ERNS OF
WOLFPEN
Hcivltm HdcKei^ ,
' M <gg
** t*t •••tr-Htmlt o. " WHO. Stnv/ct
CHAPTER VII—Continued
—10—
“When do you mind to begin
running off the tract?” Sparrel in
quired.
“We’ll begin right uway. What
part are you selling off?”
“The timber-land down the creek,
I reckon. But 1 calculated I’d have
the whole place run off first and
then we’d cut across to get the
part for Shellenberger.”
“We might look at the deeds right
away If you have them handy.”
The men rose from the table.
Cynthia placed a lamp on Sparrel’s
desk, and the men went Into the big
kitchen to sit and look at the deeds.
“That was a mighty good sup
per," Reuben was saying as he
paused by her, passing from the
dining room. “I guess I worked up
an appetite over those hills.” He
laughed pleasantly.
Cynthia was not used to hearing
remarks about the food, and she bad
no confident words for reply.
“It wasn’t very much. Mother Is
over at Jenny’s today.”
She ate by herself until Jesse
came In and sat down.
“How did you burn your hand?’’
“I dropped a hot lid on It And
it was Just before he came and I
was about to cry. 1 thought he was
you and I went to the. door with
a bowl In my hand.”
Jesse smiled and looked at the
burn. ‘‘It’s not very deep.” But he
helped her clear away the dishes
and then actually washed them,
against her protest
It was musical to hear Reuben’s
voice reading the deeds.
“ ‘The Commonwealth of Virginia
to Saul Pattern . . . four thousand
acres, more or less, situate between
the Big Sandy River and Gannon
Creek, and bounded and described
as follows, to wit: . . . this twenti
eth day of March, 1798 ... to Bar
ton Pattern . . . one thousand acres,
more or less, situate on Gannon and
Marebone Creeks—this ninth day
of August, 1814 ... to Tlvls Pat
tern . . . four hundred acres, more
or less, situate on Sycamore Creek.
. . . this nineteenth day of August,
1825 ... to Sparrel Pattern . . .
three hundred and fifty acres, more
or less, situate on Horsepen
Branch, and bounded and de
scribed as follows, to-wit: . . . this
tenth day of September, 1854.’ ”
“These are old ones, all right,"
Reuben was saying, turning them
over In his hands and smelling the
odor of old paper. “The Patterns
have been here a long time, haven’t
(they?”
“Just a hundred years now.”
“I suppose this is a good time to
sell if you’ve got timber-land.”
Reuben was again looking at
the deeds. “ 'Beginning at a twelve
inch white oak on Cranesnest Point
from which a two-foot hickory
bears to the northeast about one
pole; . . . thence along the ridge
about sixty poles to a twenty-inch
black oak . . .’ These bearings
and distances are not very definite.
Looks like we’ll have to do some
hunting and guessing.”
“I guess Saul and Barton Just
stepped It off and marked trees
with an ax when they surveyed,”
Sparrel said with a chuckle.
“Where is this Cranesnest and
Pinnacle?” Reuben asked.
“The two points you saw up yon
der from the porch, Cranesnest on
your right,” Jasper said.
“We’ll go up there and see If we
can make a start tomorrow.”
Cynthia heard the talk go on to
Sparrel’s books and the Weekly Ga
zette and Cincinnati, where all the
big Ohio Itlver boats went, and the
growth of the coal and lumber busl
ness and the Big Sandy River traf
fic, the coal mines and unsightly vil
lages, and the river towns of Cat
lettsburg and Ashland and Irontown
and Portsmouth all beginning to er
pand with sawmills and furnaces
and brick plants and wholesale
houses. She finished the kitchen
and went to prepare the beds.
The sound of their voices carried
no words to Cynthia in the corner
room. She smoothed the sheet and
got two large soft pillows and laid
them in the place of the bolster. “I
guess that’s ready for him, and It’s
not any slouchy.” She looked at
the bed again, and then went to
the closet and chose the best red
and-whlte coverlet in the difficult
snail-trail and cat-track patterns,
spreading It over the foot of the
bed. Then she went down to the
kitchen and said to Sparnjl In the
exact manner of Julia that the beds
were ready any time now.
