Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1927-03-10
CHAPTER XIV
The Investigation Begins

The Investigation Begins
Lydia admitted to herself that for
years something within her had been
demanding that she take a stand on
the Indian question, something to
which Charlie Jackson and Billy had
appealed, something which Kent and
John Levine had ignored. Yet neither
Charlie nor Billy had really forced her
to decision.
Bit by bit she went over her think
Ing life, beginning with her first recol-
lection of Charlie Jackson in the class
In civil government, and all that was
feminine and blind devotion in her
fought desperately with all that edu-
cation and her civic-minded forefath-
ers had given her.
Coming home from her last recita-
ton, one mild afternoon, she stopped
at the gate and looked up into the pine
tree. And there with the lowing of
the Norton herds and the hoarse call
of the crows mingling with the soft
voice Of the pine and the tapping of
the lake, she made her decision. For
clearly as though the pine had put it
into words, something said to Lydia
that it was not her business to decide
whether or not the Indians deserved
to live. 1t was her business to rec
ognize that in their method Of kill
ing the Indians, the whites had been
utterly dishonorable. That her refus-
- @o1x
crate them. And finally, that by clos
ing her eyes to the facts, because Of
her love for Levine, she was herself
sharing the general faint.
1t was Lydia's first acknowledgment
Of her responsibility to America, and
1t left her little breathless and trem-
bling She turned back to the road
and made her way swiftly to the Nor
ton place.
BILLY" she said, painting, her cheeks
bright and her yellow hair blowing,
"Pm against the Indian grating"
Billy put out his hand, solemnly,
and the two shook hands. For all
Billy was four years older than Lydia,
they both were very, very young. So
young that they believed that they
could fight single-handed the whole
world of intrigue and greed in which
their little community was set. And
yet, futile as they may seem, 1t Is on
young decisions such as these that the
race creeps upward!
"What are you going to do, BillyT'
asked Lydia.
I'm going to get government In
vestigation started, somehow he re-
piled. It'll take time, but I'll get 1t.
It'll be lovely undertaking, Lyd"
81 hate to think of It," she said I'M
steadily. "Lizzie is miserable, today.
VIII you tell your mother, Billy, and
ask her to come over to see her this
EVENING" I mustn't stop any longer
now"
Poor old Lizzie was miserable, in
deed. For years, she had struggled
against rheumatism, but now it had
bound her, hand and foot. Ma Norton
came over in the evening. Lizzie was
In bed shivering and flushed and moan
ing with pain.
"Ma waited till Lizzie slept, then
she told Lydia and Amos that Doctor
Fulton had better be called, and Amos,
with worried air, started for town at
once.
Doctor Fulton shook his head and
sighed.
"She's in for q run Of rheumatic
fever. Get some extra hot water bot
ties and make up your mind for a
long siege, Lydia"
And it was long siege. Six weeks
of agony for Lizzie, of nursing and
homework and worrying for Lydia. Ma
Norton and the neighbors gave what
time they could, but the brunt, of
course, fell on Lydia.
Billy called every evening on his
way home to supper. John Levine
sat up two or three nights week.
Kent came out once a week, with a
CHEEKY word and basket of fruit.
And at frequent intervals, the Mar
shall surrey stopped at the gate and
Elviry or Dave appeared with some of
Elviry's delicious cookery for Lydia
and Amos.
During all this time she said moth
ing to Billy about his undertaking
campaign. He finished his law course
In June and entered ex-senator Al
worlds office as he had planned. There
was another election in the fall and
John Levine was returned to congress,
this time almost without struggle.
Like a bomb, late in December fell
the news that the Indian commission
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