of horse«; a great »failing and hissing,
and scent of frying bacon; a ducting
and squawking In tha barnyard. It
was six o’clock. Salina's first day as a
school teacher. In a little mor*. than
two hours the would be facing a whole
roomful of rouDd-eyed Geertjes and
Joclnaa and Roelf». The bedroom was
cruelly cold. As the threw the bed­
clothes aside Selina decided that It
took an appalling amount of courage—
this Ufa that Simeon Peake had called
a great adventure.
C h a p te r I I I
(Coutlnuedl
SYNOPSIS
. r f ? it A JTr iE R
J-— I “ » r o iu c ln ir “So B is “
In h l . in fa n c y . A n d hl»
D e J u n g , (la u g h te r o f
B ln iev n P e a k e , r a m b l e r an d g e n tle m a n
o f fo rtu n e
H e r lif e , to y o u n g w o m a n
hood in C h ic a g o In 18»«, has been uft-
c o n v e n tlo n n l,
som ew hat
Beam y,
but
g e n e r a lly e n jo y a b le
A t s ch ool h e r
ohura la J u lie H e ra p e l, d a u g h te r of
A u«o»t
b u tg h e r
S im eon Is
k ille d In a q u a r r e l t h a t le n o t hie o w n
a n d S e lin a , n in e te e n y e a rs old and
p r a c t ic a lly d e s titu te , becom es a s c h o o l­
te a c h e r.
i p Irit D e j o n g >
mother. S e lin a
. C H A P T E R I I — S e lin a secu res a po sl-
as te a c h e r a t th e H ig h P r a ir ie
sch ool. In th e o u t s k ir t s o f C h ic a g o ,
li v i n g a t th e hom e o f a t r u c k f a r m e r
K la a e P o o l.
In R o e lf, tw e lv e y e a rs
o ld eon o f K la a e . S e lin a p e rce ive s a
k in d r e d s p ir it , a lo v e r o f b e a u ty lik e
b e rs s lf.
tl* i
M aartje Pool now thumped down on
the table a great bowl of potatoes fried
In grease; a platter of ham. There was
bread cut In chSnks. The coffee was
rye, toasted In the oven, ground, and
taken without sugar or cream. O f this
food there was plenty. It made Mrs.
Tebbltt’s Monday night meal seem am­
brosial. Selina's visions of chickens,
•ly-koeks, wild ducks, crusty crullers,
and pumpkin pies vanished, never to
return. She had been very hungry, but
now, as she talked, nodded, smiled, she
cut her food Into Infinitesimal bites,
414 not chew them ao well, and de­
spised herself for being dainty.
“Well," the thought, "It’s going to be
different enough, that's certain. . , .
This la a vegetable farm, and they
don't eat vegetables. I wonder why.
. . . What a pity that she lets herself
look like that. Just because she's a
farm woman. Her hair screwed Into
that knob, her skin rough and neglect­
ed. That hideous dress. Shapeless
She’s not bad looking, either. A red
on either cheek, now ; and her
•yes so blue. A little like those women
In the Dutch pictures father took me
to
see
In— where?— where?—New
York, years ago?—yes. But that wom­
an's face was placid.
This one’s
•trained. Why need she look like that,
frowsy, horrid, old I . . . The boy Is,
•omehow,
foreign-looking — Italian.
Queer. . , . They talk a good deal
like some German neighbors we had in
MUwankee.
T h e y . twist sentences.
Literal translations from the Dutch, I
■oppose.”
Jakob Hoogendunk, Pool’s hired
hand, was talking. Supper over, the
men sat relaxed, pipe In month.
M aartje was clearing the supper things,
with Geertje and Jozlna making a
great pretense at helping. I f they gig­
gled ’Ike that In school, Selina thought,
ahe would. In time, go mad, and knock
their plgtalled heads together.
Roelf, at the table, sat poring over
a book, one slim hand, chapped and
grlfty with rough work, outspread on
the cloth.
Selina noticed, without
knowing she noticed, that the fingers
were long, slim, and the broken nails
thin and fine.
Selina wapted, suddenly, to be alone
In her room— in the room that but an
hour before hail been a strange and
terrifying chamber with Its towering
bed. Its chill drum. Its ghostly bride’s
chest. Now It had become a refuge,
snug, safe, infinitely desirable.
She
turned to Mrs. Pool. " I— I think I ’ll
go up to my room. I ’m very tired. The
fids, I suppose. I ’m not used . .
