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ZEN of the Y. D.
r - ( el of the Foothills
BjIOBERT stead
. ,u„/ r Thi Cow Punchtr"—"Tho Horn
Author Neighbon,“ ttc.
ROBERT STEAD
XII —Continued.
—l s—
e t ) friends discussed at great
. n J h r details of the Big Idea, and
upon a val in the West, Linder lost
ao timin preparing blueprints and
diarts escriptive of the improve
ments made on the land aud the
or(1ei : which the work was to be
carrieen. Grant bought a tract sult
a!)ie : his purpose, and the wheels
0 f th machine were set in motion.
When this had been done Grant
turneto the working out of his own
mdlvJnl experiment.
[Hug the period in which these ar
rangients were being made it was
inevible that Grant should have
heal more or less of Transley. He
bad'Ot gone out of his way to seek
Inf, nation of the contractor, but It
rat r had been forced upon him.
Tr;sle.v’s name was frequently heard
In it oflices of the business men with
w! m he had to do ; it was mentioned
inical papers with the regularity pe
aar to celebrities ir. comparatively
snll centers. Transley, it appeared,
hi become something of a power in
p land. Backed by old Y.D.’s capl
t, he had carried some rather daring
uitures through to success. He had
ized the panicky moments following
e outbreak of the war to buy heavily
1 the wheat and cattle markets, and
tcreases in prices due to the world’s
,emaild for food had made him one
if the wealthy men of the city. The
iesire of many young farmers to enlist
had also afforded an opportunity to
acquire their holdings for small con
siderations, and Transley had proved
his patriotism by facilitating the am
bition 1 of as many men in this posi
tion as came to his attention. The
fact that even before the war ended
the farms which he acquired In this
way were worth several times the
price he paid was only an Incident in
the transactions.
But no word of Transley’s domestic
affairs reached Grant, who told him
self that he had ceased to be inter
ested in them, but kept an alert ear
nevertheless. It would seem that
Transley rather eclipsed his wife in
the public eye.
So Grant set about with the devel
opment of his own farm, and kept his
mind occupied with it and with Lis
larger experiment—except when it
went flirting with thoughts of Phyllis
Bruce. lie had written to Murdoch
to engage Phyllis at any price and
bring her West with him. She would
be needed in the new business. He
bad Intimated that the change would
be permanent, and that it might be
well to bring the family. . . .
He selected a farm where a ridge
of foothills overlooked a broad valley
receding Into the mountains. The
dealer had no idea of selling him this
particular piece of land; they were
bound for a half section farther up the
slope when Grant stopped on the brow
of the hill to feast his eyes on the
scene that lay before him. It burst
upon him with the unexpectedness pe
culiar to the foothill valleys; miles of
gently undulating plain, lying appar
ently far below, but In reality rising
In a sharp ascent toward the snow
capped mountains looking down silent
ly through their gauze of blue-purple
afternoon mist. At distances which
even Ids trained eye would not at
tempt to compute lay little round
lakes like silver coins on the surface
of the prairie; here and there were
dark green bluffs of spruce; to the
eight a ribbon of river, blue-green
save where the rapids churned it
white, and along its edge a fringe of
leafy cottonwoods; at vast intervals
square black plots of plowed land like
sections on a chessboard of the gods,
an<! farm buildings cut so clear in the
mountain atmosphere that the sense
of space was lost and they seemed
•ike child-houses Just across the way.
Grant turned to his companion with
an animation on his face which almost
startled the prosaic dealer In real
estate.
"Wonderful! Wonderful 1” he ex
claimed. "We don’t need to go any
farther if you can sell me this."
‘‘.sure I can sell you this,” said the
dealer, looking at him somewhat
queerly. "That is, If you want It. I
thought you were looking for a wheat
farm."
Ihe man’s total lack of apprecia
ber. Irritated Grant unreasonably.
' heat fills the belly,” he retorted,
j t sunsets keep alive the soul. Wbat
)s the price?”
Again the dealer gave him a queer
side-long look, and made as though to
-eg e with him, then suddenly seemed
'■ change his purpose. Perhaps he
that strange things happened
lQ ; he boys overseas.
