, 1925-04-22
CHAPTER VII-Continued
10


Selma turned the horses heads
IOWA I'd the city. you'd be surprised.
Jan, to know of all the things you're
golnS to hear of some day that you've
never heard of before" Still, when
twenty yeacs had passed and the Ford.
the phono, raph, the radio, and the
rural mail delivery had dumped the
world at Jams plodding feet he liked
to tell of that momentous day when
Selma DeJong had driven of to market
like a man with n wagon load of hand
scrubbed garden truck and the boy
Dirk perched beside her on the seat.
If, then, you had been travelling the
Halsted road, you would have seen II
decrepit wagon, vegetable laden, driven
by a too-thin woman, sallow, bright
eyed, In n ~shnpeless black dress, n bat
ter ed black felt hat that looked like
a mans old fedora" and probably
was. on the seat beside her you
would have seen II farm boy of nine or
t~hereabouts-a brown freckle-faced lad
In n comIcally homemade suit OF
clothes and n straw hat with n broken
and Hopping brim which he was for
ever jerking Off only to have 1t set
firmly on again by the woman who
seemed to fear the effects of the hot
afternoon u on his close-cropped
head.
AT their feet was the dog Pom, a
mongrel whose tail bore no relation to
his head, who's ill~-assorted legs APP
reared wholly at variance with his
sturdy barrel of n body. He dozed
now, for 1t had been his duty to watch
The wagon Dad at night, while pervus
slept.
A shabby enough little outfit, but
magnificent, too. Here was Selma De.
Jong. driving up the Halsted road
toward the city instead of sitting,
black-robed, in the farm parlor while
High Prairie came to condole. In Sc
lima, as they logged along the hot
dusty way, there welled up a feeling
very like citation. More than ten years
ago she had driven with Klaas Pool up
that same road for the first time, and
10 spite OF the recent tragedy of her
fathers death, her youth, her lonell.
ness, the terrifying thought of the
new home to which she was going, n
stranger among strangers, she had
been conscious of n warm little thrill
OF citation, of excitement-of adven.
Just n grand adventure" her father,
Simeon Peske, had said. And now the
sensation, OF that day were repeating
themselves. Now. as then, she took
stock. Youth was gone, but she had
health, courage; a boy of nine twenty.
Ave acres OF wornout farm land
dwelling and outhouses In a bad state
Of repair: and n gay adventuresome
spirit that was never to die. though II
led her into curious places and she
often found. ut the end. only a track
less waste from which she had to re-
trace her steps painfully. But always.
to her, red and green cabbages were to
be Jade and burgundy. chrysoprase and
~porphyry. Life has no weapons against
q like that.
Down the hot dusty country road.
She was serious enough now. The cost
OF the funeral to be paid. The doctors
bill. JAMS wages. All the expenses,
large and small, Of the poor little farm
holding.
on down the road. Here a head nj n
front room window. There a woman's
callcoed figure standing In the door
wny. Mrs. Wander Slide IN the porch,
tanning her flushed face with her
apron Cornella Snip In the yard pre-
tending TO tie up the dropping stalks
Of the golden glow and cycling the mp
preaching team with the avid gosslp's
sure. To these Selma waved. bowed.
0lled