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NicholasSynovic
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train · 42.9k rows

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after mile mostly she talked of the n and di laughing of the mist dawn came of a town and of and in little that sprang like fire out of the from a they made out the roofs stopped to wonder at its silence as though through long ages past no happy footstep had echoed there the fog lifted the morning was new bom and clean and they fairly sang as they up to an old inn and demanded breakfast of an amazed rustic about the inn yard in a he did not mr i know that to a thrilling mr he or perhaps it was his was the hero in an english nor doubtless did the english crisp bacon and eggs which a sleepy prepared know that they were properties why they were english eggs served at dawn in an english inn a stone room with a hanging in a little cage of outside the window and there were no to bother them mr really used the word in his he had it from when he informed her of this fact she laughed you know mighty well mouse that you have a wish there were one yankee stranger here to see glory i guess that s right but maybe i m just as bad for once their tones had not been those of teacher am pupil but of comrades they set out from the through the brightening morning like lively boys on tramp the sun crept out with the warmth and the dust and s steps as they passed the comer of a farm where a was secluded in a of smiled and sighed i m pretty tired dear i m going to sleep in that straw i ve always wanted to sleep in a straw it s for in the best set you know and one can exciting she made a pillow of her jacket while he dug down to a dry place for her he found another den on the other side of the it was afternoon when he awoke he sprang up and rushed around the was still asleep curled in a small childish heap her tired face in repose against the brown yellow of her jacket her red hair had come down and shone about her shoulders she looked so frail that he was frightened surely ti i he goes a she d be very angry with him for letting her come he on a leaf from his address for six years but containing only four this note to get stuff for be right back w w me on this h tj i and softly crawling up the straw left the note by her head he hastened to a farm house the farm wife was inclined to be curious o curious farm wife you of the speech and the shuffling feet you were brave indeed to face bill the great with his for he was on a mission for and he cared not for the eyes of all england what though he was a faced man with an would be awakening hungry that was why he you into selling him a pan and a bundle of along with the tea and eggs and a bread loaf and a jar of the your husband s farm had been making these two hundred years and you should have had coffee for him not tea woman of when he returned to their inn the late afternoon glow lay along the rich fields that down from their well concealed nook was still asleep but her cheek now lay wistfully on the of her thin arm he looked at the framed of her face its lines of thought and ambition by the swift changes of expression which defended her while she was awake he sobbed if he could only make her but he was afraid of her moods he built a fire by a beyond the boiled the eggs and the bread and made the tea with cream ready in a jar he remembered boyhood days in and old camp lore he returned to the and called oh is she shook her head closer into the straw then p i i mr sat up her hair about her shoulders she smiled and called down good morning why it s did you sleep well dear yes did you i hope you never better in my life i m so sleepy yet bi i needed a quiet sleep and it s so peace ful here i roar for breakfast where s tl nearest house got breakfast all ready you re a dear she went to wash in the brook and came back wit eyes dancing and hair trim and they laughed over br fast glancing down the slope of golden fields only once did pass out of the land of their intimacy into some of analysis when she looked at him as he drank his tea aloud out of the pan and wondered is this really you here with but you a i must say i don t understand what you re doing here at all nor a either i don t understand it but you shan t be worried by bad let s see we went to grammar school together yes and we were in college don t you remember when i was captain you don t you got a bad at which she smiled properly and they were away for again i suppose now it ii go and rain said at dusk it was the first she had spoken for a mile then after another quarter mile please don t mind my being silent i m sort of stiff and my feet hurt most you won t mind will you of course he did mind and of course he said he didn t he skirted the field of by very west sixteenth street observations on a town through which they passed while she merely	42
ai ue about it i can t stand all the he thought instantly of lee with her mother but he said nothing he gathered the bits of and wood he could find in the litter on the stable and kindled a fire while she sat sullenly glaring at him her face wrinkled and tired in the wan when the blaze was going steadily a and safe little fire he spread his coat as a seat for hei and called cheerily come on now here s regular home and for you she slipped down from the edge and stood front of him looking into his eyes which were level her own you are good co me she half whispered and his cheek then slipped down on the coat murmured come sit here by me and we ll both g warm all night the rain but no one came to them away from the fire and they side by side their hands dose and their garments steaming fell asleep and her head drooped on his shoulder he straightened to bear its weight though his back with and there he sat through an hour of pain and happiness and confused meditation studying the curious background the dark roof of broken the age walls the floor his hand pressed lightly the of the wet he goes a of her shoulder his wet sleeve stuck to his arm and he wanted to pull it free his eyes stung but he sat tight while his mind ran round in circles considering that he loved and that he would nor be entirely sorry he was no longer the slave to her moods that this adventure was the strangest and most romantic also the most and useless in history toward dawn she stirred and slipping stiffly from his position he moved her so that her back which was still wet faced the fire he built up the fire again and sat brooding beside her and starting awake till morning then his head and he was dimly awake again to find her sitting up straight looking at him in it simply can t be that s all did you curl me up i m nice and dry ail over now it was very good of you you ve been a most person but i think we ll take a train for the rest of our pilgrimage it hasn t been entirely successful i m afraid perhaps we d better for a moment he hated her with her smooth politeness after a night when she had been and human by turns he hated her hair and tired face then he could have wept so deeply did he desire to pull her head down on his shoulder and smooth the wrinkles of weariness out of her dear face the dearer because they had endured the weariness together but he said well let s try to get some breakfast first with their garments wrinkled from rain half asleep and rather cross they arrived at the but respectable colony of by the noon train the and e is so cheer that it makes the ordinary person long for a dingy fashioned room in which he can play and without with patience by the wall and clever and polished it is the common room which is uncommon for hotel parlor is all in and j had gone up to her room to sleep bidding mc do and avoid the wrong bunch at the for besides the wrong bunch of interesting people there were she explained a right bunch of working artists but he wanted to get some new clothes to replace his rain wrinkled ready he was tottering through the common room wondering whether he could find a clothing shop in when a shrill ie from a wing chair by the rough brick fireplace halted him oh h h h mr there sat mrs the poet lady of s rooms on great james street oh h h h mr you bad man do come sit down and tell me all about your wonderful with i just met dear in the upper hall poor dear she was so but her hair was like a sunset over peaks you know as says a stormy sunset were her lips a stormy sunset on doomed ships j he an orange til only of course this was her hair and not her lips and sh f told me that you had all the from london i ve never heard of anything so romantic or no i won t say romantic i do agree with dear isn t she a woman so fearless and didn t you meeting her she is our modem of arc such a noble figure i do agree with her that romantic love is that we have entered the era of glorious companionship that regards as exactly as romantic as but but i i think your down from london was most exciting now do tell us all about it mr first i want you to meet miss and mr and dear and mr of course you know his poetry and then she drew a breath and back into the wing chair s depths during all this mr had stood frightened and and rain wrinkled before the gathering by the fireplace wondering how mrs could i get her nose so blue and yet so despite her encouragement he gave no fuller account of the than why we just down till russian rolled her eyes at him and insisted you tale us about it now had a pretty neck colored like a cigar of mild flavor and a trick of smiling she was accustomed to having men obey her mr stammered why we just walked and we got caught in the rain say miss was a wonder she never peeped when she got soaked through she	42
just laughed and beat it like everything and we saw a lot of quaint english places along the road got away from all them you know a perfectly strange person a heavy old man with horn spectacles and a soft shirt who had joined the group un i cleared his throat and interrupted i our mr is it not a strange that in the most observant of all pursuits one should have to encounter the eternal from the greek chorus about the fire everywhere began mr he apparently had something to say but the chorus went on and just as in port said as rum yes that s so mr r thrilled mrs the lady poet didn t you notice that they were perfectly of all movements that their observations never ruins guess they wanted to make sure they were the right things ventured mr with secret yes that s so came so from the greek chorus that the personal pupil of d made his first it isn t so much what you like as what you don t like that shows if you re wise yes they and mr much pleased with himself smiled au prince upon his new friends mrs was getting into her stride for a few remarks upon the poetry of when mr who had been ing for some moments trying to get in his remark winked with sly at miss and observed i fancy romance isn t quite dead yet y know friends here seem to have had quite a ro little journey then he winked again say what do you mean demanded bill hot j eyed fists clenched but very quiet oh i m not you and miss quite i an orange tie reverse the person his head then bill with his fist at mr s nose spoke his mind say you white faced dirty minded lump i ain t much of a but i m going to you up so s you can t find your ears if you don t for those oh mr he didn t mean i didn t mean he was just i was just bill watching the of himself as hero was enjoying the drama you then why certainly mr let me explain oh don t explain miss from mr explanations are so conventional old chap do you see them mr self conscious and ready to turn into a blind bill at the first the sitting about and all the princes and and poor things taking mr quite seriously because he had uncovered the great truth that the important thing in sight seeing is not to see sights he was most unhappy mr was and i wanted to be away from there he darted as from a spring when he heard s voice from the edge of the group calling come here a sec she was standing with a chair back for support tired but smiling i can t get to sleep yet don t you want me to show you some of the buildings here oh yes if mrs can spare this by way of remarking on the fact that the female v poet was staring mr g g g g g g said mrs which to imply perfect consent took him to the c looking the of and rose gardens it is beautiful isn t perhaps one could be here if one could kill all the people except the she mused oh it is he glowed standing there beside her happiness them looking across the bill was at the climax of his comedy of triumph admitted to a world of and and big windows standing in a beside as her friend mouse dear she said hesitatingly the reason why i wanted to have you come out here why i couldn t sleep i wanted to tell you how ashamed i am for having been being last night i m so sorry because you were very patient with me you were very good to me i don t want you to think of me just as a woman who didn t appreciate you you are very kind and when i hear that you re married to some nice girl i ll be as happy as can be oh he cried grasping her aim i don t want any girl in the world i mean oh i just want to be let go round with you when you ll let m no no dear you must have seen last night thai impossible please don t argue about it now v tired i just wanted to tell you i appreciated and when you get back to america you won t be any the worse for playing around with poor because she told you about things from what you ve played with about children as individuals and painting in and all those things and and i don t want you to get too fond of me because we re different but we have had an adventure even if it was a little moist she paused then cheerily well i m going let he an orange ti j beat it back and try to sleep again good by mouse no don t come back to the advanced play around and see the g by he watched her straight swaying figure swing across the lawn and up the steps of the half inn he watched her enter the door before he hastened to the shops which clustered about the railway station outside of the poetic preserves of the colony proper he noticed as he went that the men crossing the green were mostly clad in and so he purchased the first pair of un ankle concealing trousers he had owned since small boyhood and a jacket of rough with a gaudy on the belt also he actually dared an orange he wanted something for at dinner a s he	42
whispered under his breath with fond for the first time in his life he entered a s shop you know the poor of the city cannot afford flowers tiu they are dead and then for but one day he came out with a bunch of and remembered the days when he had envied the people he had seen in shops actually buying flowers when he was almost at the he wanted to go back and change the for flowers roses or but he got himself not to i the linen and and silver of the were almost as coarse as those of a hotel for all the ceiling and the in the hunting up the of the inn a bustling young woman who was reading at an office like desk mr begged i wonder could i get some special cups and plates and stuff for high tea tonight i got a kind of party how many the issued the words as though he had put a penny in the at th trying b this two kind of a birthday party mr certainly of course there s a small extra charge i have a royal tea service practically royal at least and some special i think royal ma would be nice and some surely and could we get some special stuff to eat what would you like why mr as we have commented he put his head on one side rubbed his chin with nice consideration and condescended what would you suggest for a party high tea why perhaps and and a and a sweet and we have a who does french eggs rather remarkably that would be simple but yes that would be very good gravely granted the patron of at six for two as he walked away he grinned within i talked to that like i d known it all my other s for s party he sought let s see suppose it really were her birthday wouldn t she like to have a letter from some important he of himself he d write her a make b letter from a duke which he did a stamp he over a desk in the common room and with infinite pains he the stamp in imitation of a and addressed the letter to lady mouse castle some one sat down at the desk opposite him and he carried the task up stairs to his room he rang for pen and ink as as though he had never sat le wrong end of a after half an hour trying to a duke writing a letter he ir of b he h m e an orange ti r mouse castle dear madam we hear from our friend sir that some folks are saying that to day is not your birthday want to stop so if you should need somebody to make them believe to day is your birthday we have sent our secretary sir sir william will hide him behind his chair and if they bother you just call for sir and he will tell them permit dear lady to wish you all the greetings of the season and in close we beg to remain as ever yours sincerely duke be he was very tired when he lay down for a minute with a pillow tucked over his head he was almost asleep in ten seconds but he sprang washed his eyes with cold water and began to dress he was shy of tlie and stockings but it was the orange tie that gave him real alarm though and went downstairs to make sure they were setting the table with glory the party as he went through the common room he watched the three or four groups scattered through it they seemed to take his clothes as a matter of course he was glad he wanted so much to be a credit to returning from the dining room to the room he passed a group standing in a window recess and looking away from him he overheard who is the remarkable new person with the orange tie and the on his jacket belt the one that just went through did you ever see anything so funny his collar didn t come within an inch and a half of fitting his neck he must be a poet i wonder if his verses are as built as his garments mr stopped another voice and the lack of development of his legs like the good old days when every s im our mr not always h assistant went bank i don t know him but i suppose he s some ha p ny or perhaps he has convictions about and on a o shades of all when they look as gentle as he they e the as a hates a cabinet he probably on the left ear of a south african every evening before exercise at the i say look over there there s a real artist going across the green you can tell he s a real artist because he s dressed like a and mr was walking away across the common room quite sure that every one was him with amusement and it was too late to change his clothes it was six already he stuck out his jaw and remembered that he had planned to hide the letter from the duke in s that it might be the greater surprise he sat down at their table he tucked the letter into the folds he moved the of nearer the of the table and the table nearer the open window giving on the green he himself for not being able to think of something else to change he forgot his clothes and was happy at six fifteen he summoned a boy and sent him up with a message that mr was waiting and high tea ready the boy came back muttering miss left this note for	42
you sir the says mr opened the green and white letter excitedly perhaps too was dressing for the he loved all s just then he read mouse dear i m than i can tell you but you know i warned you that bad was a creature of moods and just it for paris which i m doing now my mood orders r an orange tie k on the train i won t say good by hate good they re so stupid don t you think write me some time better make it care express co paris because i don t know yet just where i ll be and please don t look me up in paris because it s always better to end up an affair without explanations don t you think you have been wonderfully to me and i ll send you some good thought forms shall i i n he walked to the o ce of the blindly quietly he paid his bill and found that he had only fifty dollars left he could not get himself to eat the waiting high tea there was a seven fourteen train for london he took it meantime he wrote out a cable to his new york bank for a hundred and fifty dollars to keep from thinking in the train he talked gravely and gently to an old man about the brave days of england when men threw he kept thinking over and over to the tune set by the rattling of the train friends i got to make friends now i know what they are funny some don t make friends mustn t forget got to make lots of em in new york how to make era he arrived at his room on place about eleven and tried to think for the rest of the night of how deeply he was missing of the cattle boat now that now that he had no friend in all the hostile world in a london a b c mr was talking to an american who had a brisk f a knight of pin and a mind for selling and cigars no more england for mine the american snapped good i m going to get out of this hole and get back to god s country just as soon as i c i want to find out what s doing at the store and i to sit down to a plate of i m good and p sick of tea and why i wouldn t take t u i id i want la plenty take this h trail k and mr fool country for a gift no me for god s country sleepy eye brown county you bet you don t like england much then mr carefully reasoned it like this damp crowded hole where they can t talk english and have a fool say that s a great system that system they ve got over in france but here why they don t know whether city is in or or both right as rain that s what a fellow said to me for all right i ever hear such nonsense and tea for breakfast i not for me no sir i m going to take the first with a gigantic smoke puff of disgust the man from sleepy eye stalked out the keys in his trousers pocket up his cigar and looking as though he owned the mr him greeting the singer tower from an steamer longed to see the tower i ll do it he rose and from that table in the of an a b c he fled to america he dashed up stairs while the made his change rang for a into his room his things into his suit case announced to it wildly that they were going home and to the station he walked nervously up and down till the liverpool train departed suppose wanted to make up and came back to london was a thought that him he dashed into the and wrote to her on a post card showing the abbey called back to america will write address care of company twenty eighth street but he didn t mail the card once settled in a second class with the train in he seemed already much nearer america humming to the great annoyance of a lady with he planned his new great work the making of j he an orange tie friends the discovery some day if should not of somebody to go home to there was no end to the societies and and stuff he was going to join directly he landed at liverpool he suddenly stopped at a post box and his card to that ended his debate of course after that he had to go back to america he sailed one month and seventeen days after leaving he america in his white painted berth mr la with a scratch on his raised knees and a mean pillow doubled under his head writing follow up letters to present to the and novelty company interrupting his work at interval to add to a list of the books which beginning about five minutes after he landed in new york he was going to master he puzzled over liked miss so much but would her works appeal to he had worked for many hours on a letter to in which he avoided mention of such matters as and he was grateful he told her for all you learned me and he had thought that was a beautiful place though he now saw what you meant about them interesting people and his new york address would be the company he tore up the several pages that repeated that oldest most melancholy cry of the lover which rang among the from ships from the of the cry which always sounded about mr as he walked the deck i want you so much miss	42
you so am so lonely for you dear for no more clearly no more nobly did the golden or lean word that cry in their thoughts than did mr william our mr a third class steward with a aod america like tan eyes came down step like a nervous pencil tap on a table and peered the side of mr s berth he loved mr who was a scholar by the reading of real bound books an english history and a second hand copy of haunts of historic english purchased in liverpool and who was willing to listen to the steward s story of how his woman mrs with the cat s meat man when the steward was away and when he was home cooked for him lights and liver that unquestionably were purchased from the same cat s meat man he now with a fond and watery gaze upon mr s pursuits and announced in a whisper they ve sighted land land oh aye mr sat up so vigorously that he his head he his papers beneath the pillow with his right hand while the left was feeling for the side of the berth he to cabin as he out the deck iron sided black ending in the iron approaches to the at one end and the iron about a at the other was like a grim clean machine shop aisle so so over that the side toward the sea seemed merely a long factory window but he loved it and except when he had remembered the books he had to read he had stayed on deck the bright attire of and the dark roll and glory of the sea now out there was a blue made by a magic pencil land his land where he was going to become the g beloved comrade of all the friends whose he saw the white caps before him humming he down to the where small d over i our mr beer and smaller tobacco were sold to buy another of striped for the offspring of the russian jews the children knew he was coming fat he chuckled touching their dark cheeks pretending to be frightened as they soft fists against the iron side of the ship or in the their mothers knew him too and as he handed about the the chattering stately line of elders nodded their like the forest in a breeze saying words of blessing in a strange tongue he smiled back and made gestures and shouted land i land with several variations in key to make it sound foreign but he withdrew for the sacred moment of seeing the land of promise he was newly discovering the long island shore the grass clad at fort the vast pile of new york sky standing in a mist like an enormous burned forest singer tower building he murmured as they proceeded toward their dock that s something like let s see yes sir by right up there between the met tower and the times good old company office one dollar to something like a sign that is good old dollar to thunder with their dam shillings home there s where i used to moon on a wharf the old town looks and all this was his to conquer for friendship s sake he went to a hotel while he had to go back to the of course he did not wish by meeting those old friends to spoil his first day no it was to stand at a window of his cheap hotel on seventh avenue watching the good old american crowd and jews he went to the and grasped the hand of the ticket the man how are you well how s he america things go ng with the old show i been away couple of months fine and been away well it s good to get back to the old town summer hotel why you re the waiter at pat s ain t next morning mr made himself go to the and art novelty company he wanted to get the due him for staying away so short a time over as soon as possible the girl addressing seemed surprised when he stepped from the and blushed her usual shy gratitude to the men of the office for allowing her to exist and take away six dollars weekly then into the entry room ran one of the why wondered if that could be you back so soon thought you were going to europe just got back couldn t stand it away from you old you must have been learning to back real smart in the old country going to be with us again well see you again soon glad see you back he was not madly excited at seeing still the was part of the good old company the one place in the world on which he could absolutely d the one place where they always wanted him he had been staring at the tables noting new the office girl speaking sweetly but as to an inquired who did you wish to see mr mr he s busy but if you ll sit down i think you can see him in a few minutes mr felt like the prodigal son with no calf in sight at having to wait on the bench but he shook with faint excited of mirth at the thought of the delightful surprise mr r the our mr office manager was going to have he kept an eye out for carpenter if didn t come through the entry room he d go into the room and talk about your surprises mr will see you now said the office girl as he entered the manager s office mr made much of glancing up with busy amazement well well back so soon thought you were going to be gone quite a while couldn t	42
us money all round i tell you he says to me if any of you boys think you can get the best of the company or me you just want to try it that s all that s what the old rat told me you want to watch out for him oh i will indeed i did he spring any of this fairy tale just well kind of say thanks i m awful obliged to l say for the love of don t let him know i told i you no no i sure won t they parted eager though he was for the great moment of again seeing his comrade carpenter mr toward the book keeping room mournfully planning to tell of s wickedness the head shook his head at mr s inquiry ain t here any longer ain t here no he got through he got to pretty bad and one morning about three weeks ago when he had a pretty bad hang over he told what he thought of him so of course fired him oh that s too bad say you don t know his address do you east a hundred and well i m glad to see you back didn t expect to see you back i to be with us but glad to see you going our mr t sure said mr then shook hands warmly with the to show there was nothing personal in bis for nearly a hundred blocks mr at an advertisement of com in the third avenue elevated without really seeing it should he go back to the company at all yes he would that was the best way to start making friends but he would get our friend at recess he assured himself with an out thrust of the jaw like that of the great bill he knew s lead now and be would show that gentleman that he could play the game he d take that lower salary and pretend to he frightened but when he got the chance he did not proclaim even to himself what dreadful thing he was going to do but as he left the elevated he said over and over shaking his closed list inside his coat pocket when i get the chance when i get it the flat building where carpenter lived was one of hundreds of pressed brick apparently all turned out of the same it was filled with the smells of washing and fish languid with the heat mr crawled up an of iron steps and knocked three times at s door no answer he crawled down again and sought out the who stopped watching an ice wagon in the street to say i guess you ll be finding him asleep up there sir he do be lying there drunk most of the day his wife s left bim the landlord s give him notice to quit end of august warm day sir be you a bill mostly it s bill that yes it is hot superior in manner but deeply dejected mr rang the down stairs bell long enough to wake got himself up the interminable stairs an kicked the door till s voice inside is america who p it s me you re in can g three other doors on the same landing were now partly open and blocked with the heads of inquisitive women the smell was thicker in the darkness mr felt then angry at this curiosity and again demanded in i say tell you it ain t you i know you carpenter s pale face out his hair was stuck to his forehead by perspiration his eyes were red and vaguely staring his clothes were badly wrinkled he wore a shirt with a bosom of pink its and limp it s ol cm in cm in quick always hanging around they can t catch me you bet he closed the door and swiftly down the long hall of the railroad flat evidently trying to walk straight the main room at the end of the hall was terrible as s eyes flies everywhere the oak table which and his bride had once spent four happy hours in selecting was with half a dozen empty torn newspapers dirty plates and coffee cups the cheap cover which a bride had once to with red and green roses was half pulled off and dragged on the floor amid the tobacco and bacon which covered the green and yellow carpet rug this much mr saw then he set himself k the hard task of listening to who was muttering back quick ain t you ol you come up to see me didn t you you re m friend ain t you eh i t an awful hang over ain t i you don t care do you n there our mr i loo mr stared at him weakly but only for a minute perhaps it was his cattle boat experience which now made him deal directly with such as would have him three months before perhaps his attendance on a weary come now you got to buck up he all ri what s the trouble how did you get going like this wife left me i was drinking you think i m drunk don t but i ain t she went off with her sister always hated me she took my money out of three hundred all money i had fifty dollars i ll fix her i ll kill her took to the fired me don t care drink all i want keep young fellows from getting it say go down and get me pint just finished up pint got to have of thirst i ll go and get you a drink just one drink v if you ll promise to get cleaned up like i you afterward all ri mr hastened out with a ing i got to save him returning poured	42