I I H get you the price in town,” he
Sa jd. "You are sure it will suit?”
Suit? No king In Christendom has
"■s palace on a site like thia. Td go
''Und the world for it”
“You’re the doctor,” said the dealer,
turning bis car.
Giant completed the purehnse, or
dered lumber for a house and barn,
and engaged a carpenter to superin
tend the construction. It was one of
his whims that he would do most of
the work himself.
I guess I’m rather a man of
whims,” he reflected, as he stood on
the brow of the hill where the mate
rial for his buildings had been deliv
ered. "It was a whim which first
brought me West again. I have a
whim about my buildings. I do not do
as other people do, which Is the un
pardonable sin. To Linder I am a jest
er, to Murdoch a fanatic, to our friend
the real estate dealer a fool; I even
noticed my honest carpenter trying to
ask me something about shell "shock!
Well —they’re my whims, and I get an
immense amount of satisfaction out
of them.”
The days that followed were the
happiest Grant had known since child
hood. The carpenter, a thin, twisted
man, bowed with much labor at the
bench, and answering to the name
Peter, sold his services by the day and
manifested a sympathy amounting to
an indulgence toward the whims of his
employer. So long as the wages were
sure Peter eared not whether the
house was finished this year or next —
or not at all. He enjoyed Grant’s
cooking in the temporary workshed
they had built; lie enjoyed Grant’s
stories of funny incidents of the war
which would crop out at unexpected
moments, and which were always
good for anew pipe and a few min
utes’ rest; he even essayed certain
flights of his own, which showed that
Peter was a creature not entirely
without humor. He developed an ap
preciation of scenery; he would stand
for long intervals gazing across the
valley. Grant was not deceived by
these little devices, but he never took
Peter to task for his loitering. “If
the old dodger isn’t quite paying his
way now, no doubt he has more than
paid it many times in the past,” he
mused. “This is an occasion upon
which to temper justice with mercy.”
But it was in the planning and build-,
ing of the house he found his real de
light. He laid it out on very modest
lines, as became the amount of money
he was prepared to spend. It was to
be a single-story bungalow, with
veranda round the south and west.
The living-room ran across the south
side; into its east wall he built a
capacious fireplace, with narrow slits
of windows to right and left, and in
the western wall were deep French
windows commanding the magic of the
view across the valley. The dining
room, too, faced to the west, with
more French windows to let in sun
and soul. The kitchen was to the east,
and off the kitchen lay Grant's bed
room, facing also to the east, as be
comes a man who rises early for his
day’s labor. And then facing the
west, and opening off the dining-room,
was what he was pleased to call his
whim-room.
The idea of the whim-room came
upon him as he was working out plans
on the smooth side of a board, and
thinking about things In general, and
a good deal about Phyllis Bruce, who
had just arrived from the East, and
wondering If he should ever run across
zen Transley. It struck him nil of a
sudden, as had the Big Idea that
night when he was on his way home
from Murdoch’s house. He worked
it out surreptitiously, not allowing
even old Peter to see it until he had
made It into his plan, and then he
described It Just as the whim-room.
But It wan to be by all means the best
room In the house; special finishing
and flooring lumber were to be bought
for it; the fireplace had to be done In
a peculiarly delicate tile; the French
windows must be high and wide
and of the most brilliant transpar
ency. . .
The ring of the saw, the trill of the
plane, the thwack of the hammer,
were very pleasant music In his ears.
Day by day he watched his dwelling
grow with the infinite joy of creating,
and night after night he crept with
Peter Into the workshed and slept the
sleep of a man tired and contented.
In the long summer evenings the sun
light hung like a champagne curtain
over the mountains even after bed
time, and Grant had to cut a hole In
the wall of the shed that ho might
watch the dying colors of the day fade
from crimson to purple to blue on the
tassels of cloud-wraith floating In the
western sky. At times Linder and
Murdoch would visit him to report
progress on the Big Idea, and the
three would sit on a bench In the half
built house, sweet with the frugrance
of new sawdust, and smoke placidly
while they determined matters of pol
icy or administration.
