The Poetry Of Robert Browning

d a Leather-

ncement. Mrs. Spooner took the envelope from

. Funeral over before y

ed and ran into the house.

and that it's on your account Jennie. I tell you to turn him out. He's a bad lot. If ever he sets foot on the Circle G he'll have me to settle with. If

y you owe him," Mrs. Spooner asked as

been for the presence of Tom. He could not let o

around into the drive. "He can't collect a cent off

er asked as she and the Babe stoo

s and I could go faster. The man at the telegraph office paid us for bringing the message

ng little Harvie to start the fire in the stove. There she did h

to Grannis! If you let me I'll stay here and work for you. And I'd do my best to do for you what

, and we've had a pretty hard time to get along without him. I'm sure my girls will be glad to take you into

at beside him, trying to soothe him with tenderly wise words, and bathing his hot forehead hi cool water till at last

hispered. "We have a boy in the house asleep--o

ut we got to have a no-'count cowboy, sweater an' shirk, of course, laid up on us. Poor gals, I feel for 'em!--an' you've got nothin' but gals. Ef you'd 'a' had a right smart mess o' boys, now-- They'll have all the work

ord, just listen to me--" as the old man opened his mouth to remonstrate very forcibly on the utter folly of taking an

earted if cantankerous, took out his band

said with elaborate politeness, "I'd up an' say--Dad rat Harvey Grannis's hi

with twinkling eyes. "Now I'll go out and meet the girls--I hear them comi

riding up the pat

from Cub

we want to see wh

; the girls, dismounting, the Babe running out, dish-towel in hand, with Jonah hob

d, there was no prospect of a battle. Then followed long messages to each member of the family, loving and jolly; advice

Elizabeth, and Ruth declared fervently: "It's such good news that it make

e Ivanhoe and King Richard Sour-de-lion and Jonah Bean used to

honey, but I lay you the war o' the sixties was some punkin

more news for you. We can't have father with us, but I believe I have found a '

"I didn't know that! Is he named after

e added, hastily, remembering how poor Elizabeth had loved fine

them the sto

an Ruth, indignantly, but her mother's hand was la

I think they're both sorry. It is all over now, and we must try and thi

abe generously--her own Rosinante being the joke of the ranch. "Uncle Harvey didn't mean

s possible, but Jonah, with a scornful snort, ejaculated: "Sorry--Harvey Grannis? O, Lord, that is

f her foster-mother and whispered: "I think the Lord sent h

in batter, Elizabeth, while you set the table. I bet he didn't get any muffins at Uncle Harvey'

Roy could not touch the dainty tray, saying that it looked awfully

h Bean had to ride to Emerald and fetch the doctor, wh

gaunt and hollow-eyed, but cheerfully assuring them he felt dandy! Recovery was swift after that, and it was not long before

Ruth, positively, as she poked the clothes that were begin

abeth, rubbing the white clothes on the wash-board with rhythmic strokes

, when one went about it with the right spirit--the determination to try, with chee

room as fo

and the a

rds of the old poet, but they practiced th

othing less than a God-send. For instance, he had filled the kettles and tubs with water, and fetched a big basket of cobs to ma

said he had something very particular to do, you remember, and he

mother's birthday, He heard us say we were looking for a package from father, and that we hoped it would ge

k up something to do for us. Say, Elizabeth, I certain

without it: he's certainly a handy

the tubs. Timber was scarce, but he had managed to find enough for the posts and cross-pieces, and there were plenty of tin shingles

r, coming out of the kitchen. "I want her to hunt some e

r," offered Elizabeth, but Mrs. Spooner de

" said the gentle mistress of the ranch, who never was known to neglect a living th

female sex, inasmuch as he could, if necessary, sew, cook, and "do for himself" generally. Though inclined to be a grumbler, he was really devoted to all the Spooner family

anch. He was patching a pair of overalls and talking animatedly to the Babe, who was, as usual, a rapt listener. "So Giner'l Jackson sez, sez'e: 'Send me the pick o' your men from each company.' And, when he looks us over

ver ran--nor King Richard Sour-de-lion either. Nobody but

ap'n meant was that I was like the Irishman's pig--'mighty littl

ed tone, "I'm glad you weren't

my forefathers before me. Well, the Giner'l calls me up, and sez, sez'e: 'Private Bean, your country is dependi

enty-five mile acrost, more or less, I disremember rightly, And then, man, sir! I everlastin' burnt the wind! Minie-balls was a-rainin' like hail, and I jest natchully had to kick the bombshel