stuck on me mrs oh hope she she can just kick she wants to i m just going to have all the visitors i want to i our mr i ll be do k it h turned t all right say tell us something about your trip oh i had great time lots of nice fellows on t cattle boat i went over on one you know fellow named awfully nice fellow say you ought to seen me being butler to the handing em hay but say the sea was fine all kinds of colors j awful dirty on the cattle boat though hard work kind of hard oh not so very what did you see jn england oh a lot of different places say i seen some in liverpool with he s fellow works for the here in tow i got to look him up say i wish we had an agency f college sofa pillows and and stuff i oxford there s a whole bunch of there right in the same town met a there from so american college he hired an and took n down to a lar old inn well like you read about floor get to london it s a big place say that westminster s a great place i was in there a couple of times more dam of kings and stuff and i see a bishop j with on but i got kind of lonely i thought of you a lot of times wished we could go out and get an together maybe pick up a couple of pretty girls oh you sport say didn t get over to gay j did you f well i guess i d better beat it now got to move in i m at a hotel you will come down and s me to night won t you so you thought of me eh sure old j i ll be down to night and i ll get right after that job it is doubtful whether mr would ever have re turned to the had he not promised to see l o he america even while he was carrying his suit case down est sixteenth by degrees in the sunshine he felt rushing up to s and telling him to come to the hotel instead lee taking the day off with a headache answered the bell and ejaculated well so it s you is i guess it is what are you back so soon why you ain t been gone more than a month and a half have you beware daughter of southern pride the uttle yankee is regarding your full blown curves and empty eyes with rebellion though he says ever so meekly yes i guess it is about that miss well i just knew you couldn t stand it away from us i suppose you ll want your room back ma here s mr back again mr ma oh h h sounded s voice in disdain below mr heel couldn t stand it ain t that like a yankee a slap a wail then mrs s on the stairs from the she appeared her collar smiling almost pleasantly for she disliked mr less than she did any other of her back already mist ah declare ah was saying to lee just day ah just knew you d be wishing you was back with us won t you come he edged into the parlor with how is the mrs ah ain t feeling right smart my room occupied yet he was surveying the parlor rather heavily and his cure manner w as not pleasing to the head of the house of who remarked it ain t taken just now mist but ah there was a a looking at it just yesterday and he said he d be permanent if he came ah declare i i j ah s ah like to have my get up and go without giving me lee at her mr retorted i did give you notice ah know but well ah reckon ah can let you have it but ah ll have to have four and a half a week instead of four prices is all going up so ah declare ah was just saying to lee t ah what we re all going to do if the dear lord don t look out for us and mist ah s ah like to have you coming in so lace nights but ah reckon ah can accommodate you it s a good deal of a favor isn t it mrs mr was polite let look out for the sharp of the yankee yes but it was our hero our madman of the seven and seventy seas our friend of who leaped straight from the decks of his laboring steamer to the parlor and declared quietly but practically well then i guess i d better not take it at all so that s the way you re going to treat mrs you go off and leave us with an room and oh you poor white you ma you shut up and go down stairs s s s s go on mrs out lee spoke mr ma ain t feeling a bit well this afternoon i m sorry she talked like that you will come back won t she showed all her teeth in a genuine smile and in her anxiety reached his heart remember you promised you would well i will but bill was fading an tlie but was the last glimpse of him and that overlooked as she i you would he america understand right up and look at the room and put on fresh sheets one month one hot new york month passed before the imperial mr gave him back the job and then at seventeen dollars and fifty cents a week instead of his former nineteen dollars mr refused	42
upon to go out with the manager for a drink and presented him with twenty suggestions for new and circular letters he the methods of the and two days later he was at work as though he had never in his life been farther from the company than dear i am back in new york feeling very well hope this finds you the same i have been wanting to write to you for quite a while now but there has not been much news of any kind so i have not written to you but now i am back working for the company i hope you are having a good time in paris it must be a veiy pretty city st i have often wished to be there perhaps some day i go i several here have been reading quite a few books since i got back now i shall get on better with my reading you told me so many things about books so on i do appreciate it in closing i am yours very sincerely william there was nothing else he could say but there a number of things he could think as i crouched by the window overlooking west street whose dull hue had not changed during the c tunes while he had been england her sm he remembered and he cried oh i want to see her i much her gallant dash through the and again the cry at last he cursed himself why don t you do that d count for her and not sit around t her like a he worked on his plan to bring the south into line the company s line again and again he sprang up from the writing table in his hot room when the presence of came and stood by his chair but he worked l presence he is our mr the company had not been able to get from the south the business which the company deserved if right and justice were to prevail on the steamer from england mr had conceived the idea that a ink well with the and union draped in graceful cast iron would make an admirable present with which to draw the attention of the southern trade the ink well was to be followed by a series of letters sent on the slightest provocation on order or re order hoping the various of the were good and the season important all to a welcome to the on the southern route he drew up his letters he his ink well he got up the courage to talk with the office manager to forget love and the beloved men have ascended in and conquered african tribes to forget love a new busy much absorbed mr very much ours into mr s office down his papers on the desk and demanded here s that plan about the south interested that i was telling you about say honest i d like awful much to try it on i d just have to have part time of one well you know our are pretty well crowded but you can leave the outline with me i ll look it over said mr that same afternoon the manager o k d the plan to o k is an office for saying gloomily well i don t suppose it d hurt to try it anyway but for the love of be careful and let me see any letters you send out so mr dictated a letter to each of their southern merchants sending him a ink well and inquiring about the crops he had a an efficient young woman who wrote down his halting words as though they were examples of bad english she wanted to show her friends and waited for the next word with cynical amusement i s h wanted t v with our mr h use l by growled bill the show her i m running this i ll show her she s got other think coming but he dictated so busily and was so hot to get results that he forgot the girl s air of he watched the southern results in the papers he seized on every on the southern route as he came in and inquired about the and politics of the merchants in his district he even forgot to worry about his next rise in salary and found it much to rush back for an important letter after quick lunch than to watch the time and make sure that he secured every minute of his lunch hour when october came october of the vagabond with the leaves out on the and sixth avenue moving picture palaces cool again and gay mr stayed late under the lights making card cross of the southern merchants their and prejudices and as he worked stopping now and then to slap the desk and by i l em em he rarely thought of till he was out on the again proud of having worked so late that his eyes in fact his chief troubles these days came when wouldn t let him put through an idea their first battle was over mr s thi letters personally for the letters the office manager were as much ours as was mr and should signed by the firm after some difficulty mr persuaded him that one of the best ways to handle a personal letter was to make it personal they nearly cursed each other before mr was allowed to use his own judgment it s not at all certain that mr should have yielded what s the use of a manager if his use judgment next battle mr lost he had demanded a he is our mr monthly holiday for his mr pointed out that she d merely be the worse off for a holiday that it d make her discontented that it was a kindness to her to keep her mind occupied	42
mr was however granted a new in a manner which revealed the fact that the company was with almost too much mercy in permitting an to follow his own selfish and stubborn desires you cannot trust these mr was getting so absorbed in his work that he didn t even act as though it was a favor when mr allowed him to have his letters to the trade copied by paper instead of having them by the wet paper a copy book the manager did grant the request but e was justly indignant at the manner of the rascal our our friend to and red headed artists demanded a raise said that he didn t care a hang if the ed letters n er went out the kindness of chiefs for mr and raised the madman s from seventeen dollars and fifty cents a week to his former nineteen dollars he had expected eighteen dollars he had demanded twenty two dollars and fifty cents he was worth on the labor market from twenty five to thirty dollars while the profit to the company from his work was about sixty dollars salary he got not only that mr him on the back and said you re doing good work old man it s fine i just don t want you to be too reckless that night worked till eight after his raise he could afford to go to the since he was not saving money for travel he wrote small letters to and read the books he believed she would approve a paris and the second volume of s war and which he bought at a book stall for five cents he became interested in i i i our mr popular and french and english histories any amount of anecdotes about i and rush lights and the divine right of kings he thought almost every night about making friends which he intended just as much as ever to do as soon as arrived on the day on which one of the southern merchants wrote him about his son fine young fellow sir has every chance of rising to a on the police force mr s eyes were moist here was a friend already sure he would make friends then there was the with the comer news and stand in mr two extra ink wells and a banner and sent them to the for his brothers who were in the agricultural college the yes they were growing larger the southern took him out to dinner sometimes but he was shy of them they were so knowing and had so many smoking room stories he still had not found the friends he desired s on forty second street was a romantic discovery though it had popular prices plain fifteen it had red and green lights mission style tables and music played by a and a mr never really heard the music but while it was he had a happier appreciation of the silk hat harry humorous pictures in the journal which he always propped up against an oil that never caused him inconvenience he had no convictions in regard to he would drop the paper to look out of the window at the improvement company s electric sign showing gardens of paradise on the plan and dream of well he hadn t the slightest idea what something distant and likely to become intimate once or f he is our mr twice he knew that he was the girl in soft brown whom he would go home to and who in a residence would play just such music for him and the friends who lived near by she would be as clever as but oh more so s you can go regular places with her often he got good ideas about letters south to be down on envelope backs from that music at last comes the historic match box incident on that october evening in he dined early at s the thirty cent table d was perfect the cream of com soup was he went so far as to remark to the simply the had two whole in his portion alone the fat man with the white waistcoat whom he had often noted as dining in this same corner of the smiled at him and said pleasant evening as he sat down opposite mr and smoothed the two sleek which decorated the front of his nearly bald head the music included a of airs from the merry widow which set his foot tapping all the while he was conscious that he d made the novelty and comer store come through with a dollar order on one of his letters the journal contained an essay on friendship which would have been and was a credit to he laid down the paper stirred his large cup of coffee and stared at the mother of pearl buttons on the waistcoat of the fat man who was now down soup opposite him my land i he was thinking friendship i ain t even begun to make all those friends i was going to haven t done a thing oh i will i nice night said the fat man it sure is brightly agreed mr lar indian summer weather yes isn t it i feel like taking a walk on drive b i will i our mr wish i had time but i get down to the store store i m on nights three times a week i ve seen you here most every time i eat early mr the rest of the time i eat at the silence but mr was fighting for things to say means of approach for the chance to become acquainted with a new person for all the friendly human ways he had desired in nights of loneliness wonder when they ll get the grand central done asked the fat man i	42
s pose it ii take quite a few years said mr i s pose it will silence mr sat trying to think of something else to say lonely people in city simply do not get acquainted yet he did manage to observe great building that be in the manner silence then the fat man went on wonder what will do in his mill don t believe he can stand up was mr seemed to remember a he agreed vaguely pretty hard all right go out to the meet asked the fat man no but i d like to see it there must be ai kind of adventure in them things sure is first machine i saw though i was just getting off the train at park and there was an up in the air and it looked like one of them big mechanical these fellows sell on the street around up there i was kind of disappointed but what do you think it was that j a d in a i think it was and by he got f he is our mr to around and racing and so s i i d loose my hat off i was so excited and say what do you think p i see himself afterward standing near one of the the handsome young chap not over twenty eight or thirty built like a half and then see and arch mr was breathing dipping and doing the what do you call it dutch roll or something like that my ad off oh it must have been great to see em and so close p it sure was there seemed to be no other questions to settle mr slowly folded up his paper pursued his check under three plates and the card to its hiding place beyond the bottle and left the table with a good night at the desk of the a he put a cent in the machine which good drops out boxes of matches no box dropped this time though he worked the out of order asked the lady here s two boxes of matches guess you ve earned them well well well sounded the voice of his friend the fat man who stood at the desk paying his bill pretty easy two boxes for one cent sting the his head he carefully inserted a cent in the and the turning to grin at mr who grinned back as the machine failed to work let me try it mr and the with the enthusiasm of nothing doing lady the fat man to the i guess draw two boxes too eh and vm in a cigar store how s that for your h ho ho our mr the handed him two boxes with an embarrassed and the fat man clapped mr s should my turn shouted a young man in a green hat and a bright suit who had been watching with the sudden friendship which a crowd brought together by an accident mr was glowing no it ain t it s mine be achieved i invented this game never had he so stood forth in a crowd he was a bill with the polish of a floor he stood beside the fat man as a friend of sorts a person to be taken perfectly seriously it is true that he didn t add to this spiritual tile triumph of getting two more boxes of matches for the girl exclaimed no it s my turn and lifted the match machine to a high shelf behind her but mr went out of the with his old friend the fat man saying to him quite as would a wit i guess we get stung eh the fat man walking down to your store sure won t you walk down a piece yes i would uke to which way is it fourth avenue and twenty eighth walk down with you fine and the fat man seemed to mr that the fishing new that he casting of flies in fishing th to be at fishing with flies but was prevented by the manager of the cigar store that the manager was an old devil that his the fat man s own name tom that the store had a new brand of cigars kept in a swell new bought upon the advice of himself mr that one of the an it he i something elegant s some at the he wished exceedingly nt w he is our mr in the store had done fine in the modified that the had had a great team this year that he d be glad to give mr mr eh one of those cigars great cigars they were too and that he hadn t laughed so much for a month of sundays as he had over the way they stung s on them matches all this in the easy affectionate slightly wistful manner of fat men mr s large round friendly childish eyes were never sarcastic he was the man who makes of a crowd in the smoking room old friends in half an hour in turn mr did not shy off he hinted at most of his and a fair number of his sorrows and when they reached the store not only calmly accepted but even one of the new cigars as he left the store he knew that the golden age had begun he had a friend he was to see tom the coming thursday at s and now he was going to find he laughed so loudly that the policeman at thirty fourth street looked self conscious and felt to find out what was the matter with his uniform now this evening he d try to get on the track of well perhaps not this evening the offices wouldn t open but some time this week anyway two nights later	42
as he waited for tom at s he lashed himself with the thought that he had not to find good old of the cattle boat but that was forgotten in the wonder of tom s account of mrs s a boarding house where all the folks each other you ve never fed at a boarding house eh said tom well i guess most of em are pretty poor feed and pretty sad bunch but mrs s is about as near like home as most of us poor ever gets nice crowd there if mrs mrs r t is her na but we always call her mrs if she don t take to name m to h mr don t m nd letting you know she won t take at all but if she does she ll worry over the holes in as if they was her husband s all the bunch drop into the parlor when they come in pretty near any clear up till twelve thirty and talk and laugh and rush the and play five hundred just like home mrs s nearly as fat as i am but she can be pretty if there s something she can do for you nice crowd there too except that he s one of these here boy actors always out of work i guess mrs is kind of sorry for him say you seem to me like a good fellow why don t you get ao with the bunch f maybe you d like to move up there some time you was telling me about a old party your landlady is anyway come on up there to dinner on me got anything on for next monday n no come on up then east i d like why don t you then get there about six ask for me monday monday wednesday and friday i don t have to get to the store evenings come on you ll find out if you like the place by i mr the at last he was through just through with around and not getting acquainted he told himself he was tired of there was nothing to he would go up to mrs s and he was going to find next morning at himself for not having done this easy task before he to the railroad offices asked for one half minute heard yes this is harry jl he our mr mr i ll just bet you can t guess who this is i guess you ve got me well who do you think it jack uncle henry mr felt lonely at finding himself so completely outside s own world that he was not thought of he hastened to claim a part in that world say mr i wonder if you ve ever heard of a cattle boat called the i is this bill yes well well well when oh i been back quite a little while tried to get hold of you almost called up couple of times i m in my office company now back on the old job say i d like to see you well i d like to see you old bill got a date for dinner this evening n no no i don t i ve got anything on s voice seemed to sound a doubt mr reflected that must be a society person and he made his invitation highly polite well say old i d be awful happy if you could come over and feed on me can t you come over and meet me f y yes i guess i can yes i ll do it where i meet you how about twenty eighth and sixth avenue that ll be all right bill bout six o clock fine be awful nice to see you again old same here by gazing across the table at s mr saw in the body and sturdy face of of i s mr the cattle boat a stranger slightly uneasy and quiet wearing garments that had nothing whatever to ti with the cattle boats a crimson with a pin of diamonds and sleek brown ready clothes with curved and pocket would say nothing of his wanderings after their parting in liverpool beyond oh i just around places warm to night for this time of year he explained i was kind of afraid you d be sore at me for the way i left you that s why i ve never looked you up thrice mr declared that he had not been sore then ceased trying to make himself understood their talk both of them played with their knives a good deal built a set of out of while pretending to give hushed attention to the s of s little while mr stared out of the window as though he expected to see the building across get immediately when either of them invented something to say they started chattering with guilty haste and each agreed with any opinion the other advanced mr surprised himself in the thought that hadn t anything very new to say which made him feel so that he burst out say come on now old man i just got to hear about what you did after you left liverpool well i never got out of liverpool worked in a but next time i ll go clean to t exploded and i did see a lot of english life in liverpool mr talked long and rapidly of the world s base ball series and shoes he tried to think of something they could do slid our mr a h all right b l say i know an awful nice down here cigar store let s go down and see him au right tom was very cordial to them he dragged l canvas out of the tobacco scented room where cigars were made and the three of	42
them in the back of the store while tom of the races cigar and jews aroused to tell the time story of the judge and the he was cheerful and laughed much and frequently said ah there in general but he kept looking at the clock on the in the wall over the water i cooler just at ten he rose hesitated and murmured well i guess i ll have to be beating it home from mr oh so early tom what s the big i ve got to run clear over to city was cordial but not convincing say said tom kindly of face his bald head shining behind his twin as he rose i m going to have up to dinner at my next monday like to have you come along it s a fine place mrs she s the landlady she s a wonder there s going to be a vacant room there maybe you two fellows could frame it up to take it understand i don t get no off on this but we all like to do what we can for m no said couldn t do it staying with my brother in law costs me only bout half as much as it would i don t do much chasing around when i m in town i m going to save up enough money for a good long i m going clean to st but i ve had a good time to night glad great stuff about you fellows on the ship said tom hastened on a bit you fellows sport around a good deal don t you i ty r mr i can t afford to well good night glad to met you mr g night old going to the for i ll wait over with you said mr their walk was quiet and for mr sad he saw doing the wandering he had once planned he felt that while making his vast new circle of friends he was losing all the wild of bill and he was parting with his first friend at the house pronounced his well so long old fellow with an affection that meant mr fled back to tom s store on the way he was shocked to find himself relieved at having parted with the cigar store was closed at home mrs him for his rent a day and he was very that was to keep back the o god how rotten i feel with which in his room he the desolation of loneliness the ghost of dead and forgotten was with him all next day till he got home and found on the staid black hat rack a letter from paris in a gray foreign appearing envelope with s intensely black on it he put off the luxury of opening the letter till after the rites of brushing his teeth putting on his slippers his rocking chair cushion into softness panting with the joy to come he stared out of the window at a giant and glorious figure of the laughing of breakfast camp fire which from the street below he sighed and read mouse dear just a word to let you know i haven t forgotten you and am very glad indeed to get your letters not much about busy with work and fool you art a dear good soul and i hope you ll keep on writing in haste i n longer letter next time he came to the end so soon was gone again england in all its ness scarce gave mr a better thrill for his collection than the thrill he i received on the november evening when he saw the white i doorway of mrs r t jn a row of i houses on street near avenue it is a block where the citizens have pride a newspaper has not the least chance of lying about on the some with a frequently will indignantly upon it inside of an hour no awe is caused by the sight of with marble in alternate black and white not by but by maids there are dotted curtains at the windows and irish point curtains on the first floors there are two polished brass in a stretch of less than eight houses distinctly it is not a quarter where children fill the street with shouting and little sticks occasionally a drives up to some door without a crowd of small boys gathering and young men in evening clothes are not seen to take out young i ladies wearing tight fitting gowns of black and light over their heads a middle western college has a club house in the block and four of the houses are private one of them belonging to a police and one to a school principal who wears it is a block that is satisfied with itself as different from the district where in run i out to is from the mrs s house is a poor relation to most of the there the rail is broken and the door is rusty but at the window are red and white figured curtains with a s of an lady between them door is of white with a pull of polished mr this bell pull with an which he hoped would conceal his and delight in dining out for he was one of the g men in new york he had dined out four times eight years the woman of thirty five or thirty eight who the door to him was very fat two thirds as fat as but she had young eyes her mouth was sm arched and quivering in a grin this is mr isn t it she and against the merry apparently indolent i mrs mr told me you were and he said you were a terribly nice man and i was to sure and welcome you come right in	42
her turned to energy as she charged dow the hall to the large double door on the right and open revealing to him a scene of splendor and hy night several persons they seemed in their were singing and shouting to piano music in the midst of l a general and brightness of red paper h and worn red carpet and a high ceiling with circular h tinted in pink hand painted pictures of old mills h and ladies brooding over salmon and an especially h hand painted christmas scene with snow of mother of pearl animated the walls on a golden oak b table was a large lamp with a shade and through h i mingled bits of green and red and pearl glass h h e of a mantle light k nd through he enters society the room was crowded with and chairs side tables and comer a couch and a lady s desk green and red and yellow adorned with figures of youthful lovers crammed the top of the piano at the farther end of the room and the polished black marble mantel of the fireplace the glaring gas the hearth fire for snap and glare and excitement the profusion of furniture was like a tumult the and and of furniture was a activity and it was all by the laughter and singing about the piano tom up from a couch of new and red leather and mr was introduced to the five new people in the room with swiftness there seemed to be fifty times five and magnificent strangers from whom he wanted to flee of them all he was sure of only two a miss somebody and what sounded like hood it was he wished that he had caught miss s last name which at dinner proved to be for he was instantly taken by her sweetness as she smiled held out a well shaped hand and said so pleased meet you mr she returned to the front of the room and went on talking to a about but mr felt that he had known her long and as intimately as it was possible to know so clever a young woman gave him the impression of a delicate a superior sort of like that of the daughter of the big white house on the hill the squire s house at though was not unusually pretty indeed her mouth was too large her hair of somewhat ordinary brown but her face was always changing with emotions of and life her skin l was perfect her features fine rather greek her smile i our mr ft ai quick yet sensitive she was several inches shorter than mr and all curves her of white silk lay tenderly along the smooth softness of her young shoulders a smart patent leather belt encircled her sleek waist thin black stockings showed a modestly arched and rather small foot in a black pump she looked as though she were trained for business awake self self respecting expecting to have to get things done all done yet she seemed gentle good and believing and just a shy was twenty four or twenty five in older in business and far younger in love she was bom in s grove there for eighteen years she had played to at parties hid away the notes with which the boys invited her to at beach read much walter scott and occasionally taught sunday school her parents died when she was beginning her fourth year in high school and she came to new york to work in s toy department at six dollars a week during the holiday rush her patience with old and her large had gained her a permanent place in the store she had climbed to the position of i assistant in the department at dollars and eighty cents a week that was quite all of hi history except that she attended a nearly every sunday the only person she hated hood the cheap actor who was the piano at mr s entrance just now was playing with rapidity stamping his foot and turning his head to at the others mrs led her chattering flock to the dining room which had pink wall paper and a mr was placed between mi and out of the mist of to i he enters society presently emerged the personality of miss mary a lively but religious of forty who made for the women s exchange and had two hundred dollars a year family income to the right of the dish were the elderly samuel esq also mrs mr had come from five years before but he always seemed just to have come from there he was in a real estate office he was gray ill tempered impatiently honest and to and the newspapers mrs was only to mr across the table was felt the presence of james t who looked like a dignified red sunday school but who for a cloak and suit house heavily on and and was esteemed for his straight back nd knowledge of trains which is all of them as soon as mrs had guided the maid in serving the vegetable soup and had her into bringing mr a she took charge of the conversation a luxury which she would never have to her flock s efforts mr said she had spoken of meeting a friend of mr s mr was it not a very nice man she understood was it true that mr and mr had je clear across the atlantic on a cattle boat f it was oh how interesting contributed pretty beside mr her young eyes filled with an admiration which caused him and difficulty in his soup he was confused by hearing old samuel state h h h back in i the vessel no it was no it must have been father said mrs i was on a vessel young man but i our	42
