Show hort t Son on Story tf r riND iND END AND CONTEST PANE JANE ANE OSBORN 19 6 bY the McClure McClue News News- iper Syndicate h u were singing their theiron g on on the elms that sur- sur linked looked ked down upon the sur-I sur low louse louse but Metty Cramer I r them To be sure she ig 19 er r usual after supper lem e front ont fr-ont stoop but it her herre re far from the songbirds l mer net and and nd his wife wearied duties of ot the day Fans Fans' forth in the twilight It upright on the top step t 1 and stared out ahead of I shadow I Ip er lap p was vas the latest issue I nth rth Companion She had m Ill the shadows began heavily ilY beneath the trees merely merely sat and thought of ot bread d. d The magazine was editorial pages and there cic ck faced type one might hese words Our Heart test test Below this heading f Ithe magazine had an- an plans of ot a new prize conI cona coni con- con i a heart problem we werne write rne and tell us about it be be awarded for the best many ny of the other letters w 1 l receive personal an- an from on one of our edit edi- edi t editor went on to explain prize would be the neat 1100 and he further e es- es Ues of the parlor lamp milk can holders vesting Cresting articles that were I buted boated among the others others' were deemed of especial f indifferent to these trifles l heck check for didn't in- in p As many of ot the able ble will receive personal j 1 he the editors These words a shat hat clung to her inward Ible a her to sit and stare so I the growing shadows I were only a small etter might be answered it 5 ae e from the step she was pier Der er project to see sea the tall l weary figure of ot SIe Si e came from his last duties through the shadow of the the distinction of ot land eland only hired man on farm a position which he regarded as his greatest s si fondest blessing all aU of I ded on the degree of ot cor- cor etty tty Cramers Cramer's smile I I e quietly to her ber fathers father's from k it the sole bottle of h lie he Cramer establishment with this and her fathers father's she ascended to her 0 own 1 to work out her problem ded it Meantime Si sank porch step It was good to ds In their last low song Ills his lungs full of the frag- frag that wound md and the posts of ot the tho small l le caught sight of the flut- flut s 3 skirt kirt as she went into the thes s 3 peace of mind was turned by y had Metty avoided him and then he an- an q question to his own o satis satis- course she wouldn't look p pf like me he told him- him man will come along then then she wont won't look at reflect as aa he might have l hough a hired man at ataras was aras learning valuable les- les I vocation cation and that already f Some some ome little local I Size size ize of ot the potato crops Caged to grow on Farmer I worn wom soil the might be able to see went into the house so so Uy lly picking up the maga- maga fetty had left lett it he rose rider Ider Cramers where they eary nary tary Im off of to bed now and made his way ay into the K ri t chere there so the next best evil to him to do was to number of the Hearth Hearths Heartha s a custom always was to ginning grinning and t to continue la a read to the end end end-a a that applied to toP toti P ti probably bably accounted for his sual success with Cramers Cramer's r page of ot the magaziner magazine r n he came to tho the thoth ith th keen attention to It Ili labored through it Then Thena nr r minutes staring medi- medi a r 16 6 stove hole at the side i hd pd then cautiously he he's hes hen n s 's s desk and took ou out t a anto ad ad I d nto the for a aed 3 1 ed cd wrapping paper and andr r Is he door with the maga- maga u 11 rm the stairs he ran into downstairs in st il d slippers and Japanese hand d her light brown hair iding over her graceful I had ad never before seen seena a Metty from surprise I r l I didn't t know you ou iIi h said holding holdin the folds no high at her neck nf-ck I air airs for the magazine I II I story stony I was reading leading r rry And in another min min- back baSk in her room and Si ading on the stairs gazing l ittle pink worsted sUp slip flutter lutter r Of the figured Japa- Japa to toJ look ook over that story used used but I 1 guess I 1 can caner er 1 n rough first and then tt he magazine again to- to month later latr and neither d received the answer m that them I h I tad watcher watched faithfully r hen ramp rame the Hearth nd nil as Mr Cramer had Imail carrier carder o on his hia way vay tail back from the village that morning he had come into possession of ot the magazine magazine magazine maga maga- zine