Show 8 V k k I 1 BIG IG tf by EDNAH illustrations ay OARK Z W kr ca cis Os oiw from last Cm amut ut nto day a month or more after alir air marriage dellaa drove into chi are 0 irith with pervus an incongruous little gare an in her bridee brides finery perched on th wt met ct ef the vegetable wagon bagh ih with early garden bluff it waa was 1 A way their wedding trip for dellna lad id not been away from the farm since her r As A they jogged along now she retied magnificent plans that had been inning ta in her imagination burtes duraz the past nt tour four weeks it had not taken lier tier wee ksor or discover that this tl great broad shouldered man she be bad id married raa ras a kindly creature berder ader and good but lacking toy eny esthe of initiative of spirit she sometimes at the memory df t hie his boldness boldn cee in bedling for her lier lunch box ox that evening of tle tte tl e rame it seized coed incredible now though he fre gettly r berred to it wagging hn ead bead doggishly and grinning the broad ty mt grin of the conquering iak bit U it he was vas after all ala 61 dull bilow aw and there was in selina a dash or ere ot of wholesome wickedness wicked nees of adventure that he never quite understood for her flashes of lame he be lad bad i a minted mingled feeling of uneasiness ad and pride in the manner of nil all young bria bellu started bravely out to make her ausband over lie ile was handsome gentle blow slow conservative mo we rose she would mike him keen dara in successful buoyant now bump it bg down the halsted II road ehe she ebed some of ber her plans la in large 4 iblas strokes terna we must paint the house in october Dc tober before the frost seta sets in and after the summer work Is over then that west sixteen well drain it teh tek drain pervas muttered etim ite day land landl drain and you have got yet city clay hard clay soil selina bad had the answer to that 1 I katov it aa ve got to use tile drain age ig and walt wait a humus I X what humus Is ita decayed vegetables bles there theres s always a pile by the ade side of the barn and been it on the quick land tall 11 the vest west sixteen isn t clay part of its murtland land all it needs la Is draining and ma ina ure anith potash too and phosphoric Phosphor le acid laughed a great hearty laugh tint that selina found surprisingly lu furiat ing ft ell well well I 1 a 8 bool teacher I 1 Is a farmer now haht bull I 1 bet even widow laar lauri lenberg enberg dout know as an buch much as my little farmer abut he exploded again about this now pot uh ash and ind what kind of acid tell me little lina una from where did you leau lea u all mis about truck farminer farmin gr hit out of a book selina said almost 1 I sent to chicago for if it A k book A book lie slapped his IB kv A vegetable fege rge table fanner farmer out of a book boak why rut I 1 the man who wrote it him WWI more about vegetable farming than anybody in all high prairie he ile knows now about bou new ways youre run tol ita th farm arm just the way your father ran it what was good enough for my fa ther Is good enough fo me it laupp lent I 1 cried hellna Seli nii it t the book says clay loam Is in all right for cabbages peas and beane beans it tell TOO you bow LOW it 0 tells you how she wai was a frantic litle dy fly darting and drice aa him on to accelerate the stolid of his slow plodding gait gnit pervus taped stared straight ahead down the tn road between ills ats horses ears mach AN aux pool had done so maddeningly on Al first ride en on the halsted road fine talk fin talk to plin it lan im t talk it a onix got tine talk fiva talk ah ohi I 1 guna selina beat her kne knee with an impotent flat it was wall the nearest they bad had ever ameto to quarreling it woja seem that t perrus had tha tho best of the ident att ctt tor for when whon two year years had passed the t 14 et eat hixt een was wits still a boggy clay laile a and and the old boom stared out ababel and nw it the denee dense willows by the roadell road eld they tho slept that night in one ot at the tyrenty alte cent rooming haq llatha bemis ale slet alet the woman lav law wake make wept 1 bittis perhaps per hape but in 1 a in orning P arrus might have nav noted irshad 1110 had been a man aba given to noting abe line jaw line waa was set as de ras adly as ever with an angle that cited inevitably paint drainage luto huto bual potash pta ah phosphoric Pho Porte add acid end and a orae team k rase e her before ore four with pervus to 0 be e mt out 0 f the it stuffy 1 little room its sa s1 potted and scaly r agreen wall bierl its it rickety bed a 4 a and chair rhoy la to the CUP P ot of coffee anda jl bread g eating house on the th e first floor door wn VIAl acted alted tei while he tended the a tr braunt aUnt it bwll was scarcely acely dawn when the from began selina watching it wagan seat this vaa was a ridiculously haphazard OOT ous method of distributing the food for or whose fruition had bad tolled with aching back and tired arms but she he aid said nothing no thine she kept perforce to the houe house that arat year and the second pervus d blared that his hl woman hould should never work in the S fields as dd many ot of the high prairie wives and daughters selina learned much that first year and the second but she enid said little she kept the