Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-04-13
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Reno rested his violin on his lap
and talked while. Then back went
his fiddle and again the thrilling, ex-
citing sounds rang through the room.
When Reno went off to his new
bed, our room seemed lonesome. It
was the best evening we'd had in
months.
We'll wait and see how he pans
OUT" Pa said.
I hoped to God he would pan out.
I am glad to say he did. He was
a good worker and didn't rest his
horses too long at the ends of the
rows, and didn't mind pulling milk
weeds. It was understood on rainy
days hand could do light work in
the barn, such as greasing the har-
ness, or cleaning out the cobs from
the managers. Reno would do more
than that. If it stopped raining, he
would dart out to the woodpile and
begin to split railroad ties. If it
started to rain again, he would 60
back to the barn and climb into the
manager with his cob basket.
We saw we had a treasure. But
Pa still was skeptical. Now and then
we would get treasure; but some
night he would come home as drunk
as hell. Sometimes we'd have to
60 to town and bring him out. But
If one ever got drunk enough to
land in jail, Pa was through with
him, no matter how perfect he was
in other respects.
One day Reno told Pa that If
Pa would get him some traps he
would see what he could do about
the gophers. Never before had a
hand volunteered to trap gophers,
for it meant additional work; on top
of this Pa didn't think he could trap
them, gophers being what they are.
So he gave him a steel trap and
told him to see what he could do.
In day or two, Reno came in
with gopher tail. Soon he had an
other. So Pa went to town and got
half dozen traps. Reno would
dig hole about a foot square until
it crossed the run, then get on his
knees and 60 through careful proc
ess of covering the trap and weight
! ing the tongue with just the right
thickness of dirt. Then he would
fasten the trap to the board and put
the board over the top of the hole
and cover it with dirt so as to shut
out the light. In a day or two he
would have gopher.
Reno became a most welcome
addition to our family; he was
cheerful and had a sense of humor
and could tell the simplest thing that
had happened to him during his
days work and make it absorbing.
l began to realize, after a time,
that he exaggerated. But that was
all right; the element of essential
truth was there; and by making al
lowances we could come pretty close
to the kernel.
The neighbors came to esteem
him and when we were invited to a
party, Reno went along as mat
ter of course. Sometimes had the
uncomfortable feeling that he was
the most welcome one of us.
He developed a quality that few
hands had. Of making money in
addition to his wages A horse be-
longing to 'neighbor had been
shocked by lightning and was con-
sidered worthless. Reno traded
for him, put him by himself in a
pasture on soft ground and brought
him out of his shakes. He traded
him for a better horse and pretty
soon bought a set of harness at a
| public sale. Little by little he be-
gan to "pick up things.
Gradually, as his circle of ac-
quaintances widened, there came a
social problem. He wanted to Ego"
with the girls, and there the heart
wrench began, for Reno, however
deserving, owned no land. Person
ally he was pleasing and he was ca
pable. But he didn't own land.
Saturdays he would stand on the
edge of the sidewalk, on the west
side of the Square, where the crowd
was thickest, and when one of our
farm girls came along, he would
take off his hat (Which some of our
young men didn't do) and speak to
the girl and make an excuse to
walk down the street with her Some
times he would come to the back of
the grocery where he knew the girl
and her family were having dinner
Crying to pretend this was acct
dentaD and make friendly advances.
This was all right, but he mustn't
ask them to 60 anywhere with him.
The girls who had spoken to him so
friendly at the debates and spelling
and ciphering matches. now, on the
streets, could hardly see him.
He bought black derby, which
was the kind of hat the "city" men
were wearing, and kept it carefully
in the hatbox side of his trunk, but
this did not change his social status,
He got new suit but even this
made no difference. A fashion of
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