The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-03-06
CHAPTER w Continued

VIGIL CASkuAuiCu k9CklAds 1CCthuk 40
though she had witnessed the first act
of an exciting play. And breathed
deeply. So. too, did the watching con-
gregation, SO that the widow could be
said to have driven off in quite gust.
AS they logged home in the Pool
farm wagon Maartje told her tale with
a good deal Of SAVIOR.
Pervus DeJong had been left wild
over two years before. Within a
month Of that time Leendert Paarlen-
berg had died, leaving to his widow the
richest and most profitable farm in
the whole community. Pervus De-
Jong. on the contrary, through inheri-
lance from his father. old Johannes,
possessed scant twenty-five acres OF
the worst lowland-practically the
only lowland-in all High Prairie. The
acreage was VIGOROUSLY barren. Per-
vus DeJong patiently planted, sowed.
gathered crops, hauled them to mar
ket; seemed still never to get on in
this thrifty Dutch community where
getting on was SO common trait as
to be no longer thought virtue. Luck
and nature seemed to work against
him. His seedlings proved unfertile ;
his stock was always ailing; his cab
bages were worm-infested: snOut-bee-
tie bored his rhubarb. When he
planted largely of spinach, hoping for
a wet spring, the season was dry. Did
he turn the following year to sweet
potatoes, all auguries pointing to
dry spring and summer. the summer
proved the wettest in decade. Had
he been small, puny and insignificant
his bad luck would have called forth
contemptuous pity. But there was
about him the lovableness and splen-
dor of the stricken giant
1t was on this Pervus DeJong, then,
that the Widow Paarlenberg Of the
rich acres, the comfortable farmhouse,
the gold neck chain, the silk gowns, the
soft white hands and the cooking tall
ents, had set her affections. She
wooed him openly, VIGOROUSLY, and
with a Dutch vehemence that would
have swept another man off his feet.
1t was known that she sent him
weekly baking of cakes, pies and
bread. She tricked, cajoled, or nagged
him into eating her ample meals. She
even asked his advice-that subtlest
form of flattery. She asked him about
sub-soiling. humus, rotation-she
whose rich land yielded, under her
shrewd management, more profitably
to the single acre than to any ten of
Pervus'.
Feeling that the entire community
was urging him toward this profitable
match with the plump, rich. red-lipped
widow, Pervus set his will like stub
born steer and would have none Of
her. He was uncomfortable in his I'M
tidy house; he was lonely, he was un-
happy. But he would have none of
her. Vanity, pride, resentment were
all mixed up in it.
The very first time that Pervus De-
Jong met Selma he had chance to
protect her. With such a start, the
end was inevitable. Then, too, Selma
had on the wine-colored cashmere
and was trying hard to keep the tears
back in full view of the whole of High
Prairie. Urged by Maartje (and rath-
er fancying the idea) Selma had at
tended the great meeting and dance
at Adam Ooms' hall above the general
store near the High Prairie station.
Farmer families for miles around
were there. The new church organ
that time-hallowed pretext for So
ciability-was the excuse for this
gathering. There was small admis-
sion charge. Adam Ooms had given
them the hall. The three musicians
were playing without fee. The wom-
en- were to bring supper packed In
boxes or baskets. these to be raffled
of to the highest bidder whose priv
ilege it then was to sup with the fair
whose basket he had bought. Hot
coffee could be had at so much the
cup. All the proceeds were to be de-
voted TO the organ. Maartje had
packed her own basket at noon and
had driven off at four with Klaas and
the children. She was to serve on one
Of those bustling committees whose
duties ranged from coffee making to
dish washing. Klaas and Roelf were
to be pressed into service. Jakob
Hoogendunk would convey Selma to
the festivities when his chores were