The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 14, 1904, Page 8

THE SAN FR NCISCO - SUNDAY CALIL. €opyright by S. 8. McClure Company. GENERATION ago & Wagon cov- ered with white canvas turned to the right on the California road and took & northerly course toward a prairie stream that nestled just under a long, low bluffl. When the white piigrim, jolting over the rough, unbroken ground through the tall “blue stem™ grass, reached a broad bend in the stream it stopped. A man and a woman emerged from under the canvas and stood for a moment facing the wild, green meadow and the distant hilis The man was young, lithe and graceful, but despite his boyish figure felt his unconscious 1 about her ith health; her burned as good at the woman as he put his She was aglow Y eyes m jaw w r wedding eymoon ve in all y in their peo- wilderness. sow of the ws of corn mead- over table, these e bent the In the woman's e of the ors of the str days—not forgot tugged man ve Y s as bed t ebelled and despair at cried in the rough- Colonel Willi irough youth into faced s wise they h a stoop; gr in mien. Y, rugged; izzled, She yet her There ne. his e nile often stumbled across ntenance. As the Hucks noticed that vily when d the p she observed }© » deep for tears. ays that the minds nconsciously reverted 1t became their wont, in r days, 1o sit in the silent the children had gone sue with the world, and, of ‘evenings, to talk of the old faces and of the old places in the home ot their youth. Thei had been a pinched and bus; e. They had never returned to visit their old Ohio home. The colonel's father and mother were gone. His wife's relatives were not there. Yet each felt the longing to go back. For years they had talked of the o n th charms of hood. Their c of their child- had been brougnt up to believe he place was lit- tle less than heaver The Kansas grass seemed short d barren of beauty the Jux the Ka to them beside the picture of of Ohio’s fields. For them as streams did not ripple and dimple so merrily in the sun as the Ohio brooks that romped through dewy pastures in their memories. The bleak Kansas plain, in winter and in fzll, seemed to the colonel and his wife 1o be ugly and gaunt when they re- membered the brow of the hill under which their first kiss was shaded from the moon, while the world grew aim under a sleigh that bounded over the turnpike. The old people d4id not give voice heir musings. But in the woman’s heart there gnawed a yearning for the of the old scenes. It was al- J ir last child, a girl, had married and had gone down the lane toward the lights of the village Mrs. Hucks began to watch with a greedy eye the dollars mount toward a sub- stantial bank account. She hoped that she and her husband might af- ford a holiday. Last year Providence blessed the Huckses with plenty. It was the woman who revived the friendship of vouth tn her husband’s cousin, who lives in the old township in Ohio. It was Mrs. Hucks who secured from that cousin an invitation to spend a few weeks in the Ohio homestead. It was Mrs. Hucks, again, who made her husband lupyy by putting him into a &~ from borrowing money. with .which to go on a dozrn dl"tex;nz occasions. The which -Colonel and Mr: William Hucks set apart’for slartmg day The rain had washed “the; summer’s* dust from the air, clearL’g'« it and \the cerner of his . “Just wait a minute v 1 see n this kitchen door is fastened.” When he came back he screwed up mouth . into a droll, from the handkeuluc[ ¥ “Motherfifor a woman of your age 1 stenciling the lights and “shades very + should’ shygou had a mightyiclse call sharply. stream The woods alonghthe little which flowed throu:h the farm had not been greener; at’any time during the season. The second crop of grass on the hillside almost ; The yellow/of /' the stubble in the grain felds.was-all¥ down the Toad, ‘eath’ loth to go "Lnd.