pages 288-289

Pages 288-289

                We had kept a steady vigil over our garden, and were rewarded some days later, when we beheld a miracle, which nature had performed with the seeds we had planted, walking among the rows could see the seeds coming to life, pushing their heads through the heavy plowed sod, row after row clear across the garden. “It’s getting a good start.”  Jim commented, and from then on, I loved to watch it grow and to tend it.  The results should be good I thought, as I went to the chicken house, to let the hens out for the day, moving toward where the nests were, heard the two hens clucking in a motherly fashion, opening both of their doors, saw the old hens, tenderly using their bills to push the fluffy balls of down that had hatched during the night, out around her so that those that were just hatching would have more protection.  Some of the eggs just popped, others cracked at least half the shell and there they lay, still wet, in half of their original places of abode, and another of God’s miracles had been performed, that of the little chick being hatched from the eggshell, right before my eyes, from life in the eggshell to a little “soft ball of feathery down.”  I patted each hen on the head, saying, “you’ve done well, and we have everything fixed for you.”  Closing the doors, I went back to take care of my own household tasks.

                When Jim came at noon, he said, “We’ll take the afternoon off, and go for the mail, the horses had quite a morning of it. I am sure they would like the rest.”

                “That’s fine by me, “ I said, as we sat down to our noon meal, first telling him of the little chicks, then returned thanks for our food and our many blessings.  We always counted as each day went by, for April by now was all but gone, and then the month of May, with the hillsides blooming profusely of the many and varied kinds of flowers, would be with us.

                Driving up the hill to the gate, a large herd of cattle, with two cowboys driving them, came down the section, filling the air with dust, heading for summer range in the mountain valleys and foothills, leaving the air filled with the dusty sage smell.  The gate opened and closed, we drove on, heading for Sublett and the post office, here we picked up two large packages, besides our letters and paper, and looking the packages over, noticed one was from Jim’s folks in Iowa, the other from a mail order house, a layette for our expected.  Putting them in the back of the buggy, we drove on west to visit some friends and neighbors.  These wonderful people never could make one welcome enough, and generous to a fault, when it came to loaning his farm machinery and equipment. Our mission was that of borrowing the white top or mountain hack, a spring wagon with brakes for mountain driving and a white canvas top, with two seats, front and back to make the trip to Rupert in to bring my sister and three son’s out to visit my folks and us.  Jim didn’t more than ask, when he replied, “Certainly” and when we offered to pau for it , “No,” he said, “I don’t charge my neighbors for the loan of things.”  A neighbor in that country was a neighbor no matter how many miles lay between them.  His wife set about to get supper, saying we just must stay.  We declined, saying we had chores and after some time of visiting, we left, bidding them goodbye, saying we wouldn’t be coming for the wagon for a few days.  “Well,” he replied, “it will be here, just help yourself.”

                Jim said, “When I get it, I’ll grease the axles, going and coming and take the best of care of it.”

                “That will be fine,” waving us on, he went in to the house, as we drove away.

                Beauty took on a little faster gait than usual, to our left , as we neared our place. A bunch of range horses, stopped their grazing to look in our direction, whinnying as they did so.  A pretty bunch, but we paid little attention, for range horses were a common sight, arrived at our gates to find Babe, a bay mare and Jackie, driving them back, Jim opened the gate, as I drove through.  The section filled with horse tracks gave evidence the bunch had been milling up and down the section.  We hadn’t more than gotten to the hitchrack when the bunch , in a cloud of dust came back.  Babe and Jackie, on a gallop went again to talk horse fashion over the barbed wires.  Jackie just naturally born to be inquisitive, was always getting into things.  He had run all his life until we bought him, with just such an outfit.  This made him homesick perhaps for the open range and his old life, and again, we decided we needed a good dog, with Toby around, one command and he would have driven them off.

                With our minds on other things, we went into the house and looking from the window later, discovered Beauty’s colt, Billy Fortune, had also joined Babe and Jackie.  Feeling the five barbed wires would keep them out and ours in, we ate supper, then retired to the living room to open the packages, a bit excited anyway as to what Jim’s folks had sent.  When it was finally opened , found a blanket and little clothes and goods to make others, saying as Jim opened the other package, we’d have to get mother’s machine to make some of the things I had planned to do for some time.  The layette we had ordered was very nice and other things mother had given us would have to be made.