Lydia of the Pines

day as wasted."-

out of his chair. During the remainder of the episode his face wore a complacent expression that, though L

on't do, my young I

at him!" pan

atically jumped to grab Adam's collar for Adam always assiste

tn't hurt Mr. Levine. He's my best friend. And it is not p

nted Marshall. "Do yo

n and said slowly and insolently, "Get out of here! You know w

contempt with one of concentrate

d followed by his friend, he m

, "talk about civ

"What made him act so-- Did y

sister," returned John, c

ell, you serve up too much excitement for me

some coffee," said Lizzie

hould have had more sense than t

y," protested Lydia. "Goes to part

th a dirty Indian," said Mar

ies, chicken?" asked Marshal

ext year when I enter

rg

all on you before you're eighteen, I'll turn

and Dave made his ex

ed Amos said, "Any rea

hn

returned Levin

inked a warmer and warmer glow. About eight o'clock, after a light supper, Levine started back

grasped his arm. "You stay right he

whispered Lydia. "I wish Mr.

happened, to him-between his being sheriff a

to fill it for

nded on the porch, the door opened and Billy Norton and his father supported John Lev

re, put him on the

icycle and get the doct

Lydia," said Amos. "Let's

ound with ice in a pad of rags," said John weakly. Then he c

ie to her father. No one spoke until the gentle oozing of the blood yiel

happ

f us. It took us a minute or two to come up to Levine. He was standing dazed like

e room. Lydia seized Florence Dombey and hurried to the kitchen, nor did she leave her station in the furthest cor

top of the lungs and came to the surface near

he die?" whi

"He's got to have good nursing and he can't be moved. Lizzie's as good a nurse as

id it,

or it might have been a dozen others. A sheriff's liable

shiv

os. "We're going to be busy

e him first,

then, don't m

ed and the table was littered with bandages and bottles. Lydia crep

iled faintly. "Making you l

ia. "Just get well, we

so's you and I can tr

night,

a sob. "Good n

erishly anxious when he heard of this that the idea was quickly given up and Ma Norton

All the organizations to which Levine belonged as well as his numerous

e but Lizzie, share no roof but Amos'. "You're th

sassin. Charlie Jackson had spent the evening with Kent. As the monotony of Levine's convalescence

from school, would find Adam howling with joy at the gate and John, pale and weak but fully dressed, watching for her from his arm chair by the window.

first," said Lydia, "but now you're getting wel

a football scrimmage y

. The rest of them do. I wish girls played

ust weigh fully a hundred pounds! Why, hone

as indignant. "And just feel my m

," he said in astonishment. "Those muscles are like tiny steel sprin

irl I was crazy to be

only I know that's n

ke get of

r was still the dusty yellow of babyhood but it was long enough now to hang in soft curls in her neck after she had tied it ba

could explore," said

to Levine and glanced toward the kitchen where Lizzie was knitting and warming her feet in the oven. "I'd like to own an orphan asylum.

our plans need mon

e with them," admitted

be poor-I'

ng to do with yourself,

id, 'but you can't be a lady and use poor English.' And then I'm going to be as good a housekeeper as Mrs. Marshall and I'm going to dress as well as Olga Reinhardt, and have as pretty hands as Miss Towne. A

money," John

ant to have what he had. Seems to me it was a little thing he said

em?" ask

eared he

ere a man wit

to himself

own, my n

know th

e was a moment's pause, then she said, "But

ly. "But if I had a son I'd beat understa

ut-but wouldn't you bea

o anything female?" There was a contemptuous no

cried. "Why, I was more interested in Civil Government

glad to see what you can do for your country. When you get

im clearly. "You

r her with an expression at once wistful and gentle. Lydia looked up "Duc

The Saturday before he left occurred another conversation between him

In the afternoon, she dug a path to the gate, played a game of tag in the snow with Adam, then, rosy and tired, established herself in Amos' arm chair with a book. Lizzie was taking a long nap. The d

