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About Lincoln County leader. (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 1905)
WICKLY'S B 11. W. CHAPTER III. "Would you mind taking a little walk with me. Miss Wickly? I want you to see just what we are doing, and what we are going to do in the way of digging up your park, before we go too far with It. Prof. Huntley mentioned the matter twice last week. And after considering it, we concluded that you ought to see for yourself, and fully understand the situation. We have concluded that our researches must be much more extensive than we at first contemplated. And per haps Prof. Huntley thought that an addi tional compensation ought to be given you under the circumstances ; aud has made such a statement to the to the Hoard," said Mr. Mason, on a Saturday afternoon some two weeks after the oc currences detailed in the first chapter. "I wish you would take her away somewhere, Mason," exclaimed Jehu Wickly in mock despair. "She's in one' of her tensing moods, and has been tor menting the life out of me for the last tour. Don't take her, though, unless you are fully satisfied that you can en dure unutterable things. For I think she takes about as much delight in teas ing you as me." "Teasing! Now, Mr. Mason, you shall judge between us. Here are the Chicago papers with accounts of the meeting of the Wicklif heirs, illustrated with life Jike portraits of a great many of them pa included. Now don't you think that family ought to get an estate of fifty millions simply upon their personal good looks?" There was a very merry twinkle in the mischievous brown eyes of Lizzy Wickly, as she skillfully avoided the sudden grasp with which her father attempted to get possession of the papers. "Now, remember, Mr. Mason, that this is the way the Wicklif, or Wickly, heirs appeared, to fair and impartial artists who delineated them to the life. Areu't they ugly? There ought to be some pen alty attached to such unmitigated ugli ness as these pages display." "Oh, bless you; there is. A very harsh penalty, too; since the victims never live lung enough to serve out the sentence," retorted Mr. Wickly, with a laugh that had something artificial in it to Mr. Mason's ear. Therefore he hastened to ay: "If you are ready, Miss Lizzy, and don't mind the walk " "Oh, I shall be delighted, I assure you," said Lizzy, putting on her hat be fore the little mirror over the dressing 'iise. They went along the sandy street liedged with an enormous growth of wild hemp and jimson weeds, wherever the absence of a dwelling made it unneces sary to clear away the rapid growth of the hot June days. People stared at them out of windows, and came to the doors to prolong the view after they had passed. Little squads of men ceased talking as they came up, and preserved a critical and vigilant silence until they were well past these spots on their way to the woods. Everywhere Sandtown had its three hundred pairs of eyes upon the pe destrians, and did not attempt to conceal that fact. Lizzy blushed a little indig nantly. "1 haven't got accustomed to tne vil lage Argus yet," she said with a light laugh, as they turned out of the road leading eastward and took their way up a little straight lane crowded with the staple jimson and wild hemp, the dead white stalks of both plants glistening like bleached skeletons with knotted joints among the dark lustrous green ot the lux uriantly growing young plants. "Nor has the village Argus come to know you thoroughly," answered .ilr. Mason, smiling. "When it does come to make your acquaintance thoroughly, you will find it the most docile of animals, ven winking at the largest of your pec adilloes assuming that these are of any magnitude at all." "Which is an unwarranted assumption, sir. Haven't I been perfect, even in the critical eyes of the village Argus?" There was the light and bantering air of the merry young woman out to be entertained, and entertaining, certainly. But there was also a quick and search ing after-glance that might mean some thing more, something deeper. "Do you mean to ask me a conven tional question which should have a con ventional answer, Miss Lizzy? You know 1 am so used to the bare and abstract so lution of plain arithmetical and alge braic propositions and problems, that " He hesitated and glanced at her doubt fully. "Let me be solved by the very sternest rules of your science, Mr. Mason," she aid, with her brows drawn just a trifle, and the short upper lip now so com pressed as to hide the gleam of her very pretty white teeth. "I