CHAPTER XXI—HOME ONCE MORE
“Oh, father, it looks just the same! There are our mountains that Colonel Standish and I said good-by to. Oh, daddy, I’ve missed the mountains so! And there are the foot-hills! Aren’t they green? And see the flowers on them! Oh, there’s a shooting star! I saw it in the hollow as we passed. And aren’t the grain fields lovely with the wind sweeping over them? Oh, father, won’t the girls just love it? And won’t it be perfectly lovely to have them? I never saw any one so happy as Carver Standish when he said you had asked him. The Colonel was smiling all over, too. It will be a regular house-party, won’t it? And isn’t it wonderful that Aunt Nan’s coming with all of them? Oh, father, weren’t we happy in Vermont, and isn’t it just the loveliest thing in all the world that we have grandmother and Aunt Nan for our very own? I know mother would be happy, don’t you?”
“I’m sure she would be very happy, dear. It’s what we used to hope for years ago. And I’m the happiest man in all Wyoming to have my little daughter back, and I’m more glad than ever that I sent her away to school.”
“Oh, I’m so glad that I can’t help thinking about it. Just think if I’d never gone, I’d never have known Priscilla—isn’t she dear, father—or Dorothy, or Mary and Anne, or those dear, funny Blackmore twins, or Vivian—Vivian seems silly, father, but she isn’t really, she’s fine underneath, you’ll see—or Miss King, or darling Miss Wallace—oh, daddy, wasn’t she too dear for anything when she said good-by? She kissed me twice. It’s selfish to notice, but I couldn’t help it. She’s one of my very dearest friends. Didn’t you like her especially?”
“Very much, dear. See, we’re coming nearer. We’ve crossed the creek bridge. Better put on your hat.”
Fifteen minutes later they had left the dingy little station and were driving along the country road between fields of waving grain, the proud Dick being holder of the reins. Virginia plied him with eager questions.
“Oh, Dick, how is the colt?”
“Fine, Miss Virginia. We put him on the range last month.”
“The road lay at the very base of the greenfoot-hills.”
“And how’s Pedro?”
“He’s fine, too.”
“Have the little collies grown much?”
Dick laughed. “They’re not little any more, Miss Virginia.”
“And how are Alec and Joe and Hannah and Mr. Weeks and William?”
“They’re first-rate, and all anxious to see you.”
Virginia clung closer to her father’s hand. “It seems strange, doesn’t it, father,” she whispered, her voice breaking, “and—and sad not to have Jim drive us home?”
For miles they drove across the broad prairies, past grain fields and through barren, unirrigated stretches. Then at last they turned a bend in the road, and there before them lay the nearer foot-hills, with the higher ranges above, and far above all the mountains—still snow-covered.
“They look really friendly this morning with the sun on them,” said Virginia, “and they ought to when I love them so, and am coming back to them.”
They turned again. This time the road lay at the very base of the green foot-hills, upon which cattle and horses were feeding. On the side of one of the hills rose a great spruce, and on the ground near it, Virginia’s quick eyes caught a glow of color.
“Is that—?” she whispered to her father.
“Yes,” he said softly. “That’s where Jim lies. We fenced in the range for a good distance all around the tree so the cattle couldn’t go there; and William tended some plants all winter so that he could put them there early in the spring. They’re all in blossom now, you see.”
Virginia could not speak. She watched the great spruce and the color beneath it, until they rounded the hill and both were hidden from sight. Then she put her head against her father’s shoulder, while he, understanding, held her close. Jim’s absence was the only shadow upon her home-coming. Nothing would seem the same without him; and now that he was gone, the girls would never understand why it was that she had loved him so. If they could only have seen him, then they would have known!
“You can see home now, little girl,” said her father.
She raised her head eagerly. Yes, there it was—the green wheat fields, the avenue of tall cottonwoods whose leaves were fluttering in the wind, the long white ranch-house, from the window of which some one was waving a red handkerchief.
“Hannah!” cried Virginia, as she waved her own handkerchief in answer.
A few minutes more and they were driving beneath the cottonwoods. Around the corner of the house bounded the collie dogs, the pups indistinguishable from their mother, to give them welcome; in the doorway stood Hannah, her face bright with joy; and by Virginia’s flower-bed, in which spikes of blue larkspur, reaching to her window, were brave with bloom, stood William—a new William, with the sadness and the failures quite gone from his face.
“Oh, William,” cried Virginia, jumping from the carriage, and running up to him; “Oh, William, it’s next best to having Jim to have you—like this!”
That afternoon Elk Creek Valley lay bathed in June sunshine. It had never seemed so beautiful—at least to a certain boy and girl, who rested their horses on the brow of the Mine, and looked off across a creek bordered by cottonwoods and merry, laughing quaking-asps, across a blue-green sea of waving grain, to the distant, snow-furrowed mountain peaks. Some magpies flew chattering over the prairie and among the quaking-asps; a meadow lark sang from a near-by tree-stump; and two cotton-tail rabbits chased each other across the open space between the creek and the foot-hills, and played hide-and-seek behind the sage-brush.
“Isn’t it the loveliest place in all the world, Don?” the girl almost whispered. “I know I’ll not be any happier when I get to Heaven. And some way the mountains are friendlier than ever. Perhaps because I love them better now I’m home again.”
“It is lovely,” the boy answered. “The finest country anywhere! I’m mighty glad you’re home again, Virginia; but the thing I’m most glad about is, that you aren’t a young lady after all!”
