On the treeless,
shrubless prairie one could see the flag miles away, as it rose like a
faint fleck of pink against the green of the prairie beyond or the blue
sky above.
Twice a week Rivers drove out with supplies. These were the eventful
days of the week, and it was significant to observe with what tasteful
care the young women thought it proper to dress on this day. Hats,
dainty and fresh, cool muslins, spotless cuffs, ribbons. They came out
of their cabins with all the little airs and graces of their Eastern
homes. Bailey shared their good opinion, but he was always silent and a
little timid in their presence, and usually disappeared as soon as
Rivers came. "The social responsibilities belong to you, partner," he
was accustomed to say.
As the summer wore on, the number of those pathetically eager for
letters increased. The sun-bright plain, the beautiful, almost cloudless
sky, and the ever-flooding light wore upon them. They began to recall
wistfully the cool streams of New England, the wooded slopes of
Wisconsin, the comfortable homesteads and meadows of Illinois, and they
came for their mail with shining eyes--and when forced to say "Nothing
to-day," Bailey always suffered a keen pang of sympathetic pain.
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