Show S E R I 1 AL it v STORY SEF A ROMANCE OF A PENN pennsylvania PENNSYLVA NU FARM by JOHN H LUTHER tj L IONG ONG g illustrations ll 11 st by don wil wilson son coper cht IMS IM by bobu merr kerr U co SYNOPSIS the crowning desire in the I 1 fe e of old baumgartner a german s to obtain possession of the beautiful n badow which I 1 es just between baum gartner s property and the ra broad sta tion tl TI e property in question was in merited by sarah pressel very pretty and athletic young girl and belonged solely to her at len length lenth th baumgartner came to real ze that his only hope of obtaining the property would be tl ti rough the marr age of his son Sephe nijah to sarah pressel in a mock auction heffy as Sephen Sephe llah nijah P baumgartner jr Is popularly larb known Is raffled off by hia his father to sarah tor for 1 he a appears utter I 1 y incapacitated to win in any contest of love or life sarah pressel Is quite the opposite te of heffy y she Is all life and ani an matlon mation her iler one fault Is a very high temper baumgartner gives setty some lessons in co reship baumgartner I 1 as cluied himself to be appointed guardian of sally heffy Is saable to resist the fascinating wit witcheries cherles of sally and he kisses her she promises him however that she will never kiss any man but him sam aritz a drunken grocery clerk old baumgartner cal s him a mo lasses calls ralls on bally sally and inter erupts tl e kissing they go into the par lor or and begin a sitting up contest in accordance with the customs of the place and tie time the one 1 alo I 0 is defeated in s ch a contest Is unworthy the hand of the girl heffy goes to sleep and b be e gins snoring sally leaves the room in a huff saying good night gentlemen heffy tells h s father of his humiliation of low 1 ow sam fritz had pinned to his bosom while he slept a pasteboard tomb stone bearing the inscription beal eni enl jah ah P baumgartner jr ir went to his rest eat june 10 1871 1 in the twentieth year of his age gona gone but not forgot re bead d the backwards heffy and sally meet at the poison spring she urges him to do some thing to redeem aimse f the father ad vises to take sally home from church this would be the crucial test according accord ng to the custom of the times which often meant disgrace or even mur der and suicide it was the rule in such a test tl ILI at the one wl wi ose arm the girl accepted when leaving the church would be the favored suitor and the rejected oni ont v w as d and n lea leave ve t town 0 w 11 or triumph over his opponent by force heffy dreads the church ordeal IX r it was heffy who was sacked so they three went to church on a certain sunday sally sat on the women s side and heffy and sain sam on the men s side in full view of the aud and ence 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 comlat combatants ants when the benediction tad bad been said heffy hastened out and found himself a place close to the door according to his father s word in one of the lines of soung 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 he did not see sam some one pushed in front of him and instead of corn com bating tor for his position he yielded it and found one further down still seek ing tug the location of his rival he was eroded from this one too and he let it go and sought another one because he had not seen sam and it was nee essary to his father fathers a scheme he re that sam and he should be about opposite of course all this was error his ills place was right by the church door that was where sally had a right to expect to find him it had become a public matter too the public had its rights it expected him there even if he bad had to shed the blood of noses to stay there this had haq often happened B t he was bewildered in the contradictory courses advised by his father and fenall finally seeking that which seemed best found that which was worst dull heffy he at last discovered sam and found a lodgment for 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 no unmarried ma den ever expects to be matched there and had bednas wise as he was not he would not have halted but he was deluded by sam there he was in the opposite line the wrong one edif fervently ferent ly chatting and even eien smoking with hilary groff a married man heffy was now so sure of his conquest that sam s ind ff fforence arence vexed him ev he did not mean to contend with him for sally s arm and it was to be a cheap and bloodless victory for heffy was ore of those who grow brave as opposition dim bishes and now they were slowly coming down the maidens running t the e gant let of love one two thre threet four five a dozen happy matin s were made heffy was counting one tie poor chap was sacked he ile 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 stia ight down upon him but there was something in her eyes expectant militant that made them starry on she cattie with her head in the air looking neither to the right nor to the left as if she expected to walk home alone nearly three miles oh no thought heffy and sam but a bit of terror smote her face pale idale when she had passed the door alone and showed more and more as she rent on someone some one laughed then there was an unmistakable titter along the line still sally passed on keep ing her temper as never before was not the old man rig right about the effect of laughter 7 but now the temper loosed itself slowly her face was scarlet she had nearly reached the married men some one ered gosh he s sitting even by sacking her this was repeated there was more laughter and more tittering the crowd deserted the I 1 nes nearest the church and followed sally down on either side in huge tumultuous pha lances to see what would happen it if it were possible that she would have to go home alone several young men who mho had 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 of them there was more tumult now than laughter and sally sallys s face grew so white that her eyes blazed like stars in the midst of it jeffy quailed he recognized the temper only he had never seen it as h