The Preacher of Cedar Mountain: A Tale of the Open Country

by Ernest Thompson Seton

  CHAPTER XII

  Belle Boyd

  Belle had been in the express office signing some receipts for goodsconsigned to her father when Jim stepped from the train. He appearedframed in the open doorway; six feet four, broad and straight, suppleand easy, with the head of a Greek god in a crown of golden curls, and adash of wild hilarity in his bright blue eyes that suggested a Viking, aroyal pirate. He was the handsomest man she had ever seen and when hespoke it was with a slight and winsome Irish brogue that lent new charmto a personality already too dangerously gifted.

  It seemed to her that Nature had given him all the gifts there were forman; and he was even better furnished than she perceived, for he hadyouth, health, happy moods, magnetic power in face and voice, courage,and the gift of speech. And yet, with all these unmeasured blessings wasconjoined a bane. To be possessed of the wild, erratic spirit of theroving, singing Celt, to be driven to all ill-judged extremities, to belashed by passion, anger, and remorse, to be the battle ground of thiswild spirit and its strong rival, the calm and steadfast spirit of theNorth--that was a spiritual destiny not to be discerned in a firstmeeting; but Belle, keen and understanding, was to discover it verysoon.

  Belle Boyd was an only child. Her father was a well-to-do trader; he hadhad just enough schooling to give him a high notion of its value, and heresolved to equip his child with the best there was in reach. This meantan Illinois college. She entered at seventeen. Here many vagueaspirations of schoolgirl life took definite shape, and resulted in someradical changes in her course of studies. Her mother had but onethought--to prepare Belle for being a good wife to some one. Her viewson many subjects were to be left blank, so that she might at once adoptthose of her prospective husband. Her tentacles alone were wellconsidered in the maternal method, so that she could cling ivy-like toher oak, stay up with him or go down with him; but help him to standup--no, never and not at all!

  But Illinois was seething with a different thought in the late '70's.There were women who boldly proclaimed that sex and mind had littlebearing on each other; that woman should train herself to be herself,and to stand on her own feet; that when woman had the business trainingof men, the widow and the unmarried woman--half of all women--would nolonger be the easy prey of every kind of sharper. These new teacherswere, of course, made social martyrs, but they sowed the seed and thecrop was coming on. That every woman should prepare herself to standalone in the world was the first article in their creed. Thiscrystallized an old and shapeless thought that had often come to Belle,and the pointed application that she made was to focus her collegestudies on a business training. Bookkeeping, shorthand, and exactmethods were selected for specialization; and when at the age of twentyBelle was graduated and went home to Cedar Mountain, she had, inaddition to her native common sense, a disciplined attention that madeher at once a power in the circle of the church. It was her own idea totake a business position at once. Her mother was absolutely opposed toit. "Why should her child be sent to work? Were they not able to keepher at home? What was the good of parents giving years to toil if not tokeep their children at home with them?" Mr. Boyd was more inclined tosee things Belle's way, and at length a compromise was reached by whichBelle became her father's bookkeeper and secretary, and for a time allwent well.

  Then a new factor entered the case, one for which the reformer has notyet found a good answer. The daily routine of the desk was assumed as amatter of course; and Belle quickly got used to that and found abundantmental diversion in other things and in hours of freedom. But her bodyhad less strength than her mind, and the close confinement of the officebegan to tell. Her hands got thin, her cheeks lost their colour, hereyes grew brighter. Mrs. Boyd began to worry, and sent secretly toIllinois for bottles of various elixirs of life, guaranteed to puthealth, strength, youth, and brains into anything. She also made foolishand elaborate efforts to trick the daughter into eating more at meals,or between meals, without avail. At this juncture a very capable persontook matters in hand. Dr. Peter Carson, family physician and devotedfriend, was consulted; his views were clear and convincing: Belle mustgive up the office for a year at least; she needed fresh air and sun;the more the better. Every girl in the Black Hills rides as a matter ofcourse, and Belle was at home on a broncho; but now it must be, not anoccasional run, but a daily ride in the hills--off for miles, till thevital forces had renewed their strength.

  For a month or more Belle rode and browned in the sun. The colour cameagain to her cheeks, and zest to her life; and there also came a strongdesire to be in a business of her own. But it must be something out ofdoors; it must be something of little capital; and something a womancould do. Belle studied her problem with great care and presently therebegan to arrive at the post office sundry catalogues of extraordinaryhens with unbelievable records as producers of eggs and of rapid-raisingbroilers. The result was that the acre of ground behind the store wascut up into poultry runs for the various strains of stock that Belledecided on and that spring Belle launched out on her career as a poultryfarmer. There were Leghorns and Houdans for eggs, and Brahmas in anotheryard for mothers. Four things conspired to make her venture a success.She was the only one in Cedar Mountain with thoroughbred poultry, sothere was a large demand for high-class eggs for setting. The eggs thatfor table use brought fifty cents a dozen were worth two dollars and ahalf a dozen for hatching. Her store training had taught her to watchthe market reports in the papers, which arrived twice a week, and hercollege training taught her to study hen hygiene. Last but not least,she got their food for nothing.

  On closing her books that autumn Belle found that on her investment of$250 capital borrowed from her father, she had cleared $250, and had allthe capital to render back intact. She realized that while it waspossible to make 100 per cent, on small capital, the rate decreasedrapidly as the capital increased. She estimated that ten times as muchcapital would only produce about 25 per cent, because the possibility ofpersonal management of every hen and every detail would growproportionately smaller, and it was this personal touch which counted.Next, the sovereign advantages of grass range and table scraps mustdiminish with each additional hen; and if she had paid herself anadequate salary the profit would have been wiped out. Last, and perhapsthe most important to her, she was absolutely tied to the farm. Shecould not be away one week without suffering loss. It was withill-concealed admiration that her father listened to a summary of theseconclusions; later, with the remarkable common sense that characterizedmost of her ways, Belle seized a chance to sell out and lodge her moneyin the local bank. But the venture had been a success in two respects.It had helped her to health and it had given her business experience andconfidence.

