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and out of the wagon came a boy of about nine Y'ears with sandy hair but with dark skin like Dianna's.
"Boo yourself amd come and have your breakfast David Bar- ton."
Soon they were lllll seated and were halfway through their meal when they he!'lrd a voice hollooing them. Turning, they espied a man on the hill above them. He walked down the hill ::~nd when he w.as n~ar enough he spoke to them introducing himself as .John Davidson. He was very tall and dark a'nd had oiercing grey eyes. Barton in- troduced himself and his fam- ilY and asked the young man to sit down amd have brea.kfa.SJt with them. Bv the end of the mPf1.! they kneJW e.a.ch other very well and the Barton's discoV'er- Pd that John Davidson was a traoper and adventurer.
Duri,ng- that morning. after looking- over the prospects of the olace in which they had stoo- oed. B~trton decidPd they might :~>wellmaketheirhomeright there instead of going- anv fur- ther. Fe had noticed in passing down. this road that there was a :mill not far U'O the river which. John !Davidson told him. was r R .l l e d t h e 1 \ l l i a d R i v e r . H e a l s . o rliswvPred that there were a fpw other scatt.ered hous~s and still another mill further up the river. This Slmall conection of huilciing was called Mad River Mills
Pv· nio-hltfa.ll Barton 31tld John hRti o-athered enoue-h st.ones to l.av rth~ fmmtia.t.ion of t.he ho11.se ::~nti also bJo:~ti found a laro-e flat .•ton<> iust the ri'!'ht. size for th" h<>RrthstOitJP IW:it.h i n t.he n e x t f p w d::~vs t . h e v h < H l . t h e h o u s e fini•hed anti whitew:>sh"d . A - hnnt R. nu~>rt.er of ., mile down t.he ,.iver .T0hn b,1iltt himself ~>. !"ml'l.ll Joo- l"h<>r.k. B" the end of thP onJYim<>r BR,.ton hati an acre nf land cle::~red ~nd readv fm· l"Ori'11.P' nl<>nt.jno- hnt. thov wouln pRve tn live nn what th<>v had nr "Onln buv thron<rh the wintR.r
Tt WR$ ? hard wint.e,. <md there wa~ little monev but. they
were stout-hearted people. Dur- ing the long cold months John ofte•:1 came to the little s'one house. The grandmother whose nam~ was Mrs. Barton, and Da- vid, and Barton himself, noticed how attr·acted Dianna amd John were to each other. Sometimes the couple, along with the other youn-g people of Mad River Mills would go on sleighrides .and J o h n a n d i D d a n 1n r a w o u l d c o m e home with shining eyes and flushed fac·es. Thus they passed the wtn.ter.
Spring was a welcome sight. The stems of the poolars ·along the river turned a vivid g-reen; thev seemed to be enveloped in an emerald mist. The a.ir smell- ed fresh and sweet and the wood<> begam, to show signs of wild life.
Barton put his crop in early .and through the summer clear- ed more land. The harvest turn- ed out very well and so they added another room to the house. The next winter was not as hard 1as the first and they
fared verv well.
Then it was summer again
and it was to be marked as a memorabIe se;ason becaus~ Dianna amd John announced their eng;agem;ent. John had ::Jcouired a gTQOd amount of mo- ney but they decided to wait a litt.le lon!!'er for their marriage.
It wa., winter ag-ain when the a.ccident hannened. John had heen em!Utying his tr.aos in fl thick rant of the woods when he steoped into one of his own tra.os not knowine- it was the1·e R1n d i t im.mediateLv closed o n his foot. He ca.lled for helo bn,• r<>a.lized its uselessness and gave it UD.
Meanwhile Diamna. who was exoeotin~r ,Tohn for snn1oer. was hP.e-iPnine- ·to be worried, know- hiJ'Y' fo,. ope who was verv onn.c- tngl. li'li•t"'tllv sh~ decided to e-o t,., hie:: sh~>~'k. thinkine- he mio-ht he ther". Sinr.e her f1at.her w::~s ,::~w::~v ::>t. If-he t.i;m~ l"he left thine-s in rh'3.rPlP. of Dfl.vid '3nd set ont fo,. t-he ,<:.h::~.ck. Bnt when sh~ ·::~rrivP.tl i''hP. flonn<i jt. em,otv Then i:hP. decided to fol.low some of the
C. Dl. C. I. GLEANER
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