mr we didn t carry cattle mr hood darkly his spectacle case sharply shut and fell to eating as though he had settled all with occasional witty from the actor mr told of hay of the wit of and the wickedness of satan the t you haven t told us about the brave things you did mrs she appealed to i ll bet he was a cool one don t you think he i m sure he was s voice was like a mr knew that there was just one thing in the world that he wanted to do to persuade miss that though he was a solid business man indeed yes and honorable he was a cool one who had chosen in wandering o er this world so wide the most perilous and places he tried to think of something modest yet striking to say while tom was arguing with miss mary the respectable about the of giving away street car as they finished their floating mr achieved do you come from new york miss and listened to the tale of parties in s grove he was absolutely happy this is like getting home he thought and they re folks to get home to now that i can tell em apart miss is a and brains he had a frightened hope that after dinner he would be able to get into a comer and talk with but tom conferred with hood and called mr aside had been acting with a moving picture company for a week and had three passes to the celebrated mr had blood hood s remarks such as tee and you naughty man but when he heard that this he enters society had shared in the glory of making moving pictures he went proudly forth with him and tom he had no chance to speak to mrs about taking the room to be he wished that carpenter or the could see him sitting right beside an actor who was shown in the pictures there before them asking him how they made just as friendly as though they had known each other always he wanted to do something to entertain his friends beyond taking them out for a drink he invited them down to his room and they came was in wonderful form he every one they saw so that tom knew the actor wanted to borrow money the party were lovingly humming the popular song of the time any little girl thai s a nice little girl is the right little girl for me as they up the gloomy steps of the entering and struck attitudes on the inside stairs and sang aloud mr felt conscious of mrs down below he kept as he led them up stairs and lighted the gas but so with two water glasses for eye glasses and a small hat brush for that mr was moved to exclaim say i m going out and get some beer or d you rather have something else some cheese how about fine said tom and together not only did mr buy a large bundle of bottles of beer and cheese but also a small can of and in his room he spread a clean then two clean on the and arrayed the feast with two water glasses and a for cups hood spreading on a loudly singing his i swan stopped short and fixed amazed eyes on the door of j room mr hastily turned the light of gray rock on mrs in the open door vast in her gray her arms folded mist she began in a high voice that promised to burst into passion but she was addressing the formidable bill he had to protect his friends he sprang up and walked across to her he said quietly i didn t hear you knock mrs ah didn t knock and ah want you should then please do knock unless you want me to give he was quivering his voice was shrill from the hall below called up ma down here ma but mrs was too well started if you ah m going to stand for a lazy little keeping the whole street awake and here it is pr tt nearly midnight just then mr william saw and heard the most thing of his life and became an eternal slave to tom tom s broad face became hard his voice si he shouted at mrs beat it or i ll run you in trouble with you is old you don t appreciate a nice quiet little chap like and you try to bully him and him here for years get out or i ll put you out i m no lamb and i oa t stand for any of your monkey shines get out ain t your room he s it he s paid the room get out kindly tom worked in a cigar store and accustomed to talk back to drunken men six feet his voice was tremendous and he was he enters society he didn t a bit mind the fact that mrs was still glaring speechless but behold an ally to the forlorn lady when in the hall below heard tom she that mr would room here no more she galloped up stairs and over her mother s shoulder you will pick on a lady will you you drunken you you i ll have you arrested so quick you look here lady said tom gently i m a man a his large voice like a tiger s i don t want to run you in but i will if you don t get out of here and shut that door or you might go down and call the on this block he ll run you in for breaking code of the and that s what it uneasy frightened then mrs swung about and the door sick guilty banished	42
from home though he felt mr s voice with an attempt at dignity i m awful sorry she in while you fellows was here i don t know how to forget it old man rolled out tom s bass come on let s go up to mrs s but it s nearly a quarter to eleven that s all right we can get up there by a little after and mis stays up playing cards till after twelve mr ejaculated under his breath as they entered mrs s though not on his part the parlor door was open mrs s broad back was toward them and she was announcing to james t and miss with whom she was playing five hundred well i ll just bid seven on hearts if you re going to get so she glanced back our mr i i nodded said come in children picked up the widow and discarded with quick of the cards the f mr feeling like a land compared this smoking woman with the intense respectability of his dear lost patron mrs he sat uneasy till the hand of cards was feeling as though they were only him and was nowhere in sight suddenly said mrs and now yoa would like to look at that room mr unless i m wrong why yes i guess i would like to come with me child she said in pretended severity tom you take my hand in the game and don t let me hear you ve been bidding ten on no suit without the she led mr to the hat rack in the hall the third floor back will be vacant in two weeks mr we can go up and look at it now if you d like to the man who has it now works nights he s some kind of a head waiter at s or something like that and he s out till three or four come when he saw that third floor back the room that the smart people at mrs s were really willing to let him have he felt like a man just engaged it was all in soft green grass green pale green walls chairs of white with green cushions the bed a couch with a cover and four sofa pillows it gave him the i of being a guest on fifth avenue it s kind of a plain room mrs said the furniture is kind of plain but my head wait man it was furnished tor a friend of his he says likes it better than any other room in the house it comfortable and you get lots of sunlight and i ll take how much is it please with she spoke with a take it or leave it defiance fifty a week it was a terrible extravagance much like marrying a sick woman on a salary of ten a week he reflected nine l he enters society eleven fifty left him only seven fifty for clothes and and things and but i ll take it he said hastily he was frightened at himself but glad very glad he was to live in this heaven he was going to be away from that woman and was she engaged to some man he wondered mrs was saying first i want to ask you some questions though please sit down as she into one of the chairs she suddenly changed from the rolling card player to a woman dignified reserved commanding mr you sec miss and miss are on this floor miss can take care of herself all right but is such a trusting little thing she s like my daughter she s the only one i ve ever given a reduced rate to and i swore i never would to anybody do you drink drink much i mean on this floor near he had to have this room he forced himself to speak directly i know how you mean mrs no i don t drink much of any hardly at all just a glass of beer now and then i don t even touch that a week at a time and i don t and and i do try to keep er straight and all that sort of thing that s good i work for the and art novelty company on twenty eighth street if you want to call them up i guess the manager ii give me a pretty good recommend i don t believe i ll need it mr it s my business to find out what sort of men are by just talking to them she rose smiled out her hand you be nice to won t i m going to fire that out don t tell him but i am because he gets too fresh with her she suddenly broke into laughter and ejaculated say that was hard don t you hate to have to be our mr serious let s down and fu make tom or rush us a of beer to welcome you to our midst i ll bet your aren t properly fm going to in and take a look at them once i get you up here but i won t read your love letters i now let s go down by the where it s i he studies five hundred and lot a snap office on a couch of glossy red leather with glossy black buttons and stiff also of glossy red leather mr william sat upright and was very confiding to miss who was curled among the satin pillows with her skirts drawn carefully about her ankles l he had been at mrs s for two weeks now he wore i a new light blue tie and his trousers were pressed like sheet steel yes i suppose you re engaged to some one miss and	42
you ll go off and leave us that blamed s grove or some place i am not engaged i ve told you so who would i want to marry you stop me you re mean i as can be i ll just have to get tom to protect course you re engaged ain t are ain t who would want to marry poor little me why anybody of course you me besides probably you re in love with twenty girls i am not why i ve never hardly known but just two girls in my life one was just a girl i went to with once or twice she was the daughter of the land lady used to have before i c here if you don t make love to the landlady s daughter you t get a second piece of pie quoted out of the treasure house of literature our mr sure that s it but i bet you who was the other oh she she was a an artist i liked lot but she was oh awful but a sympathetic silence which broke with yes they re funny people artists do yoa have your lesson in five hundred to your very first i think so say is it much like this here oh say miss why do they call it five hundred that s what you have to make to go out no i guess it isn t very much like bridge though to tell the truth i haven t ever played bridge it must be a nice game though oh i thought ly you could play it you can do most everything honest i ve never seen like it now you stop mr i know i m a what was it mr used to call me a but miss you aren t a well or a either you re a let s see an i am not even if i can my nose like i rabbit besides it sounds hke a but way the head said i was crazy to day if i heard him say you were crazy would you beat him she a and smiled gratefully her big eyes seemed to fill i light he caught himself wanting to kiss the softness of shoulder but he said only well i ain t much of but i d try to make it interesting for tell me did you ever have a fight when you boy were you such a bad boy i never did when i was a boy but well i did he studies five when i was on the cattle boat and in of them amounted to very much i was scared couple of fights england though i guess i don t believe it sure i was i don t believe you d be scared you re too earnest me miss why i m a regular cut up you stop making fun of yourself i like it when you re earnest like when you saw that beautiful s fall last night oh dear isn t it hard to have t so many beautiful things here in the there s just the and even there there aren t any birds real wild birds like we used to have in yes isn t it isn t it hard mr drew and looked sympathy i m afraid i m getting miss she s in my department she d laugh at me but i do love birds and and and all those things in summer i love to go on on island or tramp in van park would you go on a with me some day next hastily i mean with miss and mrs and me i should be pleased to she was but trusting about it oh listen mr did you ever tramp along the as far as it s lovely there the woods and the river and all those funny little puffing along way down below you why i could he on the rocks up there and just dream and dream for hours after i ve spent sunday up there she was dreaming now he saw and his heart was passionately tender toward her i don t hardly mind a bit having to go back to the store monday morning you ve been up along there haven t you why i guess i m yes i e t t up oh you are are i read about that in american ft ur mr but honestly mr i do believe ft care for and things not hke that or mr they always want to just stay in town or even tom though he s an old dear mr looked jealous with a small hot jealousy she hastened on with of course i mean he s just big brother to all of us it was sweet to both of them to her to declare and to him to hear that neither tom nor any other possessed her heart their shy glances were like an of tenderly touching hands as she confided mrs and he get up and when we re out on the he says to me you know sometimes he almost makes me think he is sleepy though i do believe he just off under a tree and talks to mrs or reads a magazine but i was saying he always says to me well sister i suppose you want to round and dream by you won t talk to a old bear like me well i m glad of it i want to sleep i don t want to be by you and your everlasting chatter get out i b he just says that cause he knows i wouldn t want to run off by myself if they didn t think it was proper as he heard her lively effort to imitate tom	42
s bass mr laughed and his knee and agreed yes tom s an awfully fine fellow isn t he i love to get out some place by myself too i like to wander round places and make up the fool little stories to myself about them just as bad as a that way and you read such an awful lot mr i oh tell me have you ever read anything by bell or reed mr they write such sweet stories he had not but he expressed an resolve so to do and with she went on mrs told me you had a real big library he studies five hundred a hundred books and do you mind i went in your room and at them no course i don t if there s any of them you d like to borrow any time miss i would be awful glad to lend them to you but rats why i haven t got hardly any books that s why you haven t wasted any time learning five hundred and things isn t it because you ve been so busy reading and so yes kind of mr looked modest haven t you always been lots of oh haven t you lots she really seemed to care mr felt excitedly sure of that and imparted yes i guess have and i ve always wanted to travel a lot so have it isn t it wonderful to go around and see new places yes isn t he breathed it was great to be in england though the people there are kind of chilly some ways even when i m on a wharf here in new york i feel just like i was off in china or i d like to see china and india when i hear the waves down at island or some place you know how the waves sound when they come in well sometimes i almost feel like they was talking to a you know telling about ships and oh say you know the aren t they just like the waves was at you they want you to come and beat it with you over to china and places why mr you re a regular poet he looked doubtful honest i m not you you are a poet and i think it s fine that mr was saying that nobody could be a poet or like that unless they drank an awful lot and oh not be honest and be on a job but you aren t like that are i s our mr he looked self conscious and earnestly i try not to be but i am going to you go to church be a or something like that if you get to be too of a poet and don t miss please may i go to church with why nest sunday why yes i should be pleased are you a though why i guess i m kind of a but still they re all so much alike yes they really are and besides what does it matter if we all believe the same and try to do right and sometimes that s hard when you re poor and tt seems like like seems hke what mr insisted oh nothing my you ll have to get up early sunday morning if you d like to go with me my church starts at ten thirty oh i d get up at five to go with you stupid now you re just ing to jolly me you aft because you men aren t as fond of church as all that i know you aren t you re real lazy sunday mornings and just want to sit around and read the papers and leave the poor women but please tell me some more about your reading and all that i ll be all ready to go at nine thirty i don t know why i haven t done much reading but i would like to travel and say wouldn t it be great to i suppose i m sort of a kid about it of course a has to tend right to business but it would be great say a man was in europe with a friend and they both knew a lot of history say they both knew a lot about he was the that tried to blow up the english parliament and then when they were there in london they could almost think they saw him and w he studies five hundred could go round together and look at s window he was a poet at oxford oh it would be great with a with a friend yes wouldn t it i wanted to work in the book department one time it s so nice your being ready for five hundred tom in the hall below ready partner you tom was to mr into the game playing with him against mrs and miss mary mrs sounded the occasion s pitch of high merriment by delivering from the doorway the sacred old saying well the ladies against the men a general that might be assented i m a good she added watch us the men mary like to windows let s see it s red black up remarked tom as he prepared the pack of cards for playing yes i it makes me so tired mrs to think of the old that men put up for when they know they re solemn old fools i d just like to get out and vote my head off well i think the woman s place is in the home miss away a she was finishing for the women s exchange and at her they settled themselves about the glowing glancing glittering golden oak table miss sternly mr sat and frightened like a professor on a	42
with two and a press agent though was smiling at him from the couch where she had started her a e christmas lamp mat for the wife of the at s grove don t you wish your friend hood was here to play with you remarked tom mr i do not declared mrs still there was one thing about i never had to look up his account to find out how much he owed me he stopped me little when he owed me ten dollars and he even stopped the front door when he got up to twenty o mr did i ever tell you about the time i asked him if he wanted to have sweep protested miss while on the couch ejaculated mechanically that story but mrs chuckled and continued i asked him if he wanted me to have s his when she swept his room he changed it next day your bid mr said miss severely first i want to tell how to play you see here s the we play you know oh yes said mr he had once heard of in new or or somewhere but that didn t seem to help much well you see you either make or go back continued tom and you know is high then right bower left and ace then let s see high bid takes the cat you know and ten tricks follow suit like of course i guess that s all that ought to give you the hang of anyway i bid six on no as tom finished these instructions given in the card player s rapid don t as k me any more fool manner mr felt that he was choking he up his neck trying to ease his stiff collar so then he was a failure a social outcast already so then he couldn t learn five hundred and he had been very proud of knowing one card from another perfectly having played a number of games of two hai with tim on the cattle boat but what the t did left cat follow suit mean r he studies five and to fail with watching him i he pulled at his collar again thus he reflected while mrs and tom were carrying on the following brilliant but society dialogue mrs well don t know not failure but low bid is crime little one mary shall i make tom hey no talking cross table mrs um let me see tom bid up bid up bid a little seven on hearts mrs bid seven on hearts tom oh how we will you what you bidding behind mr whispered to him bid seven on no suit you ve got the her delicate forefinger its nail shining was pointing at a curious card in his hand seven he eight hearts snapped miss drew up a chair behind mr s he listened to her soft explanations with the desperate respect and affection which a green would give to a general in battle tom and he won the hand he glanced hack at with awe then clutched his new hand fearfully staring at it as though it might conceal one of those of which had just warned him a left bower good see said fifteen minutes later mr felt that tom was hoping he would lead a club he played one and the whole table said that s right fine on his shoulder he felt a light tap and he blushed uke a sunset as he peeped back at mr the society light was our mr of the company all this time indeed at present our mr he intended to keep on taking the job seriously until that most distant time which we all await when something turns up his of the southern merchants was showing such results that he had grown from an interest in whatever papers were on his desk to a belief in the divine necessity of the job as a whole now as of old did he keep the personal letters in his desk tied up ready for a sudden departure for or also he wished to earn much more money for his new career of luxury mr had assured him that there might be chances ahead business had been two new road and a man had been added to the staff and whereas the firm had formerly been only buying their from now they were having printed for them their own snap office which were making a big hit with the trade through his friend the mr got better acquainted with two great mr l j the agent of the company and john the newly engaged head of motto he wanted to get all the different lines of the business so s he could step right in anywhere and from these men he learned the valuable secrets of business wherewith the of trade build up prosperity for all of us how to seat a selling agent facing the light so you can see his face better than he can see yours how much ahead of time to the motto that we ve simply got to have proof this afternoon what s the matter with you down there don t you want our business any more he also learned something of the various kinds of and ink well glass though these of course were merely matters of knowledge not of business and far less important than what tom and called handing out a line of talk r he studies five hundred say you re getting quite lately lar society leader informed him mr s answer was in itself a proof of the of s observation sure i m going to borrow some money from you fellows got to make an impression see a few hours after this came s second letter mouse dear i m	42
so glad to hear about the yes indeed i would like to hear about the people in it and you are reading history that s good i m getting sick of paris and some day i m going to stop an on the and slap its face to show i m a sturdy moving picture western and then leap to saddle and pursue the i m working like the devil but what s the use that is i mean unless one is doing the job well as i m glad you are my dear keep it up you know i want you to be real whatever you ate i didn t mean to preach but you know i hate people who aren t real that s why i haven t much of a for myself ail i n after he had read her letter for the third time he was horribly shocked and regarded himself as a traitor because he found that he was only pretending to be excited over it it seemed so detached from himself aw now what did those mean and was always so discontented what d she ao if she had to be on the job like oh is wonderful but i and when he who has loved says but i love in panic he walked home thoughtfully after dinner he said abruptly to i had a letter from paris to day honestly who is she g g g g oh it s always a she why it is from a girl i started to tell you about our mr her one day she s an artist and once we took a long tramp in the country i met her she was staying at the same place as i was in london but oh i i she s so blame literary she is fine person do you think you d like a girl like that if she was a man oh yes s artists are so romantic but they ain t on the job more n half the time he said yes that s jo his hand stole secretly a cushion to touch hers which she withdrew laughing a you go hold your artist s hand oh miss when i told you about her h yes of course she was and they played five all evening y i the hero of the one act play at s victoria on that december evening was it appeared a wealthy young mine owner in disguise he was working for the mine because he loved the s daughter with a love that passed all understanding except that of the girls in the gallery when the authorities were about to arrest the our young hero saved him by giving him a real mine and the kiss of the daughter ended the suspense in which mr and mrs and tom had watched the play from the sixth row of the balcony sighing happily cried to the group wasn t that grand i got so excited wasn t that young a dear awfully nice said mr and wasn t that great that office scene with that safe and the rest of the stuff just hke you was in a real office but say they wouldn t have a press in an office like that those mine send out such swell letters they d use copies and not the letters all up by that s right and tom nodded his chin toward his right shoulder in approval cried that s so they would while mrs not knowing what a press was appeared highly and said nothing at all during the moving pictures that followed mr j our mr felt proudly that he was taken seriously though he had known them but little over a month he followed up his advantage by leading the chorus in wondering which one of them two actors the heroine was married to and how much a week they get for acting in that thing it was tom who invited them to s for coffee and mr was silent for a while but as they were stamping through the i of wheel tracks that on a street crossing mr regained his advantage by crying say don t you think that play d have been better if the d had an awful on t he young and d had to when the m why yes it would glowed at him h wouldn t wonder if it would agreed tom the december off his feet and patting mr s back well look here said mr as they left with its crowds the approach of christmas and stamped to the side of forty second why wouldn t this make a play say there s an awfully rich old say he s a railway president or something d you see well he s got a secretary there in the office on the stage see the scene is his office well this s the rich old s daughter comes in and says she s married to a poor man and she won t tell his name but she wants some money from her you see her s been planning for her to marry a or some kind of a lord and he s sore as can be and he won t listen to her and he just her out something fierce course he doesn t really but he s awful sore and she tells him didn t he marry her mother when he was a poor young man but he won t listen then the secretary in my idea is he s been kind of keeping in the background see and he s the daughter s husband all the while see and he tells the old how he s got some k while he becomes literary of his some of the old fellow s	42
manuscript pre die as a great mr says here are the papers s president you should the rest of that was to be filled in later how i could he let the public know how truly president miss w miss father i have come back to you sir mr my father i have something to tell you breakfast at mrs s was always an in contrast to the lonely dingy meat at the f he becomes literary lunch of his days he sat next to a fresh and enthusiastic after nine hours sleep so much for ordinary days but sunday morning that was paradise the oil stove glowed and like a large tin cat it their legs into dreamy comfort while they stuffed themselves with toast and and coffee and he always felt gently superior to tom who would be a sleeping late as they talked of the joy of not having to go to the office of approaching christmas and of the superiority of s grove and this morning was to be mr s first attendance at church with the previous time they had planned to go mr had spent sunday morning in at the with a young man in a white jacket instead of at church with this was also the first time that he had attended a church service in nine years except for mass at st s which he regarded not as church but as beauty he felt set upon new paths of virtue and achievement he thought of those lonely and d they just didn t know what it meant to a fellow to be going to church with a girl hke miss he reflected as he his hair after breakfast he walked proudly beside her and made much of the of entering the church as one of the to do and intensely bathed congregation he even bowed to an almost painfully washed and brushed young with gold eye glasses he thought scornfully of his days when he had bowed to the brass button man at the the church interior was as comfortable as toast and half a block of red carpet in the shiny solid oak gorgeous stained glass windows and a general polite creaking of ladies best l our mr stays and gentlemen s shirt and an of the best and balls it lacked but six days till christmas mr s heart was a little garden and his eyes moist and be peeped tenderly at as he saw the and ivy and the christmas peace on earth good will to men and the rest that brightened the between windows christmas happy homes laughter since as a boy he had attended the christmas of the ou church sunday school at and got highly colored in a net bag his holidays had been celebrated by buying himself at lonely christmas dinners at large cheap where there mi no one to wish him merry christmas except his waiter whom he would quite probably never see again nor ever wish to see but this christmas he surprised himself and suddenly by hotly thrusting out his hand and touching j her sleeve with the searching finger tips of a child comforted from night fears during the sermon he had an idea what was it had told him about peter pan oh yes somebody in it had said do you believe in say why wouldn t it be great to have the s say to her father do you believe in love believe in love he to himself as he i felt s arm unconsciously touch his tom had hood in that afternoon for a hot looked very boyish very confiding and borrowed five dollars from mr almost so absorbed was mr in ing from how to sell a play to know the of the firm of pi ay in a building seemed door to knowing a manager when had gone tom presented an idea r he becomes he had conceived during his sunday at the cigar store why not have three of us say me and you and mrs talk the play just like we was acting it he forced the plan on mr he down stairs and brought up mrs he dashed about the room shouting directions he dragged out his for the rail road president s desk and a table for the secretary and after some consideration and much rubbing of chin with two and a bang he converted his hard green chair into an office safe the play was on mr t in the of the president entered with a stem high expression on his face threw a good morning at his secretary and off his gloves mr noted the gloves they were a touch l mr approached his face expression lest mrs laugh at him here say what do you think would be a good way for the secretary to tell the crowd that the other is the president say how about this the vice president of the railway would like to have you sign these sir as president that s fine exclaimed mrs whose satin dress was carefully spread over her swelling knees as she sat in the oak hke a cheerful bronze monument to sunday propriety but don t you think he d say when it s convenient to you sir that s the play was on it ended at seven mr took but fifteen minutes for sunday supper and wrote till one of the morning finishing the first of his manuscript was delightful for it demanded many with sitting at the parlor table with touching they were the more because tom had invited mr and i our mr mrs to the grand christmas eve ball of the makers union at hall asked rf mr almost as as of mrs should wear her new white or her older rose colored china silk two days before christmas he timidly turned over the play for to a	42
