Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1945-12-13, Page 3LIGHT . HELEN TOPPING MILLER CIIAPTER X "Fnow who owns this drilling ".I. can take care of old man Harper. He owes me money." "I woudo't talk to too many" .people about this well, \1r. Ma- son," Gary advised, "If you get a wildcat down and it turns out to be a producer, the wise thing to do would be .to shut it down and keep quiet about it, You might want to get leases on the other land that touches your pool." "I don't want a lot .of land. All I'want is a good oil well, And I've got a fat chance to keep this well quiet. Everybody in the county knows about it already." "That's because you've talked too much," Mosta Lee said. "You send that wire off to Junior now, Harvey, right away." "All right, all right, Mother, don't shove mel" "Would you speak to Adelaide before you go to Austin about tak- ing rite over to the oil fields in the car; Mr, Mason?" Gary asked. Hey, Acidic!" Harvey raised his voice in a whoop as he went down the stairs, Adelaide was waiting in the car when Gary went down. "All right, mister," she said. "Here's your taxi." "Thanks a lot, I hope I didn't in- terferc-with any of your plans?" "I was supposed to be playing bridge at Grace's,,but.she can just find somebody else. She's being snippy anyway, and Oliver goes around telling people that Dad's crazy and will probably go broke." At Gary's -direction Adelaide turned into ' a muddy little road that twisted between stumps, over frail wooden .bridges, past leases, each one fenced carefully with good steel fence, past batteries of tanks and little shacks with rickety cars standing in the yards and dreary looking clothes: flapping on lines. Lean, faded women came to the doors of these shacks, looked out hopefully, patiently watched them pass dirty children scram- bled out of the road; dogs slunk into bushes—the hungry, vague, hopeful fringe of humanity that lingers on the edge of every oil field. The men, muscled and lean, waited for roughneck jobs, pipe- laying jobs, any scrap from the vast, teeming feast of exploitation. * * * "Now we have to look for a well that's just been finished," Gary said, "where there's au out- fit standing waiting to be moved. And then, after we find an outfit, we have to persuade them to move twenty miles or more on to a wild - eat job, and that will be a selling job too, for mostly they don't like wildcats very touch." finished?" "flow can you tell a well that's "There's one over there. See that derrick with the red mud. piled around under it and all the machinery still standing? Weil, it's down and cased in and the Christmas tree's set up—so I know it's finished," "I don't see any Christmas tree. 'You're crazy, Gary." "See that contraption of pipe and wheels and stuff sticking up out of the hole in the floor? That's what oil men call a Christmas tree t" A rickety trailer was parked un- der a tree, and beyoncl lay an un - :haven man of middle age, with hie hat dragged down over his eyes and a small white dog curled up in a sleepy knot on his chest. The dog srrang awake and canto charging, yapping, as they approached, and the man sat up. Here's a SENSIBLE way to relieve MONTHLY THLY aFEN1 LydiaE,.Pinkham's Vegetable Compound not only helps relieve periodic pain hut ALSO accompanying nervous, tired, highstrung feelings—when due to func- tional monthly disturbances. It's one of the most effective medicines for this pur- pose. Pinkhant'sCompound helps naturel Follow label directions. Try it! 1941,6•6044 irrtc?. COMPOIINM ISSUE 50--1946 outfit.' Gary asked. "Sure 1 know—l-lytnie Starr owns it. Gori, yonder and talk to Jim llickay. Up in that shanty with the red front on it, just he-' yard that machine shop, towards, the stripper. Jim's a good driller— good as there is," * * Jim Hickey talked glibly and eagerly. He 'would, so he prom- ised, get a well down quicker and cheaper than any other man around. Gary came back and said, "Let's go. His stuff is old; -Ie hasn't got the money to have it over- hauled. We'll look somewhere else." Ile folded the grimy paper on which Jim Hickey had estimated his drilling costs, and put it in his pocket. I'll show this to your father, but he probably won't want to risk Hickey on the job." It was dark when they turned back toward the ranch. Gary sat alone with Mona. Lee for a while, listening to the radio, then went upstairs to his room to write letters—to oil men that he knew, asking fora job. He had finished the third epistle when he heard Mona Lee coating up the stairs. She stopped outsidr ,his door and said, "I thought you'd • gone to bed. Gary, would, you go over to Grace's place with ate? She telephoned --and it's late, and Harvey doesn't like it if I drive alone at night." Gary got up quickly. "Of course. Is someone sick?" Mona Lee hesitated, looking worried and unhappy. "No, I. guess it's just one of Oliver's sprees. Grace was crying, and she said she had to talk to me and Oliver had left the car in town, so I told her I'd come." * * * They locked all the doors and left the key in the asparagus -fern box for Adelaide, and Gary held the flashlight while Mona Lee backed the car out of the garage. The Kimball house was a new, smart white bungalow on the edge of the little town and, as they drove in, et ery window was lighted. "Oliver's not home," Ilona Lee said. "Grace is Seared when she's alone and she turns on every light. You wait here, Gary, till I find out allot she wants to