“Yes, farmin’ this way, with irrigation; irrigation with plenty of
water beats rainfall in any country under the sun. I’m satisfied. But
you don’t never hear me saying anything ag’inst the cattle business;
it’s all right, and it will continue in this country fer a good many
years yit. But Paradise Valley was cut out fer farmers and their
homes. I’m always reckonin’ that the Lord understood his business when
he made men and land and cattle. The valleys that can be irrigated fer
the farmers, and the high dry land that can’t be fer the men that want
to raise cattle. And things will always come out right, if you’ll only
give ’em time. It’s been proved right here.”
When, after pleasant greetings, Harkness had driven on, Justin, who
did not care to proceed straight home on that beautiful day, turned
into the trail that led to the higher land on the edge of the mesa,
where the view of the valley was better. Coming out upon the highest
point, they saw the valley spread wide before them, green as an
emerald. The few groves were many times multiplied. On every hand were
homes, girt by gardens and embowered in flowers. Irrigating canals and
laterals glittered like threads of silver. Warrior River, uniting with
Paradise Creek, had furnished means for the transformation of the
desert, and it was literally blossoming as the rose.
Thus surveying the valley, Justin saw the fulfillment of the dream of
the dreamer, Peter Wingate. More, he had the satisfaction of knowing
that in the position he held, that of superintendent and manager of
the irrigating company, he had done his full share in bringing that
dream to its beautiful realization. He had helped to make the one-time
desert bloom. Years had run their course, yet the dream had come true.
He had prospered also, not only financially, but in other ways; he was
in the state senate now, the position Fogg had held. And, though he
was a farmer and irrigator, he was, also, a ranchman.
As he sat thus viewing the smiling valley, with his wife beside him,
seeing there the fulfillment of the dream of the preacher, Justin
turned to her whom he loved best of all in the world. Looking into her
eyes, where wifely love had established itself, he beheld there the
fulfillment of another dream; and beholding it, he bent his head and
kissed her.
“Lucy,” he said, with tender earnestness, “this, too, is Paradise.”
By the Author of “The Rainbow Chasers”
BARBARA, A WOMAN OF THE WEST
By JOHN H. WHITSON
Illustrated by C. C. Emerson. 12mo. $1.50
Third Edition
Barbara, the heroine of Mr. Whitson’s first Western novel, is the
loyal wife of a self-centred man of literary tastes, living on a ranch
in Kansas. “Barbara is a fresh, breezy sort of a girl; and the account
of her life and ultimate happiness, as described by Mr. Whitson, makes
one of the best stories of the season,” says the St. Paul Globe.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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