haughty public who looked like lee she yawned at him when he begged her to be careful of the manuscript the pink bound and red of the play was to messrs play at p m christmas eve the four walked down sixth avenue to the makers ball they made an indian file through the christmas crowds and stopped frequently and before the street of and bears they shrieked all with one mad laughter as tom over and bought seven cents a pink doll which he pinned to the of his overcoat they drank hot at the store pretending to each other that they were shivering with cold it was here that reached up and patted mr s pale blue tie into better lines in her hair was the scent which he had come to identify as hers her white brushed against his overcoat the cigar makers with seven of them in full and two in dinner coats were already dancing on the floor of hall when they arrived a full was and itself into an of merriment on the platform under the red balcony and at the bar behind the balcony there was a spirit of beer and by night mr passed large groups of girls he felt very light and in his new metal finish now that he had taken off his he becomes literary and the slippery floor he tried desperately to use his handkerchief too though he cold it was not till the choosing of partners for the next dance when tom stood up beside their arms swaying a little their feet tapping that mr quite got the fact that he could not dance he had casually said to the others a before that he knew only the square dances which as a boy he had learned at parties at but they had reassured him oh come we ll teach you how to dance at the ball it won t be formal besides we ll give you some lessons before we go and playing five hundred had prevented their giving him the lessons so he now sat terrified as a two step began and he saw what seemed to be thousands of glittering youths and maidens whirling in a most involved course getting themselves past each other in a way which he was sure he could never imitate the over music as rich and smooth as milk which made him intensely lonely for though she was only across the room from him tom immediately introduced to a cigar who introduced her to three of the in evening clothes while tom led out mrs mr sitting in a row of persons who were not at all interested in his sorrows out across the hall and wished oh i so bitterly to flee home came up glowing laughing with black must ached and men and introduced him to them but he glanced at them and always she was carried off to dance again she found and introduced to mr a who came from and had never heard of tom or or oxford or any other upon which mr uneasily tried to discourse i he watched and smile up at her partners not e a le next our mr presently the two sat silent the herself and went back to her from mr sat his friends for i brought him the sweetness of and saying to himself oh she dances with all those other men me i m only the poor fool that talks to her when she s tired and tries to cheer her up he did not answer when tom came and told him a new story he had just heard in the once landed beside him and insisted on his coming out and trying to learn to dance he brightened but remarked oh no i don t think i d better just then the must ached and of all the cigar came begging for get up a dance and she was gone with only courage i m going to make you dance at the he watched her cross the floor with the hateful cigar slender in her tight crisp new white flourishing her fan and talking vi th happy rapidity she sat down beside him he said nothing he stared out across the floor she peeped at him curiously several times and made a low tapping with her fan on the side of her chair she sighed a little cautiously but very casually she said aren t you going to take me out for some ments mr oh sure i m good enough to buy he said to himself poor mr he had not gone to enough and he hadn t gone to any in new york at nearly forty he was just learning the and and black jealousy of the lover her why didn t you go out with that with the black he still stared straight ahead she was big eyed a tear showing why was all she answered he clenched his hands to keep from bursting out she e w he becomes literary all the pitiful tears which were in his eyes but he said what he turned around to her his hand touched hers softly oh i m a beast he said rapidly low his trembling to her ears through the laughter of a group next to them i didn t mean that but i was i felt like such a not being able to dance oh i m awfully sorry you know i didn t mean come on let s go get something to eat as they consumed ice cream and chicken at the refreshment counter they were very intimate the presence of others tom and mrs joined them tom made light her first mr admired the shy way in which taking the of she kept drawing out her with httle and nose and pretended but he felt a lofty gladness when she threw it away	42
after a minute declaring that she d never smoke again and that she was going to make all three of her companions stop smoking now that she knew how horrid and it was so with what he intended to be deep mr drew her away to the and these two children over two glasses of ale looked their innocent and rustic love so plainly that mrs and tom away cut out a dance which she had promised to a cigar and started homeward with mr let s not take a car i want some fresh air after that smoky place she said but it grand let s walk up fifth avenue fine tired a little he thought her voice somewhat chilly i m so sorry i didn t really have the chance to tell you in there how sorry i was for the way i spoke to i i you it was fierce of me but i felt i couldn t dance and oh no answer and you did mind it didn t you why i didn t think you were so very nice about it when i d tried so hard to have you have a good time oh i m so sorry there was tragedy in his voice his shoulders which he always tried to keep as straight as though they were in a when he walked with her were drooping she touched his glove oh don t it s all right now i understand let s forget oh you re too good to silence as they crossed twenty third on fifth avenue she took his arm he squeezed her hand suddenly the world was all young and and wonderful it was the first time in his life that he had ever walked thus with the arm of a for whom he cared in his he glanced down at her cheap white tremulous on the fur were turned into diamond dust in the light from a street lamp which showed as well a tiny place where her collar had been torn and mended ever so carefully then in a of a second he w ho had been a wanderer in the lonely gray regions of a detached man s heart knew the pity of love all its emotion and the infinite care for the beloved that makes a man of a rusty clerk he lifted a face of adoration to the misty wonder of the bare trees whose of filled square to the tower its vast upward stretch toward the ruddy sky of the city s winter night all these mysteries he knew and sang what he said was those trees look like a lar picture the tower just kind of away don t it yes it is pretty she said doubtfully but pressure of his arm but with a i he becomes literary then they talked like a summer time brook planning that he was to buy a bough of which she would to breakfast in the morning through their chatter persisted the new intimacy which had been in the pain of their misunderstanding on january loth the manuscript of the s daughter was returned by play with this letter dear sir we regret to say that we do not find play available we our reader s report on the same also bill for ten dollars for fee which kindly at early convenience he stood in the hall at mrs s just before dinner he the letter and slowly opened the reader s report which announced s daughter one act vile utterly to the limit dialogue sounds like of can it was coming down stairs he handed her the letter and report then tried to stick out his jaw she read them her hand slipped into his he went quickly toward the and made himself read the letter though not the report to the he burned the manuscript of his play before going to bed the next morning he into the job as he never bad before he was gloomily certain that he would never get away from the job but he thought of a hundred times a day and hoped that sometime some spring night of a burning moon he might dare the great adventure and kiss her he remembered her as a great experience but what bodies these theories that slow but absolutely accurate five hundred player mr william known as glanced triumphantly at miss who was his partner m m i our mr against mrs and james t the mai on that night of late february his was the last bid in the hand of the rubber game the others waited respectfully confidently he bid nine on no good lord bill exclaimed james t i ll make it and he did he arose a victor there was no uneasiness but rather all the social polish of mrs s at its best in his manner as he crossed to mrs s chair and asked how is mr to night f pretty miss offered him a lime and he accepted it i believe these are just about as good as park s he said his head say i ll match you to see who rushes a of beer tom ii be here pretty soon store ought to be closed by now we ll have some ready for him right bill agreed james t mr lost he departed after obtaining not one but two in one of which he got a pint of dark and in the other a surprise he up stairs to come on down can t you got a of ice cream for the ladies it is true that when tom arrived and fell to blows with james t over the merits of a tom mr was not brilliant for the reason that he took tom to be a man instead of the drink he really is yet as they went up stairs	42
miss said to mr is quiet but i do think in some ways he s one of the men i ve seen in the house for years and he is so earnest and i think he ll make a player besides five hundred yes said i think he was a little shy at first i shy but he likes us and i like folks that like folks r said he blown by the i he was blown by the and followed a wandering e through perilous seas to a happy shore on an april monday evening when a small moon passed over the city and the streets were filled with the sound of and the spring cries of dancing children mr down to the dining room early for would be down there talking to mrs and he gaily wanted to make plans for a to occur the coming sunday he had a shy hope that he might kiss after such a he even had the notion that he might some day well other fellows had been married why not miss mary was mending a rent in the current table cloth with delicate swift motions of her hands she informed him mr will be back from his southern trip in five days we ll have to have a grand closing five hundred mr was too much absorbed in wondering whether miss would make some of her celebrated and justly celebrated ham for the to be much interested he was not much more interested when she said mrs s got a letter or something for you then as dinner began mrs rushed in dramatic said there s a for you mr i i our mr was it death whose death the table panted mr with them that s what a meant to them their eyes were like a circle of charging as he opened and read the a ship s meet me it s a a business message he managed to bay and his soup this was not the place to take the feelings out of his heart and examine them dinner was begun were considered in all their more important phases historical and social mr talked much and a little wildly after dinner he galloped out to buy a the s s was due at ten next morning it was an evening of frightened confusion he along avenue on a walk he knew that he was very fond of yet eager to see he damned himself damned is literal every other minute for a a double faced traitor and all the other things a man is likely to declare himself to be for making the discovery that two women may ht different and yet equally and every minute he in an adventurous gladness that he was going to see actually going to see her just the next day he returned to find sitting on the steps of mrs s both good sound observations and all they could say for a time while mr examined the under si j of the iron steps rail was it something serious the no it was miss the artist i told about asked me to meet her at the boat i suppose il wants me to help her with her baggage and the and all them things she s just coming from paris said the oh yes i see so lacking in jealousy was that mr was disappointed though he didn t know why it always hurts to have one s turn out i wonder if you would like to meet her she s awful well educated but i maybe she d strike you as kind of but she dresses i don t think i ever seen anybody so elegant in dressing i mean course hastily she s got money and so she can afford to but she s oh awful nice some ways i hope you like i hope she won t oh i sha n t mind if she s a of course a lady gets used to that working in a department store she said then repented swiftly and begged oh i mean to be forgive met i m sure will be real nice does she live here in new no in i don t know how long she s going to stay here well well hum m m i m getting so sleepy i guess i d better go up to bed good night uneasy because he was away from the office displeased because he had tp leave his beloved letters to the southern trade angry he had had difficulty in getting a pass to the wharf furious finally because he hadn t slept mr nursed all these emotions attentively and waited for the coming of the he he d want to see all he couldn t remember just how she looked would he like the great steamer swung side to and was alongside the wharf peering out between rows of crowding shoulders mr coldly the passengers ng the decks was not in sight then he knew that me was wildly agitated about her suppose something ad happened to our mr the man who had been into the crowd so suddenly dashed to the group forming at the gang plank and pushed his way rudely into the front rank his elbow dug into the proper waistcoat of a proper plump old gentleman but he didn t know it he stood grasping the rope rail of the plank gazing eyed while the plank was lifted to the steamer s deck and the long line of smiling and waving passengers then he saw her tall graceful in a smart check suit with a lively hat of black straw carrying a new bag he stared at her he gasped i m about her i am all right she saw him and their smiles of welcome made	42
them one she came from the plank and hastily kissed really she laughed well well well well i m so glad to see you glad to see you mouse dear have good tr don t ask me about it i there was a married wife who persecuted me all the way over i m aren t going to fall in love with me let s over and get through the customs as as we can where s oh how clever of it it s right by m there s one of my trunks already how are mouse dear but she didn t seem really to care so very much and the old bewilderment she always caused was over him it is good to get back after all and mouse dear know you won t mind finding me a place to live the next few days will you she quite took it for granted find a place this morning n est ce pas not too i ve got just about enough to get back to man fashion he saw with acute clearness the pi work on his desk and man fashion responded be glad them the how about the place where you re living you spoke about its being so clean and all the thought of and together frightened him why i don t know as you d like it so very much oh it u be all right for a few days anyway is there a room vacant he was sulky about it he saw much trouble ahead why yes i suppose there is mouse dear down on a trunk in the confused of baggage customs officials and indignant passengers that about them on the rough floor of the vast dock house she stared up at him with real sorrow in her fine eyes why mouse i thought you d be glad to see me i ve never rowed with you have i i ve tried not to be with you that s why i you when there are others i ve known for years oh i didn t mean to seem i didn tl i just wondered if you d like the house he could have knelt in repentance before his goddess what time she was but a lonely girl in the clatter of new york he went on and we ve got kind of separated and i didn t know but guess i ll always oh kind of worship you it s all right mouse it s here s the customs men now knew perfectly that the customs persons were not ready to examine her baggage as yet but the discussion was ended and they seemed to understand each other there s a lot of rich jew ladies coming back this time said he yes they had diamonds three times a day she assented this is a big so did they testify to of friendship till the i our mr and was welcomed to that new guest dinner began with the ceremony due mrs there was no lack of the sacred old jokes tom did not fail to bring on the dish water nor miss mary to don t y id a tone which would have been recognized as english anywhere on the american stage then the stopped dead as stood in the doorway pale and her red hair twisted high on her head tall and slim and in a gray tight fitting gown every head turned as on a first to then to mr he blushed and bowed as if he had been called on for a speech arose and said you met mrs didn t you she ll introduce you to the rest he sat wondering why the deuce he d stood up and unhappily realized that was examining and himself with cool hostility in a he at as she sat down opposite him beside mrs and unfolded her he thought that in her cheerful face there was an expression of devilish amusement he blushed he furiously his bread as m i l remarked to the assemblage ladies and gentlemen i want you all to meet miss you ve met mr our baby tom the great i hundred player mrs mr miss foot lifted her bowed eyes with what seemed shyness hesitated said thank you in a clear voice with precise and returned to her soup as though her pleasant communion with it had been interrupted the others began talking and eating very fast j the rather miss mary s thin voice pierced the i hear have just come to new york miss yes is this your first visit to no miss took a long drink of water attempted bravely do you like new york miss yes and miss and tom began discussing shoe stores all at once and very rapidly while hot and uncomfortable mr tried to think of something to say good lord suppose him at mrs s then he was angry at himself and all of them for not her how exquisite she looked with her tired white face as the soup plates were being removed by the maid with an elaborate confusion and a general passing of plates down the line peered at the maid mrs frowned then grew pleasant and said miss has just come back from paris she s a regular european just like mr mrs samuel mr was to europe in no n t twas in complained mr miss waited for the end of this interruption as though it were a noise which merely had to be endured like the elevated twice she drew in her breath to speak and the whole table laid its knife and fork down to listen all she said was oh will you pardon me if i speak of it now mrs but would you mind letting me have my breakfast in my room to morrow about nine just some l our mr thing simple a	42
and some eggs and oh no why yes certainly mrs while the table held its and underneath them gasped i a in her room at nine all this was very terrible to mr he found himself in the position of a man to address tbe association and the w c t u at the si hour he attempted miss be a good person for our she s a regular for oh yes mr and i most all night england one time said innocently the eyes of the table asked mr what he meant by it he tried to look at but something inside him yes he quite a long walk miss mary tried again is it pleasant to study in paris mrs said were an artist no then they were all silent and the rest of the dinner mr alternately discussed with and with there was an of pleading in his voice which made glance at him and even become kind with quiet she dragged into a discussion of de la fashions which nearly united the shattered table and won mr s after slowly drew a plain gold from a bag of silvery gray she took out a match and a thin russian which she carefully lighted she sat smoking in one of her best attitudes f the pointed elbows on the table coolly contemplating a huge picture called hunting the on the wall behind mr mrs snapped to the servant bring me my but mrs always was penitent when she had been nasty and though did not at once seem to know that the landlady had been nasty mrs invited her up to the parlor for after dinner so cordially that could but grant perhaps i will and she even went so far as to say i think you re all to be envied having such a happy family yes that s so reflected mrs yes added mr and that s so the whole table nodded gravely yes that s so i m sure smiled at mrs that it s because a woman is running things now think what cat and dog lives you d lead if mr or mr was it were ruling they applauded they felt that she had been humorous she was again and publicly invited up to the parlor and she came though she said rather shortly that she didn t play five hundred but only bridge a variety of which mr instantly resolved to learn she is perfectly accurate on the red leather couch among the pillows and smoked two into no s for con mr said to himself almost as she too good for us is but he couldn t keep away from her the that was in the room made him forget most of his at and when miss inquired his opinion as to whether the coming should be held on island or the he said vaguely yes i guess that would be better for he was wanting to sit down beside our mr just be near her he had to so he ventured over and was instantly regarding all the rest as whom his wise comrade and himself were studying tell me mouse dear why do you like the people here the i mean they don t seem so very remarkable poor well they re awful kind i ve always lived in a house where the folks didn t hardly know each other at all except mrs she was the landlady and i didn t like her very much but here tom and mrs and the rest they really like folks and they make it just like a home miss is a very nice girl she works for s she has quite a big job there she is assistant in the he stopped in horror he had nearly said in the department he changed it to in the clothing department and went on doubtfully mr is a man he s away on a trip which one do you play with f so likes b how did you oh i watched her looking at you i think she terribly nice pink face and just now you re her and me he said she was immensely pleased with herself what do these people think about at least what do you talk about s s s not so loud my dear say i know how you mean you feel something like what did in england you can t get next to what t folks are thinking and it makes you sort of lonely well i just then tom rolled up to the c he had carried his many and pounds third avenue because miss reflected i ve the got a regular sweet tooth to night he stood before and mr holding out a bag of drops in one hand and in the other and which shall it be your nobody loves a fat man so he has to buy so s they ll let him stick around le s see you take bill name your drink miss she looked up at him gravely and politely too gravely and politely she didn t seem to consider him a nice person neither thank you sharply as he still stood there he moved away hurt bewildered was going on i haven t been here long enough to be lonely yet but in any case when mr interrupted you ve hurt tom s feelings by not taking any and he s awful kind have i yes you have and there ain t any too many kind people in this world oh yes of course you re right i am sorry really i am she after tom s retreat and cheerfully addressed him oh i do want some of those will you let me change my mind please do yes ma am you sure can said broad tom all one pleased chuckle out the two	42
bags stopped beside the five hundred table to smile in a way down at mrs and say quite i m so sorry i can t play a decent game of cards i m afraid i m too stupid to you are very lucky i think mr on the couch was horribly agitated wasn t coming back she was she detached herself from the of our mr invitations to learn to play five hundred and w back to the couch murmuring was bad good am i forgiven mouse dear i didn t mean to be rude to your friends as the rise through water in a cooking pot ai the surface and then after the long wait suddenly the water is so was the emotion of mr now that the had actually done something he suggested that was all he could say but from his eyes had gone all reserve her glance was as frank as his only it had of the mother in it it was uke a kindly pat on the and she was the mother as she mused so you have missed me then missed you did you think of me after you came here oh i know i was forgotten poor to the pretty pink face oh don t i can t we just go out for a walk so so we can talk why we can talk here oh there s so many people around when i came back to america i couldn t hardly sleep nights from across the room came the boisterous somewhat coarse voice of tom speaking to oh yes of course you think you re the only girl that ever seen a show we ain t never seen a show oh no and miss dissolved in at the wit mr gazed at them detached these were not hia people and with startled pride he glanced at s face delicately by thought as he stumbled hotly just couldn t sleep nights at all then the job let s see you re still with that same company hen i the yes and art novelty company and i got awfully on the job and so i managed to forget for a little while and so you really do hke me even after i was so to you in england oh that wasn t nothing but i was always thinking of you even when i was on the job it s gratifying to have some one continue taking me seriously really dear i do appreciate it but you mustn t you mustn t oh i just can t get over it you here by me ain t it curious then he persisted with the tale of his longing which she had so carefully interrupted the people here are awful kind and good and you can bank on em but oh from across the room tom s pretended lighted up with miss s as paper island from tom yes you re a hot all right i suppose you can do the boston and all them swell dances h h h h but oh you re like poetry like all them things a can t get but he tries to when he reads shakespeare and all those poets oh dear boy you mustn tl we will be good friends i do appreciate having some one care whether i m alive or not but i thought it was all understood that we weren t to take playing together seriously that it was to be merely playing nothing more but anyway you will let me play with you here in new york as much as i can oh come on ut s go for a walk let s let s go to a show i m sorry but i promised a man s going to call for me and we re going to a stupid on park bore isn t it the day of landing and poor dreadfully our mr oh then tion c go let i m sorry mouse dear but i m afraid i can t the date fact i must go up and now don t you care a bit he said why yes of course but you wouldn t h disappoint a nice after he s bought him a new would good night dear smiled the mother smile and was gone with a lively good night to the room in general went up to bed early she was tired she said he had no chance for a word with her he sat on tht steps outside alone a long time sometimes he for a sight of s ivory face sometimes with a fierce compassion that longed to take the burden from her he pictured working all day in the rushing department store on which the city summer would soon descend they did have their walk the next night and mr i but kept the talk to laughing of their tramp in england somehow he couldn t tell exactly why he couldn t seem to get in all the remarks in i had inside him about how much he had missed her wednesday thursday friday he saw her only at i one dinner or on the stairs departing with looking men in evening clothes to waiting house was very pleasant just pleasant pleasantly sat as his partner at five hundred pleasantly declined to go to the moving pictures him she was getting more and more tired staying till seven at the store preparing what she called special for the summer white sale friday evening be saw her soft fresh lips drooping sadly as she toiled up the front steps before dinner she went to bed at eight at which time was going out to dinner with a thin faced sarcastic looking man in a jacket e and a black tie mr resented the	42