talk about, You can turn on the radio -1 guess it works," A lighted door opened and she disappeared inside, so Gary leaned bouts an snapped buttons and tried to interest himself in a dance band and then in a news broadcast. And then that door opened and Mona Lee cane out and came around to het seat, getting in be- side hint without a word. Gary did not aslc questions, and the ailette lasted till they were almost back at the ranch. Then trona Lee slowed the car and drew a deep, weary breath and sighed patiently. "Grace and Oliver have had some sort of a fight—and she says it's about. her father's oil well, but she doesn't dare tell me what it is, And Oliver's gone off and never evensaid. good -by." * * * Gary said, ' "Too bad to worry you like this, and then not tell you what it's all about, so you can help." "It's all a gamble anyway—and just talking about it hasn't been good for any of us. Harvey Junior paying two thousand dollars for a car—and his father letting hint do it, and Adelaide retaking all kinds of crazy plans as if her father were a millionaire already." "They'll setle down." Gary tried to be comforting. "1 wouldn',t wor- ry too much." -. Harvey' Mason went off to Aus- tin, looking strange and dressed up it; his Sunday clothes, his saddle - colored face very dark above a shining white collar. He had fumed because Mona Lee forbade him to wear his boots or his big cowman's hat. If you're going to be an oil man you'd better look like one, stated Mona Lee irmly, "and nut like some old cow w•addy." (To Be Continued) FOR COUGHS - COLDS BRONCHITIS ASTHMA WHOOPING COUGH SIMPLE SORE THROAT PARAPUP SURVIVES WAR—AUTO GETS HIM "Paratrooping was never like this," groans Trooper, parachute - jumping cocker spaniel, former mascot of the 467th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, HIe's pictured "hospitalized" in the Memphis, Tenn;, home of his owner, Capt. William Lewelling, after being run down by a hit -run driver on a Memphis street. CHRONICLES el GINGER FARM By Gwendoline P Clarke o • • • Rally,` I honestly believe that Christmas sneaks up on us faster. r'jth every passing' year. A few wee1eego it seemed ridiculous even to be thinking about Christmas. And then Clic' weeks just rolled away and here we ars almost cata- pulted into such things a's the mid- dle of Christmas shopping,-pi•epar... ations for Christmas concerts, gift problems, poultry picking, Christ- mas cakes and puddings, invitations received or given, tax bills, and ad- vance notice - that instead of "dreaming of a white Christmas" we should be preparing for it. That's a regular jumble, isn't it? But you know very well that's the way it goes. No one that I ever knew was able to give his or her undivided attention to Yuletide preparations, least of all on a farm. * * *. Take this puce, for instance. Now that we have ordered our tur- key and invited six house guests for Christmas it behooves me to think about puddinbs and things. But do you suppose I can settle to it with the threshing machine sitting like a black menace in the middle of the yard. It has been there for three days waiting for de- cent threshing weather. You see it is clover we shall be threshing and for that we need cold weather. lesterday it was cold enough to please anyone --ten above by our thermometer—but then yesterday was Sunday, so that settled that. However, last night we did go so far as to arrange to thresh Mon- day afternoon. But now the weather has turned soft again—it h up to thirty-seven degrees and 1 don't know whether to prepare for threshers or not. It's a great life, this farming! But yet '1 don't know of a better one. However, let's get back to thoughts of Christmas. * * * Ladies -I haven't told you about my advance Christmas present, have I? I'll tell you now because then if you are interested you might casually hand this paper over to your better half with the remark —"There now -there's an idea for Christmas!" Well now, this thing that I am referring to is a "pressure cooker." You have seen them advertised: haven't you? Personally, I have been reading the descriptive adver- tisements in American magazines for two years; I also knew enough about a pressure cooker to know it would be a jolly nice thing to have. It is rather an expensive thing to buy but 1 wouldn't put it in the luxury class because I feel the. money is, welt spent because it saves time and fuel, and, more im- portant still, food cookd by pres- sure is 'dicer and more nourishing • than done any other way because none of the natural juices have a thence to escape. For instance, take a cheap cut of meat, add to it the necessary vegetables and you have a stew' that really is a stew flavoursome, nourishing and quick. The time between unwrap- ping the meat andserving the fin- ished stew, complete with dump- lings, need not be more than half an hour. Macaroni and cheese can be on the table in fifteen Minutes. Carrots in ten minutes. Scalloped potatoes, twenty minutes. 1could go on and tell you more, but isn't that enough? The time I have given you includes preparation time—because, after all, all food burst be prepared before any cooker can do its work. S might add I. have had my cooker over a month and I don't think a day has' gone by without my using it at least once, often trice each day. * * * There are several makes of prey - sure cooker on the market now, either of aluminum, stainless steel or metal alloy of some kind. Ours is the latter. 