little to do at the ranch, and they were really more comfortable where
they were. The first installment of Elizabeth's income arrived from
England about holiday time, and made things most wonderfully joyous in
the Spooner family. It was comical to see how the new state of affairs
impressed Maudie Pratt. Grandmother's diamond ring became a small
matter indeed compared to the small packet of really excellent old
jewelry that was forwarded to Elizabeth. The fact that she added Maude
to her name, simply calling herself Elizabeth Maude Spooner, was rather
a disappointment. Maudie Pratt, under similar circumstances, would have
promptly dropped the Spooner altogether.
The wise little mother looked on and breathed many a sigh of
thankfulness that Elizabeth's good fortune had not come to her before
she was tried and proven. When she saw her daughter choose wisely, and
behave modestly, and carry her new honors with simple graciousness, she
was aware that the year of discipline which had preceded the reward, had
made it a reward indeed.
When they all went out again to the ranch, Elizabeth insisted on
investing some of her money in making the home beautiful and comfortable
for them all. Harvey Grannis admired her greatly for doing so, yet he
was in some sense jealous, and being a man of means he attempted, with a
simplicity that sometimes made them all laugh, to match any act of
generosity on Elizabeth's part with one of his own. There was soon a
commodious, well-built house, a beautiful and properly irrigated lawn,
with beds of brilliant flowers where once only the cactus could be
coaxed to bloom. These out-door luxuries were made possible by that
almost unattainable thing in such a country--plenty of water, for Harvey
Grannis made his namesake a deed to the pasture containing the big
water-hole. More land was bought and added to the ranch, as Captain
Spooner prospered, and with the luck of 'him that hath,' money came in
until the Spooner brand was perhaps the best in the country, and of such
fine quality that it was the pride of old Jonah's heart.
The question of education was one of the first things to come up in the
affairs of these young people, and Elizabeth declared that her income
was to be used for schooling the whole bunch--and in the bunch she
included Roy Lambert. That independent young man, however, preferred to
work his way, as many an independent American boy has done before him.
He chose an agricultural college, for he believed that the cattle
business would gradually diminish, and that all of the ranches would be
forced into more or less farming as the years went on. His ideas have
proved correct, and as he is a skilled and educated farmer, and a
natural manager, Captain Spooner has never seen the time when he was
willing to give up the claim they had on him at the time that Mrs.
Spooner called him her adopted son.
Most laughable of all, Harvey Grannis takes a great pride and personal
satisfaction in Roy's success. To hear him talk about it one would
think he had brought the boy west and placed him in his sister's
home--as indeed he did, though quite unwittingly. With the lapse of
years Harvey has become gentler in his dealings with people, and more
amenable. If he ever quarrels--and being Harvey Grannis, of course he
does sometimes--the Babe immediately acts as peacemaker, and he declares
that his nieces are the finest girls in the state of Texas, and that the
Babe is to inherit every acre and hoof of his possessions!
These greater advantages came to the Babe earlier than to the other
girls, and she was the only one of the three who cared to go to an
eastern college and take a degree. She was preparing herself for her
chosen career as a writer of stories for children, finding in that work
free vent for her exuberant fancy.
The year Ruth was nineteen she visited Mary in Oklahoma, and came back
engaged to her brother-in-law's brother, a young ranchman of good looks
and qualities, and fairly prosperous. She now lives on a ranch of her
own, and, with Mary, makes frequent visits to the home folks, where the
circle is still unbroken, even old Jonah still being spry and happy, and
delighting in relating his wonderful war stories as of old.
When Elizabeth finally left for England, partly to see her people--who
consisted of somewhat distant relatives, and partly for a course of
study, Roy felt that he would not be honorable in asking her to consent
to an engagement. He told her that he was sure she would find her
ideals changing very much when she was among her own people, in such
surroundings as were really befitting to her.
But she came back to Silver Spur, a well-trained and popular painter of
miniatures, having chosen this for her profession. She came back to
Roy, and to the dear parents who were, after all, more her own people
than those she had left behind her in England.
And it turned out that Elizabeth's real profession is not art but
home-making. She and Roy are married and live still at Silver Spur,
perfectly happy with each other, and radiating happiness about them by
the love and forethought of beautiful, unselfish natures.
(THE END.)