‘ without their, sheened in vividness. but a glittering golden.: The sky-was a deep, glorious blue, and the;big, downy clouds which lumbered lazily here and there in the depths-of it ap- peared near and palpable. The "old couple paused outside the front door - while Colonel Hucks fumbled with the key. “Think of it, father,” ‘said Mrs. Hucks as she turned to descend from the porch. “Thirty years ago—and you and I have been fighting so hard out here—since you let me out of your . Think arms to look after the horses. of what has come—and—end—gone, father, and here we are alone, after all.” but t.ho“woml-n ow, mother, I broke in again with: “Do you mind how I looked that day? Oh, William, you were so fine and so bandsome then! What's become of my tailor's sult—t¥e first he had bought ##Boy—my young, sweet, strons, glorious since his’ weq'dmm—lor the great ‘oc- casion. Colbonel Hucks seeded no per- ion to take the trip. Indeed, it wes his wife's economy which had kept him from being'a spendthrift and su: boy?” Mrs. Hucks' @yes were wet and her voice broke at the end of the sentence. “Mother,” cried the colonel, as he went around the corner of the house, bo(bejn;,ldssed just then Tpu‘kltchcp dc;or»“u alkthat saved you . Z\ow T don t be silly,’} was all that Mufi ugks had he courage to atternpt hnbed lnlo the bugsy. o) Hucks' and ;his wife went leave¥'the home 'vlace clrm‘l‘!?éir raggedfuneyen flow.of talk was filléd swith more @nxiety about the! *place ‘which' they wereléaving ‘thanit/ {was with'the joys anticipated at their’ journey s end.: The glorigs ot Ohio, and " (he”wondertul green of its hills and the cool”of its melaowu, vemed with purl- ing brooks, Was a picture, that seemed to fade in the'mental,vision of this old pair,when tlf_ey\ turned the corner that hid thelr Kansas home view. Mrs.: Hucks kept reverting in, her mind to her recollection” of the L bed- room, . which she had left.in dllord‘er The ‘parlor and the kitchen formed a menm Ipicture in the housewife’s fancy which '@id ‘not leave place for specula-:’ tion aboutjthe glories into which she was about to.come. In the cars Colonel’ Hucks tolmc himself leaning across. the alsle, bu“m‘ mildly about Kansas for the benéfitiof a traveling man from Cincinnati. When the colonel and his Wwife spread their supper on their knees in the Kansas City Union depot the recollection that it was the little buff Cochin pullet which they were eating ~The ive also. arrived at their g stindation in ht. Mrs. umkigmd the Wwomen the hunw—utkud re(reshed ‘old*ac- quaintance in the bedrbom and in the Kitchen, while the LDIOP T and the men sat stiffly in the par]ox-mnu called the roll of the dead and‘ubsuu In' the morning, while he w breakfast, Colonel iprGW1 down m,xhe cowlot. | It seenied lo"}nm that*'the sereelk “which ran thréugh the lot; was dry aud ugly. found a stone upon ich as a boy he - hadistood ana® flshe‘b H ‘l'"nembeled it as a huge boufder andihie had told his] cJumren wonderful tales'about its gredt size. It seemed fo “him- that it had * wurn avsay.. one-half - in: thirty }ears‘ The moss on: the river bank wes‘faded and old:andithe beauty for which he had'lookéd”was marred by a thousand 1rregularmes whlch’ he did nof recall3in the picture of the place that'he Hadjcarried in hll memory sin¢e hegleftyits 5 & 1 ;trudged up the bn.nk They upon their journey was one’ of those; one-: sided smile and sald, with:a ‘“‘““cfnm nig perfect Kansas days in early; October.,in hisieyes, to the woman emerging Gt trovr‘r'x,, the 7 cla@ed ‘#behin "i/hlm i:wfihtuu, $‘0 Lo:d&nenye < reconcils’the’ those , he' ufls'a W ,to nna. At break!ut he athlnz of his puz- zle, but s u‘Mrg. acks nn the colonel sat in the par.lgr alone*during the morning, while thelr cousins were ar- ranging to take the ‘Kansas people over the neighborhood in the buggy, Mrs. Hucks said: “Father, I've been lookin' out the window and I see‘they’ve had such a \amng for his kS went “for a’ He: drcadful ‘drought Were. Sece that grass s Vtirere) itefad'$hort and dry—and the- around4; oqks!