Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-11-25

had never let it be known SO clearly how
much they we're willing to give as ooWry
TO their daughters. For here was not
only a Cora to be wived. but one OF the
finest Of the clan, and his farm was one
Of the most productive; undulating land
stretching almost to the border u IN a
series OF green hills. like a row OF paint
ed mosque tops bathing in the blue Oh
the sky.
And he had four younger brothers to
help him work on the farm, Emanuel;
four stalwart Goras blowing the breast
like land with v%oluptuous devotion. fet
Emanuel did not seem to be anxious 10
marry. He smiled at the girls. danced
with them, sat down with their 1atners
before glasses of local wines. praised their
oxen, but kept himself free from any
engagement, free from any obligation.
And when the priest, who had 'Deen
urged on by a wealthy farmer, talked to
him about marriage, the young Basque
twirling his cap, answered:
A such things can wait. I have
other matters to think OF now"
One had to think first OF the farm, OF
the oxen n harvests. 1t was spring.
All other things could wait.
And SO week followed week and month
followed month, n old women began
to say that Emanuel was going over The
border, into Spain, too frequently. Was
there some one across there to whom he
was going? Was he intending to marry
any OF his distant relatives on the other
side2 1t was against the Cora traditions
to marry into the family, no matter how
| distant the relationship; even across
the border line.
Emanuel was much amused by this
rush upon him, and with typical Basque
shrewdness he looked upon the fathers Oh
the girls as he looked upon the matRratis,
cattle dealers. One had to beware when
they insisted too much upon selling their
oxen. The n who bought was almost
always fooled by them.
And SO he locke with suspicion at
the most beautiful daughters OF the
wealthiest men, until even his mother,
though trained never to mingle n the
affairs, never to try to influence the de-
cisions of the head of the house, could
not refrain from making observations
aloud while looking down at the heavy
wooden socks she was knitting for next
winter.
"Of course. Rose is the strongest Of
them, and everything recommends her.
She has been trained on Ichuguie's farm,
one. Their house, too, is an old house.
Their big barn is only fifty or sixty
years newer than ours
Emanuel looked at his mother, smiled,
and sat own quietly to carve the oak
master driving stick: the new one he
was making for himself to drive tho mas
ter team. Thu n his father had used
had been put aside near those OF the
departed ancestors, twenty-six in num-
Der. all the Goras who had ruled that
house.
1t was already midsummer and EN-
manuel had not yet chosen. The family
on the other side of the border line
began to share the anxiety of his French
relatives. OF course, he had his mother
and his younger brothers, but they were
not to be there permanently. The mas
ter OF the house had to build his own
family early in life, to have grown-up
sons to work beside him When his own
strength would begin to fail. AS 1t was,
Emanuel would be forty before he would
have any one of his own blood to give
him help. Why was he waitingP
And as the Goras of the Spanish side
knew every eligible family on the French
: side of the border, they enumerated one
after another the manageable daughters
and they concluded, too, after eliminat-
ing many, hat Rose Ichuguie was the
most eligible one.
And Emanuel, who had gathered the
family together at the end OF the first
year OF his fathers death, wiped his
knife carefully on the homespun napkin
and, getting up from the red painted
dinner table crowded with blue dishes
, from which every particle OF food had
been picked, he said:
II have nothing to say against Rose.
She is strong and beautiful and there is
about her everything you say there is
and more. But why should you choose
for me? Why should you or her father
or anybody else want her to be my wife
instead Of allowing me to choose her?"
They all understood. They had over
stepped their limit. He had not rebuked
them. He had only reminded them of
the fact that they were all Goras; indie
pendent masters Of their own lives, re-
> specting the independently of others like
them.
Adjoining the Cora farm was the es-
tate OF the d'Arrast family, there almost
as long as the Goras. The old castle,
lying on a higher level than Emanuel's
home, had been allowed to remain out
side as 1t had been, but most of the in
side had been modernized to suit the
taste OF visiting sons n relatives, who
lived in Paris most OF the year and came
down in the summer. There were other
things hat distinguished the estate OF
the castle from the farmers land and
q from all the other adjoining properties
o Modern machinery had been introduced
. and the land was polluted" by steam
plows and steam threshers; and when
. one Of the members of the d'Arrast FAM
iy introduced electric mixers into his
DbabiC, LAX SUopACs WAAOCS -
once closely knitted with the rest Of the
country and respected by everybody, was
being damned by the silence about 1T
= And the d'Arrast estate had to bring la
borers from the fat lands Of the Landes
and from across the border; for the
, Basques refused to have anything to dc
j. with devilish and un-Christian methods
{ Of farming.
One day, as Emanuel was coming back
from the village, walking ahead OF hi!
s huge pair OF oxen yoked to a heavy cart
to which he was point the way with hi
8 newly finished master stick, he met ths
n young master OF the castle going In the
opposite direction in a powerful auto
! mobile. A young woman, dressed III
black, was sitting beside him. Emanue
, gretted young d'Arrast by raising his car
It and received a friendly o from thu
young master. But as rapidly as the cal
had passed. he had observed a startlee
movement IN the part OF the lady. III
: turned rou n looked after the rap
idly disappearing car. The young LADY
turned her head sharply toward him ane
: Immediately afterwards the brakes wer'
brutally applied and the car came to
= stop. Surprised q little, the young farm