suppose that in very truth a young woman is seldom fav ored with a calm and impartial Judg ment upon herself from a competent source. And really, I think that all of us have a secret craving to measure our selves with those who have already at tained eminence in some laudable di rection." "And have you, too, that distrust of the hasty 'and formal conventional ver dict, that leads us to desb" to have the verdict reviewed again?" he laughed. "Come this way, Miss Wickly. You will be floundering between a Scylla of wal nut stump and a Charybdis of jimson weeds in a moment. And that calls me back to what I had Intended to say of the Tillage Argus. I became acquainted with it late enough in life to hate and rondemn it at first, and afterward to field It a tardy but ever growing respect WOODS TAYLOR and esteem. The espionage of the vil lage and the country is, after all, no mere vulgar and despicauie curiosity." "What else can It be, Mr. Mason? What else but the evidence of a total luck of good breeding? The rudeness of an ignorant and uncu...valed people?" she asked, her upper lip curling in scorn at the very contemplation. "For in stance, the gauntlet of bold and unblush ing starings through which even you, man as you are, did not come unwound ed, just now." They had gone beyond the utmost limit of the straggling village of Sandtown, and had even begun a series of gentle as cents by which the road, no longer a rail wulled lane, led gradually over gentle knolls to the sharp wooded ridges of the river bluffs. As Lizzy concluded her invective she turned and glanced back toward the vil lage. At that distance figures of people in little groups on the street or at doors and windows could be seen fixed and mo tionless, with faces toward the two stroll ers. Mr. Mason turned also, and both being struck by something ludicrous in the situation, laughed very heartily. "1 confess that a laugh is a great handicapping of a philosophical proposi tion. Nevertheless, I must say that so far nobody has read the riddle of the Sphinx aright. The progressive world M-ls itself ubuut .the instantaneous re forming, developing and lifting of the lower stratum of society up to the higher level ofseach epoch. In very fact, MiHS Wickly, such a proceeding is as unphilo sophical and materially Impossible as that those apple trees should bear their fruit before the flowers aud leaves, and even the twigs." He paused again and looked at her scrutinizingly, and a little apprehensive ly, but with the apprehensive element slipping out rapidly. "I think I catch your meaning totally new and strange as It is to me. Would you, for instance, have me give up my effort to instruct and enlighten the very ignorant children of the still more ignor ant people of Sandtown? Or, more com prehensively, would you have all effort at instruction and advancement of the lower classes, the poor and uneducated, stopped for once and all?" Now, indeed, the element of apprehen siveness had disappeared entirely from the look which Mr. Will Mason cast upon his fair and serious, but skeptical ques tioner. In its place was a half-suppressed, eager, delighted anticipation, which she saw there so distinctly, so unmis takably, that she could not restrain the involuntary smile of instant recognition. Mr. Mason flushed a little, and his smile had something of embarrassment in it. Were his unuttered thoughts to be seen at a single glance of this girl of nineteen years? "You can hardly have an idea, Miss Lizzy," he said, apologet ically, and looking away while he made broadsword cuts at the very vulnerable heads of the jimson weeds with his hick ory walking stick, "how hungry 1 get for the companionship of educated and re fined people. Or, rather, isn't it for a sort of intellectual combat that we pine, in a solitude of observations on the price of wheat, the next election, and what your friend Redden's Inst acquisition in Alderney cows cost him? If I hadn't discovered you and your tather and moth er here in this secluded spot to which I have been condemned by fortune, I should have been tempted to try conclu sions with fate by resigning my position and fleeing back to the city." "Not in the face of such a lovely scene 8B this, Mr. Mason, surely!" CHAPTER IV. They had reached the summit of the highest of the sand mounds that lie as if iu little eddies of that mighty stream that once swept from the great lakes down the valley of the Wabash toward the ocean. "Was there ever anything so lovely? Look at that faint golden green of the fringing willows of this bright, bright