Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-02-07

over Tie stsep places.
But IN Old battls-ax Ike me- can
change her own tires q get hefsah
out a holes. Nobody bothefsi"
The sun was dropping behind The
black rampant a tie mountains ~
virgie drove homeward.
The eastern slopes sank into pur-
pie shadows, the valleys were lost IN
q citron-colored mist. But beyond
the aloof crests, cold looking and for
bidding now ~ the mountains are IN
winter, = saffron line Of light burned
along the sly. virgie admired the
brilliance briefly, considered the
fact that the Almighty seemed to
take 4 lot Of trouble to make every
act Of nature splendid and beauti-
full. Trees could have been dirty
brown or gray, but they weren't.
Even stripped Of their leaves they
were interesting and graceful.
And rocks were softened and
made lovely by ichen and water
fall. ferns and the mystery Of shad-
ows. Storms, too, were beautiful.
The piling anger Of the clouds, the
fiery skeleton bones Of lightning. the
silver marching Of the rain. And fire
though it had the color Of terror,
had glory. There was the pink and
purple Of laurel and rhododendron
in the spring, the white candelabra
of dogwood set in the forests in
spring, the flame Of azalea.
Only in making man had the fine
brush and chisel Of the Creator
slipped. Men were q sorry piece Of
work, so Virgie thought. Dreary to
look at, most of them, full of silly
hates and greedinesses, schemes to
defeat and destroy each other. all
to no profit.
Wars and politics, angers and
absurdities, these men had made;
going on their scrambling way, add
ing little to the beauty and serenity
Of the world. The black scald, bris-
Ting with broken, burned trunks
and charred stumps-men had done
that. Mank Pressly had . still up
there somewhere, and his IRE had
got away from him, burned up the
still and six kegs Of raw whisky BE-
fore it tore down the ridge to ruin
four or five hundred acres of fair
timber. And with it had gone thou
sands of Virgie's little seeding
trees.
Surveying this blackened, months
old ruin, Virgie thought Of Tom.
The man Cragg lived on, and Tom
stubbornly refused to be released
from the Jail. He was a fanatic old
fool, he had gone a little mad as
lonely old men sometimes do. And
here was Wallace Withers scheming
to cheat her and she was alone,
with no one to 60 to for the steady
ing courage that comes with ap-
proval.
Fires were burning in the house,
for q wonder, and Marian was
curled in q big chair under her
fathers portrait. Marian stayed
alone too much lately, was too still.
wallace Withers is coming here
tonight to sell me some timber"
Virgie said at dinner. 81 want you
to go and get Lucy-then both of
you stay around. I don't trust that
old man and I want somebody to
hear every word that he says"
why doesn't he come to the Of
fee if he wants to talk business?
Why does he come to the house?"
Marian asked.
Virgie was a little bothered to
find an answer for this. It was in
credible, of course, that Wallace
might still be harboring some mad
idea that his proposal would again
be listened to.
II don't know" she said. He
wrote me letter. I'm telling you
what he said. He's come here BE-
FORE"
That's just it. Mother"-Marian
sat up little straighter and looked
a trife grim-''doesn't it ever occur
to you that you are supposed to be
a wealthy widow?"
Virgie buttered q biscuit, her
mouth dragged into dry grin.
IT anything like that did occur
to me, all I'd have to do is 60 down
to the bank and have a heart-to-
heart talk with some facts and hg-
ufe8. 1h1t 3 apOut Ine most aWak-
ening thing I know of. What il all
this? Have you seen 4 peacock-blue
roadster you can't live Without"
''Tm not talking about myself. I'm
talking about Wallace Withers. He
hasn't any wife. He isn't IN old
man-not terribly old"
''Oh-thati" Virgie was scornful.
He got heas-wee3s ago. He did
ask me to marry him. I guess he
knows BY now that I'm not inter-
ested."
"And you refused hint" Marian
asked sharply.
Ibid you want him for . step
fa3herl I didn't think you'd like
going over there to live IN that
moldy old house with no lights and
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