Show 4 BY ELI 1 leferber ll FERBER R illustrations IDY CLARK ty doubler a age A ok batte ii from itt lost week the glass lamp rite was intent ca replacing the glass clil tilneY within tile rte tour four prongs that tild it finn firm in the crowded crowd edl kitchen he lud bad seem d quite the tile man now in abe be ye lamplight lIm plight hi his prof ll charp it on outlined lined gac saw that he be wan wati lust just a small it boy b with till tousled leair about bis his checks his lits mouth his chin one coald even eden wt the ast st faint trace of toft wit infantile roundness a X just fl a little boy thou thought glit S se llna with a quick martir ile was about to paa pass her na now without glau glancing clug at her his heid he id d she put out her tier E hind hand touched ha his shoulder he ile looked t so D at her his hi face startlingly alive hie eyes blazing it come to tp selina tint that until now she bad had not heard him peak speak her hand pressed the thin atoff ji of his coat sleeve cabbages fields ot of cabbages what whitt you said bald they are beautiful be stammered ue ile wae was terribly in earnest before the she could reply he be waa was out of the room clattering down the stairs selina stood blinking a little the slow low that warmed her now en burtz hueu while she splashed about la in the inadequate adequate to basin took down the dark A r 14 field fields of cabbage wh t you said they are beautiful he no stam mored left oft masses ot of her hair put on the voluminous long eldered ele ered high necked just before she blew out the lamp her last glimpse wae was of the black drum stationed uke like a patient in the corner and he lie could mile smile at that even giggle a lItt little let wept with weariness excitement and a set eral feeling of being awake in a dream but ofa oza in a the vast bed she ly lay there dere utterly in the waves of t terror and loneliness thit that envelop one at t night in a strange house amongst strange people she listened to the noises that canie came brorn downstairs voices gruff unaccustomed shrill blab these ceased and gave place to others less accustomed to tier city bred ears a hurls bark and an answer anser 1119 ig a far oil train whistle ta tue he doll tb J of hoofs stamp stumpf ig s on the barn bam floor the wind la in the bare tree branches outside the window her tier watch a gift froni from simeon 1 eake on her eighteenth birthday with the gold case nil all beautifully en travel with alth a likeness of a bate gate and 4 church and a waterfall and a bird linked together with ith spiral spirals flour illies bes of the most graceful description as eking ticking away under her pit ow or sho sh felt for it took it out and held it in her 1 under her cheek he elf for comfort she knew she would not sleep flirt light she knew are sl o would not adeep she aladie to a clear cold november davin an children dren a e moices the meigs ing of fh horses orne a great sizzling and biasing blasing and nd adint of frying trying lacona ba cona clucking find ind squawking squi la in tha the barnyard it w nis clock bellnap bell farat tiny as a chool school tea her in a little mor mon than two hours u ehe he dolid be facing a whole oni tul ful of round eyed OL OeTt artles jes and jozines and the bedroom was cruelly elly cold AB an she threw the bed aside side sellia decided deil that it too took an amount cf of courage tbs abs life that simeon peake hail had called peat ineat adventure adlen ture chapter HI III ar biery morning throughout out w it was wag tho same at six 0 clock ass peaked oh biles beakel im DI up cpr P belind would call tall ao 10 hat what oe be meant to be a guy voice through erlna teeth 74 tetter come dmn and dresa dress wilt ye re Is 13 warn wa here br the thee tove stove t peering down tb h perforations in the floor hole through ellich the h 1 chimney ottel emeled led so 80 proudly par inan tm thi GI oiin im bellba could vaguely descar birt pool stationed tatlo tation ned ed just below her tier gazi upturned that first vi morning orning on hearing this invitation selina lud had been rocked between horror and mirth I 1 im in not cold I 1 im ni almost creeed iti III be down donn dire directly aly blat maartje we root pow must have tensed sonie some of the tile shock in the tile girl e 8 voice or perhaps evea esen some of the laugh ter pool and jakob are long out already cutting here back of the stove you can dresa dress ShIr crIng and d though he li was selina find set her mil against it 1 I wont KO go down doan she said to herself shaking with ith the cold coll 1 I 1 wont come down to dressing behind the kitchen stove like a ili like a peasant in one of those dreadful prussian novels that sounds stuck up an and horrid the foohs are ure good and aud kin I 1 and decent bat but I 1 won t come do down n to huddling behind the stove with a bundle of underwear in my arms oh oft dear this corsets corset s like a casing of lee ce but I 1 won wont t dress behind the kitchen stove I 1 declared selina glaring meanwhile at that hollow pretense the drum she even stuck her tongue out at it only nineteen rem remembert emberl when she thought back years later on that ceriol of her high prairie experience seemed to figure with mith absurd prominence in her memory that might well be A stove changed the