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About The Springfield news. (Springfield, Lane County, Or.) 1916-2006 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1921)
PAGE SIX THE SPRINGFIELD NEWS The ROBERT J. a Homesteader . Copyright. All RlcMs Reserved "'rww"" Vicf"' HOME, SWEET HOME. ire iAtJJ build our own home, and live our own lives, and love each other always, only for ever and evert" the brealhed. "For ever and ever," he an swered. "Because it would seem lilt trying to prove you are inno cent. And you don't need to prove anything to mi. You understand? You don't need to prove anything to me." And then, between the iron rods across the open window of the jail, his lips met hers. In lb forfoiaf the first Iot words are those of John Harris and Mary Allaa whan thsy plighted their troth and resolved to homestead in Mani toba. In the nest love scene the second feneration is mak ing its tows. It is Beulah Har ris and Jim Travers who hava sealed their pact with a kiss. And in between there is a like-real-life story of the homo steading of John and Mary Harris, well told by Robert J. C. Stead, novelist, poet and Ca nadian official, author of "The Cowpunchers" and "Kitchener and Other Poems." PRELUDE. Six little slates clattered Into ploee, and six little figures stood erect be tween their benches. "Kl8ht I Turnl" said the master. "March! School Is dismissed;" and six pairs of bare little legs twinkled along the aisle, across the well-worn threshold, down the big stone step, and Into the dusty road, warm with the rays of the Indian summer sun. The master watched them from the open window until they vanished be hind a ridge of beech trees that cut his vision from the concession. While they remained within sight a smile played opon the features of his strong, sun burned face, but as the last little ca lico dress was swallowed by the wood the smile died down, and for a mo ment he stood, a grave and thoughtful statue framed within the white pine casings of the sash. His brown study lasted only a mo ment. ' With a quick movement he walked to the blackboard, caught up a section of sheepskin, and began erasing the symbols of the day's In structions. "Well, I suppose there's reward In heaven," e Said to himself, as he set the little schoolroom In order. "There isn't much here. The farmers will pay a man more to doctor their siv.k t-heep than to teach their children. If others can take the chance I ran take It too. If It were not for her I would go tomorrow." The last remark seemed to unlink a new chain of thought. The gray eyes lit up again. lie wielded the broom briskly for a minute, then toss ed It in a corner, fastened the win dows, slipped a little folder Into his pocket, locked the do;r behind hlrn and swung In a rapid stride down a by-path leading from the little school house Into the forest. Ten minutes' quick walking in the woods, now glorious In all their au tumn splendor, brought him to a point where the t-ky stood up, pale blue, evasive, through the trees. The next moment he was at the water's edge, and a limpid lake stretched away to where the forests of the farther shore mingled hazily with sky and wafer, lie glanced about, as though expect ing someone; he whistled a line of a popular song, but the only reply was from a saucy eavesdropper which, perc hed on a near-by limb, trilled back Its own liquid notes In answer. "I may as well Improve the mo ments consulting my chart," he re marked to Ids undulating Image In the water. "This thing of embarking on two new seas at once calls for skill ful piloting." He seated himself on a 6tone, drew from his pocket the fold er, and spread a map before him. In a few moments he was so en grossed that he did not bear the al most noiseless motion of a canoe as It thrust Its brown nose Into the blue wedge before him. Kneeling near Us stern, her puddle held aloft and Grip ping her brown arms and browner hair glistening In the mellow njn her face bright with the llghc of Its own expectancy was a lithe and beautiful glrL. In an Instant her eye located the young man on the bank, and her lips molded as though to speak; but when she saw how unobserved aha va she remained silent and upright as a Indian -while the canoe slipped gently toward the shore. Presently It cuh loned Its nose In the velvety sand She rose silently from her seat, and stole on moccaslned tip-toes along the stones until she could have touched his hair with her fingers. Hut her eyes fell over his shoulder on the pa pers before him. "Always at your studies." she cr'ed, as he sprang eagerly to his