terrible as this he had forgotten sam it was only sally he saw as one sees N ft ith fear 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 lill 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 tools aint ain t you got no pity on the girl shut apt up answered sam and watch im calculating on him leaving town tomorrow that Is my game and I 1 m playing tor for the pot you see that sam had not forgotten heffy for a moment even if heffy had forgotten him he stepped noiselessly three paces toward sally crossed in front of heffy 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 of girlish politeness thank you mr baumgartner I 1 in suited and sally her face flaming with vengeance took the trouble to turn back and cry not into hig his ear but into his very heart thank you I 1 im in suited there are some people to whom no punishment seems sufficient while a any n y remains to bs be administered one of q s 11 r 4 4 ka k L the ers was of such a sort he ned cried out as poor heffy y slunk away give her bad her dollar and another or ninety ninetynine 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 ind and aon this would have been per factly proper but he followed the nan man who had but a moment bea before ore crushed through the line and wild jeers followed him X the huge F st of the farmer from that day heffy avoided all pub lid lie places and all men he was ras no boda bod nothing he fell rapidly into that kind of disrepute which Is corn com mon to persons with tailing failing deputa tins it was to his 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 tere fere on his behalf but the moon went through all her phases and theu thela slowly turned her back on him and arid sally never came in their casual meetings she was ice fee trice once they passed on the road to the store she ae was N as in n precisely the dear deal garments he remembered so well of that first day and as gay as then he ile trembled an and then looked up like a mortally wounded animal she was looking calmly over his head to the rest ot of the world she was gayer than ever though that sunday night laugh aw all echoed in her head kept her maddened after all it gasn wasn t v worth orth while to care tor for een enen heffy with such a little spirit why t be he fight kill sam or somebody and the cun cuu ning sam set the story more widely going that tor for revenge heffy had de seated her at the church door and that he had first laughed heffy this was too piquant to be passed over and arid it was beard heard far and wide to heffy s father who even in this dire strait strove for happiness tor for them both and arid ot of course the pasture field she said with more abandoned disrespect than she had bad ever ad dressed to any one you ought to be glad that I 1 do not take tale revenge on him it if he wasn gasn t so little I 1 would but he s not worth bothering about sad ed me did be he show him I 1 why sally what would you do put him over my knee and spank him and then pen him in the cellar sail don t tall like that pleaded the old man it si lies iles your voice and sally gave him then and there a rude specimen of how her voice was being spoiled which I 1 may not re produce but it was expressed in anathema indeed others had noticed that her voice somehow had lost its soft richness she was particularly kind to the young 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 heffy tim timorously one da he had waited to tell her this yu dont dort think you dont believe thai that I 1 t said sald 4 1 I 1 know said sally in voice that froze him that you are a tool fool and I 1 am not fond of fools go away be glad I 1 don t lick you I 1 and then rumor had it that she and arid sam were to be married for spite but curiously enough the person most affected by all this kasnot was wa snot not sal 1 nor heffy nor sam it was heffy a father whose sufferings were nearing agony nothing could be done with heffy and course of the love between them which had never been beon ruffled since heffy was born was often ruffled ruffied now the old man as their relations grew strained became more and more exasperated at heffy s lack of initia tive gosh a mighty I 1 you coln to let that molasses set right down on you and neter nefer git oft offa can cant t you see that she wants you youa it don dont t matter what she says I 1 don t you know it s a dare air you going td take a dare why you usen t to when you was k h baby when you year that darned new laugh of sally s can t 3 sou ou see that some sings wrong ashes drin drinking kingl that s what hat you think shed laugh so and drink it if she wass happy you was a tool fool yas a durn tool fool it s your fault go right up to her like a mad and say so I 1 did said heffy hah you dida an what she saya she said she knowel i well begos hens she s a worse tool fool gather her in and make a fool off of her and git efen turning her bad on an ol 01 man that harms no one and her yit alas this was another thing he had done don to secure the pasture field made himself her legal guardian III gite gife it up the yas sir she ken take keer herself fool ot of course bose tools fools you waif wait tell she marries that durn molasses it if you want to see fan fen there was such real agony in the old man s voice that heffy suffered too pappy I 1 in sorry I 1 ain aln t no good I 1 expect I 1 guess III go away before the wedding wedding wedding you goin to let that wedding go on ona and him git the pasture field put him between us and the railroad how can I 1 stop it pappy by marrying her yourself I 1 got enough pappy said heffy hopelessly anch me if it I 1 tried it again I 1 g less I 1 d better go away quick anger flamed in his father fathers 3 face at this invertebrate submission and his voice when he spoke a as harsher than heffy had ever heard it got enough got enough that s all you know and go away that s all you 1 en say you bull headed go and apologize and git her back don t run then marry her next day settle the molasses I 1 expect and show that you got an inch or two of backbone chol e her chloroform her and carry carr her off TO BE |