H e r voice trailed off.
"Sure," sajd Maartje, briskly. She
had finished the supper dishes and was
busy with a huge bowl, flour, a baking
board. “Sure go up. I got my bread
to set yet and what all.”
“I f I could have some hot water—”
“Roelf! Stop once that reading and
•how school teacher where is hot wa­
ter.
Geertje! Jozlna 1 Never In my
world did I see such." She cuffed a
convenient pigtail by way of emphasis.
A wall arose.
“Never mind.
It doesn’t matter.
Don't bother." Selina was In a sort of
panic now. She wanted to be out of
the room. But the boy Itoelf, with
quiet swiftness, had taken s battered
tin pall from its hook onWhe wall, had
lifted an Iron slab at.th e back of the
kitchen stove. A mist of steam arose.
He dipped the pall Into the tiny reser­
voir thus revealed. Then, as Selina
made as though to take It, he walketj
past her. She heard him ascending
the wooden stairway. She wanted to
be after him. But first she must know
the name of the hook over which be
had been poring. But between her and
the book outspread on the table were
Pool,
Hoogendunk,
dog,
pigtails,
Maartje. She pointed with a deter­
mined forefinger. "What's that book
Roelf was reading?"
M aartje thuu.,.ed a great ball of
dough on the baking board. Her am s
weje white with flour. She knead' I
and pummeled expertly.
"Woorden
boek."
. Well. That meant nothing. Woorden
hoek. rtdorden b— Dimly the mean­
ing of the Dutch words began to come
to her.
But It couldn’t be.
she
brushed past the men In the ttpped-
j back chairs, stepped over the collie,
■ reached across the table.
Woorden
i word. Boek—book.
Word book.
“H e’s reading the dictionary I" Selina
: said, aloud. “He's reading the dlctlon-
i a ry !’’ she had the horrible feeling
that she was going to laugh and cry
at once; hysteria.
Selina flung a good-night over her
I shoulder and made for the stairway
l.e should have all her books. She
would send to Chicago for books. She
would spend her thirty dollars a month
buying books for him. He had been
reading the dictionary!
Roelf bad placed the pall of hot
water on the little wush-stand and hud
lighted the glass lamp. He was Intent
on replacing the glass chimney within
the four prongs that held it firm.
Downstairs, In the crowded kliehep, he
had seemed quite the man. Now, In
the yellow lamplight, his profile sharp­
ly outlined, she saw that he was Just
a small boy with tousled hair. About
his cheeks, his mouth, his chin, on*
could even see the last faint traces of
■oft Infantile roundness.
“He's Just a little boy,” thought Se­
lina, with a quick pang. He was about
to pass her now, without glancing at
her. his b ’.d down She put out her
hand; touched his shoulder. He looked
up at her. his face startlingly alive,
Ills eyes blazing, it came to Selina
that until now she had not heard him
speak. H er hand pressed the thin
stuff of his coat sleeve.
■'Cabbages — fields of cabbages—
» hat you said— they are beautiful.” he
stammered. He «ns terribly lu earnest.
Refore she could reply he was out of
Ihe room, clattering down the stairs.
Selina stood, blinking a little.
The glow that warmed her now en
dured while she splashed about In the
Inadequate basin; took down the dark
1
»
Kb cry morning throughout Rev em­
ber it was the same. At six o’clock:
Miss Peake! Oh. M in PeakeT
“I'm up!” Selina would call In what
she meant to be a gay voice, through
chattering teeth.
“You better come down and- dress
where is warm here by the stcare.;'
Peering down the perforations In
the floor-hole through which the j>ar-
the children arrived the room was ’
livable.
>
Selina had seen herself, dignified,
yet gentle. Instructing a roomful of
i>nfch cherubs In the simpler ele­
ments of learning. But It Is difficult
to be dignified and gracious when you
are suffering from chilblains. Selina
fell victim to this sordid discomfort,
as did every child In the room. She
sat at the battered pine desk or
moved about, a tittle Ice-wool shawl
around her shoulder« when the wind
was wrong and the stove balky. Her
white little face seemed whiter In
contrast with the black folds of this
somber garment.
Her slim hands
were rough and chapped. The oldest
child In the room was thirteen, the
youngest four and a half.
Early In the winter Selina had had
the unfortunate Idea of opening the
Ice-locked windows at Intervals and
giving the children five minutes of
exercise while the fresh cold, air
cleared brains and room at once.
