Evening star., 1938-10-30


20 around.
There was always plenty of food on Bowers
table There was always big woodpile and
glowing fires. There was laughter and love and
more merriment than any house in the county
knew. But when furniture was broken, it could
not be replaced. Mr.. Bowers and Wesley
struggled with worn-out machinery and ancient
harness. Dresses we're turned and patched and
handed down. The Bowers children. neverthe
less, were all fat and sturdy and happy They
could joke about their hardships. Other young
people adored them and would gather on Sun
days to pop corn and sing in the Bowers
kitchen in preference to any other house up or
down the long road.
Wesley, the oldest, was quiet and shy. He
had been caught young, trapped and held fast
by the crowdng brood below him. The three
next to Wesley were girls, and the boys coming
along after them were still too young to do
mans work in the fields, though they could
milk and chop wood and clean the barns But
Wesley and his father we're never through with
their work. At twenty three the boy was serious
and Injured to hard labor. At an age when most
young men were strutting the earth, clamorlng
for its pleasures, he asked nothing for himself.
Sometimes Weseys sisters called him
stick. They called him grandpa to his face,
not in real cruelty, but with the frankness of
large families There were always beaux to take
the three older sisters into town to the movies or
entertainments But Wesley needed little
cash to go dating.
Everyone except Christina took Wesley's
enslavement to his family for granted. The
Manages farm lay beyond the Bowers acres.
Christina was an only child. Pete Manages. her
father, was the best farmer in the county. His
cribs carried enough corn to last from harvest
to harvest. His hogs we're pure-bred His COWS
were clean and sleek.
Pete Manages was wonderful with stock. but
machinery was mystery to him. Sometimes
Christina would put on overalls, get kit of
tools and make repairs. Her father had great
respect for her because she could do this. Often
she went along with him on the swap work.
basis the neighborhood used. In overalls and
bright sweater, with beret on her brown head
and silk scarf around her neck, she ran the
tractor or operated the corn shredder. She was
so truly feminine that nothing could mar her
She was splendid big girl, with clear gray
eyes and round comely face. And she knew
when they were shredding corn at Bowers,
that Wesley could not keep his eyes from her.
But what could he do, save look? Pete made
no bones about it that he liked the Bowers we'll
enough as neighbors, but considered them poor
managers. Wesley, Pete added, with warning
for Christina in his voice, was like his father,
licked before he started. A man had to rise
above his environment, stand for himself.
Christina listened in respectful silence. She
loved her father. She had no intention to defy
him. But her feeling for Wesley didn't change.
But what could Wesley do? Where would he
get car, get cash, to go courting? The old car
the Bowers used was always swarming with
children. Wesley couldn't get it out of the yard
without youngsters piling in with him. Chris
tina knew vast indignation.
When Wesley came over to return work by
helping to shuck corn, Christina drove the
team for him, and the sound of the ears of corn
on the bang board was like the sound of great
far away drum. 1t stirred Christina S pulses
1t was then she suggested that Wesley try for
the County Contest. He was the fastest corn
husker she had ever seen. If he won the County
Contest he would 60 to the State. and if he won
the State Contest, he would go to the National
There were prizes, of cash and merchandise
There was wide publicity. 1t was an instructive
move on Christmas part to jar Wesley out of
his rut, to hang a rainbow of glory about his