Show 1111 11 11 THE GIRL AT THE HALFWAY HOUSE A S T O 0 R Y O 0 F P L A I 1 N S BY E HOUGH AUTHOR OF STORY OF THE COWBOY 1903 if D N I 1 vi york CHAPTER XVI the halfway house miss ma ellen cried aunt lucy thrusting her head in at the door oh miss may ellen I 1 wish t come out yer right quick they s two them pral dogs out yer buah hens agin nasty dirty things very well lucy called out a voice in answer mary ellen arose from her spat near the window whence she had been gazing out over the wide flat prairie lands and at the blue sky gathering each a bit ot stick she and aunt lucy rove away the two grinning daylight alieves as they had done dozens of times before their kin all eager for a taste of this new feathered game that iad come in upon the range with plenteous words of admonition the wo corralled the excited but terror en hen which had been ie occasion of the trouble driving her back within the gates of the in closure the had found a necessity for ie preservation of the fowls of their ben ranch its that same domineck it lucy said mary ellen leaning over he fence and gazing at the fowls cessn that same ole hen blame ler fool soul she s mo bother a ashes auf we kin git two dollaus er her cooked an seems like long s ashes erilee she bound fer ter keep me chasin roun after her I 1 dare she jest keep the whole lot buah chickens nore down to a frazzle she roun all the time an them i folIe iTin her an of se she added argumentatively we all got to keep up the reppy tation buah cook n I 1 faint ask these yer men a iollah a meal not fer no lean ole hen wit meat intoe her bones no aunt lucy spoke with professional ride and with a certain right to au hority the reputation of the half vay house ran from the double forks most n the transition from older lands to this new wild region the barren and monotonous prospect the high keyed air and the perpetual winds thinned and wore out the fragile form of mrs buford this impetuous nerve w earing air was much different from the sott warm winds ot the flower laden south at night as she lay down to sleep she did not bear the tinkle ot music nor the voice of night singing birds which in the scenes of her girlhood had been familiar sounds the moan ot the wind in the short hard grass was different from its whisper in the peach trees and the shrilling of the cootes made but rude substitute for the trill of the love bursting mocking bird that sang its myriad song tar back in old virginia one day aunt lucy missing terly meeting and eke bethinking her self of some of those aches and pains of body ind forebodings of mind with which the negro is never became mournful in her melody and went to bed sighing and d mary ellen heard her voice uplifted iong and urgently and suspecting the rause at length went to her door aunt lucya she asked 1 andly bothin mam I 1 jess brasslin bif hei throne grace er bit we all po weak sinners miss may el len yes I 1 1 now lucy an does you know miss ma el len I 1 sorter gits sometimes out yer ter tear mer ain t goin take holt heaven jess right white folks has one way er but er faint pray arione no mam jess kain t pray arione now aunt lucy said mary E len sagely there isn t anything wrong with your soul at all you re as good an old thing as ever breathed I 1 m sure of that and the lord will re the brazos north to abilene an t uch of the virtue of the table was impendent upon the resources of this ien ranch whose tame was spread road throughout the land baked f the surpassing grace of pie and heckea fixings the halting place losen for so slight reason by buford id his family had become a perma nt abode known gratefully to many aveless and productive of more than living for those who had ched it it atvas after all the elnan al genius of aunt lucy accustomed I 1 her life to culinary problems that id foreseen profit in eggs and chick is when she noted the exalted joy ith which the hungry cow punchers II 11 upon a meal of this sort after a ason of salt pork tough beef and itch oven bread at first major buford rebelled at the ought of in keeping his family had pt open house before the war and came from a land where the of hospitality and of price ire not to be mentioned in the same yet he was in a region where ch man did many things the first at thing which seemed nearest at nd to be done rom the halfway house south to red river there was nothing edi and over this red river there e now swarming uncounted abu da of broad horned cattle dri sn many bodies of hardy sunburned hungry men at ellis ie now rapidly becoming an am tant cattle market the hotel ac were more pretentious n comfortable and many a cow n who had sat at the board of the