Grant was almost sorry when the
house was finished. “There's so much
more enjoyment In doing things than
in merely possessing them after they’re
done,"’ he philosophized to Linder. "I
think that must be the secret of the
peculiar fascination of the West. The
THE DANtELSVILLE MONITOR, DANIELSVILLE. GEORGIA.
East, with all It? culture and conveni
ences and beauty, can never win a
heart which has once known the
West. That is because In the East all
the obvious things are done, but In
the West they are still to do.”
"You should worry,” said Linder.
“You still have the plowing.”
"Yes, and as soon ns the stable Is
finished I am going to buy four horses
and get to work.”
"I supposed you would use a trac
tor.”
"Not this time. I can admire a piece
of machinery, but I can’t love It. I
can love horses.”
“You’ll be housing them in the whim
room,” Linder remarked dryly, and
had to Jump to escape the hammer
which his chief shied at him.
But the plowing was really a great
experience. Grant had an eye for
horseflesh, and the four dapple grays
which pressed their fine shoulders Into
the harness of his might
have delighted the heart of any team
ster. As he sat on his steel sent and
watched the colter cut the firm sod
with brittle cracking sound as it
snapped the tough roots of the wild
roses, or, looking hack, saw the regu
lar terraces of shiny black mold which
marked his progress, he felt that he
was engaged In a rite of almost sac
ramental significance.
“To take n substance straight from
the hand of the Creator and be the
first in all the world to impose a hu
man will upon It Is surely an occasion
for solemnity and thanksgiving,” he
soliloquized. “How can anyone be so
gross as to see only materialism in
such work ns this? Surely it has some
thing of fundamental religion In it!
Just as from the soil springs all physi
cal life, may It not be that deep down
in the soil are, some way, the roots of
the spiritual? The soil feeds the city
in two ways: it fills its belly with ma
terial food, and It is continually re
vitalizing its spirit with fresh streams
of energy which can come only from
tlie land. Up from the soil comes life,
all progress, all development —”
At that moment Grant’s plowshare
struck a submerged boulder, and he
was dumped precipitately Into that
element which he had been so gener
ously apostrophizing. The well
trained horses came to a stop ns he
gathered himself up, Done the worse,
and regained his sent,
“That was a spill,” he commented.
“Ditched not only myself, but ray
whole train of thought. Never mind;
perhaps I was dangerously' close to the
development of n new whim, and I am
well supplied in that particular al
ready. Hello, whom have we here?”
The horses had come to a stop n
short distance before the end of the
furrow, and Grant, glancing ahead,
saw immediately in front of them n
little chap of four or five obstructing
the way. He stood astride of tho fur
row with widespread legs bridging the
distance from the virgin prairie to the
upturned sod. lie was hatless, and
curls of silkly yellow hair fell about
ills round, bright face. His hands were
stuck unobtrusively in his trouser
pockets.
“Well, son, what’s the news?’’ said
Grant, when the two hnd measured
eacii other for a moment.
“I got braces,” the boy replied proud
ly. “Don’t you see?”
“Why, so you have!” Grant ex
claimed. “Come around here until I
see them better.”
So encouraged, the little chap came
skipping around the horses, und ex
hibited his braces for Grant’s admira
tion. But he bad already become In
terested in another subject.
“Are these your horses?” he de
manded.
“Yes."
“Will they bite?”
“Why, no, I don’t believe they
would. They have been very well
brought up.”
“What do you coll them?”
“This one Is Prince, on the left, and
the others are Queen, und King, nnd
Knave. I call him Knave becuuse he’s
always scheming, trying to get out of
his share of the work, and I make him
walk on the plowed land, too.”
“That serves him right,” the boy de
clared. “What’s your name?”
“Why—what’s yours?”
“Wilson.”
“Wilson what?”
“Just Wilson.”
“What does your mother call your
“Just Wilson. Sometimes daddy calls
me Bill.”
"Oh!”
“What’s your name?”
“Call D.e The Man on the Hill."
“Do you live on the hill?”
“Yes.”
“Is that your house?"
“Yes.”
“Did you make it?”