dear you go and forget me and enjoy yourself and be good to your pink face isn t it she seems to be terribly nice and i know you two will have a good party you must forget me tm just a teacher of playing games who hasn t been successful at any game whatever not that it matters i don t care i don t really now good night i a ca j they had dinner early up there on the and mr mrs and tom miss and mrs samuel the last of whom kept i ain t run off like this in ten they about a red cotton table cloth spread on rock discussing the and cold chicken and and stuffed and laughing almost to a point of distress over tom s accusation that miss had about her person a bottle of was very pleasant to mr hut she called him neither nor anything else and mostly she talked to miss smiling at him but saying nothing when he managed to get out a jest about mrs s when he moved to her side with a wooden plate of cream cheese which tom termed cold cream mr started to explain how he had come to enter s room why shouldn t you asked and turned to miss she doesn t seem to care much he reflected relieved and in his humble vanity and to all at once he was anxious about her opinion of and her opinion of himself and slightly defiant as she continued to regard him as a respectable person whose name she couldn t exactly remember hadn t he the right to love if he wanted our mr be desired to know of himself besides what had f done just gone out walking with his english i acquaintance he hadn t been in her room but a few minutes fine reason that was for to act a blooming besides it wasn t as if he i engaged to or anything like that besides of course would never care for him there we several other with which he himself i while trying to appear agreeable he wa i getting very much confused and was slightly abrupt he said to let s walk over to that high rock a the edge a dusky filled the sky before them as silently to the rock and from the top of the sheet cliff contemplated the smooth and gray below her fear at the drop and j his arm but suddenly let go and drew back without ll aid he groaned within i haven t the right to help her he took her arm as she hesitatingly climbed from t rock down to the ground she jerked it free saying no thank you she was in a moment and miss took me in her room yesterday and showed me her things my she s got such be ti ful jewels la v and pearls and a swell i she told me all about how the girls used to study in paris and how sorry she would be to go back to and keep house keep house let him suffer for a moment before she him with for her father oh did she say she was going back to soon not till the end of the maybe oh oh for the first time that day he was perfectly j a wandering flame he was trying to in her but the shame of having emotions was on him he got no farther to his amazement mused she is very nice he tried hard to be gallant yes she is interesting but of course she ain t near as nice as you are be oh don t the quick agony in her voice almost set them both weeping the shared sorrow of separation drew them together for a moment then she started with short swift steps and he after he found little to say he tried to comment on the river he remarked that the apartment houses across in new york were bright in the sunset that in fact the upper windows looked like there was a fire in there her sole comment was yes when they rejoined the crowd he was surprised to hear her talking to miss he rejoiced that she was game but be did not rejoice long for a frightened feeling that he had to hurry home and see at once was turning him weak and cold he didn t want to see her she was but he had to go go at once and the agony held bim all the way home while he was mechanically playing the part of stem and agreeing with tom that the horrors of the recent shirt waist factory fire showed that something be done something sure be he trembled on the till with a burst of tenderness in her young voice suddenly asked why you re shivering dreadfully i did you get a chill f naturally he wanted the credit of being known as ao invalid and and nursed but he reluctantly smiled and said oh no it ain t anything at all then called him again and he over the of their landing and at home was out he went r down and found alone sitting on a round pale yellow straw mat on the steps i mr he sat by her he was very quiet not at all jovial young man of the properly following boarding house district rule that should be and show their appreciation of the ladies by them and he spoke with a quiet that was almost with a note of weariness and spiritual experience such as seldom comes into the boarding houses to joy and bring wisdom and give words shyness he had as he sat down intended to ask her to go him to a moving picture show but inspiration was on him he merely sat and talked when mr	42
returned from the office two later he found this note awaiting him dear mouse friend has asked me to join her in have beat it sorry not see you say good by come sm me sometime before and see if i m in spring address xx south washington in haste he spent the evening in not going to the times he broke away from a game to rush upstairs and see if the note was as chilly as he it always was then for a week he awaited a more definite from her which did not come he was uneasily to these days and of her gentleness he wanted to brood but be did not his old habit of long solitary walks every afternoon ht planned one for the evening every evening found he wanted to be around with folks he had a sort of youthful defiant despair so he much at the card table by way of his new of keeping people from knowing what he was he took pleasure in noting that mrs no longer condescended to him he managed to tom s writing on a card which he left with a bunch of in s room and nearly persuaded tom himself that tom was the probably w a wandering flame he didn t much care what happened he was able to force mr r to raise his salary to dollars a week mr his way to admit that the letters to the southern trade had been a first rate son john the head of the company s department invited mr home to dinner and the account of the cattle boat was much admired by mrs and the three young a few days later in mid june there was an unusually cheerful dinner at the house turned to mr yes he was quite sure about it she was speaking exclusively to him with a and most merry account of the manner in which the floor had called down the of the he longed to give his whole self in his answer to be in the absolute community of thought that lovers know but the image of was behind his chair he had to see her now this evening he rushed out to the corner store and reached her by yes s admitted a httle she was going to be at the that evening though ell there was going to be a little party some friends but yes she d be glad to have him come grimly mr set out for washington square since this scientific has so examined mr s toward the one need give but three of his impressions of the and people he found on washington square namely a that the big room was bare ill kept and not to the red splendor of mrs s for all its to superiority why a lot of the pictures weren t framed i and you should have seen the and fruit of the frames at mrs s b that the people were brothers in talk to the inmates of the flat on great james street london only far less friendly and our mr c that mr was now a man of friends and tke blooming as he called them didn t him they were permitted to go to the was always across the room from him somehow he found himself glad it made their parting he was going back to his own people he was as he rose with elaborate boarding house to the room at large for going and a cheerful but not intimate good night to she followed him to tht door and into the dark long without good night mouse dear i m glad you got a chance to talk to the silver girl but was mr rude to i heard him talking single tax or was it and he s usually rude when he talks about them no he was all right then what is worrying you oh nothing good ni you are going angry l you no but oh there ain t any use of our of me is there the you just spoke about and them artists here to night in dress suits i wouldn l know when to wear one of them things and when swallow tail if i had one even or when or oh not a prince mouse dear say coat sure that s what i mean it s like that i don t know about none of the things you re in while you ve been away from mrs s lord i ve missed you but when i try to train your bunch or when you spring he peculiarly to resent the unfortunate french artist o me i sort of get myself and now it ain t like it w s in england i ve got a bunch of my own i can around with anyway got myself lo hen i m a wandering flame s pose it s because i been thinking you didn t care much for my friends but mouse dear all this isn t news to me surely you who ve with me aren t going to be so obvious so as to blame me because you ve cared for me are you child oh no no no i didn t mean to do that i just wanted oh i well i wanted to have things between us definite do understand you re quite right and now we re just friends aren t yes then good by and sometime when i m back in new york i m going to in a few days i think i ll be able to get back here i certainly hope si though of course i ll have to keep house for friend father for a while and maybe	42
i ll marry myself with a local in desperation but as i was saying dear when i get back here we ll have a good dinner yes and good by she stood at the top of the stairs looking down he slowly down the wooden boiling with the amazing discoveries that he had said good by to that he was not sorry and that now he could offer to everything suddenly called o mouse wait just a moment she darted like a swallow she threw her arm about his shoulder and kissed his cheek instantly she was running up stairs again and had disappeared into the mr william was walking rapidly up drive thinking about his letters to the southern merchants while he was leaving the building he had perfectly seen himself as one who was about to go through a tumultuous agony after which he would be free of all the our mr desire for and ready to serve humbly but be found that the agony was all over e save his dignity as one who was being dramatic he keep his thoughts on every time he thought of his heart ve as he chuckled softly several times out of nothing pictures of the persons whom he had the problems of the world at the on washington square and he muttered oh hope they s all right though she learnt me an awful lot but i m glad she ain t in the same house i su pose i d ag round if she was suddenly at no particular street comer on drive just a street he fled over to and he had to be under the same roof with if it were only possible to see her that night but it midnight however he a plan the morning he would leave the office find her at her department store and make her go out to beach with him for dinner that night he was home he went happily up the stairs would dream of and s door opened and she peered out about her oh she said softly is it you yes my you re up late do you are you all right he dashed down the hall and stood the straw of his hat why yes course poor oh don t j me you have a headache again no i was awful foolish of course but i when you went out this evening and you looked so and you didn t look very well but now it s all right then good night a wandering flame oh no listen please do i went over to the place i is living at because i was pretty sure that i i t on her sort of by her any more and i found i ain t ain t i don t know what to say but somehow i want to i want you to know that from now on i m going to try and see if i can t get you to care for me he was dreadfully earnest and rather quiet with the dignity of the man who has found himself i m scared he went on about saying this because maybe you ll think i ve got an idea i m kind of a little tin god and all i ve got to do is to say which girl i ll v and she ll come a running but it isn t that it isn t it s just that i want you to know i m going to give all of me to you now if i can get you to want me and i am glad i knew she learnt me a lot about books and all so i have more to me or maybe will have for you it s promise you ll be my friend promise if you knew how i rushed back here to night to see she held out her hand and he grasped it as though it were the sacred symbol of his dreams to morrow she smiled with a hint of tears i ll be a lar lady i guess and make you explain and like everything but now i m just glad yes admit i want i am glad her door to a happy shore upon an evening of november it of mrs s flock only and mr at home they had finished two hot games of and sat with their feet on a small amiable oil mr laid her hand against his cheek with content he was the situation at a office the business had so increased that mr the manager had told the head p ing that he was going to an manager should he mr try to il position the other and were all good friends of his and could he run a bunch of if he was over them why of course you can i remember of shy but now you re star and won t those others be trying ti job away from you of yes that s so why some day you might be say that would be great wouldn t iti but do you think i might have a chance to assistant s job i certainly do oh you make me oh to h myself he kissed her for the second time in his life to a happy shore mr stated mr next day i want j talk to you about that assistant the manager in his new office and his new had acted interested when our steady and mr came in but now he tried to appear and impatient that he began i ve been here longer than any of the other men and i now every line of the business now even the you remember i held down s job when his wife was sick yes but and i guess thinks i can	42
out of doors he stopped startled across the ragged vacant lots to the w a vast marched down the sky it had not been visible from their flat which looked across east ri h to the tame grassy shore of a real estate s he mourned it s the first time i ve a sunset for a month i used to see knights flags and all sorts of stuff in wistfully the exile gazed at his lost kingdom till october chill aroused him but he learned a new way to cook eggs from the proprietor of the store and his plans for spending the evening playing with and the evening paper aloud set him softly to himself as he hurried home through the brisk autumn with seven cents worth of the books like ta read at the price you like ta pay there are two sides to everything including the which covers every book when you in the mood for a good romance refer to the carefully selected list of modern fiction most of the by prominent writers of the day which is printed on the back of every book you will find more than five hundred titles to choose from books for every mood and every taste and every t the but in cast the is lost write to tht for a complete there u a book for every mood and of every taste m j ii m m in fc i richard a fascinating in which love and jealousy i strange tricks with women s souls a husband can a woman love two men at the same time in its of this particular variety of husband will particularly interest and enough without one shock to the most conventional minded the with comprehension and insight the author terrific contrast between the woman whose love was of flesh and one whose love was of the spirit the marriage of here is a man and woman who marrying for love ht to build their wedded life upon a gospel of hate for other and yet win back to a love for each it the end the road the heroine of this story was a o thieves ti man fine clean fresh from the west it is a strength and passion winds of the world a poor little the great henry and millions but not happiness then at bat we must leave that to m to tell you as she can the second in this story the author has produced a book ne who has loved or hopes to love can to the story fairly leaps from climax to climax the phantom lover have you not ana heard of being in love love rather tha the person they believed the object of affections that vas but she passes through crisis into a deep and profound love i slap new you l s novels tm m a i t the white ladies of a novel of the tb century the believing she had lost her lover enters a he returns and interesting follow the tree through the gate the story of a seven day courtship in which the di in ages vanished into the convincing demonstration of abiding love the the story of a young artist who is to love beauty above all else in the world but who when blinded through mn accident gains life s greatest happiness a rare story of the great passion of two real capable ot love its and its exceeding reward the mistress of i he lovely young lady recently by the death of a husband who never understood her meets a fine clean young chap who is ignorant of her title and they fall deeply in love with each other when he her real identity a situation of singular power is developed the broken j tory of a young man religious belief was shattered in childhood and restored to bim by the little white lady many years older than himself to whom he is passionately devoted the following of the star the story of a young missionary who about to start for africa wealthy rivers in order to help her the conditions of her uncle s will and how they finally come to love each other and after experiences that soften and new m s novels te hid ai mi t k hi i m charles the struggle against a hidden secret strong man and a courageous the top of the world of the path which leads at to the top of ai which it is given to few to find the lamp in the desert tells of the lamp of love that to all sorts of to final happiness the story of a whose body a noble soul the a hero who worked to win even when oak a chance the the story of a bad man s woman s faith the wave tales of love and of women who learned to know ac true from the false the safety curtain a very vivid love story of india the contains four other lone stories of equal interest soul revealed hj t new h porter s novels david the tale of a boy and the place he comes tm j in the hearts of the farmer folk to whose care left he road to understanding a compelling r h money money a wealthy bachelor to test the ns of his relatives sends them each a check for and then as plain john smith them to the result of his star a wholesome of a club of six and their on six star the story of a blind boy whose courage leads him the gulf of despair into a final victory gained by his life to the service of blind the years short of our own kind and of our own people some of the best writing mrs porter has done he tangled threads in these stories we find	42
would earn her living but how she was to earn it how she was to conquer the world almost entirely for the world s own good she did not see most of the girls who were not meant to be teachers of these there were two sorts careless young women who admitted that they to leave the and children the minute they had a chance to marry and sometimes and pop eyed maidens who at class prayer meetings requested god to guide their feet the paths of greatest usefulness neither sort tempted can the former seemed a favorite word of hers at this era the earnest were she fancied as likely to do harm as to do good by their faith in the value of at various times during senior year finally decided upon studying law writing motion pictures nursing and marrying an then she found a in the was new he was married and therefore but he had come from boston he had lived among poets and and jews and at the university settlement in new york and he had a beautiful white strong neck he led a class through the the charity the employment of and st paul trailing at the end of the line cared was indignant at the curiosity of the others their manner of staring at the poor as at a she felt herself a great she put her hand to her mouth her forefinger and thumb quite painfully her lower lip and frowned and enjoyed being aloof a named a competent young man in a gray shirt a rusty black bow tie and the green and purple class cap grumbled to her as they walked behind the others in the of the south st paid these college make me tired they re so top lofty they ought to of worked on the farm the way i have workmen put it all over them i just love common workmen glowed only you don t want to forget that common workmen don t think they re common you re right i s brows lifted in the astonishment of emotion in a glory of her eyes the world peered at her he his large red fists into his pockets he jerked them out he resolutely got rid of them by his hands behind him and he i know you get people most of these dam co say card you could do a lot for people oh oh well you know sympathy and everything if you were say you were a lawyer s wife you d understand his i m going to be a lawyer i admit i fall down in sympathy sometimes i get so dog gone impatient with people that can t stand the you d be good for a fellow that was too serious make him more more you know sympathetic his slightly lips his eyes were begging her to beg him to go on she fled from the steam of his main street she cried oh see those poor and millions of them she darted on was not interesting he hadn t a white neck and he had never lived among celebrated she wanted just now to have a cell in a settlement house like a without the bother of a black robe and be kind and read and improve a of grateful poor the reading in led her to a book on village improvement tree planting town clubs it had pictures of and garden walls in france new england she had picked it up carelessly with a slight which she patted down with her as delicately as a cat she dipped into the book lounging on her window seat with her slim legs crossed and her knees up under her chin she a satin pillow while she read about her was the of a college room covered window seat photographs of girls a print of the a dish and a dozen pillows embroidered or or out of place was a miniature of the dancing it was the only trace of in the room she had inherited the rest from generations of girl students it was as a part of all this that she regarded the on village improvement but she suddenly stopped she strode into the book she had fled half way through it before the three o clock bell called her to the class in english history she sighed that s what do after college get my hands on one of these towns and make it beautiful be an inspiration i suppose i d better become a teacher then but i won t be that kind of a teacher i won t why should they have all the garden on long island nobody has done anything with the ugly towns here in the except hold and build to contain the books i ll make em put in a village green and darling cottages and a quaint main street thus she through the class which was a typical contest between a dreary teacher and unwilling children of twenty won by the teacher because his had to answer his questions while their treacherous he could counter by demanding have you looked that up in the library well then suppose you do the history was a retired minister he was ar today he begged of sporting young mr now charles would it interrupt your undoubtedly fascinating pursuit of that fly if i were to ask you to tell us that you do not know anything about king john he spent three delightful minutes in assuring himself of the fact that no one exactly remembered the date of did not hear him she was the roof of a half town hall she had found one man in the village who did not appreciate her picture of winding streets and but she had assembled the town council and defeated m though	42
she was bom was not an intimate of the villages her father the smiling and shabby the learned and kind had come from and through all her childhood he had been a judge in which is not a town but in its garden sheltered streets and of elms is white and green new england lies between cliffs and the river hard by des where the first made with the indians and the cattle once came galloping before hell for leather as she climbed along the banks of the dark river listened to its about the wide land of yellow waters and bones to the west the southern and singing and palm trees toward which it was forever mysteriously gliding and she heard again the startled bells and thick puffing of high river wrecked on sand sixty years ago along the decks she saw in tall pot hats and chiefs with scarlet blankets far off at night round the river bend by the pines and a glow on black sliding waters s family were self in their life with christmas a full of surprises and tenderness and dressing up parties spontaneous and absurd the beasts in the hearth were not the night animals who jump out of and eat girls but beneficent and bright eyed creatures the who is and blue and lives in the and runs rapidly main street to small feet the oil stove who and knows stories and the who will play with children before breakfast if they spring out of bed and close the window at the very first line of the song about which father sings while having judge s scheme was to let the children read whatever they pleased and in his brown library absorbed and and and he gravely taught them the letters on the backs of the and when polite visitors asked about the mental progress of the little ones they were to hear the children earnestly repeating a d and bis s mother died when she was nine her father retired from the when she was eleven and took the family to there he died two years after her sister a busy soul older than herself had become a stranger to her even when they lived in the same house from those early brown and silver days and from her independence of relatives retained a to be different from brisk efficient book people an instinct to observe and wonder at their bustle even when she was taking part in it but she felt as she discovered her career of town planning she was now roused to being brisk and efficient herself iv in a month s ambition had clouded her about becoming a teacher had returned she was not she wc ed strong enough to endure the routine and she could not picture herself standing before grinning children and pretending to be wise and decisive but the desire for the creation of a beautiful town remained when she encountered an item about small town women s clubs or a photograph of a straggling main street she was for it she robbed of her work it was the advice of the professor of english which led her to study professional library work in a school her imagination carved and colored the new plan she saw herself persuading children to read charming fairy tales helping young men to find books on being ever so courteous to old men who were hunting for newspapers the light of the library an authority on books invited to dinners poets and reading a paper to an association ct scholars the last faculty reception before commencement in five days they would be in the of final the house of the president had been with palms suggestive of polite undertaking and in the library a ten foot room with a globe and the portraits of and washington the student was playing and madame butterfly was dizzy with music and the emotions of parting she saw the palms as a the pink shaded electric as an haze and the eye faculty as she was melancholy at sight of the girls with whom she had always intended to get acquainted and the half dozen young men who were ready to fall in love with her but it was whom she encouraged he was so much than the others he was an even warm brown like his new ready made suit with its shoulders she sat with him and with two cups of coffee and a chicken upon a pile of in the coat closet under the stairs and as the thin music in whispered i can t stand it this breaking up after four the happiest years of life she believed it oh i to think that in just a few days we ll be parting and we ll never see some of the bunch you got to listen to you always duck when i try to talk seriously to you but you got to listen to me fm going to be a big lawyer maybe a judge and i need you and i d protect you his arm slid behind her shoulders the music drained her independence she said mournfully would you take care of me she touched his hand it was warm solid you bet i we d have lord we d have bully times in where fm going to settle but i want to do something with life what s better than making a home and bringing up some and knowing nice people it was the male reply to the restless woman main street thus to the young the thus the captains to and in the damp cave over bones the hairy thus protested to tiie woman advocate of in the dialect of college but with the voice of was s answer of course i know i suppose that s so honestly i do love children but there s lots of women that can do but i	42
well if you have got a college education you ought to use it for the world i know but you can use it just as well in the home and card just think of a bunch of us going out on an some nice spring evening yes and riding in winter and going fishing the had into the soldiers chorus and she was protesting no no you re a dear but i want to do things i don t understand myself but i want everything in the world maybe i can t sing or write but i know i can be an influence in library work just suppose i encouraged some boy and he became a great artist i i will do it dear i can t settle down to nothing but dish washing two minutes later two minutes they were disturbed by an embarrassed couple also seeking the seclusion of the closet after she never saw again she wrote to him once a week for one month vi a year spent in her study of library books of reference was easy and not too s e in the art in and and chamber music in the and classic dancing she almost gave up library work to become of the young women who dance in cheese cloth in the moonlight she was taken to a party with beer hair and a russian who sang the it cannot be reported that had anything significant to say to the she was awkward with them and felt ignorant and she was shocked by the free manners which she had for years desired but she heard and remembered of the du chinese of mines christian science and fishing in s e went home and that was the beginning and end of her life the second cousin of s sister s husband lived in and once invited her out to sunday dinner she walked back through and discovered new forms of architecture and remembered her desire to villages she decided that she would give up library work and by a miracle whose nature was not very clearly revealed to her turn a town into houses and the next day in library class she had to read a theme on the use of the index and she was taken so seriously in the discussion that she put off her career of town planning and in the autumn she was in the public library of st paul vn was not unhappy and she was not in the st paul library she slowly confessed that she was not visibly affecting lives she did at first put into her contact with the a which should have moved worlds but so few of these stolid worlds wanted to be moved when she was in charge of the magazine room the readers did not ask for suggestions about elevated essays they find the leather goods for last february when she was giving out books the principal was can you tell me of a good light exciting love story to read my husband s going away for a week she was fond of the other proud of their aspirations and by the chance of she read scores of books unnatural to her gay white volumes of with of foot notes filled with heaps of small dusty type for voyages to the solomon with modem american improvements upon success in the real estate business she took walks and was sensible about shoes and diet and never did she feel that she was living she went to dances and at the houses of college acquaintances sometimes she one stepped sometimes in dread of life s slipping past she turned into a main street her tender eyes excited her throat tense as she slid down the room during her three years of library work several men showed interest in her the of a fur firm a teacher a newspaper and a petty railroad official none of them made her more than pause in thought for months no male emerged from the mass then at the she met dr will chapter it was a frail and blue and lonely who trotted to the flat of the johnson for sunday evening supper mrs was a neighbor and friend of s sister mr a representative of an company they made a of coffee lap and they regarded as their literary and artistic representative she was the one who could be depended upon to appreciate the record and the chinese lantern which mr had brought back as his present from san found the admiring and therefore admirable this september sunday evening she wore a net frock with a pale pink a nap had soothed away the faint lines of beside her eyes she was young stimulated by the coolness she flung her coat at the chair in the hall of the flat and exploded into the green living room the familiar group were trying to be she saw mr a woman teacher of in a high school a chief clerk from the great northern railway offices a young lawyer but there was also a stranger a thick tall man of thirty six or seven with stolid brown hair lips used to giving orders eyes which followed everything good and clothes which you could never quite remember mr come over here and meet dr will of he does all our examining up in that neck of the woods and they do say he s some as she edged toward the stranger and murmured particular remembered that was a wheat i town of something over three thousand people to meet you stated dr his hand was strong the palm soft but the back showing golden hairs against firm red skin he looked at her as thou she was an agreeable discovery she her hand free and fluttered i must go out to the kitchen and help mrs she did not speak to him	42
