The Harvester

ccompaniment of Singing Water. The geese had gone over, some flocks pausing to rest and feed on Loon Lake, and ducks that homed there were busy among the reeds and rushes. In th

ad he was able to accomplish an unbelievable amount. The earliest rush of spring drug gathering was over. He could be more deliberate in collecting the barks he wanted. Flowers that were to be g

he now allowed himself an hour each day on the candlesticks for her. Every evening he opened her door and with soft cloths polished the furniture he had made. When her room was completed and the dining-room partially finished, the Harvester took time to stain the cabin and porch roofs the shade of the willow leaves,

the woods, dry-house or store-room to do the work most needful in his harvesting. In the afternoon he laboured over furnitu

steadily. As the cabin grew in better shape for occupancy each day, more pressing became the thought of how he was going to find and meet the girl of his dream. Sometim

your chim

m the wor

our chimn

rue love will

hiring a neighbour to care for his living creatures, and starting a search over the world to find her. There came times when the impulse to go was so strong that only the desire to take a day more to decide where, kept him. Every time his mind was made up to start the following day came the counter thought, what if I should go and she should come in my absence? In the dream she came. T

furnishing the cabin. Every few days saw a new piece finished in the workshop. Each trip to Onabasha ended in the purchase of some article he could see wo

leaves, flowers, twining tendrils, and berries or fruits of wonderful beauty. Every trip to the forest he brought back a half dozen vines, plants, or bushes to set for her. All of them either bore lovely flowers, berries, quaint seed pods

ght flower, berry, or fruit. Those remaining he used as a border for the driveway from the lake, so that from earliest spring her eyes would fall on a procession of colour beginning with catkins and papaw lilies, and running through alders, haws, wild crabs, dogwood, plums, and cherry intermingled with forest saplings and vines bearing sc

ll crude stuff that he sent straight from the drying-house was fresh and brightly coloured. His stock always was marked prime A-No. 1. There was a step behind h

ailed boxes. Then he ran to harness Betsy and load. As he drove do

lecked the surprised mare's flank with a switch. Belshazzar

Bel. And my religion has so precious few parts that if I fail in the observance of any of them it makes a big hole in my performances. Now we don't want to end a life full of holes, so we must

and Belshazzar enter

The trouble with Betsy is that she wants to meander along the road with a loaded wagon as her mother and grandmother before her wandered through the woods wearing a bell to attract the deer. Father used to say that

. This was the loveliest day of the season. The sun was shining, the air was heavy with the perfume of flowering shrubs and trees, the orchards of the valley were white with bloom. Farmers were hurry

s of calling me shiftless. Now he thinks he is working. Working! For a full-grown man, did you ever see the equal

ustomarily took in every sight, and his ears were tuned for the faintest note of earth or tree top, to day he saw only Betsy and listened for a wh

t how I loathe hurrying. I don't mind planning things and working steadily, but it's not consistent with the dignity of a sane man to go rushing across country with as much appreciation of the delights offered right now as a chicken with its head off would have. We will loaf going back to pay for this! And won't we invite our souls? We will stop and gather a big bouquet of crab apple bl

a few minutes to spare. He threw the hitching strap to Belshaz

t it to go on the next express. Almost due I thi

e last one was loaded from the wagon, a heap more lying in the office were added, p

he Harvester, "and h

leading small children and stopped abruptly. A toppling box threatened the head of the Harvester. He peered around the truck and saw they must wait a few seconds. He put in the time watching the people. A gray-haired old man, travelling in a silk hat, wavered on the top step and went his way. A fat woman loaded with bundles puffed as she clung trembling a second in fear she would miss the ste

e breathed, "that

tched on the box, and whirling, sped beside the train toward the gates of exit. There was the usual crush, but he could see the tall figure passing up the steps to the depot. He tried to force his way and was called a brute by a crowded

own the gutter for a block and breathlessly waited the passing crowd on the corner. She was not among it. He tried one more square. Still he could not see her. Then he ran back to the depot. He thought surely he must have missed her. He again searched the woman's and g

vester ran against him, "where did you go? Why didn't you h

've lost what I prize most on earth. How

t station. You can have a

office, and with shakin

black eyes and wearing a gray dr

ha for three quarters of an hour. Up one street and down another he went slowly where there were crowds, faster as he could, but n

re had been a half dozen trunks from Chicago. All were taken save two, and one glance at them told the Harvester that they did not belong to the girl in gray. The others had been claimed by men ha

hing himself wildly that he had taken his eyes from the Girl an instant after recognizing her. Yet it was in his blood to be decent and he could not have run away and left a frightened woman and a hurt child. Trusting to his fleet feet and strength he had taken time to replace

that it faced him before the Harve

uble, David?" h

r lifted a s

or help,"

All you have to do is t

r. But when it came to putting his case in

said th

think me

r laughed

the biggest fools of ourselves that is precisely the time when we need friends, and when they stick to us the tightest, if they a

ld you of then, Doc. I did have a dream-and it was a dream

living who has not dreamed of love and the most exquisite woman who came from the clouds or anywhere and was gracious to him. That's a part

a dream be so real, Doc? How could I see as clearly as I ever saw in the daytime in my most alert moment, hear ev

ll you need say is that your

lace and I've been making furniture I thought a woman

s reality t

more so," said

you have been

morning

av

ir, her walk, her face; only something terrible has happened since she

e is

se I'd be her

you dreaming

big truck of express matter. Some of it was mine, and it was important. Just

efore you thought of yourself, and so you lost her. You needn't tell me anything more. David, if I find he

een married only since she gave herself to me in Febru

e might

nd now that I have seen her, and she is in

ave you

vester

you going

er with you

ctor l

okout, and if she goes anywhere to find out all they can. They could make an excuse of putting her address on her ticket envelope, and get it that way. See the baggagemen. Post

me one, then she followed the crowd. There must have been an automobile waiting

e again. Now for the most min

e the Dream Girl to any one, much less the living,

"You have asked me to help you; how can I if

" said the Harvester. "

y tall yo

kno

entification. How about her

eyes, and a great

ctor r

d. "All women have masses o

rvester indignantly. "I saw it at close ran

ke a crown at present, but there were things no man ventured with David Langsto

the Harvester, "but something dreadful has happened. That's

ick, m

!" was the

eared so disturbed th

when I saw she was sick and in trouble, it took all the courage out of me, and I broke for help. She must be found at once, and when she is you are probably the first man I'll

e doctor was g

or Pullman?

ay

s she d

plain. Gray jacket and

call expensi

ester he

essed, but--but poverty poo

losed and then opened

t like it," he

is eye and purposel

this world that women not fit to know skimp their bodies to cover them? Does a girl of light character and little brain have the hardihood to advance a foot covered with a broken shoe? If I could tell you that she rode in a Pullman, and wore exquisite clothing, you would be doing something. The other side of the picture shuts you up like a clam, and makes you appear shocked. Let me tell you this: No other woman I ever saw anywhere o

or arose

isit me in my dreams; and, second, I did not see her in reality. I had nothing to judge from except what you said: you seemed reluctant to tell me, and what you did say

last he turned, "The offence lies with me," h

s, then come back in the morning. She did not come from Ch

," said th

the streets until Betsy protested and calmly turned homeward

he said as they reached th

st to anything around him. Then he looked at Belshazzar and said emphatically: "Now, partner, don't ever again interfere wh