The Land of Lure: A Story of the Columbia River BasinSmith, Elliott
General
The Land of Lure: A Story of the Columbia River Basin
Smith, Elliott
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction; Northwest, Pacific -- Fiction
He arose early the following morning, having formulated his plans during
the restless night, and immediately began to put them into execution. He
had decided to hold a public sale the following Saturday, and if
successful, would be on his way to his future home the next Monday, on
which date he had learned another homeseekers' excursion would come
through his home town. To accomplish this would require rapid work, and
before breakfast on the morning following this resolve, he was up
assembling his few belongings, getting them in shape for the sale. Old
farming implements were pulled from long forgotten nooks and corners,
incomplete sets of harness and bridles were being over hauled and made
fit to bring the best possible price, the flock of poultry was counted
and an estimate made of their probable value, the two cows, with their
calves, the three pigs, kept over to provide the following winter's
supply of meat, his team, wagon and harness, together with his household
goods, constituted his earthly possessions.
The few days following the hastily made plans were filled with incidents
that tried the patience of the tired wife and mother. To her it was all
like a dream. It was the first time she had ever been taken into her
husband's confidence or been consulted as to his plans for the future.
She did not realize that she was expected to express an opinion as to
the wisdom of the proposed move; if he said it was advisable the matter
was settled.
The constant demand on both her and the older children for assistance in
assembling the various articles intended for the sale was met with
unquestioning silence, and not until her aged father and mother came to
see if the rumors of their departure which had reached them were true,
did she realize to the fullest extent what her going away really meant;
that it meant the leaving behind those aged parents, from whom she had
never been separated except for a few miles; that it meant the severance
of all the ties and scenes with which she had been associated from her
earliest recollection to the present time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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