Stadium High School - Tahoma Yearbook (Tacoma, WA)

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I4 Tl-IE TAHOMA A Couple of Fools Ruth Swanson, '13 Gale stood at the entrance of the little log cabin and viewed its interior enthusiastically. lsn't it just too darling, Roger? Why, of course we'll take it. If Gale had been used to receiving the hard knocks in life, she would have noticed that the roof was leaky and the fireplace smoked. But, being one of the fortunate few, she saw only how picturesque the big rough building looked, and what a rustic appearance the rude fireplace presented. Don't you think it's the greatest bargain, Roger? She appealed again to her husband, who, by the way, had proudly possessed that title for two whole weeks. Of course, he agreed. fAll two weeks old husbands are wonderfully agreeable mortals., So the deal was quickly transacted with the owner of that primitive structure, leaving the young pair in proud possession. Isn't it glorious to be independent, murmured Gale, delightedly, as they set about storing away the simple furniture. 'Tm never going back to be waited on, never! Therc's something dignified about manual labor, her husband assented. It sort of elevates a man, to do his own work. Things went smoothly enough for a while. Roger vehemently declared that his wife never looked half so stunning in any ball room gown as she did in the dainty checked aprons, and she could not enough admire the logger boots and corduroy trousers of her husband. Then, too, the grub averaged fairly well. If Gale forgot to put salt in the bread, she made up for it by putting an extra dose in the gravy. If the dessert looked a trifle unappetizing, the appearance of the table was brought up to the notch by an artistic bouquet of flowers. But in spite of this admirable system of checks and balances, Roger was chump enough to persist in getting thin, and as nature had never over-blessed him in the line ofllesh, he gradually began to take on the appearance of a low caste l-lindoo in famine time. Very gradually, too, his temper began to lose some of that sweetness which characterizes very new husbands. One morning, after being lectured severely by his wife on account of his physical depreciation, he was brute enough to declare it doubtful whether cupid himself could thrive on burnt pancakes. Upon seeing the distress of his wife, he entreated her

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THE TAHOMA I3 what had happened. Then it came to him in a dull sort of flash. One of the short pins on the wheel of the locomotive, that pin which forms a crank wrist, had snapped, thus loosening the connective rod. Now it was beating up road- bed and engine like some terrible Hail. The engineer arose unsteadily to set the brakes. But some caprice of fate had decided to jam the air. Then he tried to shut off the oil supply. Failing, he decided that he was too weak. For a moment he groped madly about in his mind for some expedient that would save the train. If the conductor knew, but he did not. He decided quite suddenly. I'l1 save you Hrst, my friend, he muttered thickly to the unconscious Macline. I'll save you, I'll save you. How he managed, he never knew. Dragging the form of the fireman over the big oil tank and boosting it up onto the roof of the blind baggage, was a task that might have been sufficiently hard for a strong, clear-headed man, with all the cars standing still. Yet he did it, and reaching the top he lashed Macline to the roof. G'by, old sport, he sang out crazily, just as he disappeared over the roof. Back in the cab again he got busy. Back near where the flying steel bar raged, he knew there was another upright bar, the pulling of which meant the saving of the lives of many people. Somehow, oddly, it was intact. He groped for it, reached it, tugged sharply. The engine, released of its load, leaped forward like a thing of life renewed. The train, whose uncoupling automatically set the air, shuddered long and came to a stop. ' It was saved, reflected Burmang but at one o'clock he was due to pass another passenger. No, not pass, 'now. just Hy at it with the horrible speed- energized weight of his engine. Suddenly a glad something boiled itself up. Why had he not thought of that before? By opening the injectors he might force down the pressure, stop the engine, derail it. No sooner had he put the idea into practice than they struck a curve. The Curve, so called, worst of all on the line. For a moment the pilot trucks hung, then off they' went. A thin, sibilant scream arose as the great drivers left the tangents. Burman was hurled far out on the prairie. Hours later, it seemed, when he awoke. Over to the east, perhaps a hundred yards distant, lay a great black hulk: to the west, the tail lights of a train disappeared. Overhead stars glimmered fitfullv. Burman stirred a trifle, paused, as if something had caught his ear. Evidently it was nothing. Ap- proach of death, maybe. Yet again his body became tense, as if he strained to listen. Then he heard it, and like the sighing of a new-born sage-scented desert wind through reeds of finest silver it was, heart-breakingly sweet, wildly sad, the Music of the Spheres.

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THE TAHOMA 'I5 not to, worry, as the fragrance of roses was doubtless easier to digest than ham and eggs. Summer quickly drifted into Autumn, and, with the dropping of the leaves, came the heavy fall rains, which necessarily confined Gale within the narrow limits of the cabin. Somehow, when the sunbeams ceased to come in through the windows the rough walls lost their romantic charm, and it seemed that the heart of the cabin was gone. The wind whistled through the chinks in the logs, and the leaky shingles began to announce themselves by sending countless little streams of water to the floor below. At first Roger attempted to remedy these defects, but after one unfortunate occasion, when his foot glanced off the wet shingles and he reached the ground before recollecting that he had left the roof, he let well enough alone, and his wife saved the furniture by catching the water in her cooking utensils. One morning as Gale watched her husband plod off through the rain, on his daily two mile hike to the station, she sat down and thought it all over. Of Uourse, it was nice to be independent, she stuck to that point with a woman's persistenceg but, after all, washing greasy dishes, and scrubbing splintery floors, wasn't the most joyous occupation in the world, especially if one had to do it every day. She looked at the pile of breakfast dishes, which seemed to con- front her defiantly. Seized with sudden wrath, she snatched up the greasiest platter and shattered it into a thousand pieces against the opposite wall. There -take that, you-you horrid- The remainder of the sentence was drowned in a flood of tears. I don't want to be a quitter, she Hnally sobbed, but l'cl like for once to eat off dishes someone else had to wash. Suddenly a live coal flew out of the grate and fell upon the splintery floor. The next moment it flared up brighter, as the fire was getting a hold on the rough board beneath it. Gale watched the process in fascinated idle- ness. Then she clapped her hands excitedly. Oh, I wish it would burn!'f she cried, I wish the whole cabin would burn down, then we'd have to go back without Roger ever knowing I was a quitterf' But even as she spoke, an tiny rivulet broke through a new place in the roof, and fell with tantalizing exactness on the blazing coal. It simmered a minute, looked as though it might recover, then steadily died down. Gale could have cried again from disap- pointment, when a bright idea struck her. Sure! Why not? If the cabin can burn so easily, why not help matters along, and let Roger believe it an accidentif' Cale possessed a logical little brain, and she planned it all out with systematic thoughtfulness. lf I set fire to it when he's home, he can't have the ghost of a suspicion how it happened, she reasoned. I'm going todo it tonight when he's asleep. When it gets to burning good, I'll wake him up in time to save the things. Carefully she prepared a bundle of kindling and soaked it in kerosene. It makes me feel like a bandit, she giggled excitedly,