Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-04-29

you're on Twenty-Five, All Right, but
Why Did You Come Back7"
those days, and I was to be hers
hers and she mine, foreverl
awakened with consciousness
that the shack was very, very cold.
Under the blankets l was warm
enough, but the breath with which
filed my lungs was the breath of the
Arctic. The cabin was in inky dark
ness. Outside, the whine Of the gale
had risen to a roar, and the frail tim
bers Of the little shanty creaked and
trembled under its fury. thought of
Jack, and wondered. The telephone
best Of all Gods gifts through the In
ventive mind Of man to those who live
In the isolation of vast distances
was as yet not In general use on the
prairies. AS ! look tonight at the
telephone on my desk by means Of
which can speak instantly to Jacks
house or any other house in the neigh
borhood I am reminded that these
miracles Of today are accepted so much
as matter Of course that we are In
danger Of forgetting what the world
was before they came. But that night
there was no telephone on my wall, or
Jacks; no fire-shod messengers from
house to house could bear through the
storm the cheerful news that all was
we'll.
So / thought of Jack and wondered.
Jean had accepted his absence with
composure; she afterwards said that
Brook. the mounted policeman. had
told her that the man who was prairie
wise, when caught away from home
by storm, stayed where he was SAFE
even If his doing so occasioned some
uneasiness to his friends.
"It is better that your friends should
be uneasy while the storm Is on than
that they should follow you with flow
ers when the weather clears" Brook
had declared, and Jean, after accept
ing the philosophy. had passed 1t on to
Jack. She had no doubt that he was
as safe on Fourteen as was on Tween
ty-two.
But had none of this philosophy to
steady me, and was decidedly uneasy
about Jack. My brief wrestle with the
storm had shown me how easy 1t was
to become hopelessly lost even among
the most familiar surroundings and
how soon exhaustion would overpower
one. little irresistible shiver Of
nervousness ran up my spine as real
lied how fortunate had been In COM
ing back to my starting point. ! might
have missed 1t and gone on into the
night. -.
AS the frost settled down about me
| at length, by great effort. sprang
out Of bed and went cropping for my
clothes. was NOT yet pioneer enough
to know that II Is fine business In very
cold weather to sleep with your cloth
ing, or at least your underwear and
socks, under your pillow; It lessons
the ordeal of that first break from the
warm blankets into the wintry atmos-
phere. At length I found my clothes
and scrambled into them, chattering
and blowing prodigiously in the opera
ton. No man-still less woman
knows what haste he can develop in
his dressing operations until he has
had a below-zero temperature as q
| pacemaker.
Finding matches l lighted my lamp
and sailed forth into the main room.
The boards beneath me cFeaked dis
mally as my weight came upon them ;
a drift of snow several feet In length
and the shape Of great fish had
formed across the room as result OF
crack In the door; the stove was ice
cold; the water pals were frozen over;
| the little clock on the shelf had
| stopped. My watch was Of better met
tie and revealed the fact that 1t was
seven-thirty. We had slept well.
made shayings from poplar stick
In the wood box and soon had fine
fire roaring. When once it was started
| the great draft Of the storm drew 1t
impetuously up the sheet-iron pipes,
and was obliged to apply the dam
per. No more unhappy irony can be-
fall the homesteader than to burn
down his shack In his attempts to
| warm 1t.
"Good morning, Frank |" said d voice
which set the pumps Of my heart going
to Jig music. think Jeans voice was
really her most wonderful quality; she
| was enough of the artist to appreciate
and cultivate the fine manners Of the
| voice. It had the Tilt Of singing birds.
the limpidity Of puriing water, the soft
ness of roseieaves In the twilight. the
tinkling Of silver bells at dawn, and II
| can think Of any other figure It had
that. too, for me In those old love-hal-
lowed days Of mine.
@Good morning. Frank. No word Of
/. Jack?"
mo word. JEAN
Continued,