-hux neger and crackeder “than it.does 4" Kaneis. 3 )tl m, . yes,” replied. the colonel. “I had noticed that myself. Yet crops seel a pretty fair yield this year.” Asthe buggy, in which the two fami- i vere ‘riding rumbled over tnhe brfdf'e the colonel, who was sitting In the front seat, turned to the woman in “seat and said: s ‘there, mother, they've got the "old mill, ag new mill—smaller'n his cousi what's got'inito,%eu, any- the same 0la. milly*where nfe and YOR/liged to steal pigepns.” Thea, qlonel loo]\ed closer. _and drawled..ott, ¢ *WEIF-F be doggoned! What¥makes it look¥s: all? Ain't it:smgller, mother 2" &skeg “as they crossed: the imillrace, ‘ that *ségmed to lhe cslonel to be a mmtnuuve'amur. comyared swith the “roaring *millrace »To; which woy '(hTh 1nr“hlflp as"a’boy he had caught min- ‘Far’thirty years the §truggling couple against her face. nows. Th pnrky rode 6n thus for half an “hour, c‘hah&u leisurely, when). Mrs, Hucks, who hdd been keenly wateh- am ‘with ‘his hands ing the ‘scenery for five | mlnum’(mfl ~responded,’ nigh' gof: tipped+over trying to drive ~tWo_hdrses-to ‘a¥sleigh with the lines belv\aEH my knees. tremembered it, someway, ever smc#. ‘Altd the old man stroked his griz- zla%:eurd and tried to smile on the WroMg.side ,of his face that the women might;see his joke. They exchanged medning - glances when the colonel turhed away, and Mrs. Hucks was proudly_ happy. Even the dullness of +thiecolor-of the grass, which she had *rémembered as a luscious green, did ndt’ sadden heg fgr half an hour. “When the“two. Kdnsas people were aléna that mightithe’ colonel asked: . Don’t-it¥sgem’ kind of dwarfed here—to what ‘you.expected it would be? " Seems to_me like it's all shriv- led' and worn out, and old. Every- ithing's got.dfist-on it. The grass by the maqg s dusty. The trees that usediy o-.seem so tall and black with shafie'are Jast nothing like what they usel} to be.” The hills I've thought asiyoungprountains don't seem to be so- bigias o6r bluff back==back home.” k;n‘uu was ‘hem®” tg them now. ongdthe’ prairie ma Kept the phrase “back horme™ sadhéd 19’ Ohlo. Each felt a theill at the household blasphemy, bogh -were glad that the colonel sdfd"“back home” and that It pinched ‘hér husband and crled{.e fmheant Kansas. thuslastically, as 'the bun’y W")’ ¢ scending a little knoll: “Here 'tis, . father! me ”Jhe place!”: vk W “What place?” asked the. colgnel, who!was head over heels in the tariff. +“Don’t you know, William ?"" replied his wife with a tremble in her voice, which the woman beside her noticed. JEvery one in the buggy was listen- ing. The colonel looked about him: then, turning to the woman beside his wife on the back seat, he sald: “This is the place where I mighty “Arefyou-sorry you come, father?” said Mvé. Hucks, as the colomel was about to'fall into a_doze. “I don't know;: n",you"" he asked. Well, ves, I' ghes¥ I am. I haven't no heart fowpsthis, the way it is, and T've some way 188t the picture I fixed in my mind of the way u.%. 1 don't_cafe for this, and vet it s like ¥ do, too. Oh, I wish I hadn’t.coi to find everything so washed out—like it i And so they looked at pictures of youth through the eyes of age. How Mother and me, ! U @om the colors were faded! What a tragle lifference th is between the lght which rings from the dawn and the glow which falls from the sunset! After that first day Colonel Hucks did not restrain his bragging about Kansas. And Mrs. Hucks gave rein to her pride when she heard him. Before that day she had reserved a secret con- tempt for a Kansas boaster, and had ever wished that he might see what Ohio could do in the particular line Which he was praising. But now Mrs. Hucks herself saying to her hostess, Il ears of corm you raise here!" The day after this concession M Hucks began to grow homesick. At first she worrled about the stock; the colonel's chief care was about the dog. The