Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1925-07-09

I
Holland. Its people were all truck
gardeners, and rs Dutch as the Meth
erlandS from which they or their ia
theirs had come. Many OF them had
come from the town OF SchOorl. or
near It. Others from the lowlandS out
side Amsterdam. Selma pictured II
another Sleepy Hollow. replica OF
the quaint settlement In Washington
lrving's delightful tale. Picturing mel
low golden corn fields; crusty crullers,
crumbling oly-koeks, toothsome wild
ducks, sides of smoked beef. pumpkin
pies; country dances. apple-cheeked
farmer girls. she felt sorry for poor
Julie staying OF in the dull gray com
monplaceness OF Chicago.
The last week in October found her
on the way to High Prairie, seated be-
side Klaas Pool in the twO-hOrse wagon
with which he brought his garden stuff
to the Chicago market. Mile after mile
Of cabbage fields, jade-green against
the earth. Mile after mile of red cab
bage. rich plummy Burgundy veined
with black. Between these, heaps OF
corn were piled-up sunshine. Against
the horizon an occasional patch OF
woods showed the last russell and
bronze of oak and maple These things
Selma saw with her beauty-loving eye,
and she cIasped her hands in their
black cotton gloves.
"Oh, Mr.. Pool! :" she cried. "Mr.
Pool! How beautiful 1t is here!"
Klaas Pool. driving his team of
horses down the muddy Halsted road,
was looking straight ahead, his eyes
fastened seemingly on an invisible spot
between the off-hOrses ears. His was
not the kind Of brain that acts quickly,
nor was his bodys mechanism The sort
that quickly responds to that brain s
message. His eyes were china-blue in
a round red face that was covered
with q stubble of stiff golden hair. His
round moon Of a head was set low and
solidly between his great shoulders, so
that as he began to turn 1t now, slow
ly, you marveled at the process and
waited fearfully to hear a creak. He
but keeping his gaze on the spot be-
tween his horses ears. Evidently the
head and the eyes revOlved by quite
distinct processes. Now he faced Sc
lima almost directly. His pale blue eyes
showed incOmprehenslOn.
"BeautifulY' he echoed, in puzzled
Interrogation. "What is beautifulT
Selina's slim arms flashed out from
the swathings Of cloak, shawl, and muf-
fer and were flung wide In q gesture
that embraced the landscape on which
the late afternoon sun was casting a
glow peculiar to that lake region, all
rose and golden and mist-shimmering
'This The-the cabbages."
A slow-dawning film of fun crept
over the blue of Klaas POOLS stare.
This film spread almost imperceptibly
so that 1t fluted his broad nOstrils, met
and widened his full lips, reached and
agitated his massive shoulders, tickled
the round belly, so that all KlaaS Pool
from his eyes to his waist, was rip
ping and shaking with slow, solemn
heavy Dutch mirth.
"Cabbages Is beautiful !" his round
pop eyes staring at her In fixity OF
glee. "Cabbages Is beautiful ]" His
silent laughter now rose and became
audible In a rich throaty chortle. 1t
was plain that laughter, with Klaas
Pool, was not thing to be lightly dis
missed, once raised. "Cabbages-" he
choked little, and spluttered, over
come
Selma laughed. too, even while she
protested his laughter. But they
are I" she insisted. ''They are beauti
full. Like jade and Burgundy. No.
ike-uh-like-wha that in-like
chrysoprase and porphyry. All those
fields Of cabhages and the corn and
the beet-tops together look like Persian
patches" resi-,
Which was. certainly, no way for a
new school teacher to talk to Hol-
land truck gardener driving his team
along the dirt road on his way to High
Prairie. But then, Selma, remember,
had read Byron at seventeen.
Klaas Pool knew nothing of chry.
soprase and porphyry. Nor Of Byron.
Nor, for that matter. of jade and Bur
sundy. But ne did know cabbages,
both green and red. He knew cabbage
from seed to sauerkraut: he knew and
grew varieties from the sturdy Fiat
Dutch to the early Wakefield. But
that they were beautiful; that they
rocked like jewels: that they lay Nike
Persian patches. had never entased his
Mead. and rightly. What has the
head Of a cabbage, or for that matter,
Of robust, soil-stained, toiling Dutch
truck farmer to do with nopsenSe Hike
chrysoprase, with jade, with Burgundy,
with Persian patterns!
The horses chopped down the heavy
country road Now and again the bulk
beside Selma was agitated silently, az
before. And from between the golden
fuzz of stubble beard she would hear,
"Gabbages Cabbages is But sha
did net feel offended. She could not
have been offended at anything today.
For in spite of her recent tragedy, her
nineteen years, her loneliness. the ter
! rifying thought Of this new home to
which she was going, among strangers,
she was conscious of warm thrill Of
citation. Of excitement-of adventure
That was It, THE whole things just
a grand adventure" Simeon Peake had
said Selma gave Il little bounce OF
anticipation. She was doing revolu
donary and daring thing; thing that
the Vermont and now. fortunately, In
! accessible Peakes would have regarded
Win horror. For equipment she hao
youth. curiosity. steel-strong frame
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