1 believe all stakes work much on the sante • principle. 'C hey are perfectly safe and easy to operate if used according to di- rections, but 1 hate to think w tat would happen if the lid were forced open before the steam had been allowed to escape -there is a little gadget on top for that purpose. Unfortunately, so many people are inclined to take chances around the hone. Chances which so often result in an accident that could often have been avoided had the partiesconcerned taken just a lit- tle more time. We are all in such a hurry these day. But I ask, you —in a hurry for what? What is so important that we cannot take rea- sonable care so that disasters such ae burns and scalds shall not oc- cur? The death of little children as a result of fires started hurriedly with coal oil or gas is absolutelf criminal. Gift Suggestion Because everybody saves and oollects something or other, any body, man, woman or child, would love to have a glorified letter file as a Christmas gift. They are at- tractive, useful, inexpensive and so easy to make. The letter files may be purchased for about23cents. For the cover- ing you may use fancy gift wrap- ping or any leftover wallpaper (the wallpaper makes.a sturdier cover). A linen mending tape with a glue backing is used to bind the edges. This tape retakes a neat finish, serv- ing also as a reinforcement to the Corners. With the application of a generous coat of bakclite varnish, the letter file becomes very shiny and entirely professional in appear- ance STOPS COUGHS Siinnth y School Lesson December 16 EXALTING. CHRIST IN THE LIFE OF THE NATION Lesson: Isaiah 9:2, 3, 6, 7; Luke 1:26-33. Isaiah 9;2 --The inhabitants of the region of Galilee were -repre- sented as walking, or living, in darkness because they were far from the capital and had few reli- gious privileges; they were tom- rarstively rude and uncultured. The language of the prophet 're- fers to the time when the Messiah would come to that clack region and become both its light and its deliverer. 3.—This joy would be a holy joy because it would- be before the Lord. It would be a joy over blessings received as the figure of the harvest it,dicatcs; and joy over vvil'arerted, as the figure of livid- ing the spoil indicates. 6.—It would Inc 700 years before Christ came in to the world, but the present tense is used because of the absolute certainty of the promise being fulfilled. The Government h a e been placed upon His shoulder; He has . been given all power in "Heaven 'and in Eartlt." He is Wonderful; this title implies that He will be exalted above the ordinary course of nature and that His whole mani- festation will be a miracle. He is Counsellor; the word is expressive of great wisdom and of qualifications to guide the human race, He is the Mighty God—a title that means the Supreme God. Next He is the Everlasting Father for iu Ills divine nature Christ and the Father are one. Fin- ally He is the Prince of Peace, He has made peace between -Jew and Gentile and He will yet usher in an era of universal peace. contrast to. all 'earthly kingdoms. which have their ;rise and fall, the Kingdom of Christ knows no end,'. for itis an ever- lasting lcingclom and will ptnpet- ually extend its boundaries, Mary and the Angct Luke is 2f-30.—The' angel's word of salutation "Hail" is equi- valent of 'joy' be with thee," im- plying she was truly honored to have the privilege of giving birth to the world's Redeemer,. rhe Son of God. Mary was not troubled with doubts and unbelief, but with confusion at the honor bestowed on her. Mary had no cause for fear but rather for joy, for she had found favor with God. 31-33.—The message of the an- gel revealed to Mary that her Son ,. should be esus The Saviour. He was coming to redeem Israel, to save His people front their sins— and not Israel only, but all the world. The House of Jacob means the descendants of Jacob. His own name was changed front Jacob to Israel, and thus his de- scendants were called the children of Israel. The Kingdom of Christ shall never be destroyed. It shall stand forever. 1 1 1 teE Blended far Quality TEA. "SALAD' The outdoor man, whether hebe farmer, truck driver, or railway operator, is often subject backache. This may be the result of exposure to cold and dampness or the result of strain from the jolting and bumping of the vehicle he rides. To many people,women as well as men, it would be great to be free of backache—one of the most common and annoying of ailments. And here is how you may be relieved of back- ache and othereymptoms of poisons in the blood. The treatment suggested is Dr. Chase's Kidney Liver Pills. By reason of their stimulating action on both the liver and kidneys, you, have two chances to one of getting relief from iyour backache by using Dr. Chases Pills. The' torpid liver is aroused to action, the kidneys are. stimulated and consequently these organs help to purify the blood of the poisonous Impurities which bring pains and aches and tired feelings. Keep regular and keep well by using Dr. Chase's Kidney Liver Pills. 35cts abox You'll See it Again You'll Enjog it Again p‘44,74 brae mredxto do FIE • PE . . because your long-time favorite, WRIGLEY'S SPEARMINT Chewing Gum, will be back just as soon as it is prac- tical to guarantee you top-quality and finest flavor. Yes, you'll see it again . , you'll enjoy it again . just as you used to do. anb to one anb aRR ,fliertp elirtOttnat4 anb a appp Attu Pear WRIGLEY'S 1 1 1 a 4