She got Into her nightgown, feel
lng the cool star-touched dark mov
ing about in the bottoms and look
ing Into her room.
“May nights on Wolfpen are cool
and soft. What a long day since
Mother went to Jenny’s. It was
*ust this morning. Now It Is night
and I have cooked two meals and
served a stranger who was not yet
so strange. I wasn’t by the sheep
fold, I wasn’t by the well, I wasn't
by a pear tree In a soft blue gown.
I was Just hot nnd fretted and un
tidy-looking. But Rebekah had
a water-jug on her shoulder, and 1
don’t reckon that’s any different
much from a wooden howl In a
body's arms, and It’s as good to
feed a man good bread that he
likes as to water some dusty old
camels. Mother was on a chip pile.
The orchurd Is so quiet at night
like the (treat Dipper above the
Pinnacle. Saul Is quiet and Barton
Is quiet, nnd Tlvls. The men are
quiet, and the mill wheel down
there Is still— There weren’t any
blossoms on the peach tree, any
way."
CHAPTER VIII
CYNTHIA was up before day
break, alert and happy In the
feeling that she was mistress of
the household on this first morn
ing. She brushed her hair care
fully. “Mother always looks neat
and fresh when she goes to get
breakfast, like she was going to
meeting or somewhere.”
Sparrel was In the kitchen build
ing the fire. He greeted her kindly.
“I didn’t have to call you this
morning.”
*1 had it on my mind and I woke
up.”
"I reckon Jnlia’ll be back by
noon. She picked a good time to
go,” Sparrel said, but gently and
with no wish to embarrass her.
Sparrel went on to the barn. Be
fore Cynthia had rolled the biscuit
dough flat on the bread board to
be cut into circles, the boys were
at the wash rock. Abral was excit
ed and playful. When Jesse came
up, still rubbing his eyes, Abral
flung a pan of cold water in his
face, and then dodged him, laugh
ing, about the well and the rock.
Reuben laughed with them. He
saw Cynthia before the table in the
kitchen looking fresh and rested
and without confusion.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning."
“I’m afraid we’ve made a lot of
extra work for you.”
"Not at all,” she said, and slipped
the pan of biscuits into the oven.
“It’s not much work, and it’s al
ways fun to see if the biscuits will
rise and get crisp without burning.”
“I hope these won’t burn,” Reu
ben said.
And they didn’t. They were brown
and flaky and the men broke them
open with their fingers and put but
ter in them to melt, and ate them
with honey. Cynthia served them
and watched them eat with satis
faction, thinking of the different
moods this strange spring had
brought. She liked to hear Reuben
talking with Sparrel about the
work, his pleasant voice speaking
easily and cnpably to the point.
“We will need two ax-men to
clear a sight, and a rod-man and
two chalnmen. You’ll have to help
me find the marks on the trees and
keep directions. The early deeds
won’t help much except to tell us
that the line crosses a ravine or
ends on a rock ledge.”
"One of my boys will have to stny
on the place to look after things,”
Sparrel answered. “The other two
can help. We can get another
chalnman and two ax-men all right.”
Jesse and Abral drew lots for
the beginning: Jesse won. But Abral
was so full of disappointment that
Reuben said to Sparrel, “We can't
do more than get started this morn
ing. If you can spare them, sup
pose we all go up and look over the
ground.”
And Abral looked across the ta
ble at Cynthia and smiled.
From the kitchen window Cyn
thia watched the live men, curry
ing axes, a corn knife, the compass
and the chain, go out of the yard
by the well, and along the path that
led to the Shelf and then, more
vaguely, up to Cranesnest.
They stopped by the rails on the
Shelf and Sparrel answered Reu
ben's questions, telling of the Pat
tern men who lay there, and of
Cynthia’s fancy concerning Saul.
