Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-03-25

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nice commence" the imagination
was rather stirred by the possibili-
ties of what the cave on Thirty-six
| might disclose to the census taker.
How do you say his manner" Spool
had inquired.
yah DON say It. Yah sneeze it."
Ole explained.
"Sneezit-that' do" said Spool.
And so, quite without his knowledge
or consent. our Russian neighbor was
supplied with an English name;
name which may some day-who
knows?-be borne with pride by one
of our best families.
Then there was Burke, an Ameri-
can from Iowa, a man with a-lust for
labor and for doing things on big
scale. He and his wife had landed
on section Twenty about the middle
of August, and, ignoring the tradition
that it is useless to break prairie sod
in the fall, had already turned over q
broad strip from end to end of their
quarter section. Burke it was whip in
troduced mules into the settlement.
FROM what the girls were able to
gather from Spool mules called for
an even more extended vocabulary
than did oxen.
"And you want us to believe that
Spool told you all these things with
out ever coming into the housed" !
challenged.
"Never a foot over the doorstep"
said Jean. '"That Is. hardly ever. It's
big country; why be so particular
for foot or twoT"
ooh, I'm not; not at all. I'm mere
~ checking up what you said last
night"
"In my intoxication over your re-
turn! How could you. Frank" And
with that had to be satisfied.
"Rut the best Is yet!' Marjorie ex-
claimed. "Guess who's married?'
"Jake!" we answered together.
"Oh, somebody told. Yes, Jake. He
and his wife are settled on Sixteen.
They've little shack up, and Jake
is farming the community, as he calls
it. Acquaintances,' he says, are
about all I'll be able to cultivate this
year. He spends most of his time
at Spoof's, but I don't notice that
Spoof's work goes along any quicker
on that account They called on us
a couple of times-Jake and his wife,
mean; they have the advantage over
the other settlers Of having q light
wagon and q team of ponies, which
make it easy for them to get about.
Mrs. Jake impresses one as being
angular and competent, with perhaps
more heart in her than her appear
ance would suggest. They say 1t was
an agency match"
At that point we took up the story
with Jake's account of his courtship
and wedding censored, Of course, to
suit the audience.
"That's mostly lies," said Marjorie,
In her matter-of-fact way. ''He ad-
vertised for her all right, but he went
to Minneapolis to meet her, and 1t
was only when he promised to 60 on
homestead that she consented to
come. She told me that much; said
she'd had enough of the town, and
wanted to get away from everything
and everybody. She has touch of
humor, too; said, I guess that's what
I did, all right, when I came out on
the bald-headed with Jake"
"But the telegram? He had her
telegram"
"He must have faxed that. He
knew he would meet you boys before
he went back, and he had story
made up to show himself in the best
light possible"
"How about Mrs. AltonW ! asked.
"She doesn't come out. We've gone
over a couple of times, and she re-
eeives us with great friendliness, but
when we ask her to return our visit
she always makes out that she can't
leave the boy. OF course she could
bring him with her, so that is only
an excuse. For some reason she
wants to stick close to her home
stead"
1--WE must get Spool after her." said
Jack. Hell drag her out Now that
we have real society In our commu-
nifty a beautiful young widow must
not be allowed to waste her sweet
ness on the desert air.
We spent whole day conjecturing
about the new arrivals, and marveling
over the strange assortment Of hui
mainly out of which it was the bust
ness of fate and our lucky stars-no
one else seemed to trouble about the
matter-to lay in these prairies the
foundations of an enduring civiliza-
ton. Then we settled down to what
little work remained to be done. We
found our oat crops harvested, and
for that we had to thank Spool and
Jake, who had taken that bit Of
neighborly service into their own
hands. We made the stable snug,
banked up the shacks with earth, and
lined them inside with brown paper
which we had brought from town for
that purpose, We cut firewood in our
little mark by the pond. being careful