fifth day's visit was their last. As they were driving to the town to take the train for Kansas Mrs. Hucks over- heard her husband discoursing some- thing after this fashio “I tell you, Jim, before I'd slave my life out on an ‘elghty’ the way you're doin’, I'd go out takin’ in whitewashin’, It's just like this—a man in Kansas has lower taxes, better schoc advantages in every way, 8ot here. And as for grasshoppersi ‘Why, Jim West, sech talk makes me tired! My boy Bill's been always bern and raised in Kansas, and now he's In the Legislature, and in all his life since he can remember he nev seen a hop- per. Wouldn't know one m a sacred fbex if he met it on the road.” While the women were sitting in the buggy at the depot walting for the train Mrs. Hucks found herself saying: “And as for fruit—why, we fed ap- ples to the hogs this fall. I sold the cherrles, all but what was on one tree near the house, and I put up sixtesn arts from just two sides of that tree, foot off the bly seated ain Mrs 2 they live here n this count v fatherr Den't any one he: to own any of the land joinin’ more think of pu tanks and w 1 farms than they’d think of fly ist wish Mary uld come out & ew kitchen sink with the hot and cold water in it Why, she a fainted when I told her how to fix a dreen her dish- water and thi after a sigh, she added are so unpro- gressive here, That was the r loved, a ch the colonel ana rarlalv-m for a f it became a duet, and were very happy. They were overjoyed at being bound for Kansas. They hungered for dred spirits. At Peoria morning they awaker chair car napsto heara s voice sa) “W when the rain d4id finally come, rris he just didn’t t there was a thing left worth cut on the place t lo and behold, we got over forty bushel to the acre off of that as it wa color was thoroughly awake in an insta and he nudged his wife, as the voice went on Mr. M e was so afraid the wheat was win ed; all the pa- pers said it w en come the late frost, which e one d had me. 1 stand it no longer. e she reached ed it -but cou law the owner of the voice and sid: “Excuse me, ma'am, but what pafk of Kansas are you from?" It ed like a meeting with & dear relative. The rest of the journey to Kansas City was a hallelujah cho- rus, wherein the colonel sang a pow- erful and telling bass. As the train pulled into the little on Willow Creek that afternwon 1 ed his neck at the ndow to catch the first glimpse e big red standpipe and of the schoolhouse on the hilL When the whistle blew for the ton the colonel said: big stone that fool “What is it Riley feller says about ‘Grigsby’s Station, where we used to be so happy and se olonel and his wife passed the to to the quiet coun- 1dows were growing 1 where the gentle blue haze was hanging over tt dis- s that u lated the horizon, e fell upon the two hearts. over a lifetime had turned h they ng down bars made a nat- :ture which rd the sment to the 1l co they loved. “It is almost sunset, father,” said the wife, as put her hand upon her s r touch 3 pken ti at his throat. The colonel repeat, as he avoided her g ost. § t, mot! been a long day, ou have been good to me. it been a happy day for you, fa The colonel turned his head He was afraid to trust speech. He clucked to th drove down the lane. As t into the yard the colonel p about his wife and pressed h Then he said dr “Now, lookie at that dog—come tearin’ up here like he never saw white folks before!™ And so Colonel Willlam Hucks brought his wife back to Kansas. Here their youth is woven Into the very oil they love; here every tree around their home has its sacred h every day above them rec of trial and of hope. Here in the gloam to-night stands an old man, bent and grizzled. His eyes are dimmed with tears, which he would not acknowledge to the world, has and he is.dreaming strange dreams while he liste to ‘a Mttle cracked voice in the kitchen half humming and half singing: Home again, home agaim, From a foreign shore,