Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-12-31
Mother-in-Law,s House

matter. Sitting inside the house a!
they did all the time over their EN-.
broidery and quilt pieces things Z
them we're always assuming an i'm.
portance and urgency all out Of pro
portion to the outside world.
Annie liked to be out there in the
garden, or IN the yard. She did al
the outside work about the place anC
didn't mind it; she liked it. She was
really the man OF the place. the only
man, for her grandfather, old Mr.
Blachord, as far as any work at all
was concerned, could no longer be
counted a man.
In winter she got up early enough
to make the fires and bring in coal
enough to last all day before Il was
time for her to get ready for school,
and in the evening when she came
home she changed her clothes and did
the night work the same way. She was
/ 40 years old nov but she noticed no
/ diminishing of her strength and
( energy, she was hardly ever the least
Z bit tired.
She taught the fifth grade at school.
She had been teaching it for so long
/ that she was a fixture. When children
IN her grade were asked what grade
they were in they didn't say fifth ."
they just said, Miss Annie Provence's &"
and everyone knew which one they
meant.
She enjoyed school well enough but
she enjoyed vacation much more. Out
there in the tomato vines with the
sun beating hot on her bare head and
the sweat standing unheeded on her
face, and the singing of the insects
all about her as they hung low over
the vines, and that strong smell Of
tomato VfY1n fhof &c 1ttrn rfHass email
coming up into her face like a mist
into which she was STOPPING, she had
what she called her vegetating feel
ing.
A feeling that she was as untroubled
and droWsy as the vines themselves
and as much part Of the sun and the
garden earth. A good detached feel
ing as If all the rest of the world
were shut out and she didn't have a
thing to think or worry about except
to tie one vine with one string TO one
stake at a time. That was the way it
made her feel to work in the garden.
1t rested her. it gave her mind
rest, her mind vegetated. If her grand
father had waited eight minutes long |
er to call her she would have been
through.
AS she went through the gate a
piece of wire sticking up from the |
post caught her sleeve. When she /
jerked her arm away the sleeve tore. I
It didn't matter It was an old dress
wear to school, the material had been
washed thin and faded and easy to
tear.
The upper part of her arm showed
brown and hard through the long
5ear. Her flesh was thick and solid and
hard all over her body. Her cheek bones
we're high and broad. Her eyes were
almost hidden behind her cheek bones
But her eyes were beautiful. They we're
,he deep blue Of morning glories on
he garden fence early in the morning.
When people got the first glimpse OF
Miss Annie Provence's eyes in the
lrown of her face they had the same
ceiling that one has when coming
Unexpectedly on a beautiful view.
Sometimes she laughed and said Of
herself, Il look more like a good pillow ,
land than do a school teacher" But
he was one Of the best teachers in
he city system. Children who were
title demons in the lower grades knew
hey would have to straighten up when
hey got in Miss Annie ProvenceS /
DOM, though, at that, it was never
S bad as they expected. :
She was so strong that when she
ad to she could turn a boy across !
Ter broad thigh even while she was i
landing up, and give him a good
adding easy as anything, with just J
ne hand so to speak, but she seldom :
ad to do 1t. On the whole they got !
long fine with her, they could tell !
nat she liked them, and when they
ere out of school and looking back on
they said they had learned more in
IisS Annie Provence's room than in =
L the rest of school put together. &
It was because she had a knack for <
hat was practical, she said, and fifth +
rade stuff, just plain reading and s
Yelling and arithmetic and all that Z
as practical, and kids used it all the o
st of their lives, they could get !,
ong on that even II they never had q
lything else. \
AS she went across the back yard y
lie glanced toward the narrow high (
-ay roof Of the Pryor house which y
,se beyond the thick, dark cedar y
owe that was between that place and -
lis. There was never a time when .,
lie was out in the yard that she didn't -
: habit glance toward the Pryor u
ace. And her eyes went soft with ~ -
arning and love yet at the same Z
ne narrowed with hate. y
The bird dog pranced and pushed a
.airlst her skirt every step Of the way n
the porch, wildly welcoming her 81
turn from the garden from which &
had been barred, the gate shut q
yht in his face She patted his big, "
lrd head. whats the matter with
u2" she said MY goodness I never 70
d see such cutting up. Bout to have W
fit, aren't you, you're so glad to ht
e me, yes, sir. Bout to have fit.
, on now, go way. I don't want sa
u. Who said wanted you? Get
wn. don't jump quite all over me-" VI
He wasn't really her dog, he was "a
,dney Pryor's, but he had started
lying over here when he was just so
ppy and since then she had never pl
en- able to make him go back to his hs
o brothers which Rodney still had, ia
anywhere else for that matter I'M ey
S she went too. AS she went in the tr
ok door he caught the screen with
} nose and pushed noiselessly in after sh
{: de
She went through the hall to her al
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