river! And the darker green deepening into blue and purple of the patches of woodland on the other side. And then beyond that, the upward sweep of the strange, fair, lonely, lonely, solemn prai rie. I could never be unhappy nor great ly discontented In the presence of a scene like this." Lizzy had involuntarily turned away from him, holding her hand outstretched, in a sort of girlish ecstasy of admiration toward the wide river bottom and the boundless prairie beyond. They stood in silence for almost a min ute, their eyes resting upon a bright reach of limpid, sparking river cut off by a mass of the distant blue green wood land, now upon a dim and misty light blue vista of valley that from the dark and defined border of diminishing line of woodland drawn up in martial array to witness the passage of the unceasing flood of waters, led on and on into the undefined dominions of northern sky, islanded with banks of unmoving clouds of creamy white. "You are a poet, Miss Lizzy. And I am not," said the assistant geologist, presently. "I think this fact fully ex plains the great difference between us. You can never wenry of the beautiful things of wood and field and flood. I, ou the other hand, must have the beautiful and the good In some human creature." He spoke this last sentence almost in an inaudible murmur, and now with his head turned away and the cane making broadsword sweeps among the ranks of hostile jimsons. "We must go on, Mr. Philosopher, or we shall be too late to make a very thor ough inspection of the field of your prlag labor. And I have not forgotten, to, that I had pat you upon dangeroua ground by my question a few momenta ago. How do you answer it?" They began the walk again, now dis appearing from the vision of the three hundred pairs of eyes, in the thickest of hazel and dwarf oak that intermediated between the sandy prairie land of the river bottom and the primeval forest of th upland hills. Unconsciously they had quickened their pace as if it had been the beauty of the valley and prairie that had held them back ueretofore. "I meant to express my view that the proletary is that immovable, imperish able, immutable, base and germinal of humanity out of which has always grown tlje slender and comparatively sparse, delicate and perishable roots aud flowers the educated, the refined, the intellec tual men and women, and even cities and communities of the earth. But I'm afraid you will look upon this as a lecture, Miss Lizzy. And if I remember, you have stipulated against lectures." "Then your lecture at Mount Zion fom weeks ago " "Was aimed at you, Miss Lizzy, I must confess. I thought that I saw in you great possibilities, if only there were behind you the motive power of necessity for continued exertion, coupled with the physical ability to cope with sustained effort or rather to achieve sustained ef fort. And if I mistake not, the seed fell upon fallow ground. Have I not Been you armed with hoe and sunbonnet per forming prodigies in the well-kept gar den behind your father's house? Believe mo or not, Miss Lizzy, to the extent of my deserts you have really taken a long step toward quieting the Argus of Sand town. After awhile it will blink com placently upon nil your goiiigs in and your comings out. There goes a fox squirrel. How the wary scamp runs straight for his own fortress, past many inviting trees." "But you are quite sure that my gar den exercises are the direct result of your Mount Zion lecture. Mr. Philoso pher?" she saiil, with a little pique dis closed In her voice, as well as in the arched brows and the drooping lids. "Might I not arrive independently at the conclusion that I ought to 'work the' gar den, as Mr. Redden puts it? But my, what a heap of ugly red dirt, Mr. Ma son. Is this where you get all the heaps of ugly rough stones that I saw in the office of the State geologist once?" They went on through the woods slip ping down steep declivities, through beds of brown leaves knee deep, leaping across little slender, shaded rills, pulling great bunches of "sweetwilliam" her and there, looking at the surprisingly tall, slender saplings of ash and elm, aud poplar, and hickory, that seemed to be in such a hur ry of growth to get up into the sunshine above the high tops of the parent trees that they could uot afford material for lateral growth. Here a bunch of wild raspberry vines held its clusters of blnck, soft, sweet berries too temptingly toward them, and their fingers and lips were stained with the purple juices. Here a hen pheasant, spreading her drooping wings and