whole course of her life from the first the schoolhouse tove stove was wa her tier bete noir out opt of the welter w e itar of that first year it stood huge aud sad menacing a black tyrant the high prairie schoolhouse in which taught was a little more than a mile up the road beyond the pool farm arm she came to know that road in all its mooda tee ice locked drifted with anor no wallowing in mud school bt asa z at half past eight alter her first week selina had the mathematics of her early morning reduced to the beart common denominator up at six 1 A plunge lato the rigid frigid garments breakfast of bread cheese sometimes bacon alwais rye coffee without cream or sugar on with the cloak muffler hood mittens grosh ps the lunch box 1 lj i bad weather up the road to the schoolhouse battling the pral rift wind that whipped the tears fears into the eyes plowing the drift drifts lipping slipping on the hard ruts and icy ridges in dry weather excellent at nineteen As she new flew down the road in sun or rain in wind or snow her minds eye was fixed fired on the stove the retched fetched ret ched her numbed fingers wrestled with the rusty lock the door opened there smote her the smell a st mingling of dead ashes kerosene unwashed bodies dust mice chalk stove nood lunch crumbs mold slate that has been washed with saliva luto this selina rushed untying her muffler as she entered in tin little vestibule there was a box all id with chunks of 0 store and anither heaped with dried corn com cobs alent alongside tide this a can ct cf kerosene the cobs served as kindling A dozen or mor of these yon you soaked with kerosene and stuffed into the maw of 0 the iron potbellied stove A match up flared he the corncobs corn com cobs now was the moment fr for a small stick of wood another to keep it company shut the door Draught ff damper smoke suspense A A blaze then a crackle the wood has caught la in with a chunk now A watt wait another chunk slam the he door the school schoolhouse huse 11 fire re ie is started for the day As the room thawed gradually removed layra of outer lar garments ments by the time tle children arrived the room vas TAs livable selina had bad seen herself dignified yet gentle InstruCt nt u f roomful of cherubs in the stal capter elements of learning but it I 1 Is to be dignified and gracious grac lius when you are stiff buffering ring from chilblain selina fell victim to this sordid as did every child in the ro room orn blie 10 sat slit at the battered pine pina deek desk or moved about a little lie 1 e wool woot shawl around be shoulders when the wind was groo and the stove balky her tier white irstle flee fice seemed whiter la in COD contrast trust the binck black folds of this sober garment her tier film plim hands were rugh and ani chapped the 0 oldest child tit ili the room waa was thirteen the you agest four and a A aalf early carly in the tile wirier wimer sell dellaa had bad the unfortunate fortunate an id 1 of opening the ice lee locked widows rt sit intervale interval and nd giving the five m of exercise while till tb fi isn C cold 0 o id air cleared brains and room at once A anns waved wit wildly idly head heads wobbled abort rt legs worked ed vigorous at the ens end of the week tw tanty nty iilah gh ira prairie parents sent pro tesfA by rote or word of bouth jan and ro r o chis 11 and aegle van went I 1 to abool to learn eding and writing and art not to stand with open window windows to in the winter oa on the P pol 1 farm tue win winter work bail had t e tn in X kleab bosi drove into with winter only onro once a week now lip lie und and jakob and itself waw awe potatoes pot pota atye toos and moat trine fences pre france fur for tin tit arty sprine spring planting swung 1 seedling it had been roelf who had selina to build the school chool huse use ore are lip if had bad gone cone with toon that first warning had bad started the tire filled thip th water pall her in the tb ates t f corn com cobs keros kerosen ke rosec eze and ani dampers A shy dark silent boy she set out deliberately to woo him to friendship Ito roelf elf I 1 have a book called ivan hoe bop would you like to read it well nell I 1 dont fet get much time you wouldn t hae have to hurry right la in the house and theres another called culled the three musketeers hown 1 trying trang not to appear pleased to appe ir stolid and dutch like the people from whom he had bid sprung bome dutch sailor ancestor selina thought or fisherman therman 11 blust must have touched at nn italian port or spanish and brought bak baek bae k a wife nife whose those eyes and skin and fe fp e for beauty had I 1 la laer er on layer of placid neth tr to crop out now in this wistful BenI tIvo buy boy bellus had spoken to pool about a shelf tor for her bool bools gs and hr her photo ganhs ue ile I 1 ad put up a roukh rough bit of t t md rl very crude and ugly but it had find served she ad ind come amae li nue one snowy a lo 10 in cal I 1 this shelf ione aad and tn in IN plute a smooth and end poll polished bed one with alth b aineta intricately carved 1 had cut planed oll shed and carved it in irl many hours of work in the cold little shed off the ki kizellen he ile bad there a workshop of 0 sorts fitted wu such tools and implements as he could devise lie ile did man a e work on the farm yet often