The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1924-02-22

churned up to q certain point after
that he wants TO take 1t easy. 1t Is
with pleasure, therefore, that L turn to
depict a quiet, peaceful scene in do
nestle life. 1t won't last long-three
minutes, perhaps, by a stop-watch-
but that is not my fault. My task is
TO record facts as they happened.
The morning sunlight fell pleasantly
IN the garden of Windles, turning 1t
into the green and amber paradise
which nature had intended 1T to be. A
number Of the local birds sang melodl-
ously in the underground at the end
Of the lawn, while others, more ener-
getlc, hoped about the grass in quest
Of worms. Bees, mercifully ignorant
that, after they had worked them
selves TO the bone gathering honey, the
proceeds Of their labor would be col
Jared and consumed by idle humans,
buzzed industriously to and fro and
.dlved head foremost into flowers.
Winged insects danced sarabands IL
the sunshine. And in a deck-chair I'M
der the cedar tree Billie Bennett, with
a sketching block on her knee, was en-
gagged In drawing a picture Of the
ruined castle. Beside her, curled up
in a ball, 10y her Pekinese dog, Pinky-
Goodies. Beside Pinky-Boodles slept
Smith, the bulldog. In the distant
stable yard, unseen but audible, a boy
in shirt sleeves was washing the car
and singing as much as t~reacherous
memory would permit Of a popular
sentimental ballad.
You may think that was all. You
may suppose that nothing could be
added to deepen the atmosphere Of
peace and content. Not so. At this
moment, Mr.. Bennett emerged from
the French windows Of the drawing
room, clad in white flannels and buck
skin shoes, supplying just the finish
ing touch that was needed.
Mr.. Bennett crossed the lawn, and
sat down beside his daughter. Smith,
the bulldog, raising a sleepy head,
breathed heavily but Mr.. Bennett did
not quail. OF late, relations of distant
but solid friendship had come to exist
between them. Skeptical at first, Mr..
Bennett had at length allowed himself
to be persuaded Of the mildness OF the
animals nature and the essential
purity Of his motives and now it was
only when they encountered each other
unexpectedly round sharp corners that
he ever betrayed the slightest alarm.
So now, while Smith slept on the
grass, Mr.. Bennett reclined in the
chair. 1t was the nearest thing mod
ern civilization had seen TO the lion
lying down with the lamb.
"Sketching?" said Mr.. Bennett.
Yes" said Billie, for there were no
secrets between this girl and her ia
Their. AT least, not many. She occa-
sionally omitted to tell him some such
trffle as that she had met Samuel Mar
lowe on the previous morning in a
leafy lane, and intended to meet him
again this afternoon, but apart from
thai her mind was an open book.
TITS a great morning" said Mr.. Ben
nett.
$50 peaceful" said Billie.
THE eggs you get in the country in
England" said Mr.. Bennett, suddenly
striking a lyrical note, "are %extraordi-
nary. l had three for breakfast this
morning which defied competition,
simply deied competition. They were
large and brown, and as fresh as new
mown hay!
lie unused for a while in q sort Of
ecstasy.
And the hams !" he went on. ''The
ham | had for breakfast was what |
call ham! | don't know when I've had
ham like that. l suppose it's some
thing they feed the pigs" he conclud-
ed, in soft meditation. And he gave a
little sigh. Life was very beautiful.
Silence fell, broken only by the snor-
ing Of Smith. Billie was thinking of
Sam, and Of what Sam had said to
her in the lane yesterday; Of his
~clesn-cut face, and the look in his eyes
so vastly superior to any look that
ever came into the eyes of Bream Nor
timer. She was telling herself that
her relations with Sam were an idyll /;
for, being young and romantic, she IN
joyed this freshet of surreptitlous
meetings which had come to enliven
the stream Of her life. 1t was pleas
ant TO go warily into deep lanes where
forbidden love lurked. She cast a swift
side glance ut her father-the uncon-
scious ogre In her fairy story. What
would he say II he knew? But Mr..
Bennett did NJ know, and consequent
ly continued to mediate peacefully on
ham.
They had sat like this for perhaps a
m~inute-two happy mortals lulled by
the gentle beauty Of the ~day-when
from the window Of the drawing room
there stepped out a ~white-capped maid.
And n may just as well say at once
and have done with it-that this Is
the point where the quiet, peaceful
scene in domestic life terminates with
a jerk, and pity and terror resume
work at the old stand.
The maid-her name. not that It