Strong High School - Mussul Unsquit Yearbook (Strong, ME)

Page 15 text:

THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT 13 The tears rose to his eyes as he thanked the kind farmer. He was given something to eat and then the farmer showed him to a room that had been occupied for several years by a nephew who had recently died. There jerry was treated to a warm bath and given a suit of clothes which had once belonged to Bob who was the nephew. t' He don't look like the same boy, said Mrs. Eccles to Louise. You won't know him when you get back from your aunt's he'll be so fat and healthy. Louise started early the next morning, kissed her mother good-bye and drove away by her father's side, well wrapped up in shawls and buffalo robes, for the weather was very cold and the ride was a long one. Louise looked out of the car window and watched her father as he crossed the rail- way track to where his wagon stood wait- ing. He's just the best father! she thought. I know he does not like the idea of my going away, but he would not say a word against it, because he knows how dis- appointed I would be. As if I would ever get too hue to help mother! But I do wish I had some handsome clothes. Reta will think my best dress hardly good enough for every day. But she can 't laugh at niy jewelry -- that 's handsome enough, any- way, and it 's all the more handsome for being old. She opened a little bag she carried and looked in, a satisfied smile on her face. The six weeks passed quickly for Louise to whom the city was a great novelty. It was nearly Christmas when Louise saw her home again and had never before realized how dear it was to her. VVhen she inquired for jerry her mother told her that he was not there any more. VVe sent him away. VVhy, what did he do? asked Louise. HI hardly like to tell you--I know it will be such a shock to youf' said Mrs. Eccles. I was fixing the top drawer of the bureau and discovered that the three diamond rings were gone! Louise sank into the first chair she came to, her face pale and horror-stricken. You-you-thought jerry- she gasped. There was no room for doubt, my dear. I will never see my diamonds again- Yes, yes-you will! cried Louise. W'ill you ever forgive me? And it was all my vanity-my wretched vanity! I' Louise, what do you mean ? cried Mrs. Eccles. That I took the rings, mother! Oh, mother, don't look like that! I did not mean to do wrong-I didn't indeed. Louise wept bitter tears that night. Her vanity had cost poor Jerry dear. It was a hard task to tell her story over again to her father. They tried to find Jerry but the winter passed and spring came with no sign of him. But one rainy, cold night Mr. Eccles and his wife were sitting by the tire, when a low tap sounded on the door and into the room, wet, ragged, stepped jerry. I came back, he said, 'I for I thought per- haps you had found those diamond rings. Of course Jerry's dark days of poverty were over. But Louise never forgot the lesson she had learned, and never again felt any desire to wear Grandma Sheldon's diamond rings. Hilda Jolzusou, '25. SAND T was a hot, sultry evening in the month of August, the sun had long ago gone to rest behind the horizon. Far away the distant rumble of thunder could be heard, and in the sky above lightning darted hither and thither in an alarming manner. Upon this dark, wild night Harvey Clark alone to l1is troubled thoughts, rode his cowpony around and around the restless herd of Texas long horns. He was troubled not so much by the storm or the uneasiness of the cattle, but by a dull, heart-rending pain. This night his longed for bride, Polly Anderson, had gone across the prairie to pay a farewell call to a friend,

Page 14 text:

