Show i IA I pennsylvania A ROMANCE FARM OF A by JOHN LUTHER LONG illustrations by don oo 00 SYNOPSIS the crowning desire in the life of old baumgartner a german 1 to obtain possession ot the beautiful meadow which lies just between baumgartner s property and the railroad station the property in question was inherited by sarah very pretty and athletic young girl and belonged solely to her at length baumgartner came to realize that his only hope of the property would be through the marriage 0 his son to sarah pressel in a mock auction heffy as P baumbartner Baum Kartner jr Is popularly known 18 off by his father to sarah for 1 I lie appears utterly incapacitated to win in any contest of love or life sarah pressel is quite the opposite of heffy she Is all life and animation her one fault Is a very high temper baumgartner elves softy some lessons in courtship baumgartner has caused himself to be appointed guardian of sally belfy Is unable to resist the fascinating witcheries wit cheries of sally and he kisses her she promises him homeer that she will never kiss any man but him sam arltz a drunken grocery cler kold baumgartner calls him a mo lasses calli on sally and interrupts the kissing they go into alie parlor and begin a sitting up contest in accordance with the customs of the place and the time the one who Is defeated in such a contest Is unworthy the hand of the girl heffy goes to sleep and begins snoring sally leaves the room in a huff saving good night gentlemen heffy tells his father of his humiliation of how sam I 1 altz had pinned to his bosoni while he slept pasteboard tombstone bearing the inscription sephene jah P jr went to his rest june 10 1871 in the twentieth year of his age gone but not forgot head backwards heffy and sally meet at the poison spring she urges him to do some thing to redeem himself the father advises heffy to take sally home from church this would be the crucial test according to the custom of the times which often meant disgrace or even murder and suicide it was the rule in such test that the one whose arm the girl accepted when leaving the church would be the tailored suitor and the rejected one was disgraced and must leave town or triumph over hla opponent by force heffy dreads the church ordeal IX it was heffy who was sacked so they three went to church on a certain sunday sally sat on the women s elde and heffy and sam on the men s side in full view ot the audience which perceived and un der stood and was ready at the proper time to applaud from the preacher to the sexton to raise or lower its thumbs upon the combatants when the benediction had been said heffy hastened out and found himself a place close to the door according to his father s word in one of the alnea of young men which stretched on either side of the path from the church door to the road beyond at least a quarter of a mile but be did not see sam some one pushed in front of him and instead of corn bating for hla position he yielded it and found one further down still seek ing the location of his rival lie was crowded from this one too and he let it go and sought another one because he had not seen sam and it was nee to hla fathers scheme he re that sam and he should be about opposite of course all this 11 as error his place was right by the church door that was where sally had a right lo 10 expect to find him it had become a public matter too the public had its rights it expected him there even it he had to shed the blood of noses to stay there this had often happened but he was bewildered in the contradictory courses advised by his father and finally seeking that which seemed best found that which was worst dull heffy he at last discovered sam and found a lodgment ilor himself opposite and away down near the gate where only the married men were such as still waited for their wives who ami ably smoked until they came along io unmarried maiden ever expects to be matched there and bad been as alse as he was not he would not bae halted there but he was deluded by sam there he was in the opposite line the wrong one indof terentiy terent ly chatting and evon smoking with hilary groff a married man heffy was now so sure of hla conquest that sam a indifference bied him lv he did not mean to contend with him for sally s arm and it waa to be a cheap and bloodless victory for heffy was one of those who grow brave as opposition diminishes and now they were slowly coming down the maidens running the gant let of love one two three four five a dozen happy were made heffy was counting one poor chap was sacked he crushed his hat over his eyes and charged back through the lines and across the fields no matter where and then came sally in a trim little hat with a flut bering ribbon that looked for all the world like the white signal bearing straight down upon him but there was something in her eyes expectant militant that made them starry on she came with her head in the air looking neither to the right nor to tha left as it she expected to walk home alone nearly three miles oh no thought defly and sam but a bit of terror emote her face ralo when he had passed the door alone and showed more and more as she went on some one laughed then there was an unmistakable titter along the line still sally passed on keep ing her temper ae never before was not the old man right about the effect of laughter dut now the temper loosed issem slowly her face was scarlet she had nearly reached the married men some one whispered goehl lie a sitting even by sacking her this was repeated there was more laughter and more tittering the crowd deserted the lines nearest the church and followed sally down on cither side in huge tumultuous pha lances to see what would happen it it were possible that she would have to go home alone several young men who bad never dared to approach her began to think of it they knew that rather than not be taken at all she would take any one ot them there was more tumult now than laughter and sallys face grew so white that her eyes blazed like stars in the midst of it softy quailed he recognized the temper only he had never seen it as terrible as this he had forgotten sam it was only sally he saw as one sees with tear stalled nerves the locomotive as it leaps upon him and the onlookers crowding at