524 
neither Grace nor Slim realized! They 
were both players in a game uncon- 
scious of all its tricks and arts. 
The plain truth of the matter is that 
a “token” was responsible for Grace’s 


















that’s Slim 
note. It seems that one night she was 
awakened by a loud tapping on her 
window, and was so frightened by the 
ghostly sounds that she arose and 
would not return to her room. No one 
in the Burger house slept that night, 
believing as all did, that the occurrence 
was a “sign” something was going to 
happen sooner or later. The old folks 
figured it out easily enough. 
“Gracie, the Lord has spoke to you 
in the token,” declared the Deacon, in 
his usual domineering manner. He al- 
ways made others feel as though the 
Lord said things through him. 
“Yes, it's a warnin’, and. I ‘spect, 
Gracie, you hadn’t ought-a go with 
that ungodly Slim Davis any more. 
He’s much too worldly,’ added the 
mother, always playing a good second- 
fiddle to her spouse, although he looked 
upon her as a mere chattel at best. 
RECREATION 
“Gracie” was not consulted in her 
wishes; all was decided for her, first 
by her father and then confirmed by her 
mother. They were perfectly sincere 
and meant to do the best possible, but 
in that, perhaps, lay the tragedy. 
Dutch Corners folks are all much the 
same. They make the best of every 
misfortune; deal honestly with each 
other in the main, and live honorable 
lives—lives that bear no comparison to 
those of occasional ungrateful. children 
who leave their parents to live in town 
just as they get old enough to be of 
real help at home. True they are a 
simple people. Surrounded with a 
wealth of primitive beauty, and com- 
fortable, perhaps, yet a spark flying 
from the hearth-fire means some un- 
known disaster; the falling of the 
heavy hand of fate in some sorrow or 
sickness is a special dispensation 
and chastisement from the Lord. 
To Dutch Corners these things 
are terribly real and mysteri- 
ous. 
So the few days until Saturday 
night’s love-feast wore dully away in 
the usual monotonous fashion, for 
both Grace and Slim,—the same round 
of drudgery, the same life devoid of 
sparkle and diversion. No wonder the 
great church event was looked forward 
to eagerly by one and all. Boys pos- 
sessed of a little nerve and surplus 
energy always let go on that night. It 
was a red-letter occasion. And why 
not? It was only the manifestation of 
the spirit of play which all lives how- 
ever humble and simple hunger, and 
sometimes starve, for. 
“Git out and have fun while yr 
young,’ was genial "Squire Bucke’s ad- 
vice to his flock on the eve of such a 
happening. Gruff and rough on the 
outside, the "Squire was nevertheless as 
good-hearted as Deacon Burger was 
-low-spirited. His children were his 
dearest possessions, and the consuming 
ambition of his life was to give his 
boys a chance to win honors he himself 
was denied. He and his wife always 
“stuck by” their children, and their 
- 
