Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-03-04

Heaven, I'm not Scotch. No reflection
on the Scotch" he added hurriedly,
noting warning fash in Marjorie's
eyes. "They are very wonderful
people. They eat oatmeal, and thrive
on it. very wonderful people. Oh,
say! Can't we have some tea?
Beastly dry business, homesteading;
no afternoon tea. / must speak to my
man about that. He's the same man
as mixes my whisky and sodas, accord
ing to the governors idea Of It," Spool
explained.
The girls went inside, and In a short
while brought out tea and sandwiches
do you know" said Spool, when
the girls had cleared up the tea things
and were out of hearing, "the thing
of which stand most in need at the
present moment-that thing which Is
SO essentially English, and from which
l have been divorced for more days
than I care to number-that thing for
which would gladly give half of my
kingdom, meaning the northwest guar.
ter of section Two? No? Observe
the bushes beneath my sunburned
cuticie as I admit that for weeks ]
have not had bath. For weeks, 1T
orally. II my poor governor could
know that, not even the hide Of polar
bear would reconcile him to leaving me
to live the life of savage"
1--WE can soon fix that mean, we
Con furaich fha orou,;<hol sold 7
"and l will expect the deed of eighty
acres In return" So we led Spool
down to the pond.
my word, my wordr' said Spool.
"Why didn't Jake tell me about this?
I will have that land guides gizzard
for this omission! My word, If only
l had bathing suit! I say, do you
think there would be any great dam
ger-any danger at all, that is-of an
Interruption"
mot bit. We have that all Or
gained" and ! showed him a red
handkerchief tied to a stick. when
the pond Is in use we fly this banner
on the bank of the gully, and we're as
safe, as Sunday. The girls usually
have their plunge in the middle of the
afternoon, for that matter, and leave
us undivided possession in the eve
ming"
Spool was already half undressed.
my word. and do the young ladies
swim?"
"Jean Is the best swimmer ever
knew" l confessed, modestly.] I'VE
lived beside river at home, and she
had way Of bagging all the prizes at
our swimming races"
"She bagged bigger game than that"
Jack put in. "She stored up lot of
trouble for herself and the rest of us
by pulling our worthy Frank out of the
millpond one day, after the bubbles
had begun to come" So then had to
tell Spool about that incident. But /
avoided reference to the pledge that
had followed it. s.
When we had had our swim and
dried ourselves on the sand we went
back up to the house. The shadows
were now falling, long and narrow, to
the eastward, and the prairie lay
hushed and silent in that deep and
peaceful calm which marks the sum-
mer evening an hour or two before
shutdown.
After supper Spool sat and chatted
until it was time to light the lamp.
Jean set it on the table, and as its
yellow glow fell across his face !
realized for the first time that Spool
was not boy, as were Jack and I.
There were lines in the cheeks and
about the eyes which, magnified by the
shadows under the lamplight, bore evil
dence that Spool had known more of
this worlds cares than was limited by
his usual light-hearted conversation.
Presently he was talking of Eng
land; easing, perhaps, the homesick-
ness in his heart by calling up scenes
Of leafy lanes and misty sun-shot land
scapes linking deeply into his life. He
had tales of London as well; tales of
art treasures and music and theaters
all alight with life and beauty; tales
Of gravestones marking the great Of
nation with history reaching back
into the early obscurity of western
civilization. Something about the
pride he showed in the great deeds of
the past seemed to strike US strangely
we Of country whose history was
still SO much in the future and whose
greatest deeds were still to be done.
do you sing. Mr.. SpoofY' Marjorie
asked.
"Only at great distances from civil
zation-my tbullocks could say word
or two about my musical voice If they
were so disposed. But surely you or
Miss Hall"
"Jean sings and plays, If we had
anything to play on" Marjorie de-
clared. But we haven't added a piano
yet to our equipment. suppose we
shall have to buy binder and horses
and perhaps a thrashing mill before
we have any money for musical instru-
ments."
sand a house," I added. 'sTd like
to see you keep piano in tune in
cage like this"
evan chonld havn q honfo0 cold