Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

SUNDAY. MAY 24. “The Story of Waitstill Baxter” ''' i/h Copyright. J 913. by^^ r KATE DOUGLAS WIGCHN Kate Douglas Wiggin p* Author of “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” PROLOGUE. Strength and interest of quie lives in the New England 0.. three-quarters of a century agi provide the framework of “Thi Story of Waitstill Baxter. " Tha, is the skeleton. The flesh and blood of human beings, living and loving and moving in a world of their own that is a miniatun picture of the greater world out side, are also there. The story is a cross section of life as seer and described by a woman wh< has been well called “America'i greatest living woman novelist.' Amid the hilts of New Englanc are many men and women lik t Waitstill and Patience Baxter and their father, Ivory Boyntor, and Me afflicted mother anc fanny Cephas Cole, who woot hopefully, but with small chanct of saaoees. They find their way into books but seldom, for it takes a master hand to deeoribt faithfully the doings of real people. And that is the reason why “The Story of Waitstill Boater" has won highest praise from critics who know a good booh when they see one. (Continued Prom Yesterday.) r *W>, you must go bock tolhe house ®t oara, Potty, dear. Father might ■wake and call you and that would make mattera worse. It’s beginning to drlsele or I should stay out In the air. Oh. I wonder If father’s mind Is going and If this Is the beginning of the end: If he la In his sober senses he could not be so strange, so suspicious, so amjust” "He could be anything, say anything do anything!” exclaimed Patty. "Per haps he Is not responsible and perhaps he Is; tt doesn’t make much difference to ns. Come along, blessed darling: ■III tuck you In and then I'll creep back to the house If you say I must I’ll go down and make the kitchen fire In the morning; you stay out here and see what happens. A good deal will hap pen, I'm thinking, if "father speaks to me of yon I 1 shouldn't be surprised to see the fur flying in all directions. I'll seise the first moment to bring yon out a cup of coffee and we’ll con suit about what to do. I may tell you now I'm all for running away I” WaltatUl'a first burst of wretched neaa bad subsided and she bad recov ered her balance. “I'm afraid wo must wait a little longer, Patty,” she advised. "Don’t mention my name to father, but see how he acta In the morning. He was so wild, so unlike himself, that I almost hope he may forget what be said and sleep it off Yes. we must Just wait” “No doubt he’ll be far calmer In the morning if he remembers that, if be turns yon out, he faces the prospect of three meals a day cooked by me,” said Patty. "That’s what he thinks he would face; but, ns a matter of fact, I shall tell him that where you sleep 1 sleep, and where you ent 1 eat, and when you stop cooking I stop! He won’t part with two unpaid servants In a hurry, not at the beginning ol haying." And Patty, giving Waitstlll a last hug and a dozed tearful kisses, stole reluctantly back to the house by the same route through which she had left It Patty was right. She found the fire lighted when she went down Into the kitchen next morning, and without a word she hurried breakfast on to the tiAe as fast as she could cook and serve it Waitstlll was safe In the bam chamber, she knew, and would be there quietly while her/nther was feeding the horse and milking the cowa, or perhaps she might go up In the woods aud wait until she saw bin. driving away. The deacon ate bis breakfast Id si lence, looking and acting very much as usual, for be was generally dumb at meals. When he left the bouse, how ever, and climbed luto the wagon, he turned around and said In his ordinary gruff manuer; "Bring the lunch up to the field yourself today, Patience. Tell your sister I hope she’s come to her senses In the course of the night You’ve got to learn, both of you, thui my ‘say ao' must be law In this house Yon can ftyss and you cap fume If h amuses yon any, but ’twon’t do no good. Don't encourage Waitstill In any whinin’or blubberin’. .Test tell her to come lu and go to work and I’ll overlook wliut she done this time. And don’t you give me any more of your eye snappin' and lip poutin' and head In the air imperdenee! you’re under age, and If you don’t look out you’ll get somethin’ that's good for wbat ails you! You two girls jest aid an' abet one another—that’s what you do, aid and abet one another—an’ If you carry It any further Til find some way o' separatin’ you, do you hear?” Patty spoke never a word nor flutter ed an eyelash. She had a proper spirit, but now her heart was cold with a new fear, and she felt, with Waitstill. that her father must be obeyed and his temper kept within hounds until God provided them a way of escape. She ran out to the barn chamber and not finding Waitstill, looked across tin field and saw her coming through tin