you a knight!" breathed the

romoted to sergeant anyhow, if Giner'l Jackson hadn't 'a' been killed before he could se

in' over old times. She was a-tellin' me the news from Cuby and I was mentionin' of a few things happened

s. Spooner, her voice trembling a li

h he was, could only agree. War,

e, instead of riding up the front way and whistling a signal from the road, he cam

tt sent you a quarter of mutton, Mother Spooner--they had just killed

riosity a big package under his arm. "And this, I reckon, must be

tion from her sisters, who had about given up hope of the packa

ill then. Lock it up in your bureau-drawer, Ruth, so she won't have temptation before her eyes," laughed Elizabeth, and Ruth bore

other, "but I think we can wait. For I'll be forty years old, and it n

onderful cake, iced white like a real Christmas cake, which, on the birthday they intended to light with forty tiny pink candles, already bought and hidden away in Elizabeth

," said Roy, as they all sat at supper--except Jonah, who, beca

in Emerald next week, and she wants the girls to go over and spend a

k from a visit out there. It must be lovely to have a grandmother who is well-off." She sighed a little, thinking of the many-times laundered

wn and wealthy relations; stately grandmothers with high-piled white hair, gold lorgnettes and rustling silks; and haughtily handsome grandfathers of ancient lineage and great wealth, who would see that

d she said with quiet emphasis: "I wouldn't give any one of my three girl

at Roy explained his m

oked her up to the old phaeton, and, last week, brought it home and hid it out in the corral shed, where I've been putting in odd minutes painting it, while Jonah's cutting down the harness to fit Shasta. It's just shreds and patches now, a

, with sparkling eyes. "The very thing she needed mos

a phantom!" exulted the Babe, who was

her. And Ruth added: "She gets them out of books, those long words that she

hen I go to school I'm going to learn to read well enough to read all the

't have a fine 'eddication,' I'd like it the best sor

made it spruce with a good many coats of leather-brown paint. He showed t

viewing the dilapidated affairs that had, in the d

!" said Roy, ruefully. "I just got enough brown st

usual, solved

It'll make perfect cushion-covers, just the right shade. I'l

ired Ruth. "I'm willing enough, but I never could do any

can beat eggs go nice and s

Everything's got to be properly weighed and measured and bea

y throwing a horse-blanket over it if Mrs. Spooner happened along, was seated ind

old man, rather crossly, "'course, you'll 'low 'tain't much to look at--which I ai

did want to get something better, bu

olded the girls, "who

tively, "is a thing of beauty. Add brown cushions, brown harness and a

rk at the phaeton and try to have it looking as much as possible like your fancy pictur

s. The girls had ironed the clothes the day before, insisting that they required mending imm

to buy new clothes, so that the best the patient mother could do was to mend and darn a

hite--a regular Christmas-cake. And Elizabeth ripped up the old brown skirt, sponged and pressed the cloth, and made the cushions as neatly as any upholsterer could have done. Roy and Jonah Bean, at the same t

on her birthday morning, with the three girls crowding

to be hers--a shawl or scarf of black, heavily-woven silk, embroidered in m

iring the effect, that they quite forgot a smaller package which was still u

ndle," she begged at last. "I'm--I'm

h does it mean?" laughed Ruth, who was often

got 'hooks' mixed up with pins and needles. D

can pick out her own present," smiled the mothe

ng a solemn rite: three tantalizing little bundles were disclosed, tig

sion, and handed over the fan to Elizabeth, who waved it wi

xican drawn-work; this the Babe promptly turned over to Ruth. "I don

ef in my life. I don't believe even Maudie Pratt h

these when washed and ironed were piled neatly in each girl's little handkerchief-box, for every-day use. For Sundays and extra occasions there was a little sq

abe removed the lid she hugged the box to he

ing of coral before her family's admiring eyes. "Put it on for me, Elizabeth, so I can run show it to Roy

ed her mother, "but Elizabeth, child

ift," said Elizabeth, busily pinning on the hat. "The

a beautiful leather brown; its fringed canopy-top fresh and neat, its cushions upholstered in handsome brown broadc

voice. "Did you go and buy a phaeton! How in the world

as none of theirs--they had not gone in debt.

, so it's really a family gift. And you'll find Shasta gentle as a kitten. Now you and the Babe get in, and and Jonah and I'll escort yo

se to her mother and sighed blissfully--she had in mind another surprise that was to help make the fortieth