again till after she had heated the rolls and passed the paper mr captured her with a loud oh quit now come over here and sit down and tell us how s tricks he her to a sofa with dr who was rather vague about the eyes rather drooping of shoulder as though he was wondering what he was expected to do next as their host left them awoke tells me you re a high in the public library i was surprised didn t hardly think you were old i thou t you were a girl in college maybe h i m dreadfully old i expect to take to a lip stick and to find a gray hair any morning now you must be old too old to be my i thus in the of and the hours precisely thus and not in and the worn sir in the alley how do you like your work asked the doctor it s pleasant but sometimes i feel shut off from things the steel and the everlasting cards all over with red rubber don t you get sick of the st paul why don t you like it i don t know of any view than when you stand on summit avenue and look across lower town to the cliffs and the farms beyond i know but of course i ve spent nine years around the twin cities took my b a and m d over at the u and had my in a hospital in but still oh well you don t get to know folks here way you do up home i feel i ve got something to say about running but you take it in a big city of two three hundred thousand and i m just one on the dog s back and then ml i main street i like country driving and the hunting in the fall do you at all no but i hear it s a very nice town nice say honestly of course i may be prejudiced but i ve seen an awful lot of one time i went to atlantic city for the american medical association meeting and i spent practically a week in new but i never saw a town that had such up and coming people as you know the famous he comes from bom and brought up and it s a dam pretty town lots of fine and box elders and there s two of the lakes you ever saw right near town and we ve got seven miles of walks already and building more every day course a lot of these towns still put up with plank walks but not for us you really why was she thinking of is going to have a great future some of the best and wheat land in the state right near there some of it selling ri t now at one fifty an acre and i bet it will go up to two and a quarter in ten years is do you like your profession nothing like it keeps you out and yet you have a chance to loaf in the office for a change i don t mean that way i mean it s such an opportunity for sympathy dr launched into a heavy oh these farmers don t want sympathy all they need is a bath and a good dose of must have for instantly he was urging what i mean is i don t want you to think i m one of old and but i mean so many of my are farmers that i suppose i get kind of it seems to me that a doctor could a whole if he wanted to if he saw it he s usually the only man in the neighborhood who has any scientific training isn t he yes that s so but i guess most of us get rusty we land in a of and and legs what we need is women like you to jump on us it d be you that would the town no i couldn t too i did used to think about doing just that curiously but i seem to have drifted away from the idea oh i m a fine one to be you re just the one you have ideas without having lost feminine charm don t you think there s a lot of these women that go out for all these movements and so on that sacrifice after his remarks upon he abruptly questioned her about herself his and the firmness of his personality enveloped her and she accepted him as one who had a right to know what she thought and wore and ate and read he was positive he had grown from a in stranger to a friend whose gossip was important news she noticed the healthy of his chest his nose which had seemed irregular and large was suddenly she was out of this serious sweetness when over to them and with horrible say what do you two think you re doing telling fortunes or making love let me warn you that the is a card come on now shake a leg let s have some or a dance or something she did not have er word with dr until their parting been a great pleasure to meet you miss may i see you some time when i come down again i m here quite often taking to for and so on why what s your you can ask mr next time you come down f you really want to want to know say you wait n of the love making of and will there is nothing to be told which may not	42
be heard on every evening on every shadowy block they were and mystery their speech was phrases and of poetry were contentment or when his arm took her shoulder all the beauty of youth first discovered when it is passing and all the of a well to do unmarried man a pretty girl at the time when she is weary of her employment and sees no glory ahead nor any man she is glad to serve main street they liked each other honestly they were both honest she w s disappointed by his devotion to making money but she was sure that he did not lie to and that he did keep up with the medical magazines what aroused her to something more than liking was his when they went they walked from st paul down the river to more elastic seeming in a cap and a soft cr pe shirt youthful in a o of velvet a blue suit with an and agreeably broad turn down linen collar and frivolous ankles above shoes the high bridge crosses the mounting from low banks to a of cliffs far down beneath it on the st paul side upon mud is a wild settlement of chicken gardens and patched together from discarded sign boards sheets of iron and out of the river leaned over the rail of the bridge to look down at this village in delicious imaginary fear she shrieked that she was dizzy with the height and it was an extremely human satisfaction to have a strong male snatch her back to safety instead of having a logical woman teacher or well if you re scared why don t you get away from the rail then from the cliffs across the river and looked back at st paul on its hills an imperial sweep from the dome of the cathedral to the dome of the state the river road led past rocky field slopes deep woods now with september to white walls and a spire among trees beneath a hill old world in its placid ease and for this fresh land the place is ancient here is the bold stone house which general the king of fur built in with plaster of river mud and ropes of twisted grass for it has an air of centuries in its solid rooms card and found prints from other days which the house had seen tail coats of robin s egg blue clumsy red river carts laden with luxurious union soldiers in caps and rattling it suggested to them a common american past and it was memorable because they had discovered it together they talked e more personally as they on they crossed the river in a they climbed the hill to the round stone tower of fort they saw the of the and the and recalled the men who had come here eighty years york soldiers from the hills a good and i m proud of it let s make it all that those old boys dreamed about the was moved to vow let si come on come to show us make the town well make it artistic it s mi ty pretty but admit we aren t any too dam artistic probably the isn t as as all these greek temples but go to iti make us change i would like to some you d love we ve been doing a lot with and the past few years and it s so the big trees and and the best people on earth and keen i bet but half listened to the names she could not fancy their ever becoming important to her i bet has got more money than most of the on avenue and miss in the high school is a regular wonder reads latin like i do english and sam the man he s a not a better man in the state to go hunting with and if you want culture besides there s reverend the preacher and professor the of and the lawyer they say he writes regular poetry and and he s not such an awful when you get to him and he sings swell and and there s plenty of others only of course none of them have your you might call it but they don t make any more and so on come we re ready for you to they sat on the bank below the of the hidden from observation he her shoulder with his arm relaxed after the walk a chill her throat of his warmth and power she leaned gratefully against him you know fm in love with you she did not answer but she touched the back of his hand with an exploring finger you say i m so dam how can i help it unless i have you to stir me up she did not answer she could not think main street ou say a doctor could cure a town the way he does a person well you cure the town of whatever it if anything does and i ll be your she did not follow ms words only the of them she was shocked thrilled as he kissed her cheek and cried there s no use saying things and saying things and saying things don t my arms talk to you now oh please please she wondered if she ought to be angry but it was a drifting thought and she discovered that she was crying then they were sitting six inches apart pretending that they had never been nearer while she tried to be i would like to would like to see trust here she is brought some down to show you her cheek near his sleeve she studied a dozen village pictures they were she saw only trees a porch indistinct in leafy shadows but she exclaimed over the lakes dark water reflecting	42
wooded a flight of ducks a in shirt sleeves and a wide straw hat holding up a string of one winter picture of the edge of lake had the air of an slide of ice snow in the of a bank the mound of a house in thin black lines arches of frosty it was an impression of cool clear vigor how d it be to there for a couple of hours or go along on a fast ice boat and back home for c and some hot he demanded it might fun but here s the picture here s where you come in a photograph of a forest clearing pathetic new straggling among a clumsy log cabin with mud and with hay in front of it a woman with drawn hair and a baby those are the kind of folks i practise among good share of the time fine clean young hell have a farm in ten years but now i his wife on a kitchen table with my driver giving the look at that scared baby needs some woman with hands like yours waiting for you just look at that baby s eyes look how he s begging they hurt me oh it would be sweet to help him sweet as his arms moved toward her she answered all her doubts with sweet so sweet chapter t the rolling clouds of the a moving mass of u steel an irritable and rattle beneath a prolonged roar the sharp scent of cutting the smell of people and ancient baggage towns as as a scattering of boxes on an floor the stretch of faded gold broken only by of white houses and red no the way train grumbling through in climbing the giant that slopes in a thousand mile rise from hot to the it is september hot very dusty there is no attached to the train and the day of the east are replaced by free chair cars with each seat cut into two chairs the head rests covered with doubtful linen down the car is a semi of carved oak but the aisle is of bare blackened wood there is no porter no pillows no provision for beds but all today and all tonight they will ride in this long steel box farmers with perpetually tired wives and children who seem all to be of the same age workmen going to new with and shoes they are and cramped the lines of their hands filled with they go to sleep curled in distorted attitudes heads against the window panes or propped on rolled coats on seat arms and legs thrust into the aisle they do not read apparently they do not think they wait young old mother moving as though her joints were dry opens a suit case in which are seen a pair of slippers worn through at the toes a bottle of patent medicine a tin cup a paper covered book about dreams main street which the news butcher has her into buying she brings out a which she to a baby lying flat on a seat and wailing hopelessly most of the drop on the red of the seat and the woman sighs and tries to brush them away but they leap up and fall back on the a soiled man and woman and throw the on the floor a large brick colored takes off his shoes in relief and his feet in their thick gray against the seat in front of him an old woman whose mouth like a s and whose hair is not so much white as yellow like linen with bands of pink skull apparent between the anxiously lifts her bag opens it in it puts it under the seat and hastily it up and opens it and hides it all over again the bag is full of treasures and of memories a leather an ancient band concert scraps of ribbon lace satin in the aisle beside her is an extremely indignant in a cage two facing seats overflowing with a iron s family are with shoes bottles bundles wrapped in newspapers a sewing bag the oldest boy takes a mouth organ out of his coat pocket the tobacco and plays marching through till every head in the car begins to ache the news butcher comes selling bars and drops a girl child down to the and back to her seat the stiff paper envelope ch she uses for cup in the aisle as she goes and on each trip she over the feet of a carpenter who x look out the dust doors are open and from the smoking car back a visible blue line of tobacco smoke and with it a of laughter over the story which the young man in the bright blue suit and tie and light yellow shoes has just told to the man in the smell grows constantly thicker more stale to each of the passengers his seat was his temporary home and most of the passengers were but one seat looked clean and cool in it were an obviously prosperous man and a black haired fine girl whose rested on an bag they were dr will and his bride they had been married at the end of a year of courtship and they were on their way to after a wedding journey in the mountains the of the way train were not altogether new to she had seen them on from st paul to but now that they had become her own people to and encourage and adorn she had an acute and uncomfortable interest in them they distressed her they were so stolid she had always maintained that there is no american and she sought now to defend her faith by seeing imagination and enterprise in the yoimg farmers and in a man working over his order but the older people as well as had settled into submission to	42
poverty they were she groaned isn t there any way of waking them up what would happen if they understood scientific she begged of her hand groping for his it had been a she had been to discover how tumultuous a feeling could be roused in her will had been jolly competent in making camp tender and understanding through the hours when they had lain side by side in a tent pitched among pines high up a lonely mountain spur his hand swallowed hers as he started from thoughts of the practise to which he was returning the people wake em up what for they re happy but they re so provincial no that isn t what i mean they re oh so sunk in the mud look here you want to get over your city idea that because a man s aren t pressed he s a fool these farmers are mighty keen and up and coming i that s what hurts life seems so hard for them these lonely farms and this train oh they don t mind it besides things are changing the the rural free delivery they re bringing the in closer touch with the town takes time you know to change a wilderness like this was fifty years ago but already why they can hop into the ford or the and get in to the on saturday evening quicker than you could get down to em by in st paul main street t ut if it s these towns we ve been passing that the run to for relief from their can t you understand just look at them was amazed ever since childhood he had seen these towns from trains on this same line he grumbled why what s the matter with em good it would astonish you to know how much wheat and and com and potatoes they ship in a year but they re so ugly m admit they aren t like but give em time what s the use of giving them time unless some one has desire and training enough to plan them hundreds of trying to make attractive cars but these towns left to chance no that can t be true it must have taken genius to make them so oh they re not so bad was all he answered he pretended that his hand was the cat and hers the mouse for the first time she him rather than encouraged him she was staring out at a hamlet of a hundred and fifty inhabitants at which the train was stopping a bearded german and his mouthed wife their enormous imitation leather from under a seat and out the station agent hoisted a dead calf aboard the baggage car there were no other visible in in the quiet of the halt could hear a horse kicking his stall a carpenter a roof the business of took up one side of one block facing the railroad it was a row of one story shops covered with iron or with painted red and yellow the buildings were as ill as temporary looking as a camp street in the motion pictures the railroad station was a one room frame box a cattle pen on one side and a crimson wheat on the other with its on the ridge of a roof resembled a broad shouldered man with a small vicious pointed head the only to be seen were the red brick catholic church and at the end of main street picked at s sleeve you wouldn t call this a not so bad town would you these dutch are kind of slow still at that see that fellow coming out of the general store there getting into the big car i met him once he owns about half the town besides the store his name is he owns a lot of and he in farm lands good nut on him that fellow why they say he s worth three or four hundred thousand dollars got a great big yellow brick house with walks and a garden and everything other end of can t see it from here i ve past it when i ve driven through here yes sir then if he has all that there s no excuse whatever for this place if his three hundred thousand went back into the town where it belongs they could bum up these and build a dream village a jewel why do the farmers and the town people let the baron keep it i must say i don t quite get you sometimes let him they can t help themselves he s a old and probably the priest can twist him around his finger but when it comes to picking good farming land he s a regular i see he s their symbol of beauty the town him instead of buildings honestly don t know what you re driving at you re kind of played out after this long trip you ll feel better when you get home and have a good bath and put on the blue e that s some costume you witch he squeezed her arm looked at her they moved on from the desert stillness of the station the train swayed the air was thick turned her face from the window rested her head on his shoulder s e was from her unhappy mood but she came out of it unwillingly and when was satisfied that he had corrected all her and had opened a magazine of stories she sat upright here she meditated is the empire of the world the northern a land of herds and exquisite lakes of new and tar paper and like red towers of clumsy speech and a hope that is boundless an empire which a quarter of the world yet its work is merely begun they are these for all their and	42
bank accounts and and co and for all its fat richness theirs is a land what is its future she wondered a future of cities and factory where now main street are empty fields homes universal and secure or placid ch with sullen huts youth free to find knowledge and laughter to the lies or fat women with and chalk gorgeous in the skins of beasts and the bloody feathers of slain birds playing bridge with pink fingers women who after much expenditure of labor and bad temper still resemble their own lap dogs the ancient stale or something different in history unlike the tedious maturity of other what future and what hope card s head ached with the riddle she saw the flat in giant patches or rolling in long the width and of it which had expanded her spirit an hour ago began to frighten her it spread out so it went on so she could never know it was in his story with the loneliness which comes most in the midst of many le she tried to forget problems to look at the the grass beside the railroad had been burnt over it was a with of weeds beyond the wire fences were of golden rod only this thin hedge shut th n off from the plains wheat lands of autumn a hundred acres to a field and gray near by but in the distance like velvet stretched over dipping the long rows of wheat marched like soldiers in worn yellow the newly fields were black fallen on the distant it was a martial vigorous a little harsh by kindly gardens the e was relieved by of oaks with patches of short wild grass and every mile or two was a chain of with the of wings across them all this working land was turned into by the light the was dizzy on open shadows from immense clouds were forever sliding across low and the sky was wider and and more resolutely blue than the sky of cities she it a glorious country a land to be big in she then startled her by d you realize the town after the next is m that one word home it terrified her had she really bound herself to live in this town called and this thick man beside her who dared to define her future he was a stranger she turned in her seat stared at him who was he why was he sitting with he wasn t of her kind his neck was heavy his speech was heavy he was twelve or thirteen years older than she and about him was none of the magic of shared and eagerness she could not believe that she had ever slept in his arms that was one of the dreams which you had but did not admit she told herself how good he was how and understanding she touched his ear smoothed the plane of his solid jaw and turning away again concentrated upon liking his town it wouldn t be like these barren it couldn t be why it had three thousand population tbat was a great many people there would be six hundred houses or more and the lakes near it would be so lovely she d seen th n in the photographs they had looked charming hadn t they as the train left she began nervously to watch for the lakes the entrance to all her future life but when she discovered them to the left of the track her only of them was that they resembled the a mile from the track a low ridge and she could see the town as a whole a passionate jerk she pushed up the window looked out the arched fingers of her left hand trembling on the sill her hand at her breast and she saw that was merely an of all the which they had been passing only to the eyes of a was it exceptional the huddled low wooden houses broke the plains scarcely more than would a thicket the fields swept up to it past it it was un protected and there was no dignity in it nor any hope of greatness only the tall red grain and a few church rose from the mass it was a frontier camp it was not a place to live in not possibly not the people they d be as as their houses as flat as main street their fields she couldn t stay here she would have to loose from this man and flee she peeped at him she was at once helpless before his mature and touched by his excitement as he sent his magazine along the aisle stooped for their bags came up with flushed face and here we are she smiled and looked away the train was entering town the houses on the outskirts were dusky old red with wooden or gaunt frame like boxes or new with foundations stone now the train was passing the the grim for oil a a lumber yard a stock yard muddy and trampled and now they were stopping at a red frame station the platform crowded with farmers and with people with dead eyes she was here she could not go on it was the end the end of the world she sat with closed eyes longing to push past hide somewhere in the train flee on toward the pacific something large arose in her soul and commanded stop it stop being a baby she stood up quickly she said isn t it wonderful to be here at last he trusted her so she would make herself like the place and she was going to do tremendous things she followed and the ends of the two bags which he carried they were held back by the slow line of passengers she reminded herself that she was actually at the dramatic moment	42
of the bride s she ought to feel exalted she felt nothing at all except irritation at their slow progress toward the door stooped to peer through the windows he sh y look there s a bunch come down to welcome us sam and the and and jack elder and yes sir harry and and a whole crowd i guess they see us now sure they see see em waving she bent her head to look out at th n she had of herself she was ready to love them but she was embarrassed by the of the cheering group from the she waved to them but she clung a second to tlie sleeve of the who helped her down before she had the courage to into the of hand shaking people people whom she could not tell apart she had the impression that all the men had coarse voices large damp hands bald spots and charms she knew that they were her their hands their smiles their shouts their affectionate eyes overcame her she stammered thank you oh thank you one of the men was at t my machine down to take you home fine business sam cried and to let s jump in that big over there some boat too believe me sam can show speed to any of these from only when she was in the car did she distinguish the three people who were to accompany them the owner now at the wheel was the essence of decent self satisfaction a level eyed man rugged of neck but sleek and round of face face like the back of a spoon bowl he was at her have you got us all straight yet course she has trust to get things straight and get em dam quick i bet she could tell you every date in history boasted her husband but the man looked at her and with a certainty that he was a person whom she could trust she confessed as a matter of fact i haven t got anybody t course you haven t child well fm sam dealer in sporting goods cream and almost any kind of heavy you can think of you can call me sam anyway i m going to call you s you ve been and gone and married this poor fish of a bum that we keep round here and wished that she called people by their given names more easily the fat lady back there beside you who is pretending that she can t hear me giving her away is mrs and this hungry looking up here beside me is who keeps his store running by not filling your s right fact you might say he s the that put the in so well leave us take the bride home say sell you the place for three thousand better be thinking about building a new home for prettiest in g p if you asks me sam drove off in the heavy traffic of three and the house free i like mr i can t him sam they re all so friendly she glanced at the houses tried not to see main street she saw gave way in why do these stories lie so they always make the bride s home coming a bower of roses complete trust in noble lies about marriage i m not changed and this town o my god i can t go through with it this heap her husband bent over her you look like you were in a brown study scared i don t expect you to think g her is a paradise after st paul i don t expect you to be crazy about it at first but come to like it so much life s so free here and best people on earth she whispered to him while mrs turned away i love you for understanding i m just i m over sensitive too many books it s my lack of shoulder muscles and sense give me time dear you bet all the time you want she laid the back of his hand against her cheek near him she was ready for her new home had told her that with his mother as housekeeper he had occupied an old house but nice and and well heated best furnace i could find on the market his mother had left her love and gone back to qui it would be wonderful she not to have to live in other people s houses but to make her own shrine she held his hand tightly and stared ahead as the car swung round a comer and stopped in the street before a frame house in a small lawn a with a of grass and mud a square brown house rather damp a narrow walk up to it sickly yellow leaves in a window with dried wings of box elder seeds and of wo from the a porch with pillars of thin painted pine surmounted by and and of wood no to shut off the public gaze a bay window to the right of the porch curtains of cheap lace revealing a pink marble table with a shell and a family bible you ll find it old fashioned what do you call it mid i left it as is so you could make any changes you felt were necessary sounded doubtful for the first time since he had come back to his town a real home she was moved by his humility she gaily good by to the he unlocked the door he was leaving the choice of a maid to her and there was no in the house she while he turned the key and in it was next day before either of them remembered that in their camp they had planned that he should carry her over the sill in and front parlor she was conscious of	42
windows with the dust of a patent medicine advertisement painted on its roof ye art mrs mary christian science library open daily free a touching at beauty a one room of boards recently covered with a show window delicately rich in error starting out to imitate tree trunks but running off into of gilt an ash tray greetings from a christian science magazine a stamped a large ribbon tied to a small the correct of silk lying on the pillow inside the shop a glimpse of bad prints of bad and famous pictures shelves of records and wooden toys and in the midst an anxious small sitting in a rocking chair a shop and po a room a man in shirt sleeves the proprietor a man bad a large adam s apple s tailor shop on a side street off main a story building a fashion plate showing human in garments which looked as hard as steel plate on another side street a raw red brick catholic church with a yellow door the post office merely a of glass and brass shutting off the rear of a room which must once have been a shop a writing shelf against a wall rubbed black and scattered with official notices and army the damp yellow brick in its grounds the state bank wood the farmers national bank an temple of marble pure exquisite solitary a brass plate with t a score of similar shops and behind them and mixed with them the houses meek cottages or large comfortable soundly uninteresting of prosperity in all the town not one building save the bank which gave pleasure to s eyes not a dozen buildings which main street suggested that in the fifty years of s existence the citizens had realized that it was either desirable or possible to make this their common home amusing or attractive it was not only the and the rigid which overwhelmed her it was the the of the buildings then faded unpleasant colors the street was with electric li t poles poles for cars boxes of goods each man had built with the most disregard of all the others between a large new block of two story brick shops on one side and the on the other side was a one story cottage turned into a shop the white temple of the farmers bank was back by a of glaring yellow brick one store building had a iron the building beside it was crowned with its and of brick with blocks of red she escaped from main street fled home she wouldn t have cared she insisted if the people had been comely she had noted a young man re a shop one hand holding the cord of an a middle aged man who had a way of staring at women as though he had been married too long and too an old wholesome but not clean his face like a fresh from the earth none of them had shaved for three days if they can t build out here on the surely there s nothing to prevent their buying safety she raged she t herself i must be wrong people do live here it can t be as ugly as as i know it is i must be wrong but i can t do it i can t go through with it she came home too seriously worried for and when she found waiting for her and have a walk well like the town great and trees eh she was able to say with a self maturity new to her it s very interesting m the train which brought to also brought miss miss was a corn colored woman and she was bored by farm work she desired the of city life and the way to enjoy city life was she had decided to go get a as hired girl in she her from the station to her cousin m maid of all work in the residence of mrs so you come to town said ay get a said you got a ta veil tm to see you how much you a sex there ain t nobody pay dr i he marry a girl from de cities maybe she pay you go take a said so it chanced that card and were main street at the same time had never before been in a town larger than crossing which has sixty seven inhabitants as she marched up ihe street she was meditating that it didn t hardly seem like it was possible there could be so many folks all in one place at the same time my it would take years to get acquainted with them all and swell people too a fine big gentleman in a new pink shirt with a diamond and not no washed out blue working shirt a lovely lady in a dress but it must be an awful hard dress to wash and the stores not just three of them like there were at crossing but more than four blocks the bon ton store big as four my it would simply scare a to go in there with seven or eight all looking at you and the men s suits on figures just like human and s like home lots of and in there and a card of buttons like a store with a fountain that was just huge awful long and all lovely marble and on it there was a great big lamp with the big st shade you ever saw all different colored ass stuck together and the they were silver and they came out of the bottom of the behind the fountain there were glass shelves and bottles of new kinds of soft drinks that nobody ever heard ol suppose a took you there main street a hotel awful high higher than s	42