path from the woods. Patty waved her hand and rnn to meet her sister Joy at the mere fact of her existence, of being able to see her again atid oi hearing her dear voice almost choking her In lta intensity. Whet they rench ed the house she helped her upstairs as If she were a child, brought her coo water to wash -away the dust of the haymow, laid out some clean clothe* for her and finally put her on tin lounge in the darkened sitting room. “I won’t let anybody come near the house,” she said, “and you must have a cup of tea and a good sleep before 1 tell you all that father said. Just com fort yourself with the thought that hi la going to overlook It this time. Aft or I carry up his luncheon I shall sto; at the store and ask Cephas to com< out on the river bauk /or a few min utea. Then I shall proceed to say what I think of him for telling fa the; where you went yesterday afternoon. "Don’t blame Cephas!” Waitstill re monstrated. ’’Can’t you Ree Just how it happened? He and Uncle Bart wen sitting in front of the shop when 1 drove by. When father came hone and found the house empty and tin horse not In the stall, of course he ask ed where 1 was, and Cephas probably eald he had seen me drive up Saco hill He had no reason to think that thpri was any harm in that.” "If he had any sense be might knnv that he shouldn't tell anything to fn ther except whnt happens In the store,' Patty insisted. “Were you frightened out In the barn alone last nigbt, poo; dear?” “I was too unhappy to think of fear and I was chiefly nervous about you. all alone in the house with father.” "I didn’t like It very much myself I buttoned my bedroom door and sal by the window nil night shivering and bristling at the least sound. Every body calls ine a coward, but I’m not Courage Isn’t not being frightened It’s not screeching when you are frightened. Now, what happened at the Boyntons?” "Patty. Ivory's mother Is the mos! pathetic creature I ever saw.” And Waitstlll sat up on the sofa, her long braids of hair hanging over her shout ders, her pale face showing the traces of her henry weeping. "I never pitied any one so much in my whole life. To go up that long, long lane; to come upon that dreary bouse hidden away In the trees; to feel the loneliness and the silence and then to know that she Is living there like a hermit thrush In a forest without a woman to care for her it Is heart breaking!” "How does tbe house look—dread ful?” “No. Everything is as neat as wax She Isn't ’crazy,' Patty, aa we under stand tbe word. Her mind is be clouded somehow, and it almost seems as if tbe cloud might lift at any mo ment. She goes about like somebody In a dream, sewing or knitting or cook lng. It Is only when she talks, and you notice that her eyes really see nothing, but ure looking hejODd you that you know there Is anything wrong.” “If she appears so like other people why don't the neighbors go to see be' once in awhile?" “Callers make her unhappy, sb< says, and Ivory told me that he dared not encourage any company In the bouse for fear of exciting her and making her an object of gossip be ■ides. He knows her ways perfect!? and tbat she Is safe and content with her fancies when she Is alone, which Is seldom, after all.” •'What does she talk abont?” aakeu Patty. “Her husband mostly. She 1* expect *" blm to come back dully, We knev THE AUGUSTA HERALD, AUGUSTA, GA. that before, oi course, hut no one can realize it till they see her setting the table for him and putting a saucer of wild strawberries by his plate, going about the kitchen softly, like a gentle ghost” "It gives me the shudders!" said Patty. "1 couldn't hear it. If she never sees strangers, whnt in the world did she make of you? How did you begin?" "I told her I had known Ivory ever since we were school children. She was rather strange and indifferent at first and then she seemed to take a fancy to me.” “That's Queer!" said Patty, smiling fondly and giving Waitstlll’s balr the hasty brush of a kiss. "She told me she hnd a girl baby, born two or three years after Ivory, and that she had always thought it died when It was a few weeks old Then suddenly she came closer to me”- “Oh, Wnity. weren’t you terrified?” "No, not in the least. Neither would you have been if you hnd been there. She put her arms round me and all at once I understood that the poor thing mistook me Just for a moment for her own daughter come hack to life. It was a sudden fancy, and 1 don't think It lasted, hut 1 didn’t know how to deal with it or contradict It. so 1 sim ply tried to soothe her and let her ease her heart by talking to me. She said when 1 left her: ’Where is your house? 1 hope It Is near! Do come again and sit with me. Strength flows Into my weakness when you hold mj hand!' I somehow feel, Patty, that she Deeds a woman friend even more than a doctor. And now, whnt am 1 to do'.