feet. "Tou must be seeking r professorship." She stole the map from his Angers. "I declare, If It' Isn't Manitoba I" Seizing his cheeks between her hands she turned his face to ber. "Answer me, John Harris. Tou are not think ing of going to Manitoba r "Suppose 1 say I am?" "Then I am going, toot" "Mary J" "John I Nothing unusual about wife going with ber husband, there?" "No, of course, but you know "Yes. 1 know" glancing at the ring on her finger. "This still stands at par, doesn't It?" "Yes. dear." he answered, raising the ring to his Hps. "You know It does. But to venture Into that wilder ness means you sec. It jeans ao much more to a woman than to a man." "Not so much as staying at home alone. You didn't really think I would do that?" "No, not exactly that Let os sit down and I will tell you what I "You Are Not Thinking of Going to Manitoba?" thought Here, let me get the cush ion. . . . There, that Is better." They sat for some minutes, gazing dreamily across the broad sheet of silver. "And so you are going to Man itoba?" she said at length. "Yes. There are possibilities there. It's a gamble, and that Is why I didn't want to share It with you at first I thought I would Kpend a year; locate a homestead ; get some kind of a house built; perhaps break some land. Then I would come back." "And you weren't going to give me a word in all those preparations for our future? You have a lot to learn yet John. You won't find It In that folder, either." She had snutched his confession at an unguarded moment lie had not meant to tell her so much so soon. As he thought over the wheels be had set In motion their possible course staggered him, and he found himself arguing against the step he contem plated. "It's a gamble," he repeated. "The agricultural possibilities of the coun try have not been established. It may be adapted only to buffalo and Indi ans. We may be far back from civili zation, far from neighbors, or doctors, or churches, or any of those things vlilch we take as a mutter of course." "Then you will need me with you. John, and I am going." In a crimson glory the sun had sunk behind the black forest across the lake The silver wulers had draped iti mix! t licit fringe of lnverlfl um along the shore and lay, passive and breathing, and very still, beneuth the smooth-cutting ciuioe, And we ahull build our own home, and live our own lives, and love each other always only, for ever and ever?" she breathed. "For ever and ever," he answered. The last white shimmer of dayllgh faded from the surface of the lake The lovers floated on, gently. Joyously, Into their ocean of hope and hnppl ness. CHAPTER I. The Btck of Fortune. The Inst congratulations had been offered; the last good wishes, some what mixed with tcarahad been ex pressed. The bride, glowing In the happy consciousness of her own beau ty, and deified by the great tenderness that enveloped her new estate l.ke a golden mist, said her farewells with steady voice and undrooplng eyes. It bad been a busy winter for John narrls, and this, although the con summation of his great desire, was but the threshold to new activities and new outlets for his Intense, energies. Since the face and form of Mary Allan had first enraptured lilm In his little backwoods school district, a vast am bition hod possessed his soul, and to day, which had seemed to be Its end he now knew to be but Its beginning. The ready consent af his. betrothed to share his life in the unknown wilder ness between the I led river and the Itocky mountain's had been a tide which, taken at Its flood, might well lead him on to fortune. At the con clusion of his fall term he had re signed his position as teacher, and with his small savings hail set about accumulating equipment essential to the homesteader. Because ha effects were not enough to fill a car ho had doubled up" with Tom Morrison, a fine farmer whose worldly success had been somewhat less than his deserts. and who bravely hoped to mend his broken fortunes where land might be had for the taking. So John narrls and his btido 'ook the pussenger train from hr city home, while their goods and chattels, save for their personol baggage, mm bled on In a box-car or crowded stol- dly Into congested side-tracks aa the exigencies of traffic required. At a Junction point they vere trans ferred from. the regular passenger ser vice to an Immigrant train. One or two of the passengers had already made the trip to Manitoba, and were now on the Journey a second time, accompanied by their wives and families. These meu were soon noted as Individuals of some moment; they became the center of little knots of conversation, and their fellow-lmml- grunts hung In reverent attention upon every word from their Hps. "Tell us about the crops," said one of the meu pussengers. "What IUe wheat can ye grow?" "Like corn." said the narrutor, with great deliberation. "Heads like ears o' corn. Wheat that grows so fust ye can hear It Nothln' uncommon to walk Into wheat fields when they's knee-high, an' have to flglit yer way out like a Jungle." Is the Injuns werry big?" piped a little voice. "My pa's go'n" to make me a bone-arrow so I cun kill 'em all up." 