| Show MEW tn away down south in dixie the odor of breakfast came out of the open door but james K P kennon his wife and oldest laughter heterogeneous standing a few tow feet beyond the threshold per delved it with indifference their thoughts were upon the garden that Decu pled a declivity in front ot of them its parallel lines of vegetables running at right angles to its slope the beans were shriveling the peas held weal ly to their sup ports the okra was yellowing the great rectangle of antelopes cant elopes were so heterogeneous affirmed powerful puny tor for their age and the nursing they d had there ain t a mortal thing that s looking pert as it U has a right to look said mrs kennon and james 1 P affirmed conclusively it we don t get rain within a week we can jes pull up every plant of em and make a bonfire A this heterogeneous clasped her hands bands dejectedly im ni mighty sorry bout it with his rough kind band hand her father stroked some loose hairs away from her face but to shut your eyes to a disappointment dont make it a mite easier to bear I 1 ve worked powerful in that gar den don faltered the girl you certainly have he ile would not comfort her with an in grounded hope tj li he gave her the consolation of a shoulder pat she a a tool fool girl asserted her mother for all the work she ashes s put onto an uncertainty she a been up in the mornin a tear n away in that ar garden like any man while sensible lr folks was a lakin their rest in the r bed shea worked herself down till she a right peaked an all fur bothin wl I 1 As fur furs a that goes mammy rejoined james K P there a a heap of uncertainty it au farmin of any kind and the case ain aint t exactly as bad as youre you re makin out either weve we ve eat right ot of truck that wed we d have done without only fur this garden and I 1 bought new hats for all us girls with my early tomatoes plead ed the culprit 1 I low that warn t hothir in the world but a streak 0 good luck them tomatoes happened to be p ant ea whar they got the warmest and the earliest sun in the spring and zeb ion huggins you how to pack em and ship em and git the money fur em its a streak of good luck and a streak 0 bad luck jes like fat and lean in a side 0 bear and you re bound to take em as they come youre you re one 0 them kind heterogeneous that s always lottin to do your own blannin and that a how you get disappointed so much if it you d jest take things bow how they come the way the rest of us does I 1 wouldn t care eo to much it if it wasn gasn t tor for the cant elopes complained the girl huggins says they re the best kind that grows and he can find a market tor for all I 1 can raise I 1 blotted on buying darkey bacis baci they re going to have four months free school over to anderson it its a only six miles and I 1 could walk it easy but healthy a rot t to go too and she a too weakly to tramp so far and I 1 aimed for both of us to horseback over there she lifted a corner of her apron to her eyes bu but before the tears really came healthy ran out of the house and backed up before her to have her gown fastened and as soon as healthy was dismissed wealthy backed up to have her hair braided and by the time the elder sister had performed similar seril services ces tor for three still young er or ones breakfast was on tho the table ead cad they all sat down cheerfully re signed to climatic conditions all but the one who had essential interest at stake she couldn t achieve a smile although once in awhile her father drew a caressing hand across her cranium and twice in awhile trans berred a particularly juicy bit of ham from his own plate to hers we ain t worse oil off than the run of people he said the drought extends over all the western counties down to cherokee they re goin to hold camp to pray for rain you say they arel ejaculated his wife e why I 1 didn dian t know bothin tall about abolt it U why taint you told mea aunt dicey er lives over cherokee way its it s goin on six years since I 1 met up with her shed she d be powerful proud for us to stop in by ith her tor for a ni ight ht it there a anything can be done that a way said james K P I 1 m plum willin to help it along I 1 ve got thirty acres of forward corn all a curlin for want of rain ile took a medith meditative tive stand in the door way he looked at the sky he looked at the garden he looked up the road and he looked down the road well mammy it if you say so well we 11 hitch up and go over heterogeneous you can go because you re the one that s got most interest in the rain of course mammell mammy II 11 want to take the least ones along with her so marcus marcellus and healthy and wealthy can stay and look after the place the girl slipped past him and went slowly down the broad highroad high road that separated the house and vardan from bellwood branch she sympathized with each row of drooping plants as she passed it hut but she stepped in among the cant elopes lifting here and there a limp runner in her pitying hands as it condolence might restore tl em the bed had been her especial care are not a weed had been permitted to intrude upon its clean exclusive lies ness and during the first days of the L brought ehe she had toted water to it but the parched soil absorbed bucket fuls as it they had been but drops and the plants gave no sign