Arms waved wildly, heads wobbled.
MARCH 4, 1925
♦
LUXE
FURNITURE
DEPARTMENT
BEDSPRING
J
• built for comfort and durability
H IL L
lor chimney swelled ao proudly Into
the drum, Selina could vaguely descry
Mrs Pool stationed just below, her
gaze upturned.
That first morning, on bearing this
Invitation, Selina had been rocked be­
tween horror and mirth.
"I'm not
cold, really. I'm a lirja t dressed, r i l
be down directly.”
M aartje Pool must have seBRed
some of the shock In the girl's voice;
•or, perhaps, even some of the laugh­
ter. “Pool and Jakob are long out
already cutting.
Here back o f,th e
stove you can dress warm.”
Shivering and tempted though she
was, Selina bud set her will against
It. “I won't go down,” the said to
herself, shaking with the cold.
“1
won't come down to dressing behind
the kitchen stove like a— like w peas­
ant la one of those drCSttful Upgglua
novels. . . . That sounds stUt* up
and horrid. . . . The
Pools are
good and kind and decent. .
. But
1 won't come down to huddling behind
the stove with a bundle«0/ undertfhar
In my arms Oh, dear, tills corset's
like a casing of Ice.
' *
“But I won't dress behind the kitch­
en stove!" declared Selina, glaring
meanwhile at that hollow pretense,
the drum. She even stuck her tongue
lut at It (only nineteen,' remember!).
When she thought back, years later,
on that period of her High ITa'rie
experience, stoves seemed to figure
with absurd prominence In ber .mem­
ory. That might well be. A sieve
changed the whole course of her life.
From the first, the schoolhouse
stove was her bete noir. Out of the
welter of that first year It stood, huge
and menacing, a black ty ra n t Tha
High Prairie schoolhouse In which Se­
lina taught was a little more than a
mile up the road beyond the Pool
farm. She camo to know that road
In all Its moods— Ice-locked, drifted
wjth snow, wallowing In mud. School
began at half-past eight After her
first week Selina had the mathematics
of her early morning reduced to the
least common denominator. Up at
slY. A plunge into the frigid gar­
’Fields of Cabbages— W h e t You Said ments; breakfast of bread, cheese,
— They Are B eautiful," Ha Stam­ sometimes bacon, always rye coffee
mered.
without cream or sugar. On with the
cloak, muffler, hood, mittens, galoghet.
soft masses of her hair; put on the The lunch box In bad weather. ' Up
voluminous long-sleeved, high-necked
the road to the schoolhouse, battling
nightgown. Just before she blew out
the prairie wind that1 whipped the
the lamp her last glimpse was of the tears Into the eyes, plowing the drifts,
black drum stationed like a patient slipping on the hard rata and Icy
eunuch In the corner; and ahe could ridges I d dry weather. Excellent at
smile at th a t; even giggle a little, what nineteen. As she flew down tha road
with weariness, excitement and a gen­ In sun or rain. In wind or snow, her
eral feeling of being awake In a
mind's eye was fixed on the stove.
dream. But once In the vast bed shef The schoolhouse reached, her numbed
lay there utterly lost In the waves of
fingers wrestled with the* rusty lock.
terror and loneliness that envelop one
The door opened, there siuQ» ber the
at night In a strange house amongst
schoolroom smell— a mtngllkg of dead
strange people. She listened to the
ashes, kerosene, unwashed -bodies,
noises that came from downstairs;
dust, mice, chalk, stove-wood, lunch
voices gruff, unaccustomed; shrill,
erumhe, mold, slate that has been
high. These ceased and gave place to
washed with saliva. Into this Selina
others less accustomed to her dty-
rushed, untying her muffler as she en­
bred ears; a dog’s bark and an answer­
tered. In the little vestibule1 there
ing one; a far-off train whistle; the
was a box piled with chunks of stove-
dull thud of hoof« stamping on the
wood and another beefied with dried
barn floor; the wind In the bare tree
corn-cobs. Alongside this a can of
branches outside the window.
kerosene. The robs nerved as kin­
Her watch— a gift from Simeon
dling. A dozen or mere of these yon
Peske on her eighteenth birthday—
soaked with kerosene and Muffed
with the gold case all beautifully en­
Into the maw of th e ‘rusty Iron pot­
graved with a likeness of a gate, and
bellied
stove. A match
Up flared
a church, and a waterfall and a bird,
linked together with spirals and flour­ the corn-cobs. Now was the moment
ishes of the most grtceful description, for a small stick of wood; another te
Shut the door.
was ticking away companlonably un­ keep It company.