at night selina could faintly hear bear the raap of hta his handsaw after she had gone to bed this eort sort of thing was looked upon by maas pool 11 as foolishness doirs real work la in the ched sted aa the making and mend log ing of cold frames and hotbeds for the early spring plants whenever possible boelt neglected this dull work tor for some fancy of his own to tills this klass pool objected ag a being dumb roelf stop that foolishness ret get your u ma once some carving oa on that bok again instead of finishing them cold some day by colly I 1 show ou rou I 1 break every stick dumb in an a Gro greningen root rot it did not sulk ue ile seemed not to mind particularly but he came back to the carved box as soon as an chance presented itself lie ile was reading her books with such hunger as to cans cause her to wonder it if her stock would last him the winter sometimes after sup per when he was hammering and sawing away in the little bcd shed selina would snatch Maart Bla artles jes old shawl oft off the bock hok and swathed la in tilts this against draughty calak she he would read aloud mond to him tenile he carved or talk to him above the noise of his tools selina was a gay and volatile she loved to make this boy nil 1113 dark face would flash into almost dazzling animation sometimes maartje hearing their young laughter would As ar lv she would read aloud to him while H ho carved come tome to the shed door and stand there a IL moment bugging hugging hr hor aritis in her rolled apron and smiling at them un comprehending compre hening but companionable you MAR fun hal it M 2 coma come in mrs pol NO sit down on my box and wake tun fun to too alere ya u may have hat the shawl Os oz hedelt I 1 kot got no time to sit it down sho she va off on roelf slid bis his plane slowly more slowly over the surface curf ace of satin smooth oak board lie ile twined a cart curl of slin shaving ving about his finger finhen hen I 1 a am in a mail nud aud earning I 1 am going to buy bu y my mother a milk alk dress like I 1 raw in tore store and she should put it on ever day net not only for sunday and bit silt in a chair and nake n ake little ane It chos like what else ni ae you YO u going to do when you grow opt up she site waited wafted certain that he would say something delight tul ful drive the te teim team am to town alone to DIR market arket oh rod roelf ft I 1 sure already I 1 have gone cone ave times twice tice with jakob and three times with pop pretty boon soon when hen I 1 am seventeen or eighteen I 1 can con go alons alone at five in the afternoon Z ai start and at nine vine you arc a re in the there nere all night you spa t continued on rage rago 4 SO BIG I 1 ed from rage 3 amer tr 1 i gas 8 arg his 1 YE T ire Z ten play dice and card cards at tour four in ae be tuorn worn I 1 alag ing you are ready resa they come Us me U s commission men am aw the Tere and i the grocer grocery men oh ON arg tt ft flie e I 1 tell ayou youl I 1 koeltl I 1 she was bitterly digap diesi pointed au fre pre look ile rummaged around ila ID a duty dusty box in a comer and sudi I 1 denly shy again laid before her a torn sheet of coate cosse brown paper on which be lie had bad sketched crudely effectively a melee of treat haunch d hone horses wa gons piled high with garden truck raen in overalls and corduroy corduroys faring agas torches he ile hed had drawn it with a stub of pencil exact exactly le as it looked to alm him the tb result aras a as startling sh as that achl tl by tae me present day disca csc sl 1 the impressionistic school selina a s t once early in tit december ember selina went into we town che the tr trio lu WAS born ot of sudden revolt against lur hr gurmand inga tug and a greit wave ot of nostalgia tor for the dirt aud clamor and crowd crowds of 0 chicago early saturday morning haax drove her to the railway station five miles distant she waa was to lay stay until sunday A letter had been written jolle julle hempel ten day daw before but there had been no io answer once in town she he went straight to the klempel boope mrs birs hempel thin lipped met her in the hall and said that tulle jolle was wa out of town she waa was visiting her friend mu bliss arnold in kansas city selina waki not salted to atay to dinner she A as not asked to elt sit down when ahe she left the house lier tier galt fine eyes seemed larger and more deep set than ever and her was set hard lined against the invasion ot of tears team ly she he hated this atil chicago that varied none ot of her that brushed post her butu camping her elbow and offering no apology S that clanged aneed cl and ano shrieked a and nd whistled and roared v n her earn now grown aecus accustomed tomed to thi th i prairie she spent the giroo between one and mee buying portable present presents for the entire pool including bu bm nanas for G oktje cje end and jozina fo 01 whom that farinaceous fruit bad had the ascI fascination nation atway always held hold for or the fana farm child she caught a train at four thir ty five ard actually trudged the by adles the to the farm anivin art iving half talf frozen weary with ach lac WS armi arms and nipped tote to a great welcome ot of the squeals eala yr barks and gutturals rale that formed the expresion ion of the pool household houte hold she wu wai tout shed to |