of then her father coming upon her pale from exertion and defeat had forbidden the work you have done your part he had said and now she turned in despera derpera tion to bellwood Bal lwood it you d only do your part I 1 could eave save cm em yet she crossed the road and keeping close to the branch walked back a tew few feet past the house to an old saw m 11 that stood over the stream its great wheel bad had received its quietus long ago but w water ater still flowed through the rotting race and all along its length dribbled into the stones that bordered the branch some rude repairs had been made lu ii places but imperfect ones tor for the water flowed so plentifully that small leakages had never materially reduced its power heterogeneous is ast a studying agin said marcus marcellus his statement carrying with it some of the force of an accusation I 1 don t guess her shudyin will buy that horse back answered bis his moth er I 1 ernect she a met her match this time it was the family sentiment that heterogeneous was a geneua while she was still a very little g rl her en ergy and COLtri ance Nance bad had the damein the abbreviated form and her mother had claimed for herself fores gut in having sf lecter it hom the bewildering columns of ion words in marcus marcellus new blue spelling book subsequently she attempted to insure the destiny of the successively younger daughters by naming them healthy wealthy and wise lu healthy developed into the only weakling of the nock dock wealthy invariably gave away the biggest or best of whatever came into her pos session and poor little wise earned and held insolate the title penny wise so when a fifth feminine can dida e for distinction appeared james X P arbitrarily announced that she should be named for some kind of a somebody or be called pound foolish and after many discussions with the mother and reciprocal con cessions they made her the joint namesake and she became Jimmi eliz abeth when heterogeneous returned to the house her mother was standing over a huge pile of steaming biscuit preparing luncheon for the journey before them called for a two day a absence james K P and me 11 sit in front and drive she said and we well 11 pile in straw for the rest of you all to set on I 1 declon reel on said her daughter that I 1 can do better by staying home heathy healthy air aint t so very well 17 I 1 expect the ride 11 perk perl her up a bit she can go in my place this plan caused some averse comment but regarded it as a foregone conclusion and began to get healthy ready for the trip it was a family saying that healthy had bad been behind the doo v when push was apportioned and that heter fleter oene ous had appropriated her share and so as a sort of restitution the latter itter performed all sorts of services tor for her sister on the present occa slon sion she blackened her shoes curled her hair and sent her to scrub her face and hands while she ironed a frock for her afterwards she watched them drive away waved back the children s mer ry good byes and seizing wealthy s hand ran back to the race she was talking and gesticulating wh with great fervor when marcus marcellus oldest of the family came up now what he asked sinking to a seat on a rok as it if her enthusiasm were a last straw to his burdens why macus Marc Marcellus eIlus 1 she shouted we all can carry water to that a garden gardent it a jes as easy jes as easy as batin your dinner wit tily making her smile appeal to his strongest propensity you say it la is heterogeneous couldn coulden t tote water enough to even sprinkle that ar garden not it if we was bendin to it the whole immortal day we couldn coulden t an it if you all has got sich fool plan into your heads he got up and started to walk away w why hy I 1 aln aint t earin carin to stop by and look at you that s what listen here she ran in front ot of him I 1 don t aim to tote it Il marcus larcus marcellus there theres s that ar pile of five inch fenela boards they ve been a longside the wood shed ever since three years ago we can nail them boards together two and to into troughs to reach from that ar hole in the race raze to the gar den she sprang and laid her hand over a leak that had been poorly patched with a shingle see how easy we can make it big ger with one jerk ehe she ripped off the shingle and a goodly stream splashed upon the stones plum to the garden why part of a mile marcus macillus Ma cellus as ment bad had a semblance of anima tion pace it off she commanded ana he obeyed her it its a mor morn n two hundred and fifty feet he announced and them boards Is sixteen feet long I 1 done measured em how many troughs would it take marcus mar cellus youve been to school more than I 1 have and she added with smooth diplomacy they say you youre re a natural born ker why it would take tale it woul I 1 take shutting one eye and squint ing at the ten 0 clock sun sixteen or seventeen allowing for laps an then when you git the water over there how are you goin to make it go where you want it ita water 11 always run down hill bill it will unless you bead head it off va ir i 14 A A 6 1 t afla il i akal shucks heterogeneous your plan las has always got an everlasting everi everl astin heap 0 work in em now he resumed his seat on the rock I 1 ive ve got a plan that a a whole heap easier than