woods
at Plains End the young man, with
his cavalry training was able to ride
standing on his saddle until he had 1t
located.
1t reminded him of riding in the
Everglades and he told Of his adven-
lures there as they went on, but very
modestly. He said not word of his
heroic fight the day that he and sixty
of his comrades were cut off and sur
rounded in the "land of the grassy
waters" But BIN had heard the story
from other lips.
Late in the afternoon the woods
doomed in front of them, scarcely a
mile off. Near the end of the prairie
they came to road which led them
mast the door of a lonely cabin. 1t
seemed to be deserted, but it's win
dows were clean and a faint column
of smoke rose from its chimney. There
were hollyhocks and sunfowers in it's
small and cleanly dooryard. A morn
;ng-glory vine had been trained around
the windows.
"Broad creek is just beyond" said
Rim 81 don't know how the crossing
will be"
They came presently to the creek,
Unexpectedly swollen. A man stood
on the farther shore with some seventy
feet of deep and rapid water between
him and the travellers.
"That man looks like Stephen
Nuckles," said Harry.