new red bam three stories one right on top of another you had to stick your head back to look clear up to the top there was a swell man in there probably been to lots of times oh the people to know here there was a lady going by you wouldn t hardly say she was any older than herself she wore a new gray suit and black she almost looked like she was looking over the town too but you couldn t tell what she thought would like to be that way kind of quiet so nobody would get fresh kind of oh elegant a church here in the city there d be lovely sermons and church twice on sunday every and a show a regular just for with the sign change of bill every evening pictures every evening there were in crossing but only once every two weeks and it took the an hour to drive in papa was such a he wouldn t get a ford but here she could put on her hat any evening and in three minutes walk be to the and see lovely fellows in dress suits and bill and everything how could they have so many stores why there was one just for tobacco alone and one a lovely the art it was for pictures and and stuff with oh the made so it looked just like a tree trunk stood on the comer of main street and washington avenue the roar of the city began to frighten her there were five on the street all at the same and me of em was a great big car that must of cost two thousand dollars and the was starting for a train with five dressed fellows and a man was up red bills with lovely pictures of washing machines on them and the was laying out and wrist watches and everything on real velvet what did she care if she got six dollars a week or two it was worth while working for nothing to be allowed to stay here and think how it would be in the evening all lighted up and not with no lamps but with and maybe a gentleman friend taking you to the and buying you a ice cream back veil you said ay it ay t ink maybe ay stay here said iv the recently built house of sam m which was given the party to welcome was one of the largest in it had a clean sweep of a solid a small tower and a large porch inside it was as shiny as hard and as cheerful as a new oak upright piano looked at sam as he rolled to the door and shouted welcome little lady the keys of the city are beyond him in the and the living room sitting in a vast circle as though they were attending a funeral she saw the guests they were waiting so they were waiting for her the determination to be all one pretty oi i away she begged of sam i don t dare face them they expect so much they ll swallow me in one like that why sister re going to love you same as i would if i didn t think the here would beat me up b but i don t dare faces to the right of me faces in front of me and wonder she sounded hysterical to herself she fancied that to sam she sounded insane but he chuckled now you just under sam s wing and if anybody at you too long i ll em c here we go watch my the ladies delight and the terror his arm about her he led her in and ladies and the bride we won t introduce her round yet because she ll never get your bum names straight anyway now bust up this star chamber they politely but they did not move from the social security of their circle and they did not cease staring had given energy to dressing for the event her hair was low on her forehead with a parting and a now she wished that she had piled it her frock was an slip of lawn with a wide gold and a low square neck which gave a suggestion of throat and shoulders but as they looked her over she was certain that it was all wrong she wished alternately that she had worn a high dress and that she had dared main street to shock them with a violent brick red which she had bought in she was led about the circle her voice mechanically produced safe remarks oh fm sure i m going to like it here ever so much and yes we did have the best time in mountains and ye lived in st paul several years p no i don t remember meeting him but i m pretty sure i ve heard of him took her aside and whispered now introduce you to them one at a time tell me about them first well the nice looking couple over there are harry and his wife harry s owns most of the bon ton but it s harry who runs it and gives it the he s a next to him is the you met him this afternoon mighty good duck shot the tall beyond him is jack elder elder owns the and the house and quite a share in the farmers national bank him and his wife are good sports him and sam and i go hunting together a lot the old cheese there is the richest man in town next to him is the tailor really a tailor sure why not maybe we re slow but we are i go hunting with same as i do	42
with jack elder i m i ve never met a tailor it must be charming to meet one and not have to think about what you owe him and do you would you go hunting with your too no but no use running this thing into the ground besides i ve known for years and besides he s a mighty good shot and that s the way it is see next to is great fellow for hell talk your arm off about religion or politics or books or anything gazed with a polite to interest at mr a tan person with a wide mouth oh i know he s the furniture store man she was much pleased with herself and he s the like him come shake hands with him oh no no he doesn t he doesn t do the and an that himself i couldn t shake hands with an ml why not d be proud to shake hands with a great surgeon just after he d l en carving up people s she sought to regain her afternoon s calm of maturity yes you re right i oh my dear do you know how much i want to like the people you like i want to see le as they are well don t forget to see people as other folks see them as they they have the stuff did you know that came from here bom and brought up yes you know president of the velvet company of boston mass make the velvet twelve biggest factory in new england i think i ve heard of sure you have why he s a several times over weu comes back here for the black bass fishing almost every summer and he says if he could get away from business he d rather live here than in boston or new york or any of places he doesn t mind undertaking please i ll like everybody i ll be the community he led her to the of money on owner of northern cut over land was a man in soft gray clothes with eyes in a face his wife had cheeks hair voice and a manner she wore her expensive green frock with its bosom bead and between the buttons down the back as though she had bought it seconds hand and was afraid of meeting the former owner they were shy it was professor george of schools a chinese turned brown who held s hand and made her when the and mr had stated that they were pleased to meet her there seemed to be nothing else to say but the conversation went on do you like mrs oh sure i m going to be ever so happy there s so many nice people mrs looked to mr for social and intellectual aid he there s a fine class of people i don t like some of these retired farmers who come here to spend their last especially the they hate to pay they hate to spend a cent but the rest are a fine main street of people did you know that came from here used to go to school right at the old i heard he did yes he s a prince he and i went fishing together last time he was here the and mr upon weary feet and smiled at with expressions she went on tell me mr have you ever tried any experiments with any of the new systems the modem methods or the system oh those most of these would be are simply i believe in manual training but latin and always will be the of sound no matter what these advocate heaven knows what they do want knitting i suppose and classes in the ears the smiled their appreciation of listening to a waited till should rescue her the rest of the party waited for the miracle of being amused harry and and dr the young smart set of she was led to them flung at her in a high friendly voice well this is so nice to have you here well have some good parties dances and everything you ll have to join the jolly seventeen we play bridge and we have a supper once a month you play of course n no i don t in st always been such a book worm ell have to teach you bridge is half the fun of life had become and she glanced at s golden which she had previously admired harry said politely how do you think you re going to like the old tm sure i shall like it best people on earth here great too course had lots of chances to go live in but we like it here real he town did you know that came from here perceived that she had been weakened in the struggle by her lack of bridge roused to nervous desire to regain her position she turned on dr the young and pool playing of her husband her eyes with him while she ni learn bridge but what i really love most is the can t we all get up a party and fish or whatever you do and have a supper afterwards now you re talking dr affirmed he looked rather too obviously at the cream smoothed slope of her shoulder like fishing fishing is my middle name ill teach you bridge like cards at all i used to be rather good at she knew that was a game of cards or a game of something else possibly but her lie was a triumph s handsome high colored face showed doubt harry his nose and said humbly used to be great gambling game wasn t it while others drifted to her group snatched up the conversation she laughed and was frivolous and rather she could	42
across the room and to the interest and of all sat on the arm of s chair he was with sam elder of the i mill harry and president of the bank was a he had come to in he was a distinguished bird of prey thin nose mouth thick brows port wine cheeks of white hair contemptuous eyes he was not happy in the social changes of thirty years three ago dr the lawyer the and himself had been the that was as it should be the fine arts medicine law religion and recognized as aristocratic four with but ruling the and and and who had ventured to follow them but was old almost retired had lost much of his practice to reverend not the reverend was dead and nobody was impressed in this rotten age of by the which still drove the town was as as and owned stores the social leaders were merchants selling nails was considered as sacred as these the the had no dignity they were sound and in politics but they talked about cars and pump guns and heaven only knew what mr felt out of place with them but his brick house with the roof was still the largest residence in town and he held his position as squire by appearing among the younger men and reminding them by a wintry eye that without the banker none of them could carry on their vulgar as defied decency by sitting down with the men mr was to mr say when was t first settled in wa n t it in why no n tl mr was indignant he come out from in no wait in it must have been and took a claim on the rum river quite a ways above he did roared mr he settled first in blue earth county him and his father what s the point at issue whispered to whether this old duck had an english or a they ve been arguing it all evening interrupted to give tidings d tell you that was in town couple days ago she bought a hot water bottle expensive one too two dollars and thirty cents mr course she s just like her was never save a cent two dollars and twenty thirty was it two dollars and thirty cents for a bottle brick wrapped up in a flannel just as good anyway how s s mr yawned while mr gave a and study of them reflected are they really so terribly interested in ma s or even in ma s i wonder if i could get them away from let s risk and try there hasn t been much labor trouble around here has there mr she asked innocently no ma am thank god we ve been free from that except maybe with hired girls and farm hands trouble enough with these foreign farmers if you don t watch these they turn or or some fool thing on you in a minute of course if they have you can m e em listen to reason i just have em come into the bank for a talk and tell em a few things i mind their being so much but i won t stand having around but thank god we ain t got the labor trouble they have in these main street cities even jack elder here gets along pretty well in the mill don t you jack sure don t need so many skilled workmen in my place and it s a lot of these half baked skilled that start trouble treading a lot of this literature and union papers and all do you approve of union r inquired of mr elder me i should say not it s like this i don t mind dealing with my men if they think they ve got any though lord knows what s come over workmen nowadays don t appreciate a good job but still if they come to me honestly as man to man i ll talk things over with but fm not going to have any any of these walking or whatever fancy names they call themselves now bunch of rich living on the ignorant not going to have any of those fellows in and telling me how to run my mr elder was growing more excited more and patriotic i stand for freedom and constitutional rights if any man don t like my shop he can get up and same way if i don t like him he and that s all there is to it i y can t understand all these and and government reports and scales and god knows what all that these fellows are up the labor situation with when it s all simple they like what i pay em or they get out that s all there is to it what do you think of profit sharing ventured mr elder thundered his answer while the others nodded solemnly and in tune like a shop window of toys comic and judges and ducks and set quivering by a breeze from the open door all this profit sharing and welfare work and and old age is simply a workman s independence and a lot of honest t the half baked that isn t dry behind the ears yet and these and god knows what all are that are trying to tell a business man how to run his business and some of these college professors are just about as bad the whole and of em are nothing in god s but in disguise and it s my duty as a to resist every attack on the integrity of american industry to the last ditch sir mr elder wiped his brow added you what they ought to do is simply to hang every one of these and that would settle the whole thing right	42
s don t you think so you bet agreed the conversation was at last relieved of the plague of s and they settled down to the question of the justice of the peace had sent that drunk to jail ten days or twelve it was a matter not readily determined then communicated his adventures on the trail i get good time out of the bout a week ago i down to new that s forty three no let s see it s seventeen miles to and bout six and three quarters call it seven to and it s a good nineteen miles from there to new seventeen and seven and nineteen that makes let me see seventeen and seven s twenty four nineteen well say twenty that makes forty four well anyway say about forty three or four miles from here to new we got started about seven fifteen seven twenty because i had to stop and fill the and we ran along just keeping up a good steady gait mr did finally for reasons and purposes admitted and justified attain to new only the presence of the alien was recognized leaned over and said say have you been reading this two out in tales the fellow that wrote it certainly can the others tried to look literary harry offered is a great hand for reading high class stuff like mid the by this and of reckless books but me he glanced about as one convinced that no other hero had ever been in so strange a plight t m so dam busy i don t have time to read i never read anything i can t check against said sam thus ended the literary portion of the conversation and for seven minutes elder reasons for believing that the fishing was better on the west shore of lake than on the east it was main street indeed quite true that on the east shore had caught a altogether admirable the talk went on it did go on their voices were monotonous thick emphatic they were harshly like men in the smoking of cars they did not bore they frightened her she panted they will be cordial to me because my man belongs to their tribe god help me if i were an smiling as as an ivory she sat avoiding thought glancing about the living room and hall noting their of commercial prosperity said interior eh my idea of how a place ought to be furnished modem she looked polite and observed the floors hard wood staircase unused fireplace with which resembled brown cut glass standing upon and the barred shut forbidding that were half filled with novels and looking sets of o henry and she perceived that even were failing to hold the party the room filled with as with a fog le cleared their throats tried to choke down the men shot their and the women stuck their more firmly into their back hair then a rattle a daring hope in every eye the swinging of a the smell of strong coffee s voice in a triumphant the eats they began to chatter they had something to do they could escape from themselves they fell upon the food chicken cake store ice cream even when the food was gone they remained cheerful they could go home any time now and go to bed they went with a flutter of coats and and walked home did you like them he asked they were terribly sweet to me you ought to be more careful about shocking folks talking about gold stockings and about showing your ankles to and all more mildly you gave em a good time but i d watch out for that f i were you is such a damn cat i wouldn t give her a chance to me y poor effort to lift up the was i to try to amuse them no no honey i didn t mean you were the only up and coming person in the bunch i just mean don get legs and all that stuff pretty crowd she was silent raw with the shameful thought that the attentive circle might have been her laughing at her don t please don t worry he pleaded silence i m sorry i spoke about it i just meant but they were crazy about you sam said to me that little lady of yours is the thing that ever came to this town he said and ma i didn t hardly know whether she d like you or not she s such a dried up old bird but she said your bride is so quick and bright i declare she just wakes me up liked praise the flavor and of it but she was so being sorry for herself that she could not taste this please come on cheer up his lips said it his anxious shoulder said it his arm about her said it as they halted on the obscure porch of their house do you care if they tm will me why i wouldn t care if the whole world thought you were this or that or anything else you re my well you re my soul he was an mass as solid seeming as rock s ie found his sleeve pinched it cried i m glad it s sweet to be wanted you must my you re all i have he lifted her carried her into the house and with her aims about his neck she forgot main street chapter we ll steal the whole day and go hunting i want you to see the country round here announced at breakfast i d take the car want you to see how swell she runs since i put in a new but we ll take a team so we can get right out into the fields not many chickens left	42
now but we might just happen to run a small he over his hunting he pulled his hip boots out to full length and examined them for holes he counted his shells her on the qualities of powder he drew the new out of its heavy tan leather case and made her peep through the barrels to see how free they were from the world of hunting and and was to her and in s interest she found something and joyous she examined the smooth stock the carved hard rubber butt of the gun the shells with their brass caps and sleek green bodies and on the were cool and comfortably heavy in her hands wore a brown canvas hunting coat with vast pockets the inside trousers which at the wrinkles and shoes a felt hat in this uniform he felt they out to the livery they packed the and the box of lunch into the back crying to each other that it was a magnificent day had borrowed elder s red and white english a complacent dog with a waving tail of silver hair which in the sunshine as they started the dog and leaped at the horses heads till took him into the where he s knees and leaned out to sneer at farm the out on the hard dirt road with a pleasant song of hoofs ta ta ta ta ta ta it was early and fresh the air whistling frost bright on the golden rod as the sun warmed the world of into a of yellow turned from the hi through the bars of a s gate into a field slowly over the earth in a hollow of the rolling they lost sight even of the country road it was warm and among the dry wheat and brilliant little flies across die a of content filled the air and in the sky the dog had been let out and after a dance of excitement he settled down to a steady of the field forth and back forth and back his nose down owns this farm and he told me he saw a small of chickens in the west forty last week maybe well get some sport after all chuckled she watched the dog in suspense breathing quickly every time he seemed to halt she had no desire to slaughter birds but she did desire to belong to s world the dog stopped on the point a held up y he s hit a come on he leaped from the twisted the about the swung her out caught i his gun slipped in two shells stalked toward the rigid dog cared after the crawled ahead his tail quivering his belly dose to the was nervous i e expected clouds of large birds to fly up instantly her eyes were strained with staring but they followed the dog for a quarter of a turning crossing two low hills kicking through a of weeds crawling between the of a fence the walking was hard on her pavement trained feet the earth was the and lined with grass of s ie dragged and she heard gasp look three gray birds were starting up from the they were round like enormous bees was moving the she was agitated why didn t he fire the would be gone then a crash another and two birds turned in the air down when he showed her the birds she had no sensation of blood these heaps of feathers were so soft and there was about them no hint of death she watched her conquering man them into his inside pocket and with him back to the they found no more chickens that morning at noon they drove into her first a private village main street a house with no save a low and quite dirty stoop at the back a crimson bam with white a glazed brick an ex carriage shed now the of a ford an cow stable a chicken house a pig pen a a the iron skeleton tower of a the was of packed yellow clay barren of grass with rusty and wheels of discarded hardened trampled mud like filled the pig pen the doors of the house were rubbed the comers and were with rain and the child who stared at them from the kitchen window was but beyond the bam was a of scarlet the breeze was sunshine in motion the flashing metal blades of the with a lively hum a horse a flew in and out of the cow stable a small spare woman with hair trotted from the house she was a not in like english but singing it with a he say you pretty soon hunting doctor my dot s fine you is dis de bride ve say night ve hope maybe ve see her day my a pretty lady mrs was shining with welcome veil ay hope you dis country von t you stay for dinner doctor no but i wonder if you wouldn t like to give us a glass of milk condescended veil ay should say ay you bar a second and ay run on de milk house she nervously hastened to a tiny r building beside the she came back with a of milk from which filled the bottle as they drove off admired she s the dearest thing i ever saw and she you you are the lord of the oh no much pleased but still they do ask my advice about things bully people these farmers and prosperous too she s still scared of america but her will be doctors and lawyers and of the state and any dam thing they want to i wonder was plunged back into last night s i wonder if these farmers aren t bigger than we are so simple and hard working the town lives on them we are and yet we feel superior to them last night i heard mr talking	42
about apparently he the farmers because they reached the social heights of selling thread and buttons us where d the farmers be without the town who them money why we supply them with everything don t you find that some of the farmers think they pay too much for the services of the towns oh of course there s a lot of among the farmers same as there are among any class listen to some of these a fellow d think that the farmers ought to run the state and the whole shooting match probably if they had their way they d fill up the with a lot of farmers in covered boots yes and they d come tell me i was hired on a salary now and couldn t fix my that d be fine for you wouldn t it but why shouldn t they why that bunch of telling me oh for heaven s sake let s quit arguing all this discussing may be all right at a party but let s forget it while we re hunting i know the probably it s a worse affliction than the i just wonder she told herself that she had everything in the world and after each self rebuke she stumbled again on i just wonder they ate their by a long grass reaching up out of clear water red winged the a splash of gold green smoked a pipe while she leaned back in the and let her tired be absorbed in the of the sky they to the and awoke from their at the sound of the hoofs they paused to look for in a rim of woods little woods very clean and shiny and gay silver and with green trunks a lake of sandy bottom a seclusion in the of hot brought down a fat red and at dusk he had a dramatic shot at a flight of ducks whirling down from the upper air the lake instantly vanishing they drove home under the sunset of straw and wheat like bee stood out in startling rose and gold and the green as the vast of crimson darkened the fulfilled land became in deep and the black road before the main street turned to a faint then was blotted to uncertain cattle came in a long line up to the barred gates of the and over the resting land was a dark glow had found the dignity and greatness which had failed her in main street till they had a maid they took noon dinner and six o clock supper at mrs s boarding house mrs of the dealer in hay and grain was a pointed woman with iron gray hair drawn so tight that it resembled a soiled handkerchief covering her head but she was unexpectedly cheerful and her dining room with its thin on a long pine table had the decency of clean in the line of guests like horses at a came to distinguish one countenance the pale long face and sandy hair of mr p known as professional bachelor manager and one half the force in the shoe department of the bon ton store you will enjoy very much mrs his eyes were like those of a dog waiting to be let in out of the cold he passed the there are a great many bright people here mrs the christian science reader is a very bright woman though i am not a myself in fact i sing in the l choir and miss of the she is such a pleasing bright girl i was fitting her to a pair of tan yesterday i declare it was a pleasure the butter was s she defied him by encouraging do you have amateur and so on here oh the town s just full of talent the knights of put on a show last year it s nice you re so enthusiastic oh do you really think so lots of folks jolly me for trying to get up shows and so on i tell them they have more artistic gifts than they know just yesterday i was saying to harry if he would read poetry like ff if he would join the band i get so much pleasure out of playing the and our band leader is a good i often say he ought to give up his and become a professional he could play the in or new york or anywhere but but i couldn t get harry to see it at all and i hear you and the doctor went out hunting yesterday lovely country isn t it and did you make some calls the life isn t inspiring like medicine it must be wonderful to see how trust you doctor it s me that s got to do all the trusting be damn sight more wonderful f they d pay their bills grumbled and to he whispered something which sounded like gentleman hen but s pale eyes were watering at her she helped him with so you like to read poetry oh yes so much though to tell the truth i don t get much time for reading we re always so busy at the store and but we had the professional at the sisters last winter thought she heard a from the at the end of the table and s elbow was a embodied she persisted do you get to see many plays mr he shone at her like a dim blue march moon and sighed no but i do love the i m a real fan one trouble with books is that they re not so thoroughly by intelligent as the are and when you drop into the library and take out a book you never know what you re wasting your time on what i like in books is a wholesome really improving story and sometimes why once i started	42
a novel by this fellow that you read about and it told how a lady wasn t living with her husband i mean she wasn t his wife it went into details and the english was real poor i spoke to the library about it and they took it off the selves i m not narrow but i must say i don t see any use in this deliberately dragging in life itself is so full of temptations that in literature one wants only that ch is pure and what s the name of that where can i get hold of it the ignored him but the they are mostly clean and their humor t you think that the most essential quality for a person to have is a sense of humor i don t know i really haven t much said main street he shook l s finger at her now now you re too modest fm sure we can all see that you have a perfectly sense of humor besides dr wouldn t marry a lady that didn t have we all know how he loves his ou bet i m a old bird come on let s beat it remarked implored and what is your chief artistic interest mrs h aware that the had murmured she desperately architecture that s a real nice art i ve always said when were finishing the new front on the bon ton building the old man came to me you know harry s er d h i always call him and he asked me how i liked it and i said to him look here d h i said you see he was to leave the front plain and i said to him it s all very well to have modem lighting and a big display space i said but when you get that in you want to have some architecture too i said and he laughed and said he guessed maybe i was right and so he had em put on a observed e his teeth like a mouse well what if it is tin that s not my fault i told d h to make it polished granite you make me leave us go come on leave us go from them in the hall and secretly informed that she mustn t mind the s he belonged to the chuckled well child how about it do you prefer an artistic like to stupid like sam and me my let s go home and play and laugh and be foolish and slip up to bed and sleep without dreaming it s beautiful to be just a solid m from e weekly one of the most charming affairs of the season was held tuesday evening at the handsome new residence of sam and mrs when many of our most prominent citizens gathered to greet the lovely new bride of our popular local physician dr will all present spoke of the many of the bride formerly miss of st paul games and were the order of the day with merry talk and conversation at a late hour dainty were served and the party broke up with many expressions of pleasure at the pleasant affair among those present were elder dr will for the past several years one of our most popular and skilful and gave the town a delightful surprise when he returned from an extended tour in this week with his charming bride n e miss of st paul whose family are prominent in and mrs is a lady of manifold charms not only of striking charm of appearance but is also a distinguished of a school in the east and has for the past year been connected in an important position of responsibility with the st paul public library in which city dr will had the good fortune to meet her the city of her to our midst and for her many happy years in the energetic city of the twin lakes and the future the dr and mrs will reside for the present at the doctor s home on street which his charming mother has been keeping for him who has now returned to her own home at qui leaving a host of friends who regret her absence and hope to see her soon with us again iv she knew that if she was ever to effect any of the which she had pictured she must have a starting place what confused her during the three or four months after her marriage was not lack of perception that she must be definite but sheer careless happiness of her first home in the pride of being a she loved every detail the with the weak back even the brass water cock on the hot water when she had become familiar with it by trying to it to she found a maid plump radiant from crossing was droll in her attempt to be at a respectful servant and a bosom friend they laughed together over the fact that the stove did not draw over the of fish in the pan like a child playing in a trailing skirt cared for her crying greetings to wives along the way everybody bowed to her strangers and all and made her feel that they wanted her that she main street here in shops she was merely a customer a hat a voice to bore a harassed clerk here she was mrs and her in fruit and manners were known and remembered and worth discussing even if they weren t worth was a delight of brisk the very merchants whose she found the at the two or three parties which were given to welcome her were the of all when they had something to talk about or cotton or floor oil with that the she conducted a long she pretended that he cheated her in the price	42