house in order rough work and endless rad wad she managed miraculously ulous ly to t keep herself looking fresh and neat she understood now ma maartje artje pools drab garment garments harassed race face heavily swift feet never at ret rest the idea of lowers flowers in bowls wak aan aban boned by july had ilal it not been tor for kheife faithful ten diris the flower beds themselves theme elvee planted with such hopes would live perished lert shed for lack of care roelf cguire often orten to the house lie ile found there a it tranquilly and peace never known in the pool alae with ita its hubbub and clatter la in order to make her house attractive selina had actually rifled her precious little banic brink hoard the four hundred and ninety seven dollars left her by her father she still had one of the clear white bite diamonds ste kept it sewed in the hem of an old flannel petticoat the can of white paint and the brush actually did lid materialize for weeks it was dangerous da narona to alt sit lean or tread upon any pUn table thing in the dejong farmhouse without eliciting a cry of warning from selina she would actually have tried her hand band at the outside of the bouse house with a quart can and a three inch brush it if pervus intervened she hemmed dimity cur talar made alap covers for the hideous arlor p artor sofa and the ugliest of the chair subscribed for a magazine called house and garden together the she and itself used to pore over oser this periodical if high prairie had ever overheard one of these conversations between the farm woman oman who would always be a girl and the farm boy who had never been quite a child it would mould have raised palms high in an og he derti of horror but high prairie never heard and goulda wouldn t have hae understood if it bad had selina waa was up dally at four dressing was a swift and mechanical covering of the body breakfast must be ready fv pervus and jan when they came canie in from the barn the house to clean the chickens to tend sewing washing ironing cooking she contrived ways of minimizing her steps of lightening her labor and she filie saw clearly how the little farm was mis into managed through lack of foresight imagination and she faced it squarely through stupidity she was fond of this great lendlr blundering stubborn boy who was her husband but she saw aw him with amazing clearness through the mists of her love there wae was something prophetic about the way she began to absorb knowledge of the farm work of vegetable culture of marketing nar listening seeing she learned about soil soll planting weather selling the dally talk of the house and fields was wits of th r olse about this little twenty ft fi vea ve a re garden patch there vi was as nothing of or the majesty of the iowa lovia illinois and kansas grain farms with their endless billow billows of wheat and corn rye alfalfa and barley rolling away to the me horizon was done la in diminutive here selina sensed that every inch ot of coil wll should have bay been made to yield to the utmost yet there lay the west sixteen during most of the year reliable never and there was no money to drain it or enrich it no ready cash for the of profitable neighboring acreage she bd did not know the term intensive tanning farming but this Ws v as what she meant during that winter the she wae was often hideously lonely she never uster got over her bunger for companionship here the w waa 1 I gregarious gregari oua and biln loving creature buried furled in a enow snow bound dib bit nois prairie farmhouse with a husband who looked upon conversation conver atlon as AN a convenience not a pastime she learned much that winter about the utter sordidness of farm life she rarely saw the pools the she rarely saw any one outside her own little boue house bold the front room thil the parlor wis wa usually bitterly id but sometimes she used to slip still la is there a shawl over her shoulder shoulders and sit at the frosty wind lade w to watch for a wagon scoby destri trian an up the lo 10 go by or a chance pe pedestrian pede road she did not pity af nor regret her tep step she felt physically pretty well tor for a child bearing woman and orvus was tender kindly ym path eive fc 1 it not always eltiy to keep wine up ane dinall decent decencies les of existence SUN 1 laibe aloi ot of bs when the he appeared T no ph a bright t ribbon a tt fresh uh collar though he eald said nothing ahe she only fancied that he be and perhaps bad had noticed once or twice ehe she iantha tbt WU assi and d a half road to the hooff 8 15 maartje aaa warn warm bright bustling kitchen for comfort am whew was id venture nowa now and where was iffet and d vb re the loe ime of chance bred in ber by her father the two years toll follow ing dirk dirke dirka a birth vere ere always somewhat vague ta se ba ana 9 mind und uk ilk a dream 1 in aich horror and are inextricably blended blend etL the toy troy aas as a hard infant intent he ile had 1 father a bond ex ei tenor hie his mother 2 brunette vivacity A at two he be visa a chill chil I 1 of average lw itei Il geule tardy sturdy physique and marked good humor he almost never crie criel he wae was jut just twelve months old when selina 8 second chelda girl girt waa was born dead awl twice during those two NO perrus tell fell victim to hie his