yours old nezer down to the forks he says that blacksnakes is plumb sure to fetch rain you kill em ent an all you hang em up in the sun lie ile says that once he kilt a powerful big one an he hung it onto a witch hazel jes for a shine he did an au he says the very next day there come up a rain a regular regul ar gully rally washer he says cherokee county got the whole of it it gullied old man sumter a wheat an it done plenty of farmers mean besides and nezer says he t have the folks over there know him that conjured up that ar gully washer not tor for a pretty he wouldn t nigh onto ten years ago that he done it but he lows he 11 be shot fur it yet if it ever gits to be knon known so I 1 im m a goin blacks nakin fur yo i heterogeneous its it s a heap easier than all them plank it if you believe in blacksnakes mar cus marcellus why didn dian t ou bring on the rain two weeks ago and save all the crops in the country 7 9 I 1 expect I 1 was waltin for somebody to remind me of it said the young man and ambled away for hours heterogeneous and wealthy tugged and toted and ham and chopped wood too for they had to cut tori ed s of un equal lengths the longest to support the trough nearest the race and so gradually letting down the train as it crossed the road and the dooryard to the first row of vegetables T twice ice they had to remove a part of the structure to let a team pass through and it was with something like con stern ster atlon nation that they saw another one approaching but it was driven by bob huggins a neighbors neighbor a boy who promptly turned his horses to a wa bering trough and came up to axim ine the contrivance he instantly un der stood its design oust he shouted 1 I 1 take off my hat he tossed it and caught it and tossed it again to the ingest girl in the county all tired out I 1 reckon now you all go into the house and rest yourselves till I 1 take the team home then ill come back and lend a band hand removing a trough or two he drove through and on his way down the easily sloping hill surveyed the gar den I 1 tell you he shouted back that scheme of yours Is g r catl that afternoon they worked like he roes little wealthy a legs ached with dancing attendance upon two such hustling taskmasters begian beginning ing with the first rows of vegetables th they ey deepened the furrow above it filled it with water dammed it and then guid guld ed their stream to a ower row the th garden was more than half irrigated when marcus marcellus appeared his first observation concerned his dinner 1 1 I dian didn t get any said his sister I 1 hadn t time wealthy and me just took up with a cold snack I 1 reckon you can pick up enough to stay your stomach till supper time heterogeneous he walled ive I 1 ve been a working tor for you mighty hard I 1 ve kilt a blacks blacksnake nahe and he s a hang ing on a chinquapin bush right now witch hazels gasn wasn t handy an I 1 low tain taint t no more n fair that you should go to work an cook some din ner for me now let the water on called bob from the tar far end of a furrow and the work proceeded next morning the resuscitated vege tables fearlessly faced the threaten ing sun toward evening the camp meeting party returned we didn dian t get tl ere announced the mother trough small show of disappointment we got as far as aunt dicey a and we stopped by with her all night and this morning when we hitched up to go over to camp we discovered that the double tree was bout to break we tied it together but james K P said dwarn t goin to stand an everlasting everi everl astin tug an we jes turned about and come home I 1 ive ve had right smart 0 satisfaction see ii V aunt D cey but home a the best place after all she folded her arms and seemed to be mentally ing upon the sentiment when her bus band called her out row by row heterogeneous keeping close to his side he was inspecting the peri perl y gar den A she certainly Is he said and he stroked her head clear down to the twine bound extremity of her tawny pigtail braid and I 1 named her so her mother proudly reminded him Blaek Black es is plumb sure to fetch liln lemarl ed marcus marcellus who was mas sauntering along with them the only is you never can tell a i hether the rain rains s goin to tall fall here or yonder its a raining right now yon side of that mounting he po anted to a far horizon where banks of clouds may or may not have been precipitating their dampness I 1 hope said james K P turning on him with something ill e severity you haven t been a killing my black snake that I 1 keep in the corncrib to catch mice that s the one I 1 kilt replied mar clia marcellus a little sheepishly the easiest one to git successive irrigations were easily accomplished but in a few days a rain came of its own accord ahe I 1 he cant elopes throve and it was a happy day for our heroine when she rode away on horseback behind her father for the ransom of darl ey returning on his back she descried while yet afar her own immediate family and a posse of Huggin ses swarming about the porch A detachment ran to met her but wealthy ran fastest and farthest bob bobs s here she sobbed an he s been a a buying wash dalton s mule LO becky recky an for himself ho he has H a been shinin chinin her up an be he alms to to ride away to school with you all next iv ee e e k 1 he a s curried |