“I should have been of Saul’s
time,” Reuben said. “Think of be
ing the first white man to stand on
one of these points, just as the
mist is lifting, and saying to the si
lence, ‘AH 1 can see when the mist
is up will be the Pattern lands.' "
“The next best thing is to re-sur
vey the land those old fellows first
walked over.” Then he laughed
boyishly, and they climbed on up to
the rocky point of Cranesnest
The Pattern men stood behind
Reuben, seeing the glorious pano
rama afresh through his eyes.
“This Is a good place to begin
just about anything,” Reuben said,
.itching the glint of sun on Gan
. on creek where it bent out oi sight
They had no trouble finding the
oak tree designated as the begin
ning point In the deed of 1S14. It
was dow a huge tre% and tho three
ax marks In the r*ugh bark had
grown and spread until no Inex
perienced eye could have Identified
them.
“That’s the old corner tree,” Spar
rel said. And Reuben, looking at
the deed, “ ‘Thence In a southeast
erly direction, following the back
of the ridge, about fifty-five poles
to a sixteen-inch walnut.’ ”
Slowly they made their way along
the ridge, Abral pushing ahead
through the underbrush trying to
locate marked trees, Jasper hack
ing at the slender saplings with his
ax. Jesse slashing the greenbriers
and the small brush with the knife,
Sparrel and Reuben stepping off
the distance as they advanced.
After a long time, they reached
a fork of the ridge.
"But the deed says nothing at all
about a fork," Reuben said. They
tried the left fork. There was the
big rock aud a small clump of
great walnut trees. There were no
marks, but Abral was so sure that
Ik seized an ax and cut through the
bark Into the tree,exposing a black
scar where Barton had once sunk
his ax.
“1 guess we’ll have to make you
our reeonnolterer, Abral,” Reuben
said.
"What’s that?” demanded Abral.
Reuben smiled at him. “The chap
who goes ahead of the detachment
to spy out the enemy and get shot
first.”
"I guess the Indians are all gone
now.”
“I hope the corner trees aren’t.”
Julia was riding up Wolfpen. They
watched the Finemare pace the
Long Bottom and disappear into the
orchard.
"That will give us a start," Reu
ben said. “We’ll get course and
distance on this line tomorrow. It’s
a big job we have on our hands.”
They went on to the head of
Barn Hollow, and then made their
"I’m Afraid We’ve Made a Lot of
Extra Work for You."
way down the cool seclusion of Its
tiny branch toward the house. The
sound of the dinner bell went up
Wolfpen.
“I don’t reckon we could have
timed It any better than that,”
Sparrel said.
Sparrel Introduced Reuben, and
Julia spoke kindly to him.
“I’m right sorry I was gone Just
when you came. I don’t very often
leave the place."
She helped Cynthia with the din
ner table.
In the afternoon, Jasper went to
get help for the surveying, and
Jesse and Abral went to the fields.
Reuben studied the deeds again,
making notes in his brown book.
“Have you any idea how long It
will take to run off this place?"
Sparrel asked. ^ .
“It’ll take a long time. Most of
the summer. At least I hope so,”
Reuben added and luughed.
The days soon slipped into a qui
etly exciMng routine, pushed for
ward by the activity of morning
ar.d evening and the pleasant talk
of the men about tho small details
of their work. It was almost as If
the old and customary adjustment
of life on Wolfpen were upset not
bv destruction but by the creation
of a new quality of enlargement.
Cynthia knew that the joyous ten
sion under which she carried the
increasing burden of the housework
had come from the presence of
Reuben.
Their few words were outwardly
the commonplace greetings at the
wash rock before the meals,- or a
phrase at the table,or a polite word
ns he sat down before the drawing
table arranged for him in one cor
ner of the kitchen. Hut deep with
in each of them, where the life of
a word begins before It Is wrapped
and delivered In sound, were being
formed those mysterious rearrange
ments of the soul which adjust
two people to the recognition of love.
