Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-08-19

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before ] realized that Jean had re-
ceived knockout blow: that she had
Inundated herself to this man Spool;
that she had placed her womanhood
at his feet, and he had spurned It
Just what It was for me to lose Jean.
just that same must 1t be for, Jean
to lose Spool.
"And he refused you-refused you"
l repeated. when this thought had set
tied clearly in my mind. "Jean, 1
don't see how-any man could do
that"
He was kind-.considerate." she
said. quietly. "Said he was sorry
appreciated the compliment; any man
might be flattered. he said. but 1t was
quite impossible. So am left dan
Cling in space"
"Well. what next7" ! asked. after
long silence In which. consciously
or unconsciously. she was drawing her
finger tips slowly up and down be-
tween the backs of mine. 'What
nextT'
go home," she said. decisively.
slack and Marjorie will be uneasy.
You will see me home. won't your
Spool took an inordinately long
time to feed the oxen. but when he
returned. with great blowing and
stamping before opening the door, we
were ready for the road. We took
leave without much in the way of ex-
plantations. but with his promise to
come and see us at least once a week.
Our long walk home was taken In
almost complete silence. Once sug-
gested to Jean that we should let 1t
be understood that she had gone to
Browns, not Spoof's.
"Just as you like" she said II
don't care"
AS we neared Twenty-Five Jean took
my arm, although here the path was
good.
'Thank you so much" she said. II
thought you would. perhaps-that you
would go back to what we talked Of
yesterday. / couldn't stand that, just
now. Do you understand? You are
considerable; you are-an artist" and
her face smiled wanly into mine.
lied glihly about having found
Jean at Mrs. Browns; Mrs. Brown was
well, but one Of the children had q
sore throat; Brown had slipped on the
ice and hurt his hip, not badly; they
were longing for English mail.
knew all this duplicity must be found
out, but was content to delay the
evil day. By some sort Of telepathic
understanding we did not discuss
jeans behavior. We were glad
enough to have her back safe and
sound; we were willing to agree that
the stress of winter had perhaps been
too much for her. She would be all
right presently.
The days that followed were busy
times for me. / Immediately began to
CLEAN the neighborhood for books, and
the harvest was much more liberal
than I expected Spool lent me By
ron and the Decline and Fall; Brown
supplied complete Shakespeare, In
one volume; Bella Donna contributed
a Life Of Lincoln; Burke, much to my
surprise, had copy Of Whitman,
from which he quoted copiously, ges-
tfculating to me In an empty stall
he was deep pool where had looked
for shallow water; Andy Smith was
equally insistent upon rehearsing
Burns, and particularly to the effect
that the rank Is but the guinea's stamp.
etc. I did not call upon Mrs. Alton,
nor venture into the unguessed posi-
bilities of Hansen's and Sneezit's, al
though after my experiences / was
almost prepared to find Ole Hansen
buried in The Wealth Of Nations, and
Sneezit porting over Carlyle. Neither
did I, at the time, enlist the good Of
fees of the Reverend Locke. In
community that / had supposed des-
titute Of anything Of the sort I had
unearthed more books than / could
read.
At first had to drive myself to 1t,
but presently I began to be carried
away in the spirit in the new world
which was opening before me. With
Joy I noted. suddenly, that / had
forced my boundaries far beyond the
corner stakes of Fourteen, beyond
even the prairies, the continent, the
times In which we live. My mind,
from sluggishly alternating for the
winter. became a-dynamo Of activity.
One day Jean came over to Four
teen. alone. l buried my Shakespeare
under pair Of old overalls and
opened the door. Perhaps she saw
me glancing about. as though looking
for Marjorie.
"Unchaperoned, today" she said.
"You don't mind?" She began to draw
OFF her gloves; new knitted gloves
which had not seen before.
"New gloves. Jean?" / queried.
"Yes. just finished knitting them
from yarn mother sent. Feel them
Aren't they soft?"
Il envy them very much" | said.
and was much pleased with my sub
tlety.
Envy them-why? Oh, you
mean because they're-tRey're always
holding my hands," and happy wave