I2 THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT GRANDMA'S DIAMOND RINGS H KNOW Aunt Julia will think my things terribly old-fashioned, moth- er, said Louise Eccles, as she stood by the trunk which her mother was packing. Just look at these old shoes. When I remember the splendid clothes Reta brought here last summer I feel almost ashamed of my poor little outfit. Everything you have is well enough made and suited toyour age, my dear, said Mrs. Eccles. I do not approve of silks, satins and jewelry for young girls, they are better off without them. If you are to start on your trip with a heart full of vanity and envy, I think you had better give it up at once. Oh, I'd rather go with only the dress I have on than not go at all! exclaimed Louiseg but I can 't help liking nice things, mother, and I do wish you would let me take your watch. I would be very careful of it, and it would be such a com- fort to me. Mrs. Eccles hesitated. I would like to please you, she said, and though I think young girls of your age appear better with- out jewelry of any kind, I will let you take the watch if you will promise me not to ask to keep it after your return home. I would 110t want to wear it here on the farm, mother. I will return it to you the day I get back, cried Louise, delighted. She followed her mother downstairs to the large bedroom that opened off the kitchen. In one corner was a high, old- fashioned bureau, with brass knobs. Mrs. Eccles took down a key which hung on a nail just over the bureau and unlocked the top drawer. It was filled with keepsakes of every sort. At one end of the drawer was a small cedar box, which when opened, showed four compartments, lined with faded lavender satin, and containing a heavy gold watch, a link-chain and locket, three diamond rings, and a big brooch, in which was the picture of a handsome old lady with white hair. Louise had a great liking for finery of every kind, and her eyes sparkled as she looked at the jewelry. She took up the three rings and slipped them on two of the fingers of her left hand. I wonder if Grandma Sheldon wore these every day? she said, thinking how very becoming diamonds were to the hands. Very likely, answered Mrs. Eccles. to work the way I do. She never had Her husband was a rich man, and she had It would be absurd for plenty of servants. me to wear them, however. H They will be they, mother? Yes, I suppose sog but the day is a long way oif, my dear. Now, Louise, take the watch, and put back those rings, for I must go. I have too much to do to waste time here. With a deep sigh Louise drew the rings from her fingers, and put them back in the cedar box. I wish - she began but was interrupted by the opening of the door and the appearance of her father. Come here a minute, wife, he said. There is someone out here I want you to see. Mrs. Eccles closed the drawer, without stopping to lock it, went into the kitchen followed a few minutes later by Louise, who had stayed to look once more at Grandma Sheldon's jewelry, for it was not often she had a chance. The kitchen was a large room with four windows, through which the November sunshine streamed broadly, and by one of them, sitting on the edge of a chair, was a boy of apparently fourteen years of age, whose sunken cheeks, hollow eyes and ragged clothes told of hunger, want and neglect. Mr. Eccles found him under the hay in the barn. He told them he had left the city a week before and could not find work. They decided to keep him, he seemed like a nice boy. The boy's delight when he learned that he was to stay was very plain to be seen. mine some day, won t

Page 16 text:

14 THE MUSSUL UNSQUIT and she had been accompanied by an old friend of her father's, Sir John Crowley. Harvey knew Crowley was in love with Polly, and that she had already been be- trothed to him by her father. She had no love for him, instead she dearly loved Clark, but what could she do against the iron will of her father? He would not per- mit her to marry Clark because he said he had no sand and at his best he was nothing but a common cowpuncher, while Sir John was a rich Englishman with a title and could give her all she wished. Day after tomorrow was to be the wedding day on which Polly would become Lady Crow- ley, hence Clark's despondency. He vowed he could show old man Anderson and that simpering Englishman that he had sand even though he were a mere cowpuncher, if he had the time and the opportunity. But with the wedding only two days away how could he save Polly from what both he and she knew would be an unhappy marriage? He realized that cowpunchers came in very handy sometimes, but what was there that one could do at this late hour? It must already be nearly midnight and there would be only one day more. Suddenly he was roused from his sad meditations by a sharp flash of lightning and a splitting, rending crash of thunder. Looking about him he saw that the night had grown darker, the storm nearer and more fierce 3 the cattle were greatly ex- cited and uneasy, milling around the center of the herd. Clark realized that if they could not be immediately calmed, there would be a deathly stampede for things in its path, and he knew that if this herd of rangy Texas steers should once take fright nothing on earth could stop their flight. At that instant a big white-faced steer broke away from the rest of the herd, and started on a rapid gallop across the plain. A sharp flash of lightning revealed the steer and the other cattle of the herd who were following his example, now headed on a terrible stampede. With terror Harvey saw that he was directly in their path and they were rushing straight at him. Spurring his terrified mustang he rode for his life for he knew that it depended upon the ability of his broncho to keep ahead of that mass of seething, bellowing cattle. The herd was thoroughly fright- ened by this time, and the thundering of their hoofs was deafening. On they came with heads lowered and on sped Clark and his pony, which was rapidly losing ground before the on rushing herd. Two miles were covered, nearer and nearer came the mad cattle, each bound of their feet lessen- ing the chance for life of the man and horse. The storm had abated somewhat and the sky had cleared enough for the moon to peep forth from its cradle high up in the western sky, and view the race for life between the horse and its rider and the frenzied cattle. Harvey glanced back through the moon- light and was able to see plainly the dark, bobbing shapes. In that moment he knew that his horse could never carry him out of reach of those wicked, trampling hoofs. What did it matter anyway? What did he care if he did not ever reach the ranch house? It did not matter, no, far better that he should leap from the saddle and give his mustang a fair race for life. Accordingly he swung his feet clear of the stirrups and was about to jump when he saw through the shadowy night a sight which made his blood run cold. There on the plain, standing alone beside her fallen horse, he beheld Polly, and far in the distance Sir John was riding for his life, while his future wife faced the stam- pede alone. Clark pulled his mustang to a sudden halt causing the beast to slide sev- eral feet on its haunches. Quickly he sprang down to the ground and lifted the sobbing Polly to the mustang's back, he himself turning to face death from the fierce, on-charging steers. Polly, frightened as she was, refused to move from the spot and jumping to the ground, gave the mustang a resounding