erecting her black ruff fluttered along in a way that so amused the latent hunter instinct in Lizzy Wickly that she intuitively gave chase, and only relinquished the pursuit when the wily bird, having succeeded in her diversion, and being satisfied of the security of her numerous little brown biood, finally flew high up in a leafy oak and immediately stood so straight up that it looked very much like a bit of dead limb. Here a tangle of wild rose bushes cov ered with the sweet smelling "forbears," of all the Marechal Niels aud the Jacque minots and sweet tea ruses prettier and sweeter than any of their noble and haughty descendants, called the ramblers irresistibly to them, and held them long, long time in admiring investigation, and delightful acquisition. It was at the eud of this episode, and when the glories of the wild rose tangle hnd been exhausted, that Lizzy held up a large bouquet of the roses, the sweet williams, some wild pinks, some very richly tinted bluebells and a setting of long, rlcfi, yellow-green ferns to the ad miring gaze of Mr. Mason. "This bouquet I shall leave at your tent for Prof. Huntley. If after seeing this he shall still persist in keeping away from Sandtown and the Wickly residence 1 shall be driven to seek him In his lair. Isn't that the tent yonder, Mr. Mason?" There was nn odd. puzzled, uncomfort able, apprehensive nml abashed look or combination of looks on Mr. Mason's face, that made nn impression upon Lizzy Wickly. Was he not hurt? Was the poor old fellow so very jenlous? And was she altogether right in romping through the woods in this hoydenish way with him? For although his long and abundant brown hair was plentifully sprinkled with' gray, announcing tliat the 'cooling time" of life hnd fully arrived, wus his close shnven face not ruduy and preternatur ally young? "That Is the tent. Miss Lizzy. And we are upon It in the nick of time. For here comes a black cloud so rapidly and unexpectedly that yes, we will have to run or get a sprinkling. Quick! Give me the flowers so ym can hold your skirts. Now give me your hand. Not the left hand. That's ominous in a race like this. Now, hold hard, so I won't have to hurt your fingers in my grasp. Now, then. I'll never forgive myself if I get you a wetting that would spoil your pretty dress, and that love of a hat." (To be continued.) And There Are Others. Oldbnch I tell you, sir, the women are going to rule this country after a while. Enpeck After a while! Why, I thought they ruled It now. Borne what Different. "And did she really tell you her age?" asked the woman. "Oh, no," replied the man; "Just the age she tells people sho la." ill The recent determination of the United States to assume temporary control of the finances cf the Domini can republic once more brings that restless little West Indian government into public view, writes William K. Lane. It has been apparent that af fairs in the repub lic have reached a critical stage. Its MBSIOBKT HOBALBS. C ll 1 C f difficulty, eliminating the ever present tendency to revolutionize at the slightest pre text, seems to be a wonderful capacity to get into debt and a corresponding incapacity to get out again. The national debt of the tiny mulat to republic now amount to the re spectable total of $35,000,000, which in consideration of the comparatively un important figure cut by Santo Do mingo in the congress of western na tions Is altogether too great. That has been the opinion of its iiupntlent cred- itors for a long time, and more than one of them has protested that som3 settlement should be effected. Some of them .have even declared their will ingness to undertake a receivership, promising to wind up the affairs of the improvident republic with amaz ing celerity. Such a proposition from a foreign state Santo Domingo has shown a SANTO DOMINGO'S remarkable Impartiality in the selec tion of her victims, many of them being European could not be toler ated by the United States. The shade of the late James Monroe would rise in lndlgnaat protest at tlw mere sug gestion. If there is any adjusting to be done it Is clearly the privilege of the United States to do It There does not seem to have been the slightest objection to that way out of the diffi culty. It 1 most satisfactory to the foreign creditors, and the Dominican themselves were o enthusiastic over the proposition that they tried at once to borrow more money on the strength of it In the carrying out of Its Interfer ence It will be necessary a a prelim inary first step for the United State to restore the republic to a condition