Each evening after supper Reu
ben would sit for a time on the
porch with Sparrel, watching the
first evening stars take form above
the valley, or he would walk to the
barn with the boys. In that Inter
val, Cynthia would finish the dishes
and place the clean and polished
lamp on the table neatly covered
with Reuben’s materials for plot
ting the lines he had survived on
that day. Then he would one In
with the brown leather hook
recording the day's Jourrit. .ugh
the underbrush. Into the hollon>
and over the hills. Sparrel and the
boys would crowd about him to
watch the curious process of re
producing in miniature on a piece
of brown paper the boundaries of
the pluce they had surveyed.
"There," lteuben said, pointing
with the pencil, “is Cranesnest.
Then we went straight to the wal
nut tree, and there Is the hollow,
and then up the hill to that first
big poplar, and down that gully to
the big stone In the creek right
there. . .
She lingered In the room with the
men as long as she felt good man
ners would allow. Then she left
them and went out Into the orchard
in the night She felt the silent tu
mult of all things alive nnd In fer
ment with growth. The apple trees
were lilling with plump green fruit,
bearing on their navels the last of
the withered blossoms. Even the
orphaned lamb was turbulent with
expanding energy, and his thin nnd
incapable legs were now strong nnd
reliable. All along the valley every
thing was shooting recklessly up
out of the pregnant ground.
"It’s a soft night. You can feel
the live wind come fresh out of the
woods and run softly over your face
and delicately under your dress and
around your body. And then you
are not tired and more, and you
seem more alive than you ever were
before. Next to tlie curiosity of the
way the chickens crow In the morn
ing. like they thought it was time
for the day and God had forgot to
light up the sun nnd set It over
Crnnesnest, and then they wait a
little while In quiet to give Hint a
chance to remember before they
break out ngain;and suddenly when
titey do the dark begins to run
down from the Pinnacle, slow, fast,
und then faster until the sun pops
up nnd takes the valley nnd all the
chickens crow again a third time
bigger than ever as though they
had done the miracle—next to that
In this pluce Is the night-sounding
quiet at the end of May and the
way it goes Inside of you und makes
something happen to you and you
tremble with It The way It is now.
It Is not the tremble of seeing a
snake swallowing a toad ^p the aft
ternoon. It's the tremble of being
born or released Instead of de
voured. It feels like the night were
trying to say something to you nnd
you can hear It speak. I know what
it means even without the words. I
reckon Rebeknh heard It saying
wordless things to her when she lis
tened under the stnrs In the Holy
Land and thought of Isaac In a far
country thnt she Is a woman and
that love can reach over a long way
and touch her and take her even
to another place; and that the life
In her will go on In a new place far
from her father’s land.
“It begins the way corn comes
up, the blades curled tight Into a
green gimlet boring Its way through
the ground. You can’t see how such
a tiny blade can move away the
dirt and climb out of the place it
was burled without breaking. II
you Just so much as touch It It goes
to green water and scum on your
fingers. But almost overnight the
blades unwind In arched pairs from
the stalk and when you hold the
two points together they make the
figure of a heart
“Does Reuben feel the living
thing In the woods when he Is all
day among the timber, nnd do the
sweet damp smells of the hollow
and the intervals of silence In the
midst of hill sounds show things
Inside of him he hadn’t found there
before? The way he looks up at
me and the shine comes Into his
eyes, like he had been away and
had Just got back and was happy
over It. Reuben’s face keeps chang
ing like he took each thing aud
placed It higher or lower than some
thing else. He looks at me over the
head of the others when they don't
take up all there Is In something
he or Daddy says, and he smiles at
me to say, ‘You see all the colors
In a rainbow, not just the red.’ I
don’t, though. Things have been
happening so fast and so strange
I can’t get them nil straight and I
just sit out here In the night pos
sessed by them and wondering
what’s going to happen next. I could
nearly wish It might stay Just the
way It is. But It doesn't ever stay
the way it Is. The night Itself goes
on. I reckon from the movement of
the stars I ought to be hack at the
house. If you could just gather up
an armful of an evening like this
the way you do wild honeysuckles
and put It away to feel and look at
after the moment Is gone . .