firstI first I guess j you ou want to get a look at atthe atthe atthe the new fashions he told Metty as he came into the house and passing it to her he turned to SI Si who had come in from the fields for his midday dinner Here SI heres here's a letter from the magazine folks I 1 guess they want you OU to subscribe to their magazine And by gravy if there isn't a letter for tor Mett Metty too Those fellows dont don't seem to care how haw they use their posta postage e stamps to send all those letters to one house the same day in different en envelopes en- en Seems to me as if it one stamp would have carried them all Si opened his letter hurriedly without excusing himself and his strong sunburned sunburned sunburned sun sun- burned hand was fairly shaking with emotion and surprise when he took out an oblong of white paper on which was written an order for payable to toSI toSi toSi SI Lamed We take great pleasure in announcing to you ou that your letter has haa been awarded the first prize in our heart problem contest it ran As you see we are publishing it without your name as agreed in this months month's edition of the magazine By way of giving you the help and advice we promised we wish to attract your at attention attention attention at- at to the letter published under the tenth place in the contest While Metty was still reading her letter let let- ter which ter-which which announced that she had won wona a a. new patent vegetable press as a re reward reward reward re- re ward for having the tenth best letter Si grasped the magazine which she had laid on the table He turned past his own letter which letter which was published ex exactly exactly ex- ex I as he had written It it save sa for the omission of ot his name name and and passed on till Ull he came to the tenth letter Could this really have been written b by Metty 1 I have not the slightest hope of winning winning winning win win- ning a prize the letter ran after aner giving a more or less minute autobiographical sketch My only wish In writing is that some one wiser than mj myself self might give me advice I am an uneducated simple farmers farmer's daughter Mj My problem Is not one of stifled ambition No o. o I Ido Ido Ido I do not want to go on the stage and I 1 do donot donot not want to be a Red Cross nurse and andI I I Ido do not w want nt to go jo to college My l I problem p is the old old problem lem I love lovea I a young man who works for my father I think I could make him love me if I 1 could only live in different surroundings surround surround- I ings I 1 love the country and country countr life Ufe but I believe he has ambitions 1 know I could never be happy anywhere but in this or some similar secluded spot My 1 heart problem is this Since Sincer I r cannot be happy happ in the way that would correspond to this mans man's ambitions ambi ambi- have I an any right to make male him I love me me And since in his eyes I must be a simple country girl how could I i make malte him love me anyway Then with excitement such as he had haa never felt before in his life Si turned to the first page and saw saw his own letter I printed at the head of them all It was the simply written direct outpourinGs outpourings' of ot the man who loved the c country the theman I man who had an innate passion for the soil that left Ift no room in his heart for city ambitions The problem he J presented presented pre pre- resented re- re I was this The woman he lover must needs regard reg-ard him as a boor and clout because he was work working In as her I I fathers father's hired man and in order to win her love he felt It was necessary to I break breal away from the things he loved and make a way for himself in the city I IThen Then he could make malte her admire Butin But Butin in the meantime he would be miserably I out of ot hi his element el ment What should he d do doSo d So intent had Si been in reading first I he she letter and then the magazine that he did not realize that Metty was at his I side reading the pages paes over ihs shoal shoal- shoulder 1 der tier Metty's mother had left the room to get the dinner things and her father was In the hall pulling ot off his boots l I Were Vere you writing the gospel truth Metty he asked putting rough muscular muscular muscular mus mus- cular hands on her shoulders If you were Just writing that for fun tell tellI me I meant every word of it she said and then as her father shambled back into the room she whispered I r wonder wonder wonder won won- der if we should ever have known know n if it hadn't been for the heart problem con con- test |