the sides thought it a great and terrible hand to hand battle to wait that way till the last moment and then to spring like tigers or a piece of tremendous foolishness both of you must be absolute sure said hilary groff to sam or absolute fools aint you got no pity on the girl shut up answered sam and watch im calculating on him leaving town tomorrow to morrow that Is my game and I 1 m playing for the pot you see that sam had not forgotten heffy for a moment even it heffy had forgotten him he stepped noiselessly three paces toward sally crossed in front of defty and took her arm there was a laugh almost ribald heffy could not see clearly he could least of all think clearly he did not know what had happened he saw only the little white signal before him and blindly put out his arm it did not reach sally at all but sam who turned and said with an imitation ot girlish politeness thank you mr baumgartner im suited and sally her face flaming with vengeance took the trouble to turn back and cry not into hia ear but into his very heart thank you I 1 m buted there are some people to whom no punishment seems sufficient while any remains to be administered one of aw avas the era was of such a sort he cried out as poor heffy slunk away give her back her dollar and another or ninety nine cents anyhow heffy quailed and drew back from the line it was the instant that makes or mars and he had lost he might still have knocked sam down and won this would have been per proper but he followed the man who had but a moment before crushed through the line and wild jeers followed him X the huge fast of the farmer from that day defly avoided all pub lie places and all men he was nobody nothing he fell rapidly into that kind of disrepute which Is corn mon to persons with falling deputa alons it was to hla discredit that he did not leave town but this his father prevented again he took to the cot ton woods and the poison springs with perhaps the dim hope that sally might again find him there and that the peeping moon might again inter tore on his behalf but the moon went through all her and then slowly turned her bacat on him and sally never came in their casual meetings she was ice once they pasca on the road to the store she was in precisely the dear garments he remembered BO well of that first dagand as gay as then he trembled and then looked up like a mortally wounded animal she was looking calmly over his head to the rest of the world she was gayer than ever though that sunday night laugh still echoed in her head kept her maddened after all it gasn wasn t worth while to care tor even heffy with euch a little spirit chy he fight kill sam or somebody and the cun nang sara set the story more widely going that for revenge heffy had deserted her at the church door and that he had first laughed heffy this was too piquant to be passed over and it was heard far and wide to heffy s father who even in this dire strait strove tor happiness tor them both and ot course the pasture field she aalde with more abandoned SL j y r ikc T i ia i f i 1 T ca y than she had ever ad dressed to any one you ought to be glad that I 1 do not take revenge on him it he baan t so little I 1 would but he a not worth bothering about sacked me did net IH show him why sally what would you do put him over my aneo and spank him and hen pen him in the cellar sally don t talk like that pleaded the old man it sp lies your voice and sally gave him then and there a rude specimen ot how her voice was being spoiled I 1 may not re produce but it was expressed in anathema indeed others had noticed that her voice somehow had lost ita soft richness she was particularly kind to the oung storekeeper now and he was particularly reckless and drunken and rumor presently had it that she was known to be drunk with him sometimes sally said saffy timorously one day ho had waited to tell her this yu dont think you dont believe that I 1 said 1 I know said sally in voice that froze him that you are a tool and I 1 am not fond of fools go away be glad dont lick you and then rumor had it that she and sam were to be married tor spite but curiously enough the person most affected by all this was not sal ly nor heffy nor sam it was heffy s father whose sufferings were nearing agony Iso thing could be done with heffy and course of the love between them which had never been ruffled since heffy was born was often ruffled now the old man as their relations grew strained became more and more exasperated at heffy s lack of uve gosh a mighty you coln to let that molasses set right down on you and neter git cant ou see that she wants you it dont matter what she says don t you know its a dare air you going to take a dared why you usen t to when you was a baby when you year that burned new laugh of sallys can t ou see that wrongs ashes drinking what you think shed laugh so and drink it she wasa happye you was a tool yas a durn tool its your faults go right up to her like a man and say so I 1 did said heffy hah you did an what she she said she knowel it well begos hens ashes a worse tool gather her in and make a fool off of her and git efen turning her back on an ol 01 man that harms no one and her alt alas athla was another thing he had done to secure the pasture field made himself her legal guardian alte it up the yas sir she ken take keer herself fool of course bose fools you wait tell she marries that durn molasses it you want to see fan there was such real agony in the old mans voice that heffy suffered too pappy im sony I 1 aint no good I 1 expect I 1 guess go away before the wedding wedding wedding you coln to let that w edding go on and him git the pasture fielda put him between us and the railroad how can I 1 stop it pappy by marrying her yourself 1 I got enough pappy said heffy hopelessly li anch me it I 1 tried it agan I 1 guess id better go away quick anger flamed in his fathers face at this invertebrate submission and his voice when be spoke was harsher than defly had ever heard it got enough got enough that a all you know and go away all you ken say you bull headed go and apologize and git her back don t run then marry her next day that 11 settle the molasses I 1 expect and show that ou got an inch or two of backbone choke her chloroform her and carry her offa TO BE |