Show A 0 B I 1 it M fa A mt DY by EDNA FERBER i 0 C doubleday pata co service WORK SYNOPSIS introducing so big dirk it in ills hla infancy fa n cy and Ms ills mother selent e dejong daughter of S simeon i peake ileane gambler and gent etring of fortu fortuno ll 11 0 her life fire to yount young 0 d in chicago in 1899 has been unconventional some what seamy but generally enjoyable at school her chuin Is julie julia JI empel daughter of august hempel la killed in a quarrel hint Is not hla his own and selina nineteen years old and practically destitute secures a position as a teacher at the alio 1110 prairie school in the mit outskirts skirts of chicago living at the home of a truck farmer fanner malls in itself twelve thelva years old oun nun of blaag selina perceives a mn dred spirit a lover of beauty like herself selina hears bears gossip concern lof the affection of the widow rich and stood looking for dejong De Jonii poor truck farmer fanner who la Is winstsn sible bible to tile the widows attractions vor por a community sociable selina belina prepares a lunch box di tinty but not of ample proportions which in IA to ile be auctioned auction ed nc ac carding to custom file smallness of the box excites derision jand and 1 selina to Is heartbroken hut but lie ilia bidding dej dejony finally securing it for 10 a ridiculously high price over their lunch which selina and dacong share cliare together the 1 schoolteacher school teacher arranges to instruct l tile tamer farmer choso whoso 00 education has hag been neglected nulty julty lends leads to mutual affection hellna becomes mrs dejong a farmers fan ners wife with all the hardships unavoidable at that time dirk la in born CHAPTER VI continued pervus drove into the chicago market every other oilier adny during july flud Wil august lie he sometimes did not have lits his CIO clothes thes ait oit for a week together liu lit tind jan steen would load the wagon the days garnering at tour four lie would start on the tedious trip trill into town tho the historic old on oil vest It tindolph street lind find become the stand aana for market gardeners for miles chirrsa Chirr so here 8 they stationed their wagon in preparation for the next dext days selling tile alio early coiner koi tho advantageous stand there was no regular of space ile reruns ryus tried to reach tile alm by nine tit lit night often bad roads ninde a detour necessary und and lie lia was lute late alint usually bail bad business next day the tuen men for the most curf purt slept on their wagons wu gotis curled up on the wagon sent seat or clied out on the lie sacks their horses were stabled in nearby near by slicks with more acid actual fit comfort than the men them one coule ret got a room for twenty five cents in one of tile ram rain it ale rooming houses that faced tile street hut but the rooms were noue none too clean tile tho beds little more comfortable ann titan the wagons gons uc ile odes eldes twenty five cents I 1 you got awen ty alve cents for helf it barrel of tonia tom 4 you got alve cents for a sa k of liola toes onions brought se seyen enty tydo alve cents a sack CIll cabbages bages W wenan aith hundred heads for two dollars an were five pound heads if you drood himoe with ten dollars in your pocket it represented a profit of exactly aero the sum must go above no one lid did not pay out twenty nat fl Cents for to tile the mere privilege leke of sleeping in a bed bi bite ie june day a month or more sifter I 1 I 1 I 1 tit thear e ir i selina drove into clil cago alth pervus an incongruous little figure tit in tier her brides finery perched on in the sent of tile the vegetable wagon paled high with early garden stuff bluff it was tn in a way their wedding trip for selina v had bad not liot been away front from the farin since lier her marriage As aa they jorged along now slie site revealed yea led wagn incent pl plans ins that lint hall upon been f arming in tier her imagination during tile lie past tour weeks it had not taken tier her amr vech s or days daya tol to discover that clial alls great broad shouldered man title had married was a kindly creature tender lender and good but locking lacking tiny vestige of initiative of spirit site she some thaes tit nt the memory mentory of lifa fi boldness in bidding for tier lier lundli boi ho ahat evening of tile the ra annie M e I 1 it t xai d incredible now though he fie frequently referred to it wagging ills his and grinning the broadly grin of tle tile conquering hut but lie he was after all a dull fellow and there was in selina a dash offlie off lre of wholesome wickedness of adventure that lie never quite under id for tier her fl dashes aslies of flat flume lie lie he ilo d a mingled feeling of uneasiness and pride ji in the manner of all young brides lir ldes seliva c started bravely out to make tier her husband over ile was handsome strops gentle slow conservative fit mo rosel she would make hlin him keen daring successful buoyant now bumping in ingrown j down the 11 alsted road she eket chad some of tier her plans in large 41 dashing ng strokes es cervus we must paint the house lo in stober Tt ober before tile the frost sets in and lifter after tle tile summer work Is over theu then that thai west sixteen well drain it yeli drain pervus muttered its ita lay babil