Judith of the Plains

tt And Her

to convey to the residents the flattering implication that their house was reached via a gravelled driveway, rather than across lumpish inequalities

personal vanity, but what it lacked of these more usual sartorial characteristics, it more than made up in a passionate individualism; an excessively short skirt, so innocent of "fit" or "hang" in its wavering, indeterminate [pg 128] outline as to suggest the possible workmanship of teeth rather than of scissors; and riding-boots coming well to the knee, displaying a well-shaped, ample foot, perched aloft on the usual high heel th

ing tiny, radiating lines about the eyes when they twinkled with laughter, which was often. No individual feature was especially stri

itement she could ill conceal. "You-uns' gov'ment come, an' she ain't much bigger'

want to forget that green gourds and green grapes is mighty apt

It's tol'able far to send East for gree

Wind River country where the Yelletts grazed their flocks and herds. Parents anxious to obtain "educational advantages"-that was the term, irrespective of the age of the student or the school he attended-sent them, often, with parental blindness as to the equivocal nature of the blessing thus conferred,

cess of personal feeling. But though down, Sally was by no means out, and after a brief session with the snuff-brush she returned to the field prepared to maintain that the Yellett child

'em past Clem. She mought be able to thrash Clem if she got plumb mad, these yere slim wimmin is tarrible wiry 'n' active at such times, but she'll never be able to t

be left gaping on the road, awed to silence by the

her, for that matter. If other folks would only take out their public-spirited reformin' tendencies on their own

wung the chair about with a pivotal motion, as if she were addressing an assemblage instead of a single listener, and then, b

ingly from the open-faced room opposite, [pg 131] where

teacher down to Caspar that la

s-a-ply-na

n. What kin a lettle green gourd

discomfort of havin' to swallow other folks' dust ca

r whip. Her voice dropped a couple of tones,

is faculties, he began to fret hisself 'bout the business of his friend. S'pose he was to choke hisself over that bone. S'pose the meat disagreed with him. And he begins to bark warnin's, but the dawg with the bone he keeps right on. But the other dawg he dashes hisself again the fence and he scratches with his claws. He whines pitiful, he's that anxious about his friend. But the dawg

no bone this deal. Just a lettle green go

at the news, dropped the contents of her portfolio and started up with much the feeling a marooned sailor might have on hearing a sail has been sighted. At this particular stage of her career Miss Carmichael had not developed the philosophy that later in life was destined to become her most valuable asset. Her sense of humor no longer responded to the vagaries of pioneer life. Th

the Mrs. Yellett of fact. The lamp on the table, burning feebly, seemed to burst into a thousand shooting-stars as the girl struggled with her tears. Home was so far, and Mrs. Yellett was so different from what she had expected! And yet

you strayed," commented Mary's patroness, affably. "But we won't roominate here no longer than we can help. I

to help, but she waved them aside and lashed the luggage to the buckboard, handling the ropes with the skill of an old sailor. The entire Rodney family and the suitors of Eudora assembled to witness the departure. "It

ally. "What's this

ra had just snubbed him, and he put a wealth of m

vering points of light. Each straggling clump of sage-brush, rocky ledge, an

o, an' that Eudory always corallin', deceivin', and jiltin' one outfit of men after another. If she was a daughter of mine, I'd medjure her length across my knee, full growed and courted though she is. The only one of the out

ively, "Leander's mouth do run about eight and a half octaves

bles, and the growing hatred between shee

ff. Relations 'twixt sheep and cattle men in this yere country is strained beyant the goin'-back place, I can tell you.

ld harpy wrote her, an', bein' an orphant, she come out thinkin' she was goin' to a respectable place as waitress, an' Jim he 'lowed it was a case for the law. He was a little shy of twenty at the time, just a young cockerel 'bout br'ilin' size. Some of the old hangers-on 'bout the place they see a heap of fun in Jim's takin' on 'bout the girl, he bein' that young that he had scarce growed a pair of spurs yet. An' one of 'em says

t till he saves enough to build a cabin. Things is goin' with Jim like a prairie afire. In a few years he acquires a herd of his own, a fine herd, not a scabby sheep in the bunch. Alida she

rt 'em fair, like playin' cards with a new deck. Cacta's my oldest daughter, and I named her after the flowers that blooms all over the desert spite of everything, heat, cold, an' rain an' alkali dust-the cactus blooms right through it all. Even its own thorns don't seem to fret it none. I called her plain Cactus till she was three, and along came a sharp studyin' the flowers an' weeds out here, and [pg 137] he 'lowed that Cactus was a boy's name an' Cacta was for

ntering into the great company of the mountains. Presently Mary caught the glimmer of something white against the dark backgrou

t their teacher. But Mary, straining her eyes to catch a glimpse of her little pupils, could discover nothing but a group of persons that seemed to be the sole survivors of some [pg 138] titanic race. Not one among them but seemed to have reached the high-water mark of six feet. Was it an optical illusion, a hallucination born of the wonderful starlight? Or were they as huge as they seemed? The young men looked giants, the girls as if they had wandered out

ired Mrs. Yellett, smilingly, a

tarlit landscape. "But I'm so tired, Mrs. Yellett, and so glad to get to a real home at last, that

s of titanic laughter from Mary's pupils. Mrs. Yellett waved h

rge enough for you

re wonderful. But-I really thi

n't no house to go into." She laughed merrily, as if the idea of such an effete lu

ng an impression on her. If Mrs. Yellett had announced that they were

any time. Ben, Jack, Ned, go an' set with paw in the tent while the gov

nterrogating a passenger as to the location of head and foot, if she liked to sleep "light or dark." She chose "dark" at random, hating to display her ignorance of the alternative

piazzas with fringed Mexican hammocks, wild-grass cushions, [pg 140] a tea-table with a samovar, and, last, a lady in white muslin pouring tea. The stern reality apparently consisted in scorching alkali plains, with houses of the packing-box school of architecture at a distanc

g