SANTO DOMINUO STREET SCENE. of Internal quietude. When this Is ef fected the American readjusters will proceed to take charge of the country's revenues and pay off It obligations, those to American citizens receiving first attention. Reduced to Its final terms, the proposition seems to be that the United States shall make the Do minicans behave themselves '.ong enough to pay their debts. When that is accomplished the dusky republicans will be free to resume their spend thrift career if they so elect It la possible that by that time they may become so enamored of the thrifty business method of their guardian that they will choose to walk In their footstep ever after. It If certain that EN TRANCE TO SANTO DOUINOO HARBOR. Iflflsf r II iiiiil I he Improvident Little West In dian Republic... the Dominicans are ardent admirer of the greater republic. The Inland on which the republic of Santo Domingo is established is, next to Cuba, the largest of the West In dies. One-third of Its nrea Is devoted to the republic of Haiti, and the re mainder constitutes Santo Domingo. These contiguous republics are often confused, but they are quite dissim ilar in most features. The Dominicans are much more refined and circum spect In their ways than their neigh bors and are less addicted to actual bloodshed in their periodical revolu tions. They are for the most part mulattoe of Spanish and negro origin. The few Spanish families that have not Intermingled with the prevailing type constitute the aristocracy of the republic and hold themselves loftily aloof from their lees fortunate neigh bors. Education ' In its proper sense is practically unknown. The average Dominican has not yet awakened to the necessity of adding to the knowl edge with which nature has endowed him. The mulatto population, number ing at least half a million, is not In clined to be quarrelsome, but trouble Is fomented by political tricksters who are trying constantly to obtain an op portunity to l""t the pnbHo treasury. The people are for the most part In dustrious and patient, submitting to continual mlsgovernment and official peculation with remarkable good na ture. The president of the republic is practically a dictator. Aa often a suits hi convenience he submits to an election, and he is careful to have it occur at a time when there is no welf organised opposition. The general system of government is copied after that of the United States. Officials are plentiful, and the national revenues are far from sufficient to maintain thi annual expenditure. Add to this thi fact that a large proportion of the 1 NATIONAL PALACE. gaily collectible revenue never reachea the national treasury, and the cause of Santo Domingo's bankruptcy be comes apparent The annual revenue is $1,700,000, and the military establishment. Includ ing the navy, cost $4,800,000 a year. All the officials are the personal ap pointees of the President, and the army is composed of men friendly to his Interest. Judging from the past, the chief object of each administra tion baa been to mulct the people ofl the largest possible amount before revolution bring about a now divi sion of the spoils. Under these cir cumstances politics has become the chief business of the republic, and oth er and equally Important Interest have been neglected. Agricultural and commercial pursuits have suffered so greatly from the rapacity of the gov ernment and lack of encouragement that they are practically at a stand still. Santo Domingo Is the garden of the western tropics. Nature has given It n soli adapted to a wider range of products than can be found In any corresponding area In the West In dira. The list Is a long one, including! cocoa, tobacco, all kind of tropical fruits, sugar cane, coffee, vanilla, rub ber and many other valuable things. In the Interior mountainous region forests of mnhogany and other timber abound. The whole country Is In a state of constant verdure, and thermal fluctuations are almost unknown. General Carlos F. Morales Is the pres ent head of the Dominican govern ment. One Small Pair. "Well, Mr. Hart,' 'wild the doctor, "I congratulate you. You are the father of "7 "Ah!" exclaimed the proud man, "A Hart turns up, eh? I hope It's the Jack that la, a boy." "Two boys. Twins, in fact." "The deuce." Plillndlphla Rword. Terra Firms Good Enough. Sunday School Teacher What lee son are we supposed to learn from the story of Jonah and the whale? New Pupil Dat a guy orter bars sense ernuff to stay on dry land. Nothing take the conceit out of some men like being compelled to serve on a Jury.