(TO BE CONTINUED)
People of Bahrein
The majority of the inhabitants
of tlie Bahrein islands, off the Per
sian coast, make their living by
pearl diving. Others build boats,
weave sailcloth and reed mats, work
in tfie oil Helds, raise dates, breed
donkeys, or, using a peculiar kind of
weed as bait, catch the tish so pro
lific In the Persian gulf, says the
National Geographic society.
Most of the archipelago’s 120,000
Inhabitants are Arabs, although
there are European and American
''colonies" and communities of
wealthy Indian (Persian) and In
dian merchants. Minarets towering
above the date groves Indicate that
the native religion is Mohammedan.
Stretching for over a mile along
the north shore of Bahrein island
is Manama, the chief port and com
ferclal center of the archipelago.
Connected with Manama by motor
launches and a stone causeway is
Muharrnq, another large town on
an island of tfie same name, nortb
I east of Bahrein.
"Duck Pond" in Stitchery
Pattern 5602
The “Duck Pond”— a quiet,
shady nook where graceful ducks
float to and fro, is a charming sub
ject indeed for a wall-hanging, the
detail will prove fascinating to
embroider. It's no time before
every stitch is in, done in wool or
rope silk, and you're ready to line
and hang it.
In pattern 5002 you will find a
transfer pattern of a wall hanging
When It Is the
Other Fellow
Have you ever noticed that when
the other fellow is set in his way,
he’s obstinate; when you are, it’s
just firmness? When the other
fellow doesn’t like your friends,
he’s prejudiced when you don’t
like him, you are a good judge
of human nature?
When the other fellow tries to
treat someone especially well,
he’s toadying; when you try the
same game, you are using tact?
When the other fellow picks
flaws in things, he’s cranky; when
you do, you are discriminating?
When the other fellow says what
he thinks, he’s spiteful; when you
do, you are frank?
Best Guides
Our guides, we pretend, must
be sinless; as if those were not
often the best teachers who only
yesterday got corrected for their
mistakes.—George Eliot.
15 by 20 inches; material require
ments; Illustrations of all stitches
needed; color suggestions.
To obtain this pattern send 15
cents in stamps or coins (coins
preferred) to The Sewing Circle
Household Arts Dept., 259 W.
Fourteenth St., New York, N. Y.
Write plainly pattern number,
your name and address.
House/iold ©
® QuesfiOAf
To clean glass in oven doors rub
over with vinegar then wash with
soap and water.
• • *
Never prune climbing roses in
the fall. Cut out all dead canes
but wait until next spring before
cutting out dead shoots.
• • •
If the soil in which bulbs are
to be planted is acid, work hy
diated lime into the top soil two
weeks before planting.
• • •
A damp cloth dipped in baking
soda will remove tea and coffee
stains from china cups.
Pull out old stalks in your vege
table garden as soon as the crop
has been picked. This will make
the cleaning up of the garden later
much easier.
• » •
In pressing never put an iron
on the right side of any goods
except cotton. Always lay a cloth
between the iron and the goods.
Woodwork which has to be
painted should be well smeared
with lime water, which can be
obtained at any. druggist’s. Let
dry and then paint The paint will
dry in half the time. Put the brush
in water when you have finished.
It will be quite soft for next day.
* • »
If you want your linen to wear
well, try this plan: Instead of
folding tablecloths and sheets
lengthwise, as is usually done,
fold them the other* way oc
casionally. They last far longer if
the folds are sometimes changed
than if they are always folded in
the same place.
© Associated Newspapers.—WNU Service.
Practical Gifts
T'HOSE things that are not
practicable are not desir
able. There is nothing in the
■ world really beneficial that
does not lie within the reach of
an informed understanding and
well-protected pursuit. There
is nothing that God has judged
good for us that he has not
given us the means to accom
plish both in the natural and
the moral world. If we cry,
like children, for the moon, like
children we must cry on.—
Burke.
What we hope ever to do
with ease we may learn first
to do with diligence.—Johnson.
Red for Soufh
Among the Pueblo Indians In
the Southwest, the four cardinal
colors — yellow, green, red and
white — are associated with th*
points north, west, south and east
respectively.
