A Daughter of the Land

"Mother has it hammered into me that it isn't polite to ask

questions," said John, "but I'd like to ask one."

"Go ahead," said Kate. "Ask fifty! What do I care?"

"How many boys are there in your family?"

"There are seven," said Kate, "and if you want to use them as a

basis for a land estimate add two hundred and fifty for the home

place. Sixteen hundred and fifty is what Father pays tax on,

besides the numerous mortgages and investments. He's the richest

man in the county we live in; at least he pays the most taxes."

Mother and son looked at each other in silence. They had been

thinking her so poor that she would be bewildered by what they had

to offer. But if two hundred acres of land were her desire, there

was a possibility that she was a women who was not asking either

ease or luxury of life, and would refuse it if it were proffered.

"I hope you will take me home with you, and let me see all that

land, and how it is handled," said John Jardine. "I don't own an

acre. I never even have thought of it, but there is no reason why

I, or any member of my family shouldn't have all the land they

want. Mother, do you feel a wild desire for two hundred acres of

land? Same kind of a desire that took you to come here?"

"No, I don't," said Mrs. Jardine. "All I know about land is that

I know it when I see it, and I know if I think it's pretty; but I

can see why Kate feels that she would like that amount for

herself, after having helped earn all those farms for her

brothers. If it's land she wants, I hope she speedily gets all

she desires in whatever location she wants it; and then I hope she

lets me come to visit her and watch her do as she likes with it."

"Surely," said Kate, "you are invited right now; as soon as I ever

get the land, I'll give you another invitation. And of course you

may go home with me, Mr. Jardine, and I'll show you each of what

Father calls 'those little parcels of land of mine.' But the one

he lives on we shall have to gaze at from afar, because I'm a

Prodigal Daughter. When I would leave home in spite of him for

the gay and riotous life of a school-marm, he ordered me to take

all my possessions with me, which I did in one small telescope. I

was not to enter his house again while he lived. I was glad to

go, he was glad to have me, while I don't think either of us has

changed our mind since. Teaching school isn't exactly gay, but

I'll fill my tummy with quite a lot of symbolical husks before

he'll kill the fatted calf for me. They'll be glad to see you at

my brother Adam's, and my sister, Nancy Ellen, would greatly enjoy

meeting you. Surely you may go home with me, if you'd like."