It was a pine of a thousand years, close the age of our mother tree, Ruth, and when we have learned from Enos Mills how to wrest secrets from the hearts of centuries, we will climb the hill and measure our oak, and then Iwill estimate, and you will write, and we will make a record for our tree."
"Oh, I'd like that!"
"So would I," said the Harvester. "And a million other things I can think of that we can learn together.
It won't require long for me to teach you all I know, and by that time your hand will be clasped in mine, and our `hearts will beat as one,' and you will give me a kiss every night and morning, and a few during the day for interest, and we will go on in life together and learn songs, miracles, and wonders until the old oak calls us. Then we will ascend the hill gladly and lie down and offer up our bodies, and our children will lay flowers over our hearts, and gather the herbs and paint the pictures? Amen.
I hear a van on the bridge. Just you go to your room and lie down until I get things unloaded and where they belong. Then you and the decorator can make us home-like, and to-morrow we will begin to live. Won't that be great, Ruth?"
"With you, yes, I think it will."
"That will do for this time," said the Harvester, as he opened the door to her room. "Lie and rest until I say ready."
As he went to meet the men, she could hear him singing lustily, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow."
"What a child he is!" she said. "And what a man!"
For an hour heavy feet sounded through the cabin carrying furniture to different rooms. Then with a floor brush in one hand, and a polishing cloth in the other, the Harvester tapped at her door and helped the Girl upstairs. He had divided the space into three large, square sleeping chambers. In each he had set up a white iron bed, a dressing table, and wash stand, and placed two straight-backed and one rocking chair, all white. The walls were tinted lightly with green added to the plaster.
There was a mattress and a stack of bedding on each bed, and a large rug and several small ones on the floors. He led her to the rocking chair in the middle room, where she could see through the open doors of the other two.
"Now," said the Harvester, "I didn't know whether the room with two windows toward the lake and one on the marsh, or two facing the woods and one front, was the guest chamber. It seemed about an even throw whether a visitor would prefer woods or water, so I made them both guest chambers, and got things alike for them.
Now if we are entertaining two, one can't feel more highly honoured than the other. Was that a scheme?"
"Fine!" said the Girl. "I don't see how it could be surpassed."
" `Be sure you are right, then go ahead,' " quoted the Harvester. "Now I'll make the beds and Mr. Rogers can hang the curtains. Is white correct for sleeping rooms? Won't that wash best and always be fresh?"
"It will," said the Girl. "White wash curtains are much the nicest."
"Make them short Mr. Rogers; keep them off the floor," advised the Harvester. "And ******----don't arrange any thing elaborate that will tire a woman to keep in order. Whack them off the right length and pin them to the poles."
"How about that, Mrs. Langston?" asked the decorator.
"I am quite sure that is the very best thing to do," said the Girl; and the curtains were hung while the mattress was placed.
"Now about this?" inquired the Harvester. "Do Iput on sheets and fix these beds ready to use?"
"I would not," said the Girl. "I would spread the pad and the counterpane and lay the sheets and pillows in the closet until they are wanted. They can be sunned and the bed made delightfully fresh."
"Of course," said the Harvester.
When he had finished, he spread a cover on the dressing table and laid out white toilet articles and grouped a white wash set with green decorations on the stand.
Then he brushed the floor, spread a big green rug in the middle and small ones before the bed, stand, and table, and coming out closed the door.
"Guest chamber with lake view is now ready for company," announced the Harvester. "Repeat the operation on the woods room, finished also. Why do some people make work of things and string them out eternally and fuss so much? Isn't this ****** and easy, Ruth?"
"Yes, if you can afford it," said the Girl.
"Forbear!" cried the Harvester. "We have the goods, the dealer has my check. Excuse me ten minutes, until I furnish another room."
The laughing Girl could catch glimpses of him busy over beds and dresser, floor and rugs; then he came where she sat.
"Woods guest chamber ready," he said. "Now we come to the interior apartment, that from its view might be called the marsh room. Aside from being two windows short, it is exactly similar to the others. It occurred to me that, in order to make up for the loss of those windows, and also because I may be compelled to ask some obliging woman to occupy it in case your health is precarious at any time, and in view of the further fact that if any such woman could be found, and would kindly and willingly care for us, my gratitude would be inexpressible; on account of all these things, I got a shade the BEST furnishings for this room."
The Girl stared at him with blank face.
"You see," said the Harvester, "this is a question of ethics. Now what is a guest? A thing of a day! Aperson who disturbs your routine and interferes with important concerns. Why should any one be grateful for company? Why should time and money be lavished on visitors? They come. You overwork yourself.
