nville, who was also
postmaster, and who had stretched the law to the point of accepting
hen eggs as legal tender in exchange for postage stamps, that Mary
Harris had been able to keep up the brave, optimistic series of
letters written "home." So Harris decided that he would at once
market some of his wheat. Most of the oats would be needed for his
horses and for seed, and what remained would command good prices from
new settlers the following spring, but some of the wheat must be
turned into money at once. During the latter part of the summer they
had lived exclusively on the produce of their farm; on vegetables
from the garden, fish and ducks from the stream, prairie chickens,
and an occasional rabbit from the fields. The wild geese had deserted
them early in the spring, and returned only after harvest. But now
they should have a change on their table. Mary had accepted the
pioneer fare of the summer without complaint, but of late Harris had
discovered a strange longing in her ryes, and more than once she had
arrested herself in the words "I wish we had--" Then two penitent
little tears would steal softly clown her cheeks, and she would bury
her head in his arms as he soothed her with loving words and promised
that "after threshing things would be different."

So now he set out for Emerson with the best load his horses could
draw. The first few miles he drove in silence, for there was a heavy
weight at his heart as he thought of the little wife alone with the
responsibilities of the farm...That she would be faithful to every
responsibility he knew beyond question...But he was not quite
satisfied. A strange moodiness had come over her, and even with him
at home she had at times given way to fits of downheartedness which
seemed altogether alien to her nature.

But this morning as he drove the well-worn trail, a burnished sun
mounted higher and higher ahead of him, and with it his own spirits
rose until he found himself whistling and boyishly building castles
in the air. But his castles, as he told himself, had solid
foundations; indeed, they were not even speculations, but already
might be accepted as assured accomplishments. Some things he
certainly must do for Mary. First of these was the purchase of a
glass window for the house, and next to that he promised enough
boards for a door, and perhaps enough to floor part of their little
room. Then there should be sugar, and tea, and flour, and warm boots,
and some much-