“Yes.”
“All yourself?”
"No. Peter helped me.”
“Who’s Peter?”
“He is the man who helped me."
“Oh!”
These credentials exchanged, the boy
fell silent, while Grant looked down
upon him with a whimsical admixture
of humor and tenderness. Suddenly,
without a word, the boy dashed as fast
as his legs could carry him to the end
of the field, and plunged Into a clumf.
of hushes. In a moment he emerged
with something brown and chubby Id
his arms.
“He’s my teddy,” ho said to Grant.
“He was watching In the bushoe to see
if you were a nice man.”
"And am I?” Grant was tempted to
ask.
“Yes.” There was no evasion about
Wilson. lie approved of his new ac
quaintance, and said so.
“Let us give toddy a ride on l’rlnce?”
“Let’s!”
Grant carefully arranged teddy on
the horse's hames, anil the boy clapped
bis hands with delight.
“Now let us nil go for a ride. You
will sit on my knee, and teddy will
drive Prince."
He took the boy carefully on his
knee, driving with one hand and hold
ing him in place with the other. The
little body resting confidently against
his side was anew experience for
Grant.
“We must drive carefully,” he re
marked. “Here and there are big
stones hidden in the grass. If we were
to hit one it might dump us off.”
The little chap chuckled. “Nothing
could dump you off,” he said.
Grant reflected that such implicit and
unwarranted confidence implied a grent
responsibility, and lie drove with cor
responding care. A mishap now might
nip this very delightful little bud of
hero-worship.
They turned the end of the furrow
with a fine Jingle of loose trace-chains,
and Prince trotted a little on account
of being on the outer edge of the semi
circle. The boy clapped his hands, again
as teddy bounced up und down on 1 lie
great shoulders.
“Have you n little boy?" he asked,
when they were started again.
“Why, no,” Grunt confessed, laughing
at the question.
“Why?”
There was no evading this childish
Inquisitor. He hnd a way of pursuing
a subject to bedrock.
“Well, you see. I've no wife."
"No mother?"
“No—no wife. You see—”
"But I have a mother —”
“Of course, nnd she Is your daddy’s
wife. You see they have to have that —”
Grant found himself getting into
deep water, but tho sharp little intel
lect hnd cut a corner and was now
ahead of him,
"Then I'll he your little boy,” he said,
and, clambering up to Grant’s shoulder,
pressed n kiss on his cheek. In a sud
den burst of emotion Grant brought his
team to a stop nnd clasped the little
fellow in both his arms. For a moment
everything seemed misty.
“And I have lived to be thirty-two
years old nnd have never known what
this meant,” lie said to himself.
“Daddy’s linrdly ever home, nny
wny," the boy added, naively.
“Where Is your home?”
“Down beside the river. We live
there In summer.”
And so tho conversation continued
nnd the acquaintanceship grew ns man
nnd boy plied hack nnd forth on their
mile-tong furrow. At length It occurred
to Grant that he should send Wilson
home; the boy’s long absence might be
occasioning some uneuslness. They
stopped at the end of the field nnd care
fully removed teddy from bis place of
prestige, but Just at that moment a
horsefly buzzing about caused Prince
to stamp impatiently, nnd tho big hoof
came down on the boy’s foot. Wilson
sent up a cry proportionate to the pos
sibilities of the occasion, nnd Grant In
nlurm tore off the boot and stocking.
Fortunately the soil bad been soft, and
the only dnmnge done wus n slight
bruise across the upper part of the
foot.
“There, there,” said Grant, soothing
ly, caressing the injury with bis An
gers. “It will be all right In a minute.
Prince didn’t mean to do It, and besides,
I’ve seen much worse than that at the
war.”
At the mention of the war the boy
suspended a cry half-uttered.
"Were you at the war?” bed
mnnded.
“Yes."
“Did you kill ’em In the tummy 7”
“We’ll talk about that tomorrow.
Now you hop up on my shoulders, and
I’ll tie the horses and then carry you
home."
He followed the boy’s directions un
til they led him to n puth running
among pleasant trees down by the river.