eo so called rheumatic attack following the early art y spring planting when he wae was ftp a forced to bland in water op up to his hi ankle he tie buffered suffered 14 intensely tensely and during his hi illness was wa as a tractable us as a goaded bull sti 14 understood tood why halt half of prairie was bent and torla teI with rheumatism why the little dutch reformed church on 00 son sun day nominee 1110 resembled a shrine to which sick and crippled pilgrims creep selina bad been married almost three years then when there came to her a letter from julle julie 11 lampel ampel now married the letter had been sert tu to the kinas pool farm arm and jobina I 1 lad ad brought it to her seated on her kitchen stepa steps in her calico drase 1 she read it darling selina 1 I thought it waa was so queer that you dida t answer my atter and now I 1 know that you must have thought it queer that I 1 did not answer youre I 1 found your letter to me written long ago when hea I 1 was going over mother mothers a thing things last it was the letter you must have britten 4 when I 1 was in noa s tty UY ho her hid never given it to me mamma died three weeks ago last list week I 1 was aas going over her things a task you may imagine and there we your two letters addressed to me she sh had haj sever never destroyed thep poor mamma nell ell dear selina I 1 suppose you ou dont don t e even en know that I 1 am married I 1 married michael arnold of kansas city the arnolds were in the packing business there you know michael nel has gone into business with pa derdla herdla her in chicago and I 1 suppose you hare have heard of pas pals success juat just all of a sudden he began to make a great deal of money after he e left the butcher busl bust ness and went into the yards the stock yards you know poor mamma was so 0 o happy these last few year and end had everything that was beautiful I 1 have two childre nEugene eugene and pauline 1 I am getting to be quite a society person you would laugh to see me I 1 am on the ladles ent corn com cittee of the warlis fair we are supposed to entertain ent ettala all the big bugs that Is tha ludy lady bugs there I 1 how Is that for a joke 1 I suppose you know about the in fanta eulaile of spain you know and what hat she did about the potter palmer ball selina the letter la in her work stained hand looked up and across the fields and away amay to where the prairie met the sky and closed in on her her world the infanta of spain ahe went back to the letter binnell ell she came to chicago tot for the fair and mrs potter palmer was as to give a huge recep reception pon and ball for he mrs P Is head of the whole committee you know and end I 1 must eay say she looks queenly with her white hair so 00 beautifully beRuti tully dressed and her diamond dog collar and her black velvet and all well at the very last minute the la in fanta refused to attend the hafl be caud she had juar tbt IS urs ft P was an innkeeper a wife imagine I 1 the palme house of case selina ht alding tho letter la in her hand band imagined it as in the third year of Sell nas marriage that she flit finst fl it went into the 7 A vw who would take dirk with he hr th tho fields placing him on 4 hup of empty sacks in the shad shade fields to work pervus bad had protested miserably though the vegetable vegetables were spoiling la in the ground selina had regained health and tiger after two years of she eat steel strong and even hopeful fan ore sure sign ign S of physical well beta beins lul g before now she he had realized that this tune lung mu mast at inevitably come so ab aha mia vered briskly Non senj seas per me worrying la in the fields no harder than washing abing or cronig or or staid ing over ever a hot stove id actual women a work I 1 works the hardest ro rok k in the why aup 11 wont do it 1 she would of nicea take the boy dirk with hr her into the fieldi field aln on pt bep of 0 empty acle sacks in the ih hl d lie ile invariably crawled off oft this alil lowly throne to die dla aad and borrow burrow la in tho the warm on pago page 4 SO BIG from page rage 3 black lirt dirt lie even made as so to help bell his mother pulling at the rooted things futile angers anil and sitting it tine back ith a bump when a shallow root did unexpectedly yield to his tue tug ang look I 1 iles lie a farmer already per aus would any ay so two years went neat three yeara four in the fourth year of Sell nae marriage khe she suffered the lose loss of her one woman friend in ash pr pro irle 31 aartJe fool root died in childbirth an nas so often tc czae in alili realon where here a Garn gamileh midwife acted us u clan the fotij too had not lived death had not no beitl kind lind to maartje pool it hail 1 brought neltha r peace pence nor not to her f ate alte am it often dors does selina looking down at the strangely still till figure hint that had been so active so I 1 detling lint realized that for the first time in the years she hud had known her tier elie elks was teeing seeing maartje aartje St pool at rest it seemed incredible that she could he lie there the infant ao 10 her arms while the house was mas filled with people and there were chain to be handed space to be cleared food to be cooked and nerved served sitting there with the other high women belleu hud a hideous feeling that |