- How can I forsnke'lier, and yet here is this new difficulty with father?” "I shouldn’t forsake her. Go there when you can, hut he more careful about It. You told father that you didn’t regret whnt you hnd done, and that when he ordered you to do un reasonable things you should disobey him. After all, you are not a black slave. Father will never think of thnt particular thing again, perhaps, any more than he ever alluded to my driv ing to Saco with Mrs. Day after you had told him it was necessary for one of ns to go there occasionally. He knows that if he is too hard on us Dr. Perry or Uncle Bart would take him in hand. They would have done it long ago If we hnd ever given any one even a hint of what we have to endure You will be all right because you only want to do kind, neighborly things. 1 am the one that will always have to suffer because I can’t prove that It’s a Christian duty to deceive fntlier and steal off to a dance or a frolic. Yet 1 might as well he a nun In a convent for all the fun X get. I want a white book muslin dress; I want a pair of thin shoes with buckles; I wnnt a white bat. with a wreath of yellow roses; I want a volume of Byron’s poems, and, ob, nobody knows—nobody but the Lord would understand—how 1 want a string of gold beads!” “Patty, Patty! To hear you chattel anybody would Imagine you thought of nothing hut frivolities. I wish you wouldn't do yourself such injustice Even when nobody hears you hut me. It Is wrong.” "Sometimes when yon think I’m talk tag nonsense it's really the gosp.- truth,” snld Patty. “I'm not a grand splendid character. Waitstill, and ii no use your deceiving yourself about me. If you do you’ll be disappointed "Go and parboil the beans and gel them Into the pot. Patty. Pick up some of the windfalls and make a green apple pie. and I’ll be with you In the kitchen myself before long. I nev er expect to he disappointed in you Patty—only continually surprised and pleased.” "I thought I'd begin making some soft soap today,” said Patty mlschlev onsly as sbe left the room. “We have enough grease saved up. We don't really need It yet. but It makes such • disgusting smell thnt I’d rather like father to have it with his dinner. It's not much of n punishment for onr sleepless night’’ CHAPTER XV. A Brae* of Lovars. HAYING was over and the close. sticky dog days, too. and Au gust was slipping into Hep tember. There had been plen ty of rain all the season, and the coun tryside was looking as fresh and green as an emerald. The hillsides were al ready clothed with a verdant growth of new grass and— The red pennone of the cardinal flow-era Hung motion less upon their upright staves How they gleamed in the meadow grasses and along the brook Hides, like brilliant flecks of flame, giving a new beauty to the nosegays that Wultstlll carried or sent to Mrs. Boynton every week. To the eye of the casual observer life in the two little villages by the river's brink went on as peacefully as ever, but there were subtle changes taking place nevertheless. Cephas Cole bad "asked” the second time and again bad been refused by Patty, so that even a very Idiot for hopefulness could not urge bis father to put unoth< story on the ell. (To Be Continued Tomorrow.) DEGREES OF FINALITY. When a girl says no, She may kinder grow. But there's little hope When a girl says '‘nope.” And there’s not a hit When she answers "nit.” —Kansas City Journal. ■ " 11 1 - 8 - '■w*" l - 11 - 1 1 ""■ ■■’ '--■ ■■■' 1,111 " ■ 1 1 • —— ■' 1 ■" ■ v—m In many ways the gentlemanly vultures of civilization different. But they all agree on a few things. They are quite sure that woman ought NOT to vote. And they are quite sure that she ought not to be THE GUILTY MAN. Gentleman ( In railway train) —How did this accident happen? Guard —Someone pulled the cord and stopped the train, and the boat, express ran into us. It will take five hours to clear the line for us to go ahead. Gentleman —Five hours! Great Scot! I was to be married today. IN “REEL” LIFE li.' . i.—... i THE VULTURES AND—-THE WOMEN Guard (a married man, sternly)— Look here, are you the chap who stopped the train? —Philadelphia Rec ord. r * • JUST 80. “Most of us dream In childhood about having a gold crown some day.” “Well, we eventually reach the dentist.” —Kansas City Journal. guaranteed agaifcst misery by laws insuring a MINIMUM WAGE. And they are particularly sure that nothing should in terfere with the law of supply and demand, which give 3 plenty of nice food for vultures in business and politics. GUARDING THEM. The Employer—By the way, the children usually oat with us. The New Governess (firmly) I must object to that. “Why?” “They're sure to pick up such faul ty notions of grammar.” Cleveland Plain Dealer. TO WHOM HE’D GIVE IT. "There’s a gentleman In the par- Inr, sir,” Hald the maid. “Did he give you Ids name. Katie?’ asked tile man of the house. "Oh, no, sir; hut I think It’s the one who wants to give him name to your daughter, sir?” —Yonknrs State:' man. IN REAL LIFE FIVE