'That's a brave soldier," said the man, drawing the child to his knee. Hut Ah know a better, way to fight ndians than with bows an' arrows. Ah fights 'em with flour an' blankets ACCORDING TO FIXED DESIGN Variety of Reasons Advanced for the Arrangement cf Paint on the Cheeks of Clovn. , All pantomime, clowns point their cheeks and mostly they do so accord- ng to certain designs handed down from genentlon to generation. Hut as to the why and the wherefore opin ions differ. According to one authority the scar- et triangles, red fishtail end half moon, .originated from dabs of Ver million placed here and there on the heeks at haphazard to represent a mighty boy who bad been at the Jam pot. . Another says that the pantomime clown's reddened face Is Intended as a burlesque of the rouge-tinted cheeks of the pantomime Columbine; while yet a third bus It that the crimson Ditches are a survival from the early lystery plays, when the clown was a euion, and red all over. he theory bus also been held that an' badger-meat, an' It's a long way better." The child climbed up on the friend ly knee and Interested himself In the great silver watch chain that looped convenient to his lugeia. "(Jo on wlf your story, man," he said. "Pa listen In'." And big Aleck McCrao forgot the lm migrants crowded around, forgot the lurch of the train and the window glimpse of forests heavy blanketed with snow, as he plowed his fertile Imagination and spread a sudden bar vest of wonderment before the little soul that clung to his great watch chain. And so the Journey wore on. As day succeeded dny to the monotonous rum ble of the car wheels the Immigrants became better acquainted and friend ships took root that In iftcr yesra wero to brave every storm of adver slty and blmui forth In the splendid community of spirit and tacrine which particularly distinguished the pioneers. In the cold gray of a March mrrn- lug, when the sun had not yet dis pelled the mists of night, and the fringing woods back from the lied river loomed white ami spectral through the frost, they re-entered the empire, and In a few minutes were de training at Emerson, the boundary town and gateway to the prairies which for 1.0U0 miles stretched Into the mysteries of the unknown. Kmerson Mas the gateway of the great Invasion. The "farthest west" of rail communication, on the thresh old of the prnlrlo coiiuty. It seemed tne strategical point for tne great city which must arise with the settlement ami development of the fertile king dom of territory lying twtween the Lake of the Wood and the Itocky mountain, and between the forty ninth parallel and the unknown north ern limit of agriculture. (TO HE CUNTlNUfcUl MAN'S FIRST DWELLING PLACE Scientists Claim That the Desert of Gobi Must for Natural Rsasons Be he. Spot The desert of Gobi, which Is the summit of tho central steppe In Als s the most elevated region on the globe, and It Is here, scientists eln'm. man first lived, arguing that this point of earth must have been the first to emerge from the universal sen and hat as the subsiding waters gradually gave up -lower regions of earth to man he was able to descend and spread himself progressively over new cqulsltlons. It Is from this region that the great rivers of Asia also tr.ke their rise and flow toward the four cardinal points. On the declivities of these ilghlands are the plains of Tibet. ower than the frozen regions of Gobi. lere arc found not only the vine, the olive, rice, the legiimliin. ami other ilants on which man tin depended for sustenance, but olso those anlmnls which he tins tamed and led with him over the earth, as the ox. the hor-e. the ass, the sheep, the gout, the camel, he hog, the dog, and even the re I a eer, run wild upon these mountains. On the mountains of (iishmlre. In Tibet, and In tho north of China, grain ns been found to be growing wild for ears without ever being sown or Hied, and here also wild unlmal that ave lived there while man hn tamed others of the same species, are numer