Draught«
Dampers. ’ Smoke.
Sus­
der her pillow. She felt for It, took It
pense.
A
blase,
then
a
crackle.
Tha
ont and held It In her palm, under her
wood has caught. In with a chunk
check, for comfort.
She knew ahe would not sleep that now. A watt. Another chunk. Slam
night
She knew she would not the door. The schoolhouse fire la
started for the day. , As the room
sleqp—
She awoke to a clear, cold November thawed gradually Selina removed lay­
dawn; children's voices; the neighing ers of outer garments. By the tlqie
i
Hal sey
Oregon
short legs worked vigorously. At the
end of the week twenty High Pmlrle
parents sent protests by note or word
of mouth. Jan and Cornelius, Katrina
and Aggie went to school to lenrn
reading ami writing and numbers, not
to stand with open windows In the
winter.
On the Pool farm the winter work
had set In. Klaas drove into Chicago
with winter vegetables only once a
week now. He and Jakob and Roelf
were storing potatoes and cabbages
underground; repairing fences; pre
paring frames for the early spring
planting; sorting seedlings,
it had
been Roelf who had taught Selina to
build the schoolhouse fire.
He had
gone with her on that first morning,
had started the fire, filled the water
pall. Initiated her In the rites of corn
cobs, kerosene, and damiiers. A shy,
dark, silent boy. She set out delib­
erately to woo him to friendship.
"Roelf, I have a book called ‘Ivan
hoe.’ Would you like to rend It?"
“Well, I don't get much time."
“You wouldn’t have to hurry. Right
there In the house. And there's another
called “The Three Musketeers."’
Hawns trying not to appear pleased ;
to appear stolid and, Dutch, like the
people from whom he had sprung
Some Dutch sailor ancestor. Selina
thought, or fisherman, must have
touched at an Italian port or Spanish
and brought hack a wife whose eyes
and skin and feeling for beauty hud
skipped layer on layer of placid Neth­
erlands to crop out now In this wistful
sensitive boy.
Selina had spoken to Pool «boat a
shelf for her books and her photo­
graphs. He hud put up a rough hit of
board, very crude and ugly, but It bud
served. She had come home one snowy
afternoon to find this shelf gone and In
Its place a smooth and polished one.
with brackets Intricately carved. Roelf
had cut, pinned, polished, and carved
It In many hours of work In the cold
little abed off the kitchen. He had
there a workshop of sorts, fitted with
such tools and Implements as he could
devise. He did man's work on the
farm, yet often at night Selina could
faintly hear the rasp of his handsaw
after she had gone to bed. This sort
of thing was looked npdn by Kian»
Pool as foolishness. Roelfg real work
In the ahed was the making and mend­
ing of coldframes and hotbeds for the
early spring plants. Whenever poaslhle
Roelf neglected thia dull work for some
fancy of hl« own. To this Klaas Pool
objected as being "dumb."
"Roelf, stop that fooliahneas, get
yonr ma once some wood. Carving on
that box again Instead of flnlahlng
them coldframes Some day, by gully,
I show you. I break every stick . . .
dumb as a Groningen . . ."
Roelf did not sulk. He seemed not
to mind, particularly, but he came back
to the carved box as soon os chance
presented Itself. He was reading her
hooks with such hunger as to cause
her to wonder If her stock would last
him the winter. Sometimes, after sup­
per, when he was hammering and saw­
ing away In the little shed Selina
would snatch Maartje's old shawl off
the hook, and swathed In this against
draughty chinks, she would read aloud
to him while he carved, or talk to him
above the noise of his tools. Selin*
was a gay and volatile person. She
loved to make thia boy laugh. His
dark face would flash Into almost
dazzling animation. Sometimes Maart­
je. bearlDg their young laughter, would
come to the shed door and stand (here
a moment, hugging ber arms In ber
rolled spron and aiutllng at them, un
comprehending but companionable.
•You mike fun, h’m?"
“Come In, Mrs. Pool. Sit down on
h
Your local Southern Pacific agent is an expert
in transportation matters. Let him help you.
Ask him regarding;
•
»
F a r e s » S c h e d u le s
R o u te s
R e s e rv a tio n s , e tc.
when your wants are in this line. Our stock i s 1
• attractive in both design and price.