drain slid you have got yet rilly FIAT ilard hard piny my soil bellna had the answer to that 1 I know enoi it yoube ou 8 kot got to use usa tile brala age and Anil wait a minute huma I 1 know what livinus la Is its decayed vegetables theres always a pile by tile the side of the barn and youve bep beati using it on the quick land lana all tile west sixteen clay part of its all it needs la Is draining tind manure with potash li too and phosphoric acid pervus laughed ft a great hearty laugh chilt bellna found surprisingly infuriating well well well I 1 school teacher Is a fanner now huh I 1 bet even widow dont know as ia as my little farmer about lie he exploded again labout about tills now new potash und and abat kind of acid toll tell III me little ilna I lna froni from where did you learn all this about truck farming fanning out of a book suld said almost snappishly 1 I sent tu to chicago for it A book I 1 A book I 1 lip ile slapped shipped ills knee A vegetable furnier farmer out of a book why not nott I 1 the man mail who wrote it knows more about vegetable farming than anybody in till nil ailigh Pr prairie airle lie jle knows nebout new ways youre running tile lie farm fann just the way your father anther ran it if what was good enough for tily my father Is good enough for me file it cried selina it 1 the book says clay to loam a ili la Is all right for peas anti and beans it tells you liow how it tells you howl bowl she was like it a frantic little lly fly darting and pricking him on to accelerate the stolid of lily ills slow plodding galt gait pervus pen stared straight ahead down the road between ills horses ears cars much us mails pool had bad done so maddeningly on oil Se gelinas linas nas first drat ride on tile misted alsted II oad load fine talk fine talk it talk its plans youve got to phin fine talk fine talk oil ob I 1 selina bent beat her knee with an impotent list lt it HIIS tile nearest they had ever come to quarreling it would seem that pervus had bad the best of the iorgu for when two years had pai tile the west sixt sixteen een was still a boggy clay mass and und and tile the old house stared out shabby and ut at tile the dense willows by tle tile roadside they slept that night in one of the twenty five cent rooming houses rath iralli er pervus slept the woman lay awake wept a little perhaps hut but in n the morning pervus might have noted if lie he had been a titan man given to noting tho fine jaw line was set its as do de us as ever with lin an angle that spelled inevitably paint di drainage a inage liu hu mua illus potash phosphoric acid and a horse site she rose rosa before four with pervus glud to be out of tile the stuffy little aoi with its spotted and scaly green will wall imper its rickety bed anil and chair they had it cup of coffee anti anil it slice of bread in ili the tilling eating house on the farst floor selina waited while lie be tended the home it was scarcely dawn when tile nid lii began selina watching it from the wagon seat thought that Ms was a ridiculously haphazard and perilous method of distributing the food for whose fruition pervus had tolled with telling track and tired arms but she said nothing site she kept perforce to the house that first year nail the second pervus pen us declared that ilia woman should never work in the fields ns as did many of if the high prairie wives and daughters bellna learned much that first year and the second fc cond but sho she said little she kept the house in order rough work and endless und and she managed miraculously ulous tilou sly ly to keep keel herself looking und nent neat site sho understood now pools drub drab garments liar assed face heavily swift feet never neer at rest tit alie idea of lowers flower 4 in bowls wa abandoned by july had it not been for faithful tending the lie flower lods beds themselves planted with such hopes would have dished for foi lack of cf cure care itself come often to the house lie fie found there a tranquillity and pence peace anwer known in tile the pool p place lace with its hubbub and clatter in order to to make tier house attractive had actually rifled tier her precious little bank hoard the tour four hundred and ninety seven dollars left tier by tier her father she still lind one of the lie clear cl car white diamonds site she kept it sewed in tile hem heal of an old chinnel petti petticoat cont the con can of white paint and the brush actually did materialize for weeks it was dangerous to sit lean or tread upon tiny any thing filing in tile the dejong far nihon e without el eliciting letting a cry of warning from selina sliu she would actually have tried tier her hand han d 11 at t the outside of tile the house with a quart can and st B three inch brush it if pervus intervened she hemmed curtains made slip covers for tile the hideous parlor sofa all and the lie ugliest of tile lie chairs cli alre subscribed for a lu magazine agazine called house and garden together she and itself used to pore over this fascinating periodical it if high prairie had ever eer overheard one of these conversations between tile the farm fanu woman who would always ile be a girl and the lie farm boy who had never been quite a child it would have raised palms high inin og liedts lied cs of horror but high prairie never heard and le