  The winter was now on, and Belle's outdoor activities were somewhatcircumscribed, for there is a real winter in the Black Hills. But shewas in robust health again and she turned her energies more and more tochurch work. She was depended on to get up the "sociables," to plan theentertainments, to invent new and happy games that would take them asnear as they dared go in the direction of dance and stage withoutactually outraging the old-fashioned Methodist conscience by gettingthere. It was Belle who entirely refurnished the parsonage in oneharmonious style by copying a mission chair and table from a picture,and then inviting each of the boys to make a like piece, and each of thegirls to make a "drape" to match it. It was a sort of Noah's Ark trick,this gathering in of things in pairs, but it succeeded originally--theark was full--and it succeeded now, for the parsonage was full; and itwill always succeed, for it is built on the old fundamental pairinginstinct.

  Belle also imported and put in practical working the idea of a dailyschool 'bus, which gathered up the twenty-odd children for ten milesalong the winter road and brought them on a huge hay rack to the CedarMountain School in the morning, and took them back at night to theirhomes. But in all these multiplied activities there was a secretdissatisfaction. She felt that she was a mere hanger-on of the church, asort of pet cat to the parson's wife. She was not developing herselfindepende
ntly, and she began secretly to outline a scheme which meantnothing less than leaving home to take some sort of position on the westcoast. She had no fear for her success, but she was restrained by twothings: the question of health in case she could not find an outdoorenterprise, and the sorrow her parents would feel over her--to theirthinking, unnecessary--departure.

  For some time both in her school and church work Belle had been muchassociated with John Lowe, the schoolteacher. He was considered awell-meaning person, a dozen years older than herself, and had certainpleasing qualities, a suave manner--almost too suave--and a readiness ofspeech. He was fairly well educated, a good worker, a member of thechurch, and had no obvious bad habits. His history was not known; infact, no one's history was known in those days of beginnings. Every onehad to be taken as he was found and often on his own statement.

  Lowe soon became a devoted admirer of Belle; and Mrs. Boyd, seeing achance to beguile her daughter into settling down, did all she could tobring them together, never losing a chance of praising Jack. He was justwhat Belle needed as an executive help to realize much that she hadplanned. As a public reciter he had some little prominence; as aschoolteacher he was just a step nearer the world of brains than werethe other possible men in town, and by that much more acceptable; andthe inevitable result of propinquity was reached. The engagement ofBelle Boyd and Jack Lowe was announced.

  There was no ardent love-making on either side, and sometimes Belle,when left alone, would wonder why she was not more elated each time sheheard him coming; rather, she seemed to feel weighted by the attachment.She reproached herself for this and as she strove to reach a moresatisfactory state of mind she found herself thinking with a sigh ofthat free career she had planned in the business world. Mrs. Boyd'smaternal hopes were too nearly realized to leave her with anydiscernment and Belle's father was too much wrapped up in business andsmall politics, to see even the mountains that were beyond his backyard; but another frequent visitor at the house was gifted with bettereyes and more knowledge of the world.

  Dr. Carson had never felt attracted toward Lowe. Instinctively hedisliked him. He knew at the beginning that the teacher was much olderthan he admitted. The facts that the Boyds were well-to-do and thatBelle was their only child offered, in his frame of mind, a suggestivesidelight. There were two other things that to Carson seemed important:one, that Lowe had rather obviously avoided any reference to hisprevious place of residence; the other that at one of the sociables hehad amused them all by some exceedingly clever sleight-of-hand trickswith cards--not playing-cards, of course--they were unmentionable--butwith a few business cards marked in a special way. Carson was sure heknew in what school such manual dexterity had been acquired.

  The doubts in Belle's mind had not yet taken definite form when a newand unpleasant circumstance obtruded. More than once lately Lowe hadcome to the house carrying the unmistakable odour of drink about him. Itwas smothered with cloves and peppermint, but still discoverable.Belle's ideas were not narrow, but this thing shocked and disgusted her,chiefly because Lowe had repeatedly and voluntarily avowed himself asflatly opposed to it. She was thus drifting along in perplexity, takingthe trail that her instincts said was not her trail, ever prompted tocut across to the other fork which meant developing herself, and alwaysrestrained by the fear of breaking with her people, when in the springof that year the local press announced the coming to Cedar Mountain ofthe Rev. James Hartigan. And on the day after her meeting with him andtheir unexpected adventure with the runaway, the parson's wife gave atea to introduce the young man to the congregation.

  Jim's eyes met hers the moment she entered Jebb's parlour. His greetingwas a joyous one and Belle felt the colour mount in her cheeks asHartigan drew her aside to talk. There was something very stimulatingabout him, she found--a thrill in his voice, his eyes, and his presencethat she had never experienced with Lowe.

  A little later, Lowe himself arrived. Belle, as she turned to greet him,got an unpleasant shock to note the contrast between the frank, boyishface of the curly-haired giant and the thin features and restless eyesof the man she had promised to marry. Her conscience smote her fordisloyalty; but in her heart she was not satisfied. Vague, unspoken,half-realized criticisms of past months rose to fill her with disquiet.A cumulative unhappiness in her association with Lowe took possession ofher. And, as she watched with a little thrill the meeting between Jackand the Preacher, she read plainly on the face of her fiance thedisapproval that even his practised art could not conceal. For her, themeeting was portentous; it marked a turning-point; and as she thought ofit later she took a slightly guilty pleasure in the fact that without aclash of words there was at once a clash of personalities, and that thePreacher had dominated the scene.