atway house going up the trail aid mount his horse and ride back anty five miles for dinner such are attractions of corn bread and acken when prepared by the hands a real genius gone astray on this ch mis cooked world bus the little southern family akly found itself possessed of a anite profitable and growing bus was soon able to employ aid making his improvements he strutted ted a large dugout after the lion of the dwelling most corn i in the country at that time this iner of dwelling practically a roof iver cellar its side walls showing a few feet above the level of the h had been discovered to be a practical and comfortable form lying place by those settlers who id a region practically barren of er and as yet unsupplied with k or boards in addition to the a dugout there was a rude barn of sods and towering high above squat buildings rose me frame of first windmill on the cattle trail edmark for many miles seeing e things growing up about him pe suggestion and partly through aid of his widely scattered but hearted neighbors buford n to take on heart of grace he aw for his deop e an In depend rude and far below their former e of life it was true yet infinitely than a proud despair was perhaps he women who sut ward you it he ever does any one white or does you think that honeyb indeed I 1 do well sometimes I 1 thinks the lord ain t goin to me fer all ther devilment I 1 done when I 1 was 1 il you know miss ma ellen hit take a life er prayer to wipe out buah shuns now how kin I 1 pray not to say pray out yer in this yer lan they ain t a chu ch in a honderd mile yer so ter s I 1 kin tell an they ly ain t no chu ch fer culled folks seems to me like ef I 1 c d jess know er single so st we d meet in er while an so st we d jess kneel down together an pray corn fer hie like same s et taus back in ole why miss may ellen id be the happiest ole boman ever you did see mary ellen rose and went to her room returning with her guitar lis ten aunt lucy she said I 1 will play and you may sing that will make you feel better I 1 think it was only from a perfect under standing of the negro character that this proposal could come and only a perfect dignity could carry it out with grace yet there beneath the floor of the wide prairie sea these strange ex excises were carried on the low robbing of the strings according with the quavering minors of the old time hymns until aunt lucy wiped her eyes and smiled thank yer miss may ellen she said thank yer a thousand times you ly does know how toe corn fort folks mighty well even a pore ole on the morning following aunt lucy s devotional exercises that good soul seemed to be altogether happy and contented and without any doubts as to her future welfare mary ellen was out in the open air and all a blow it was a glorious sun ny day the air charged with some essence of vital stimulus tall and shapely radiant not yet twenty three years of age and mistress of earth s best blessing perfect health how could mary ellen be sada chick chick chick chackee she called bending over the fence of the chicken vard chick chick chick be chah t wit ther feed miss ma ellen called out aunt lucy from the kitchen and pres antly she emerged and joined her mistress at the cor al aunt lucy said mary ellen do you suppose we could ever raise a gardena I 1 was thinking it we had a tev peas or beans or things like that you know and do you suppose a rose bush would grow a real rose bush over by the side of the housea law no calle you bouta bothin faint coln to grow yer less n hit s a little broom cohn er some that altal afew er that boht er things few beang might ef we wort ered em my lan with a sud den interest as she grasped the thought could I 1 git fer right beans real string beans I 1 does wondel sakes et I 1 cd bev string beans iii apple plea I 1 d make er fortune right quick string beans why faw ch lo 10 well have to about this gar den question some day said mary ellen she leaned against the corral post looking out over the wide ex of the round about are those our antelope siut there lucy she ed pointing out with care the few tiny objects thin and crowned with short black forking tips which showed up against the sky line on a distant ridge think they must be I 1 haven t notify them for quite a while yass m said A int lucy after a judicial look them blame goats abass urn I 1 wish t they all kuzn t so mighty peart an 1 all ther time so st cajah buford he d git one them now an then fer to eat I 1 member mighty well how caan franklin sent us down er quarter an lope mighty fine meat hit auz er miss ma ellen began aunt lucy and apparently with a certain reservation yes to be continued |