ous. Exchange. No Statue of Georgian. Tlio secretary of the Mutuary hall In the capllol says that there Is no representative of Georgia li. the Hull of Fame. ICach state may contribute two statues of deceased citizens of the state, who "for hlstor'ral renown or for civil or military services" are considered by the state aa worthy of such commemoration. tho modern clown In pantomime Is a direct descendant pi Mourns, tlio Kod of mockery of tho early mystery plays and masques, who was always rcpre senled with a huge gaping mouth. The red fishtail Is merely the survival of that part of the medieval makeup which alined at producing an appar ent enlargement of Hie mouth. These curious scarlet symbols are only found on the cheeks of panto mime clowns. The ordinary circus clown does not paint his cheeks. He paints only bis nose, with a view to poking fun at the "boss," the ring master, whose nasal organ, in regard to the old time circuses at all events, was moro often than not apt to be highly colored. I'eursou's Weekly. v First Enthusiasm Gone. Marlette was delighted when a small brother arrived at her homo. How ever, after some weeks she begun to think he was somewhat of n care and one day when her mother told Iter to rock his cradle, she looked at him with disdain and remarked. "Oh, you little bothering thing j" "A party for the front." TIIE REFLECTIONS OK A ' m MAKKII.I) WOMAN rtr. ..i a I i -uni I'lriiniinv II kIio 1 (irlicnto, run down, or overworked. . Klin fffitu "t,1iii,l I Tlx out." Ifersmilfl KosJ'vVv an'1 IS o oil v'i Jfu -r have HJft , t itko n worries her liuslifind. This ia tho time to Imild up her ptrenRth and remedy thorn weuk-ncK-sen or Ailment, which ro tlio wat of her troiihln. Dr. Tierce' Favorite Prescription r'Knliiten and promote, the proper fund ions, enriches tlio hlood, dispel ache and pains, melancholia, imtvoun neKS and bring; refreshing sloop. "Molesophy." "Molesophy" Is the delineation of rharucter and reading of the past and future by means of moles on the hu man fuce anil body. It la an even moro ancient occult science than that of palmistry. For constipation use a natural remedy. Garfield Tea la composed of curefully selected herbs only. At all drug stores. Ad. What, Indeed! Hobby's mother asked him why he had not dono what sho had told hint to do. lie replied with a serious air: Well, mother, what are you going to do when your forgctter la bigger than your thinker?" Significance of Diamonds. Tho diamond Is generally chosen for engagement rings because the I legend Is that It strengthens tho lore I of a mini for a woman. Inspiration to Home Affection. "When a man bet on a laino hoes," said Charcoal Kplj, rumlnatlvely, "hit sure do git lusplrln' how he yell fo' lalgs f git on dat old rrowbult fo' de suko o' his wife an' chlllun." Rich mond Times Dispatch. Good health cunnot bo maintained where there Is a constipated habit. Gurfleld Tea overcomes constipation. Adv. Woman's Rights. An Indiana court compcllod a man to give buck the false teeth ho had taken awuy from his wlfo. Womon'i rights still Include tho privilege of biting, It seems. Cleveland I'laln Dealer. Among the First Editions! No man really knows a woman like a book until ho bus tried to put her on the "shelf!" Curtoons Magazine. Cutlcura for Sore Hanoi. Souk hands on retiring In the hot suds ot Cutloura Soup, dry and rub In Cu- llcuru Ointment. Ilenmve surplus .Ointment with tissue paper. This la Shl' ,,f U'w tnln8 t-'ullrur" do ir Miitp, i uniment ami micum are uwv W nil toilet purpoxe. Adv. That's the Way It Is. Undo Dill Ilottlotop says that too few people lay by anything for a rainy day uud too muny lay by something for a dry spell. Washington Star. Why? "How to Llvo Moro Than Ono Hun dred Years" is the title of a recent book. Hut what, wo deslro to ask, would bo tho objoot? Philadelphia Public Ledger. Bruce it is worth while to bo well, tuko Gurfleld Tea, nature's medicine. Adv. Boon to Forgetfulnest. To make people laugh is to make them forget. What a benefactor to humanity Is ho who can bestow for getfulness. Victor Hugo. Ono Penalty of Wealth. "After a man accumulates a big for tune," said Jud Tunklns, "ho has to hire a lot of peoplo to show him what to do with It." Skin Troubles Soothed With Cuticura Sosa 25c, Oiatmsnt 25 sod 50c, Ttlcooi 25c Are You Satisfied? BFHNKF-tyAlKFR busiNfcss couxcr Is the blcanst, most pcrfoeilt i .'ii'l lUiplaess Training; Hrhnnl In th Vnrtb West. Kit yoursdlf for s hth" imsltloa wtth more money Ptnnsnr inni aatturad our Orsduatos writs for ra.lnr foiiro Portland tssssA P. N. U. No. 0, 1921