Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1925-08-20

She kept, perforce, TO the house that
first year, and the second. Pervus de-
clared that his woman should never
work in the fields as did many of the
High Prairie wives and daughters.
Selma learned much that FIST year,
and the second. but she said little. She
kept the house in order-rough work
and endleSs-and she managed, mirac-
ulCusly, TO keep herself looking fresh
and neat. She understood now
Maartje Pools drab garments, harassed
face, heavily swift feet, never at rest.
The idea of flowers il bowls was aban-
doned by July. Had 1t not been for
ROelfs faithful tending, the flower
beds themselves, planted with such
hopes would have persisted for lack Of
care.
Roelf came often to the house. He
found there tranquility and peace
never known in @the Pool place, with
its hubbub and clatter In order to
make her house attractive Selma ha0
actually rifled her precious little banl
hoard-the four hundred and ninety
seven dollars left her by her father
She still had one Of the clear white
diamonds. She kept ii sewed in Tho
hem of an old flannel petticoat.
The can of white paint and the
brush actually did materiallZe. For
weeks II was dangerous to sit, lean, OF
tread upon any paintable thing in the
DeJong farmhouse <ithout eliciting a
cry of warning from Selma. She
would actually have tried her hand at
The outside of the house with quart
can and a three-inch brush Il Pervus
hadn't interviewed. She hemmed dimity
curtains, made slip-covers for the hid
eous parlor sofa and the ugliest of the
chairs. Subscribed for magazine
called House and Garden Together
she and Roelf used to pore over this
fascinating periodical. If High Prairie
had ever overheard one of these con
versations between the farm woman
who would always be girl and the
farm boy who had never been quite
child, it would have raised palms higf
in an "Og heden!" of horror. But
High Prairie never heard, and wouldn'l
have understood if il had
Selma was up daily at four. Dress
Ing was a swift and mechanical cover.
ing of the body. Breakfast must he
ready for Pervus and Jan when they
came in from the barn. The house TO
elean, the chickens to tend, sewing
washing ironing, cooking. She con
rived ways of minimizing her steps, OF
tightening her labor. And she saw
clearly how the little farm was mis-
managed through lack of foresight
imagination and-she faced IL square
y--through stupidity. She was fond
IF this great, kindly, laundering, stub
porn boy who was her husband. But
she saw him with amazing clearness
through the mists of her love. There
vas something prophetic about the
way she began to absorb knowledge OF
he farm work. of vegetable culture. of
marketing. Listening, seeing, she
earned about soil, planting. weather,
ceiling. The daily talk of the house
md fields was of nothing else. About
his little twenty-five-acre garden
patch there was nothing of the majes
v of the Iowa, Illinois and Kansas
Erain farms. with their endless pillows
II wheat ami corn, rye, alfalfa and
barley rolling away TO the horizon.
Everything was done in diminutive
here Selma sensed that every inch
Of soil should have been made to yield
10 the utmost Yet there lay the west
sixteen, useless during most of" the
year; reliable never And there was
40 money TO drain il or enrich it; no
ready cash for the purchase of profit
able neighboring acreage. She did not
know the term intensive farming, but
his was what she meant.
During that winter she was often
hideously lonely. She never got over
her hunger for companionship. Here
she was, gregarious and fun-loving
creature. buried in a snow-bound Hi
nois prairie farmhouse with husband
who looked upon conversation as
convenience, not pastime. She
learned much that winter about the
utter sordidness of farm life. She
rarely saw the Pools; she rarely saw
any one outside her own little house
hold. The front rOom-the parlor-
was usually bitterly cold, but some
times she used to slip in there, shawl
over her shoulders, and sit al the
frosty window to watch for Wagon
to go by, or a chance pedestrian up the
road. She did not pity herself, nor
regret her step. She felt, physically,
pretty we'll for child-bearing woman
and Pervus was tender, kindly, SYM
pathetic, if not always understanding.
She struggled gallantly to keep up the
small decencies of existence. She
loved the glow of Pervus' eyes when
she appeared with bright ribbon, &
fresh collar, though he said nothing
and perhaps she only fancied that he
noticed. Once or twice she had
walked the mile and half of appery
road to the Pools, and had sat in
Maartje's warm bright busting
kitchen for comfort. Where was ad-
venture now? And where YVES lifef
And where the love Of chance bred in
her by her father?
The two years following Dirks birth
were always somewhat vague in Sc
sina's mind, like a dream in which hor-
ror and happiness are inextricably
blended. The boy was plump, hardy
infant. He had his fathers blond ex-
terror, his mothers brunette vivacity.
At two he was child of average intel
ligence, sturdy physique and marked
good humor. He almost never cried.
He was just twelve months old
wien Selina's second child-a girl