THE END
SIX STAR RANCH
Another success by the author of the wonderful GLAD Books
“Pollyanna: The GLAD Book”
“Pollyanna Grows Up: The Second GLAD Book”
With frontispiece in full color from a painting by R. Farrington Elwell and six spirited drawings by Frank J. Murch. Bound uniform with the POLLYANNA books in silk cloth, with a corresponding color jacket, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40
The year we published POLLYANNA, THE GLAD BOOK, we published another book by the same author, but as it is contrary to our policy to issue two books by one writer in a year, we published the second book under the pseudonym “Eleanor Stuart.”
As we are not going to publish a new book of Mrs. Porter’s this year, we have decided to announce the publication of SIX STAR RANCH under the name of its real author. The success of her previous books is practically unparalleled in the history of American publishing, POLLYANNA: THE GLAD BOOK, having already sold 300,000 copies—an average of more than 100,000 copies for three consecutive years—and POLLYANNA GROWS UP: THE SECOND GLAD BOOK, having sold nearly 150,000 copies in nine months.
SIX STAR RANCH is a charming story, in the author’s best vein, of a dear little Texas girl, who plays “the glad game” made famous by POLLYANNA, and plays it with a charm which will put her on the same pinnacle, side by side with POLLYANNA.
SYLVIA OF THE HILL TOP
A Sequel to “Sylvia’s Experiment, The Cheerful Book”
By Margaret R. Piper
12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, decorative jacket, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40
In THE CHEERFUL BOOK Sylvia Arden proved herself a messenger of joy and cheerfulness to thousands of readers. In this new story she plays the same rôle on Arden Hill during her summer vacation and is the same wholesome, generous, cheerful young lady who made such a success of the Christmas Party. She befriends sick neighbors, helps “run” a tea-room, brings together two lovers who have had differences, serves as the convenient bridesmaid here and the good Samaritan there, and generally acquits herself in a manner which made of her such a popular heroine in the former story. There is, of course, a Prince Charming in the background.
“The SYLVIA books should be read by all the exponents of POLLYANNA of THE GLAD BOOKS,” says Mr. H. V. Meyer of the American Baptist Publication Society.
THE GIRL FROM THE BIG HORN COUNTRY
By Mary Ellen Chase
12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40
At the beginning of the story, Virginia Hunter, a bright, breezy, frank-hearted “girl of the Golden West,” comes out of the Big Horn country of Wyoming to the old Bay State. Then “things begin,” when Virginia,—who feels the joyous, exhilarating call of the Big Horn wilderness and the outdoor life,—attempts to become acclimated and adopt good old New England “ways.”
Few stories reveal a more attractive heroine, and the joyous spirit of youth and its happy adventures give the story an unusual charm.
“The book has natural characters, fresh incidents, and a general atmosphere of sincerity and wholesome understanding of girl nature. Virginia may well become as popular as ‘Miss Billy’ or irresistible Anne.”—New York Sun.
THE VIOLIN LADY
A Sequel to “The Fiddling Girl” and “The Proving of Virginia”
By Daisy Rhodes Campbell
Frontispiece in full color from a painting by F. W. Read, and six black and white illustrations by John Goss, decorative jacket, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40
This new story continues the adventures of the once little Fiddling Girl and tells of her triumphs and hardships abroad, of her friends, her love affairs, and finally of Virginia’s wedding bells and return to America. The previous two books in this series have been pronounced excellent and uplift stories, but “The Violin Lady” is far ahead of both in interest and charm.
The press has commented on the author’s previous stories as follows:
“A delightful story told in a charming manner. The Page Company does a real service indeed in the publication of so many of these excellent stories.”—Zion’s Herald, Boston.
“A thoroughly enjoyable tale, written in a delightful vein of sympathetic comprehension.”—Boston Herald.
MAN PROPOSES
Or, The Romance of John Alden Shaw
By Elliot H. Robinson
12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color and other illustrations by William Van Dresser, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40
The story of John Alden Shaw is in many respects unique. Containing an enigma of an unusual nature, an odd legal tangle and a deep moral problem, the plot holds the reader’s attention to the very end. Quite as interesting as the major theme of the story are the minor incidents, for the greater part of the action occurs in gay Newport during “tennis week” and one somewhat unusual feature of the book is the introduction of several real and widely known characters—chiefly tennis stars of international reputation—and actual happenings, which give the tale peculiar realism. As the author is recognized as one of our leading writers on tennis, the scenes at the famous Casino during one of the national championships are particularly well drawn.
While primarily a problem love story, Man Proposes is essentially a book “with a difference.” The heroine is a charming Southern girl, decidedly American in her ideas, while John is himself a very real sort of young man, and though possessed of sterling qualities which bring him victoriously through his great test, is no paragon of virtues.
“Man proposes, but God disposes!”—Thomas a Kempis.
“Prithee, why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”—Longfellow.
As the story unfolds the reader will appreciate the significance of the above lines.
ANNE’S WEDDING
A Blossom Shop Romance
A Sequel to “The Blossom Shop” and “Anne of the Blossom Shop”
By Isla May Mullins
12mo, cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a fainting by Gene Pressler, net $1.25; carriage paid $1.40
This new book continues the story of a delightful Southern family of unique combinations, which have been introduced to thousands of interested readers through the two preceding volumes, The Blossom Shop and Anne of the Blossom Shop. The new volume promises to be by far the most popular of the three—which is saying a good deal—for these stories, sweet and clean, with their picturesque Southern setting, have charmed both old and young. In the new volume Anne, May and Gene, three girls of varying types from lovely Mrs. Carter’s garden of girls, touch life in new and vital ways which develop sterling character and set promising and full-blown romance to stirring.
“There is so much of sunshine in its pages that it sheds its cheerfulness upon the reader, making life seem brighter and convincing us that this world is a pleasant place to live in and full of delightful, kind-hearted people.”—Boston Times.