f the afternoon John w

e red face and listened

st sickness. "She was dead. Dear, patient, noble Nell was dead. No sleep so beautiful and cal

on the book and broke into deep, long drawn so

claimed. "What's the matter?" He pulled her from the

ence again I'd die! That's the way she looked in her coffin, you remember? 'F-fresh from

fingers and flung it upon the couch. Then he gathere

ill felt so! Think how happy Patience must be up ther

I could stand it-but

Hush now! Stop crying

, patting her back and crooning

what makes you think

Him hear. Sometimes in the dusk, I've taken Adam and we've gone deep into the woods and I've sat and thought about Him till-till there was nothing else in the world but my thought of Him. And I never got a s

s set with pain. "Why,

uch thoughts! Lydia, d

elieved everything He said was true, yet there mightn't

He stared long and thoughtfully at the sn

ht. I tell you what I'll do. Let's you and I start on our first travel trip, right now! Let's start looking for God, together. He's there all right, my child. But you and I don't seem to be able to use the ordina

of companionship, of protection, of complete understanding, that spread like a warm glow over her tense nerve

el happier already. Of

my hunt t

t friends, aren't we, Lydia! I've an idea you'll a

replied Lyd

ssed him for a long time. But gradually life fell back into the old routine and

over and over stitch" at the point where her gentle mother had left off five years before. She progressed so famously that by the time school closed she had learned how to use a sh

uld manage a little stroll in the woods or along the lake shore when they would talk over their progress in the Spiritual Traveling they had undertaken in January

ia had faithfully kept in touch with Margery ever since her promise had been given to Dave Marshall. But she did not

his. Night after night the miracle, always the same, always different. The sun slipped down behind the distant hills, the clouds turned purple in the Western hill tops, fading toward the zenith to an orange that turned to azure as she watched. The lake beneath painted the picture again,

national politics. He was vicious in his criticism of the Democrats, ardent in his support of the Republicans, yet it never seemed to occur to him that it was his political duty to

make a speech in the Square. Lydia up to this time had given little heed to the campaign,

Well dressed men and women from the University and the lake shore, workingmen, smoking black pipes, pushing baby carriages, while their wives in Sunday best hung on their arms. Young boys and girls of Lydia's age chewed gum and giggled. Older boys a

iet. A curious sort of tenseness bec

was filled with pride at the thought of how close and dear he was to her. She wished that the f

ffice for Lake City and made numerous excursions into the matter of free trade. It did not seem to Lydia

en Levine laun

nothing, as far as our selfish and personal interests go. And who is not selfish, who is not personal

forest, inhabited by savages. That tract of land is as beautiful as a dream of heaven. Virgin pines tower to the heavens. Li

sities of life. Twenty miles to the north lies plenty for every needy inhabit

y race of savages, who refuse to till the fields or cut the pines, who spend on whiskey the

pered and protected, while whites live

ed methods. You all know the law. An Indian may not sell the lands allotted to him. I want yo

are. Clapping, hisses, cheers and cat-calls. Lydia clung to

outer edge of the Square and headed

ans do, Daddy, if they

di

. Get out and hustle for a living

did some of the people

ndians are like children, so we should take care of 'em like children. Then there's another bunch who make a fat living

if Mr. Levine feels that way and you too, it's right. But they are kind o

said Amos. "We've babied 'em long

Mr. Levine'l

own, but Levine is standing for something both Democrats and Republi

a novel. Every evening when he got home to supper he found her poring over the two local papers and primed with questions for him. Up to this moment she had li

on the quiet, shaded college campus-the newspapers told her-they spoke of him contemptuously. He was a cheap politician, full of unsound economic principles, with a history of dishonest land deals behind him. It would b

h he named the names of several members of the faculty who had profited th

. That the saloon element should be in harmony with them was galling to the college crowd

icians, real estate men were high in his prais

e mentioned a hundred times. Ministers preached sermons on the campaign. The Ladies' Aid Society of the Methodist Church, the Needlework Guild of the Epis