have understood 4 at it had selina avon up dilly dally at four dressing t ng was a swift tin anil mechanical covering of th the body breakfast be ready for pervus and jan when they came in front from tile the barn tile the house to blenn the chickens to tend sewing washing ironing cooking site she con ways of minimizing minim ising tier her steps of tightening lightening tier lier labor anil and she saw cit clearly italy how the little furm was tilts rots through lack of foresight imagination and slie faced it square ly I 1 through stupidity she was fond of tills this great kindly blundering stub barn hoy boy who was waa tier her husband hut but slie she faw blin with amazing clearness through tile mists of tier her love loe there then was something soni ethIng prophetic nhouy the lift wity slie site began to absorb knowledge of file farm work of vegetable culture of marketing listening seeing she ole learned about soil planting weather selling belling the dully daily talk of the house aliouse and fields was aa of nothing else about little twenty five acre garden patch there here was nothing of the lie ty of tile tho iowa illinois and kansas grain farms with lilt their endless billows of wheat anti and corn rye alfalfa and barley bailey rolling away to the horizon everything was waa to do a in ili diminutive here selina sensed that every inch of soil should have been made to yield to tile utmost yet there lity lay tile west sixteen useless during of tile the year reliable never and there was no money to train drain it or enrich it no ready cash for the purchase of able 1 neighboring acreage ac renge she did not know tile term terin intensive tanning farming but this was what she meant during that winter slie site was often hideously lonely she never got over tier hunger for companionship here slie she was it a gregarious and fun loving e burled in a snowbound snow bound illinois prairie farmhouse with IA husband who looked upon conversation as a convenience not a pastime she she would take dirk with her into the fields placing him on a heap of empty sacks in the shade learned much that winter about tile utter titter lne ss of farm fana life site she rarely saw faw the lie pools slit slie rarely silv saw tiny ono one outside tier own little household the front room the flie parlor was vlis usually bitterly cold hut but sometimes times 4 she used use to slip sill in there u shawl over tier ner shoulders anil nut sit at the frosty window to watch for it a wagon to go by or a chance pedestrian up tile the road site she did not pity litty herself nor regret tier step slie site felt physically pretty 11 r et ty well fur foj r it childbearing child bearing hearing woman and pervus wits was tender kindly s ain m pathetic put hetle it if not always understanding she struggled aill pill antly to keep up tile the small decencies of existence slie lie loved the glow of pervus eyes when she S lie appeared with a bright ri rib lhnn lion it a frosh fresh collar thou li lie fie sald said nothing and perhaps site ot ni v funded that tip lm noticed once or twice site she imd hild walked the mile little and it 11 aalf of slippery road to tile floods awl ail had silt sat in warm warin hustling bustling kitchen for comfort where was adventure no now w and where was life anti and where tile the love of chance bred in tier her by tier lier father the two years following dirks birth were always somewhat vague in se linas mind like a dream in which horror anti happiness are inextricably blended the boy was a plump hardy infant lie had tits ills fathers blond exterior t ills his moth mothers erli brunette vivacity at two lie was a child of average intelligence li it sturdy physique and marked good humor lie he almost never cried ile he was just twelve months old when Sell Se linas second a girl was born dead twice during those two years cervus fell victim to his so ca called tied attacks following the curly iffy spring planting when lie was often forced to stand in water up to tits his ankles lie he suffered intensely linc escly and during tits hla illness was us ua tractable us as at goaded bull selina understood why halt half of high prairie was bent ami oil twisted with rheumatism why the little dutch church on sunday mornings resembled a shrine to which sick and crippled pilgrims creep selina lind find leen married almost three years when there come to her a letter from julle julie li hempel giempel now married the flie letter had been sent to the klaus pool farm and jojne had brou brought glat ll it to her seated on tier her kitchen steam in her ber calico dress bhe read it darling selina 1 I thought it was so queer that you sou answer my iny letter and now flow I 1 know that you ou roust must have thought it queer that I 1 did not answer yours I 1 found your letter to me written long ago when I 1 was going over mothers things last week it was wan the letter you ion must have wrIt written when I 1 was in kansas city mother had never given it to me inc manima died three weeks ago bast week eek I 1 was going over tier her things a trying tasu task you may imagine and there were your two letters addressed to tue me she hul hual never destroyed them ioor floor mamma Illa nillia well dear selina I 1 suppose you dont even eien know that I 1 ant am married I 1 |