A BREATH OF PRAIRIE
AND OTHER STORIES
By WILL LILLIBRIDGE
THE DOMINANT DOLLAR. Illustrated in color by Lester Ralph. Crown 8vo . . . $1.50
BEN BLAIR, PLAINSMAN. Frontispiece in color by Maynard Dixon. Seventieth thousand. Crown 8vo . . . $1.50
QUERCUS ALBA: The Veteran of the Ozarks. With frontispiece. 16mo. Net . . . $.50
A. C. MCCLURG & CO., Publishers
CHICAGO
[Illustration: She wheeled swiftly round, confronting him. [See "Journey's End."]]
A BREATH OF PRAIRIE
AND OTHER STORIES
BY WILL LILLIBRIDGE
AUTHOR OF "BEN BLAIR," "THE DOMINANT DOLLAR," ETC.
WITH FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR
BY J. N. MARCHAND
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1911
Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1911
Published April, 1911
W. J. Hall Printing Company
Chicago
A TRIBUTE
It is an accepted truth, I believe, that every novelist embodies in the personalities of his heroes some of his own traits of character. Those who were intimately acquainted with William Otis Lillibridge could not fail to recognize this in a marked degree. To a casual reader, the heroes of his five novels might perhaps suggest five totally different personalities, but one who knows them well will inevitably recognize beneath the various disguises the same dominant characteristics in them all. Whether it be Ben Blair the sturdy plainsman, Bob McLeod the cripple, Dr. Watson, Darley Roberts, or even How Landor the Indian, one finds the same foundation stones of character,--repression, virility, firmness of purpose, an abhorrence of artificiality or affectation,--love of Nature and of Nature's works rather than things man-made. And these were unquestionably the pronounced traits of Will Lillibridge's personality. Markedly reserved, silent, forceful, he was seldom found in the places where men congregate, but loved rather the company of books and of the great out-doors. Living practically his entire life on the prairies it is undoubtedly true that he was greatly influenced by his environment. And certain it is that he could never have so successfully painted the various phases of prairie-life without a sympathetic, personal knowledge.
The story of his life is characteristically told in this brief autobiographical sketch, written at the request of an interested magazine.
"I was born on a farm in Union County, Iowa, near the boundary of the then Dakota Territory. Like most boys bred and raised in an atmosphere of eighteen hours of work out of twenty-four, I matured early. At twelve I was a useful citizen, at fifteen I was to all practical purposes a man,--did a man's work whatever the need. In this capacity I was alternately farmer, rancher, cattleman. Something prompted me to explore a university and I went to Iowa, where for six years I vibrated between the collegiate, dental, and medical departments. After graduating from the dental in 1898 I drifted to Sioux Falls and began to practise my profession. As the years passed the roots sank deeper and I am still here.
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Breath of Prairie and other stories
- 2: Wrapped in the snowy mantle of his own prairies
- 3: Story and a half prairie farm house
- 4: With singing milk pails between their knees
- 5: As the ears struck the sideboard
- 6: Guy Landers mounted the wagon wearily
- 7: Guy Landers sat on a crowded back seat
- 8: When Landers was critically conscious
- 9: He gave the collegian a quick look
- 10: Landers opened his lips to answer
- 11: Faith's back there with her posies
- 12: And ludicrously inapt answer at quiz
- 13: Landers looked up questioningly
- 14: Position unclassified over the heads of the upper classmen
- 15: Landers tried to open the envelope
- 16: And Landers sat watching it idly
- 17: Landers looked almost curiously at the stolid shopmen
- 18: Calmar Bye had ceased to notice banter
- 19: An income or the prospect of an income
- 20: And the long Calmar straightened in his chair
- 21: Calmar imperturbably returned the letter to his pocket
- 22: Had a particularly vicious broncho
- 23: Calmar Bye watched the whole spectacle as in a dream
- 24: Of moaning wind and drifting sleet
- 25: The sole excuse for this delinquency
- 26: Suggested Wilson while they waited
- 27: Without a breath of wind from over the prairies
- 28: Our professional honor our personal honor as well
- 29: De Young sat alone in the doorway
- 30: It glistened over the prairie on snow drift and frost
