across the river meadows in search of green feeding. Beyond lay the
awakening fields under the cold sun, the bluff, the house shining in a
new coat of red, the board barn towering over the low sod one at its
back. And she caught a glimpse of the two dark figures still standing
against the kitchen, watching her out of sight. She did not see a third,
whose pale eyes were so dim that he in turn could not see her as he
loitered mournfully by the side of a stack.
"Good-by," she said softly; "good-by." A sob came from her biggest
brother. She sank to the seat and, putting her arms about his neck,
clung to him, weeping aloud.
As they drove on, he manfully strove to restrain his grief. When he
turned east at the railroad, he drew his sleeve across his eyes and
clucked to the horse.
"It'd be a lot worse if you had to stay," he said. "There's everything
before you where you're goin', if you want to work for it. Here there's
nothing."
The little girl lifted her head from his shoulder with fresh courage. "I
know it," she said. She gave him a grateful smile, and turned to look
back once more.
Suddenly a cry parted her lips. She pointed off beyond the farm-house.
"See!" she exclaimed, and the biggest brother brought the horse to a
stand.
Hanging against the sky was a spectral city whose buildings, inverted
and magnified, loomed through the clear, crisp air in marble-like
grandeur, and whose spires, keen-tipped and transparent, were thrust far
down toward the earth.
Breathlessly the little girl watched the mirage, which to her seemed
divine, as if He who sat at sunset upon the throne of clouds were
showing her the longed-for city of her dreams in a celestial image, high
and white and beautiful. Joy shone on her face at the wonderful thought;
and into her eyes there came a light of comprehension, of determination,
and of enduring hope,--it was the radiant light of womanhood. And the
biggest brother, looking proudly at her, knew at that moment that she
was no longer a little girl.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 44, "bulk" changed to "bull" (great white bull)
Page 165, "disapprovel" changed to "disapproval" (disapproval at every
tug)
Both Vermillion and Vermilion were used and retained in this text.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Biography of a Prairie Girl, by Eleanor Gates