Opening for
FEMALE AGENTS
• Makers of a well known, highly
ethical cosmetic preparation are
seeking female agents, either new
or currently engaged in similar
work. Highly effective new selling
angle makes it a sure-fire seller
in 90% of cases. It will not be
necessary to purchase sample mer
chandise if satisfactory credit ref
erences are furnished with letter
of inquiry.
Writ* today, to
DENTON’S COSMETIC CO.
4402-23rd St, Long Island City, N. Y.
BOYS AND GIRLS! JOIN MY
JUNIOR G-MAN CORPS!
, GET THESE SWELL j
1 FREE PRIZES! J
»'■
tieUoo- h*» * ^ot
tAeoV.^‘li°r‘b. -‘ot‘ ?r
SSkss.'fcsi «rs&
tt*iDl^CO^b «r.od *°d 2 <°r
"lSfigSt&
Melvin Purvis will send you FREE his official Junior G-Men
Badge, his big book that tells all about how to be a Junior
G-Man, and a catalog of MANY OTHER FREB PRIZES! TO
JOIN, simply send the coupon below, with two Post Toasties
package tops (additional package tops for other prizes
shown here).
Autographed phot*
•f Melvin Purvis.
Picture is 8 x 10
inches, suitable for
framing. Free for
2 Post Toasties i
package tops. I
Junior O-Mon Ring. 24-carat gold finish, Roys' Rodgo (above right). Girls’ Badge
with Junior G-Man insignia embossed in left). Both badges, of polished
renter A ,1... i,i.. t nr gold-bronze design with satin-gotU back
center. Adtust.ble to any finger. Free for _round, cnamde3 in blue. frJe ,or two
4 1 ost Toasties package tops. Post Toasties package tops.
\Offlalol Whistle. Magnifying Class. Has two
Handsome nickel- power magnification. Free for
silver finish. Gives 6 Post Toasties package tops.
a shrill, sharp blast. tops or 11 tops IdentHW-den Wall.t „:,h
Free for 6 Post Identineoaten Wallet witn
Toasties package Melvin Purvis OffUlel Finger- •Pec.al identification card
tops. s.i a __.■ . .7. *nd >,our secret number.
jm* BrAissw’ jsa-r—‘
AND HERE’S A >
TIP-OFF ON A REAL
BREAKFAST
A POST CEREAL
MADE BY GENERAL POODS
'.■•■i-m rrnn- -erri J
I O-Mon Squad Oun. Flashes -
1 sparks when tired! Absolutely
■ harmless. Free for 69 Post
I Toasties package tops.
ET all the prizes Melvin
yj Purvis has waiting for
his JuniorG-Men...and take
his advice on the fi nest break
fast ever—Post Toasties!
Post Toasties are made
from the tender hearts of the
ror is stored. And every flake
is toasted double crisp, to
keep its crunchy gooaness
longer in milk or cream.
Get Post Toasties, “the bet
ter corn flakes” at your gro
['
THIS IS THE HEW POST TOASTIES
PACKAGE. THERE ARE MICKEY MOUSE
OYS OH THE BACK OF EVERY BOX.
corn, where most ot the tia- cer s now—the price is low!
SS^fPJi _NJS¥L_ _ J
f"* ^ ™ "",l “"wT .tl TT *"*|
* Melvin Purvis, c/« Pod Toasties, Battle Creek, Michigan ,
* 1 enclose-Post Tot sties package tops. Pletse send me the items *
i checked below. Check whether boy ( ) or girl ( ). Age ( ). 1
(Be sure to put proper postage on your letter.)
( ) Fingerprint Set (9 package tops) ( ) Ring (4 package tops)
| ( ) Melvin Purvis photo (2 package tops)
I ( ) Flashlight Pistol (24 package tops or 11 tops and 200
( ) Wallet (8 package tops) ( ) Whistle (6 package tops)
I ( ) Key Ring (4 package tops) ( ) Squad Gun (69 package top*)
| ( ) Magnifying Glass (6 package tops)
I M.m. . _ __
') a Street— , ___
I City- e„„
(.Ojfftr txpirtt Dtctmitr 31, 1936. Good omb m USA.)
