The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1936-01-30
There's Always
Another Year
By MARTHA OSTENsO

Days followed, and the sky over
the parched AMI ivid land became
like a dome of color1ess metal, all
the blue beaten out of the intense
heat. Fears that had smoldered sep
arately through the district, stole
out, linked, and became flaming
panic. But the drouth was only a
fore-runner of a graver holocaust.
In Fjelstad's feed and implement
store, Roddy Willard talked with
Seven Erickson and John Kitchener.
He struggled to conceal the alarm
he felt as he spoke.
"The county agent can't be ex-
pected to do it all by himself" he
said sharply. 1T takes just one day
for a good army Of grasshoppers to
eat the chimney off your housed"
- Seven shook his head solemnly.
stIhear dey are so tick in Manitoba
dey stop de trains on de tracks" he
observed with a, click of his tongue.
81 was talking with the agent to-
J day." Roddy continued. Poison
bran has beef distributed to all the
farmers west of here, right to the
state line. But some of them don't
give a d-n, the shiftless bohunks!
Their farms are going to be seized
for taxes anyhow, so they can't be
bothered about saving their crops"
"Joe Fisher came through from
Brookings yesterday" Kitchener OBJ
served, land he had to put chains
on his tires. That sounds like tall
one, but Joe swears it's the Gods
truth!truth! He stopped at place
where fellow said the hoppers ate
the harness off a horses back-for
the salt in the leather. You can take
that or leave it."
Roddy thoughtfully rolled Gig
arctic. well I wouldn't beloved Joe
even if I knew he was telling the
truth. But it's bad enough, anyhow
I disked and narrowed last fall, and
made thorough inspection of my
land this spring for locust eggs.
My land is clean. But even poison
bait won't keep them from doing a
lot of damage before they def
they begin coming in clouds"
Course" Sven observed, "you
can't blame the bohunks. It cost me
ten to twenty cents acre to spread
de bait-and dat don't pay for de
work, eder."
John Kitchener and Roddy fell to
talking then of the comparative
danger of the differential and the
lesser migratory grasshoppers, and
Seven to whom locust was merely
a locust and pest, listened eagerly.
"Darn it, anyhow" Michner said
at last, his expletive rather humor-
Gus in his deep voice, IF it would
only rain! It gathered up fine yes
terday, and then sailed off again to
the north. A couple more days like
this and there won't be enough left
for a grasshopper's lunch"
"Vell-I s'pose dey starve to death,
den," Sven observed.
The soaring heat continued and
in few days the earth, from the
top of the Willard hill, looked like
one great mottled leaf curled up at
the edges, the dry atmosphere Civ
ingthe horizon scalloped effect.
Silver, who had gone in the after
noon to the brushwood above the
farmstead in quest of breath of
air, gazed down into the shallow
valley below with sinking heart.
The door of the stone house open
ed and Sophronia came out walking
slowly, unsteadily still, up the slope
toward the barns. Yesterday the
had ventured as far as the chicken
house for the first time. Silver had
made an effort to tell her. only last
night, that she had written to Ben
jamin Hubbard in Chicago and that
he had secured a position for her.
But just at the moment when she
might have spoken, Sophronia's
head had dropped forward over her
crocheting and the gray exhaustion
of her face had filled Silver with an
alarm that prevented her uttering a
word of her plans.
The leave of the poplars above
her rustled sharply, but the breeze
that moved them was like gust
from an oven. Silver got to her feet
and saw in the cornfield to the east
the graywhite wave of air moving
over the pale, brittle tassels. The