- 31: In whose dooryard are mounds built of man
- 32: In kindness the carrier offered help
- 33: Down the road whence the carrier would come
- 34: The desk between them as at first
- 35: A ten thousandth part of that nothingness
- 36: Go on sweating beneath the useless load
- 37: The eyes of the tall man stopped
- 38: The little Bechers were not classified
- 39: I'm Ichabod Maurice and you're Camilla Maurice
- 40: They could not be summer boarders
- 41: Ichabod Maurice never had smoked
- 42: For an hour he explained homesteads
- 43: Ichabod built the house himself
- 44: Ichabod knew nothing of farming
- 45: Ichabod stood in the narrow window frame
- 46: To make acquaintance with Hans Becher
- 47: The brother of Camilla Maurice
- 48: You've heard Ichabod mention my name
- 49: Camilla started to interrupt him
- 50: But Camilla Maurice was silent
- 51: Not like the sweet prairie air of to day
- 52: It's this good faith you've broken
- 53: I couldn't give you an explanation now
- 54: Camilla paled as her companion arose
- 55: Ichabod examined him curiously out of his shaded lids
- 56: Ichabod was thoughtful a minute
- 57: Will reign supreme the eternal instinct of parenthood
- 58: All this Ichabod saw as he stepped inside
- 59: But it was not big Duggin who spoke
- 60: But Duggin still felt those terrible eyes upon him
- 61: Again Duggin was sober as he stumbled out into the evening
- 62: As he had excused Camilla he had incriminated Ichabod
- 63: Ichabod climbed the stair alone
- 64: Ichabod nursed a callous spot on one palm
- 65: Asa Arnold smiled up into the blue eyes
- 66: Ichabod flashed a glance with the question
- 67: Ichabod was leaning near the candle
- 68: Immovable Ichabod himself again
- 69: Hot summer Asa Arnold had stayed in town
- 70: Evans was silent longer than before
- 71: And in accompaniment the quirts cut the air anew
- 72: And realization came to the boy Swede
- 73: Finally Evans emerged from the side room
- 74: Then Babcock shrugged awkwardly
- 75: You you're not not joking with me
- 76: It was the old vital Steve who spoke
- 77: And contrition for the involuntary repulse
- 78: Mollie Babcock made a motion of deprecation
- 79: But Mollie Babcock was dressing rapidly
- 80: Vibrating back and forth like a shuttle
- 81: Girlie he lifted her at arms' length
- 82: An air which breeds restless energy
- 83: He looked out over the prairie
- 84: The boy graduated but not alone
- 85: He fell in with a threshing crew
- 86: Sandford merely surveys and expresses polite congratulation
- 87: Hyde one absolutely the reverse of the reputable Jekyll
- 88: Imagine swell up from Sandford
- 89: And that Sandford is already astir
- 90: Chapter vii the bacon what am
- 91: As a hurtling body struck the water
- 92: Nor polite self abnegation from Sandford this time
- 93: They are unmistakably mallards
- 94: The whirr of the electric lathe never ceases
- 95: He who came was also of the type homespun and buckskin
- 96: Clayton stood contemplating him a moment
- 97: And Clayton crumpled at his feet
- 98: And he joined with Burr against the room
- 99: Though Aaron Burr pleaded this case as well
- 100: Why Burr took the countryman home with him
- 101: Of Washington and of Mary Philipse was yet upon his tongue
- 102: He's been telling you of Washington's Mary Philipse
- 103: And this woman's name was Mary Philipse
- 104: Half lighted by the red rays of a harvest moon
- 105: And writes a name on the envelope
- 106: Entirely foreign to any caused by the anaesthetic
- 107: I give you the journal as it stands
- 108: Women splendid as animals are splendid
- 109: That cursed odor of stale tobacco
- 110: In silence we went up the elevator
- 111: The grip of the white hand on my arm tightened
- 112: I believe all people have ideals
- 113: A great fight always to hold thy small pedestal secure
- 114: Quick as a shot Chester halted and faced around
- 115: He was now entered only in the Marathon
- 116: Both Richards and Chester appeared at the postoffice
- 117: Sympathy in the grandstand was beginning to turn
- 118: Chester was pounding grimly away
- 119: Chester was ignorant of her presence
- 120: And Miss Willis smiled encouragement
- 121: Miss Willis was now perfectly composed
- 122: The impersonal note again in his voice
- 123: Carter walked over to his desk and sat down
- 124: Miss Willis grew angry with herself
- 125: With the independence of imperative impartiality
- 126: My work has refashioned my life