<
q W e call your special attention
the
]
•D E
PA G E <
Travel Planning-
get helpful advice
We want you to investigate our
j
•
RL’RAL KNT£KPK1SE
Thus benefit by his experience and training
— he is eager to serve you.
Southern Pacific
C . P. M O O D Y , Agent
Phons 226
Selina was not nsgea to stay to dinner.
She was not asked to sit down. When
she left the house her great fine eyes
seemed larger and more deep-set than
ever, and her* Jaw-line was set hard
agulnst the Invasion of tears. Sudden­
ly she hated this Chicago that wanted
none of her; that brushed past her,
humping her elbow aud offering no
apology; that clunged, end alrtdeked.
and whistled, and roared In her ears
(Continued on page 4 )
U’ ASH PAID (or false teeth, den-
tai gold, nlstinuin and discarded
jewelry, lloke Smelting and Refining
Co,. Otsego, Mich,
H a ll’s C a t a r r h
Medicine
rid your system of Catarrh or Deafness
caused by Catarrh.
Sold b , < tr u u < f far arrr 4» W i
F. J. CHENEY fit C O ., T oledo, Ohio
AT.’vfa.'y
She Would Read Aloud to Him W hile
He Carved.
la your child tut king good prog­
ress at school ?
I f vour child is not making •
satisfactory average at aohool you
should find out why. Defective
eyesight is often responsible for
poor progress in atndiei.D on’t
nwait longer. Find out for aure—
How.
my box and make run, too. nere, you
may have half the shawl."
“Og Heden! I got no time to kit
down." She was off.
Roelf slid his plane slowly, more
slowly, over the surface of satin-smooth
oak board. He stopped, twined a curl
of shaving about his finger. “When 1
nra a man, and earning, I am going to
buy my mother a silk dress like I tow
In a store In Chicago and she should
put it on every day, not only for Sun­
day; and alt In a chair and make little
fine stitches like Widow Paarlenherg."
“What else are yon going to do when
you grow up?" She waited, certain
that lie would say something delight­
ful.
“Drive the team to town alone to
market."
“Oh. Roelf!"
“Sure. Already I have gone five time»
—twice with Jakob nnd three times
with Pop. Pretty toon, when I am
seventeen or eighteen. I can go alone.
Optometrists. Jewelers
At five In the arfternnon you start und
and tnauti (del uri ng opticians
st nine you are In the Haymarket.
There all night you sleep on the wagon.
ALBANY
There ure gas lights. The men play
dice and card«. At four In the morn­
ing you are ready when they come, the
commission men and the peddlers and
the grocery men. Oh. It's fine, I tell
LAW YER AND NOTARY
you !”
Roelf!" She was bitterly disap­
H alsey , O kkoon
pointed.
"Here, book." He rummaged around
In a dusty box In a corner und, sud­
denly shy again, laid before her a torn
«heet of coarse brown paper on which
he had sketched crudely, effectively,
s melee of greut-haunebed horses ; wa­
gons piled high with garden truck ;
Motor Hearae.
men In overalls and corduroys; flaring Efficient Service.
luidv Attendant.
gaa torches. He had drawn It with a
stub of pencil exactly as It looked to Brow nsville...____ ____ _
Oregon
him. The result was ns startling as
that achieved by the present day disci­
ple of the Impressionistic school.
Selina was enchanted.
W L. W R IG H T
Once, early In December, Selina
went Into town. The trip was born of
Mortician & Funeral Director
sudden revolt agnlnst her surround­
Ilsltey and Harrisburg
ings nnd a great wave of nostalgia for
Call D T a v lo h , Halaey. or
the dirt and clamor and crowd« of
W. !.. WaiUHT. Harr isburg
Chicago.
Early Saturday morning
Klaas drove her to the railway slntlon
five miles distant. She was to stay
until Munday. A letter had been writ­
ten Julie Hempel ten days before, but
there hsd been no answer. Once In
town she went straight to the Hempel
house. Mrs. Hempel, thin-lipped, met
her 1n the hall and said that Julie was
out of town. She was visiting her
friend Mise Arnold, In Kansas City.
J. W STEPHENSON.
Meade & Albro.
Amor A. Tussi ng
DELBERT STA R R
Tuneral Director and Li*
censed Embalmer
BARBER
SHOP
F irst-class Work