Presently he caught n glimpse of a cot
tage in a little open space, its brown
shingled wulls almost smothered In a
riot of sweet pens.
“That's our house. Don’t you like
it?” said the boy, who hnd already for
gotten his injury.
“I think It Is splendid.” And Grant,
taking his young charge from his
shoulder, stepped up on to the porch
and knocked at the screen door.
In a moment It was opened by Zen
Transley.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Double Danger
“That young man proposed to me
last night, mother. What slmli I dor
“But, my child, you’ve only known
him two weeks."
“I know, mother; but If I delay In
accepting him he might find out some
things about me he won’t like, too.”*—
Boston Transcript.
ROAB^
DAY OF NARROW ROAD
CONSTRUCTION GONE
Don’t build the road narrow. But
however it is built, have a right of
way ample enough to provide for
widening in the future. On these two
hang all the law and the profits of
modern road building!
An expensive fault of the narrow
road is the concentration of truffle.
Wheels moving constantly over the
same places produce parallel lines of
excessive wear. To prevent rapid dis
integration of n single track road a
heavier foundation and surface Is
needed than is required for a wider
road.
Substantial shoulders at the sides on
which the passing truffle may turn out
are also necessary, as otherwise the
wheels of vehicles turning out to puss
will quickly wear ruts at the edges.
In these water collects, to penetrate
beneath the foundation, with disas
trous results. A narrow road with
soft earth shoulders Is dangerous to
motor traffic in slippery weather.
To hujld the heavier foundation and
surface needed to hear tbo concentra
tion of truffle on a narrow road, and
the substantial shoulders nt the sides
require its much money ns to build n
wider road. On a wide road, traffic Is
scattered, and wear Is distributed.
With n paved surface sufficiently wide
for two lines of rapidly moving ve
hicles to pass In safety, the necessity
for artificial shoulders is eliminated.
To build a narrow road, thin and
without shoulders, means a loss of the
ontlro Investment in a comparatively
short time.
A narrow right of way requires
drainage ditches close to the travel.
With no shoulder between paved sur
face and ditch the chances of serious
accident nr® largely Increased. All
drainage ditches tend to heconj' l deep
er, so that the danger to traffic be
comes constantly greater.
Before any program for beautifica
tion of highway Is undertaken, some
assurance that the rights of way are
wide enough to accommodate future
truffle should be had.
Motor vehicle traffic will increase ns
tiie mileage of hard roads Increases. A
general extension In tho width of
wearing surfaces will call for wider
rights of way. To obtain wider rights
of way now menus an ultimate saving
of a large sum of money and will pre
vent many future difficulties.
Great Influence
of Better Roads
The following points show how
Improved roads Influence farm
home life:
1. Shortens the distance from
neighbor to neighbor nnd so re
duces isolation and loneliness.
2. Brings the town and the
country home closer together,
making It possible for tin* farmer
and his family to enjoy the
amusements and educational ad
vantages offered In town.
3. Saves time In traveling from
the farm to town and from farm
to farm. This allows more time
for work, rest or pleasure.
•4. Lightens the burden of mar
keting crops.
5. Social Intercourse between
town and country tends to break
down harriers of misunderstand
ing, Jealousy, suspicion and Ill
feeling.
fl. Improved roads make possi
ble bigger and better consolidat
ed schools ami churches In town
or In tho country.
7. Improved roads offer greater
Incentive to hauling limestone
and fertilizer In building up the
farm and increasing its produc
tivity and income.
Learning to Build Roads
The advisory hoard of highway re
sell roh, which recently met In Wash
ington, Is composed of from sixty to
severity of the leading engineers and
scientists of the country. More than
$1,000,000 Is being spent on learning
how to build highways so as to give
the best and longest service per dollar,
and this group of men have assembled
to discuss and exchange data on the
experiments In progress on roads.
Roads Help Keep Pace
Good roads have helped the farmer
keep pace with modern times. Who
would go hack to those days when
the farm was Isolated, especially In
wet weather, the deep rutted dirt
roads, the horse and buggy, or perhaps
the sleigh, with Its limited area of
travel when a trip to town was con
sidered a Journey,