of magazines and he pretended she was a from the twin cities he hid behind the counter and when she stamped her foot he came out wailing honest i haven t done nothing crooked today not yet she never recalled her first impression of main street never had precisely the same despair at its by the end of two everything had changed proportions as she never entered it e house ceased to exist for her s store store the of and and the meat the notions they expanded and hid all other when she entered mr s store and he mrs veil dis a fine day she did not notice the of the shelves nor the stupidity of the clerk and she did not remember the mute with him on her first view of main street she could not find half the kinds of food she wanted but that made more of an adventure when she did contrive to get at s meat market the triumph was so vast that she with excitement and admired the strong wise butcher mr she appreciated the homely ease of village life s ie liked the old men farmers r who when they sometimes on their heels on the like resting indians and over the she found beauty in the children she had suspected that her married friends exaggerated their passion for children but in her work in the library children had become individuals to her citizens of the state with their own rights and their own senses of humor in the library she had not had much time to give them but now she knew the luxury of stopping gravely asking whether her doll had yet recovered from its and agreeing with that it would be good fun to go she touched the thought lt would be sweet to have a baby of my own i do want one tiny no not yet there s so much to do and i m still tired from the job it s in my bones she rested at home she listened to the village noises to all the world or sounds simple and charged with magic logs barking chickens making a sound of content children at play a man beating a rug wind in the trees a a footstep on the walk voices of and a s boy in the kitchen a a too near twice a week at least she drove into the country with to hunt ducks in lakes with sunset or to call on who looked up to her as the squire s lady and thanked her for toys and magazines evenings she went with her husband to the motion pictures and was greeted by every other couple or till it became too cold they sat on the porch to by in or to neighbors who were the leaves the dust became golden in the low sun the street was filled with the fragrance of burning leaves but she wanted some one to whom she could say what she thought on a slow afternoon when she over sewing and wished that the would ring announced miss de ite s lively blue eyes if you had looked at her in detail you would have found her face slightly lined and not so much sallow as with the bloom rubbed oil you would have found her chest flat and her fingers rough from needle and chalk and her and plain doth skirts and her hat worn too far back betraying a dry forehead but you never did look at in detail you couldn t her electric activity veiled her she was as energetic as a her fingers fluttered her sympathy came out in she sat on the edge main street of a in eagerness to be near her to send her and across she rushed into the room pouring out fm afraid think the teachers have been shabby in not coming near you but we wanted to give you a chance to get settled i am and i try to teach french and english and a few other things in the high school i ve been hoping to know the teachers you see i was a oh you needn t tell me i know all about awful how much i know this village we need you so much here it s a dear loyal town and isn t loyalty the finest thing in the world but it s a rough diamond and we need you for the and we re ever so humble she stopped for breath and finished her compliment with a smile if i could help you in any way would i be committing the sin if i whispered that i think is a tiny bit ugly of course it s ugly dreadfully though i m probably the only person in town to whom you could safely say that except perhaps the lawyer have you met him oh you must he s simply a darling intelligence and culture and so gentle but i don t care so much about the that will change it s the spirit that gives me hope it s sound wholesome but afraid it needs live creatures like you to awaken it i shall slave drive you splendid what shall i do i ve been wondering if it would be possible to have a good come here to lecture ye es but don t you think it would be better to work with existing perhaps it will sound slow to you but i was thinking it would be lovely if we could get you to teach sunday school had the empty expression of one who finds that she has been affectionately bowing to a complete stranger oh yes but i m afraid i wouldn t be much good at that my religion is so i know so is mine i don t care a bit for though i do stick firmly to	42
the belief in the of god and the brotherhood of man and the of as you do of course looked respectable and thought about having tea and that s all you need teach in sunday school it s the personal influence then there s the library board you d be useful on that and of course there s our women s study the are they doing anything or do they read papers made out of the miss shrugged perhaps but still they are so earnest they will respond to your interest and the does do a good social work they ve made the city plant ever so many trees and they run the rest room for farmers wives and they do take such an interest in refinement and culture in fact so very unique was disappointed by nothing very she said politely think them all over i must have a while to look around first miss darted to her smoothed her hair peered at her oh my dear don t you suppose i know first tender days of marriage they re sacred to me home and children tiiat need you and depend on you to keep them alive and turn to you with their little smiles and the hearth and she hid her face from as she made an activity of patting the cushion of her chair but she went on with her former i mean you must help us when you re ready fm afraid you ll think i m i am so much to all this treasure of american and and opportunity maybe not at palm beach but thank heaven we re free from such social distinctions in i have only one good quality belief in the brains and hearts of our nation our state our town it s so strong that sometimes i do have a tiny effect on the haughty ten i shake em up and make em believe in yes in themselves but i get into a of teaching i need young critical things like you to punch me up tell me what are you reading been re reading the of ware do you know it yes it was clever but hard man wanted to tear down not build up cynical oh i do hope i m not a but i can t see any use in this high art stuff that doesn t encourage us day to on ensued a fifteen minute argument about the oldest topic in the world it s art but is it pretty tried to be eloquent regarding honesty of observation miss stood out for sweetness and a cautious use of the uncomfortable properties of light at the end cried main street don t care how much we it s a relief to have somebody talk something besides crops let s make rock to its foundations let s have afternoon tea instead of afternoon coffee the delighted helped her bring out the folding sewing table whose yellow and black top was with dotted lines from a s tracing wheel and to set it with an embroidered lunch cloth and the glazed tea set which she had from st paul miss confided her latest scheme moral motion pictures for country districts with light from a to a ford engine was twice called to fill the and to make toast when came home at five he tried to be as the husband of one who has afternoon tea suggested that miss stay for supper and that invite the much praised lawyer the poetic bachelor yes could come yes he was over the which had prevented his going to sam s party regretted her impulse the man would be an heavily about the bride but at the entrance of she discovered a personality was a man of perhaps thirty slender still his voice was low it was very good of you to want me he said and he offered no humorous remarks and did not ask her if she didn t think was the little in the state she fancied that his even might reveal a thousand tints of and blue and silver at supper he hinted his love for sir thomas arthur charles he presented his but he expanded in s in miss s praise in s of any one who amused his wife wondered why went on digging at routine law cases why he remained in she had no one whom she could ask neither nor would understand that there might be reasons why a should not remain in g her she enjoyed the faint mystery she felt triumphant and rather literary she already had a group it would be only a while now before she provided the town with and a knowledge of she was doing as she served the emergency of and she cried to don t you think we ought to get up a dramatic chapter when the first november snow had down with white the bare in the fields when the first small fire had been started in the furnace which is the shrine of a home card began to make the house her own she dismissed the parlor the golden oak table with brass the chairs the picture of the doctor s ie went to to through department stores and small tenth street shops devoted to and high thought she had to ship her treasures but she wanted to bring them back in her arms had torn out the between front parlor and back parlor thrown it into a long room on which she yellow and deep blue a with an of gold thread on stiff which she hung as a against the wall a couch with pillows of velvet and gold bands chairs which in seemed she hid the sacred family in the dining room and replaced its stand with a square cabinet on which was a blue jar between yellow candles decided against a fireplace well have	42
a new house in a couple of years anyway she decorated only one room the rest hinted she d better leave till he made a ten strike the brown of a house stirred and awakened it seemed to be in motion it welcomed her back from it lost its the supreme verdict was s well by i was afraid the new wouldn t be so comfortable but i main street must say this or whatever you call it is a lot better than that old sofa we had and when i look around well it s worth all it cost i guess every one in town took an interest in the the and painters who did not actually assist crossed the lawn to peer through the windows and exclaim looks swell at the store harry and at the bon ton repeated daily how s the good work coming i hear the house is getting to be real even mrs mrs lived across the alley from the rear of s house she was a widow and a prominent and a good influence she had so painfully reared three sons to be christian gentlemen that one of them had become an one a professor of greek and one n a boy of fourteen who was still at home the most brazen member of the gang in mrs was not the type of good influence she was the soft damp fat sighing clinging melancholy hopeful kind there are in every large chicken yard a number of old and indignant who resemble mrs and when they are served at sunday noon dinner as chicken with thick they keep up the resemblance had noted that mrs from her side window kept an eye upon the house the and mrs did not move in the same sets which meant precisely the same in as it did on fifth avenue or in but the good widow came calling she in sighed gave a hand sighed glanced sharply at the revelation of ankles as crossed her legs sighed the new blue chairs smiled with a sighing sound and gave voice ive wanted to call on you so long you know we re neighbors but i thought i d wait till you got you must run in and see me how much did that big chair cost seventy seven dollars alive well i suppose it s all right for them that can afford it though i do sometimes think of course as our said once at church by the way we haven t seen you there yet and of course your husband was raised up a and i do hope he won t drift away from the fold of course we all know there isn t anything not cleverness or gifts of gold or anything that can make up for humility and the inward grace and they can say what they want to about the p e church but of course there s no church that has more history or has stayed by the true principles of christianity better than the church and in what church were you raised mrs w why i went to as a girl in but my college was well but of course as the bible says is it the bible at least i know i have heard it in church and everybody admits it it s proper for the little bride to take her husband s vessel of faith so we all hope we shall see you at the church and as i was saying of course i agree with reverend in thinking that the great trouble with this nation today is lack of spiritual faith so few going to church and pe le on sunday and heaven knows what all but still i do think that one trouble is this terrible waste of money people feeling that they ve got to have bath and in their houses i heard you were selling the old furniture cheap yes of course you know your own mind but i can t help thinking when will s ma was down here keeping house for him she used to run in to see me real often it was good enough furniture for her but there there i mustn t i just wanted to let you know that when you find you can t depend on a lot of these young folks like the and the and heaven only knows how much money blows in in a year why then you may be glad to know that slow old is always right there and heaven knows a h i hope you and your husband won t have any of the troubles with sickness and and wasting money and all that so many of these young couples do have and but i must be running along now it s been such a pleasure and just run in and see me any time i hope will is well i thought he looked a it was twenty minutes later when mrs finally out of the front door ran back into the living room and jerked open the windows that woman has left damp finger prints in the air she said main street n was extravagant but at least she did not try to clear herself of blame by going about i know i m terribly extravagant but i don t seem to be able to help it had never thought of giving her an allowance his mother had never had one as a earning had asserted to her fellow that when she was married she was going to have an allowance and be and modem but it was too much trouble to explain to s kindly that she was a practical housekeeper as well as a she bought a plan account book and made her as exact as are likely to be when they lack for e first month it was a jest to	42
beg prettily to confess i haven t a cent in the house dear and to be told you re an extravagant little rabbit but the made her realize how were her she became self conscious occasionally she was indignant that she should always have to petition him for the money with which to buy his food she caught herself his belief that since his joke about trying to keep her out of the had once been accepted as admirable humor it should continue to be his daily bon it was a nuisance to have to run down the street after him because she had forgotten to ask him for money at breakfast but she couldn t hurt his feelings she reflected he liked the of giving she tried to reduce the of begging by opening accounts and having the bills sent to him she had found that sugar flour could be most purchased at s rustic general store she said sweetly to i think i d better open a charge account here i don t do no business except for cash she do you know who i am sure i know the is good for it but that s a rule i made i make low prices i do business for cash she stared at his red face and her fingers had the desire to slap him but her reason agreed with him you re quite right you shouldn t break your rule for me her rage had not been lost it had been transferred to her husband she wanted ten pounds of sugar in a hurry but she had no money she ran up the stairs to on the door was a sign a headache cure and stating doctor is out back at naturally the blank space was not filled out she stamped her foot she ran down to the store the doctor s as she entered she heard mrs demanding ave got to have some money saw that her husband was there and two other men all listening in amusement snapped how much do you want dollar be enough no it won tl i ve got to get some for the why good d they got enough now to fill the closet so i couldn t find my hunting boots last time i wanted them i don t care they re all in rags you got to give me ten dollars perceived that mrs was accustomed to this she perceived that the men particularly regarded it as an excellent jest she waited she knew what would come it did where s that ten dollars i gave you last year and he locked to the other men to laugh they laughed cold and still walked up to and cook want to see you upstairs something the matter he after her up the stairs into his barren before he could get out a she stated yesterday in front of a saloon i heard a german b her husband for a quarter to get a toy for the baby and he refused just now heard mrs going through the same humiliation and i in the same i have to beg you for money i have just been informed that i couldn t have any sugar because i hadn t the money to pay for who said that by god it kill any tut it wasn t his fault it was yours and mine i now humbly beg you to give me the money with which to buy meals for you to eat and hereafter to remember it the next time i shan t beg i shall simply starve do you understand i can t go on being a slave her defiance her enjoyment of the ran out she was main street sobbing against his overcoat how can you shame me so and he was dog gone it i meant to give you and i forgot it i swear i won t again by i won t he pressed fifty dollars upon her and after that he r ed to give her money regularly sometimes daily she determined but i must have a stated amount be business like system i must do something about it and daily she didn t do anything about it m mrs had by the of her comments on the new furniture stirred to economy she spoke to about left she read the again and like a child with a picture book she studied the of the beef which gallantly continues to though it is divided into cuts but she was a deliberate and joyous in her preparations for her first party the she made lists on every envelope and slip in her desk she sent orders to fancy she pinned patterns and she was irritated when was about frightful big doings that are going on she regarded the affair as an attack on s timidity in pleasure i ll make em lively if nothing else i ll make em stop regarding parties as committee meetings usually considered himself the master of the house at his desire she went hunting which was his symbol of h and she ordered for breakfast was his symbol of morality but when he came home on the afternoon before the he found himself a slave an intruder a fix the furnace so you won t have to touch it after supper and for heaven s sake take that horrible old door mat off the porch and put on your nice brown and white shirt why did you come home so late would you mind hurrying here it is almost and those are just as likely as not to come at seven instead of eight please she was as unreasonable as an amateur leading woman on a first night and he was reduced to humility when she came down to supper when she stood in the doorway he gasped she was in a	42
silver the of a lily her piled hair like black glass she had the and ness of a and her eyes were intense he was stirred to rise from the table and to hold the chair for her and all through supper he ate his bread dry because he felt that she would think him common if he said you hand me the butter iv she had reached the calmness of not caring whether her guests liked the party or not and a state of satisfied suspense in regard to s in serving before cried from the bay window in the living room here comes somebody and mr and mrs faltered in at a quarter to eight then in a shy arrived the entire aristocracy of all persons engaged in a profession or earning more than twenty five hundred dollars a year or possessed of bom in america even while they were removing their they were peeping at the new saw turn over the gold pillows to find a price and heard mr the attorney gasp hi be as he viewed the print hanging against the she was amused but her high spirits as she beheld them form in dress parade in a long silent uneasy circle clear round the living room she felt that she had been back to her first party at sam s have i got to lift them like so many pigs of iron i d m t know that i can make them happy but make them a silver flame in the circle she whirled around drew them with her smile and sang i want my party to be noisy and this is the of my house and i want you to help me have a bad influence on it so that it will be a giddy house for me won t you all join in an old fashioned square dance and mr will call she had a record on the was in the of the floor loose lean rusty headed pointed of nose clapping his hands and shouting swing y even the and and professor george danced looking only slightly fo and by rushing about the room and being and to all persons over forty five got them into a main street and a virginia but when she left them to themselves in their own way harry put a record on the the younger people took the floor and all the elders back to their chairs with smiles which meant don t believe try this one myself but i do enjoy watching the dance half of them were silent half resumed the of that afternoon in the store hunted for something to say hid a and offered to the owner of the flour mill how d you folks like the new furnace so oh let them alone don t them they must like it or they wouldn t do it warned herself but they gazed at her so when she past that she was that in their of respectability they had lost the power of play as well as the power of thought even the dancers were gradually crushed by the invisible force of fifty perfectly pure and behaved and negative minds and they sat down two by two in twenty minutes the party was again elevated to the decorum of a prayer meeting we re going to do something exciting exclaimed to her new she saw that in the growing quiet her voice had carried across the room and were abstracted fingers and lips slightly moving she knew with a cold certainty that was his about the catching the hen running over the first lines of an old sweetheart of mine and thinking of his popular on mark s but i will not have anybody use the word in my house she whispered to miss that s good i tell you why not have sing why my dear he s the most sentimental in see here your opinions on house are sound but your opinions of people are does wag his tail but the poor dear longing for what he calls self expression and no training in anything except selling shoes but he can sing and some day when he gets away from harry s patronage and ridicule hell do something fine for her she urged and warned the of we all want you to sing mr you re the only famous actor i m going to let appear on the stage t while blushed and admitted oh they want to hear me he was clearing his throat pulling ms clean handkerchief farther out of his breast pocket and thrusting his fingers between the buttons of his in her affection for s in her desire to discover artistic talent prepared to be delighted by the recital sang fly as a bird thou art my dove and when the little swallow leaves its nest all in a reasonably bad tenor was shuddering with the shame which sensitive people feel when they listen to an being humorous or to a child publicly doing badly what no child should do at all she wanted to laugh at the gratified importance in s half shut eyes she wanted to weep over the meek which clouded like an his pale face ears and sandy she tried to look admiring for the benefit of miss that trusting admirer of all that was or could be the good the true and the beautiful at the end of the third miss roused from her attitude of inspired vision and breathed to my i that was sweet of course hasn t an good voice but don t you think he puts such a lot of feeling can lied and but without originality oh yes i do think he has so much she saw that after the strain of listening in a manner the audience had had given up their last hope of being amused she cried now we re going to	42
play an game which i learned in you will have to take off shoes for a after that you will probably break knees and shoulder blades much attention and incredulity a few eyebrows indicating a verdict that s bride was noisy and improper i shall choose the most vicious like and myself as the the rest of you are wolves your shoes are the sheep the wolves go out into the hall the scatter the sheep this room then turn off all the lights and the wolves crawl in from the hall and in main street he darkness they try to get the shoes away from the who are permitted to do anything except bite and use the the captured shoes out into the hall no one come shoes off i every one looked at every one else and waited for every one to begin kicked off her silver slippers and ignored the universal ance at her arches the embarrassed but loyal her high black shoes well you re a terror to old folks you re like the i used to go horseback riding with back in the ain t much accustomed to attending parties but here with a and a gallant jerk snatched off his elastic sided shoes the others and followed when the sheep had been up in the darkness the wolves crept into the living room halting thrown out of their habit of by the strangeness of advancing through toward a waiting foe a mysterious foe which expanded and grew more menacing the wolves peered to make out they touched gliding arms which did not seem to be attached to a body they quivered with a rapture of fear reality had vanished a suddenly rose then s high and s astonished you re mrs galloped backward on stiff hands and knees into the safety of the lighted moaning i i was so upset in my life but the propriety was shaken out of her and she continued to in my i e as she saw the living room door opened by invisible hands and shoes through it as she heard from the darkness beyond the door a a a resolute here s a lot of shoes come on you wolves owl y would would when abruptly turned on the lights in the living room half of the company were sitting back against the walls where they had remained out the engagement but in uie middle of the floor was with harry their torn off their hair in their eyes and the o dish mr was retreating from and with laughter s discreet brown hung down his back young s net had lost two buttons and betrayed more of her plump shoulder than was regarded as pure in whether by shock disgust joy of combat x physical activity all the party were from their years of social decorum george twisted his beard mrs insisted i did too sam i got a shoe i never knew i could fight so terrible i was certain that she was a great she had needle and thread ready she permitted them to restore the divine decency of buttons the grinning brought down stairs a pile of soft thick sheets of paper with designs of blossoms in and crimson and gray and patterns of purple birds flying among sea green trees in the valleys tf nowhere these announced are real chinese i got them from an shop in you are to put them on over your clothes and please forget that you are and turn into and and and isn t it and anything else you can think of while they were rustling the paper she disappeared ten minutes after she gazed down from the stairs upon ruddy yankee heads above oriental robes and cried to them the princess her as they looked up she t their suspense of admiration they saw an airy figure in trousers and coat of green edged with gold a high gold collar under a proud chin black hair pierced with pins a languid fan in an out stretched hand eyes uplifted to a vision of towers when she dropped her pose and smiled down she discovered with domestic pride and gray staring for a second she saw nothing in all the pink and brown mass of save the hunger of the two men she shook off the spell and ran down we re going to have a real chinese concert messrs and well are the rest of us sing and play the the were with p the drums were and the sewing table editor of die led the with a ruler and a totally in main street accurate sense of the music was a oi tom heard at fortune telling tents or at the state fair but the whole company and puffed and in a sing song and looked before they were quite tired of the concert led them in a dancing procession to the dining room to blue of with nuts and preserved in none of them save that city harry had heard of any chinese dish except chop with agreeable doubt they ventured through the shoots into the golden of the and did a not very humorous chinese dance with and there was and contentment relaxed and found that she was tired she had carried them on her thin shoulders she could not keep it up she longed for her father that artist at creating hysterical parties she thought of smoking a to shock them and dismissed the thought before it was quite formed she wondered whether they could for five minutes be to talk about something besides the winter top of s ford and what al had said about his mother in law she sighed h let em alone done enough she crossed her legs and above her of she caught s still smile and thought well of herself for having thrown a rose light on the pallid	42
lawyer repented the supposition that any male save her husband existed jumped up to find and whisper happy my lord no it didn t cost much best party this town ever saw only don t cross your legs in that costume shows your knees too plain she was vexed she resented his she returned to and talked of chinese not that she knew anything whatever about chinese but he had read a book on the subject as on lonely evenings in his office he had read at least one book on every subject in the world s thin maturity was changing in her vision to flushed youth and they were an island in the yellow sea of chatter when she realized that the guests were beginning that cough which indicated in the universal instinctive language that they desired to go home and go to bed while they asserted that it had been the party they d ever seen my so clever and original she smiled shook hands and cried many suitable things regarding children and being sure to wrap up warmly and s singing and s at games then she turned wearily to in a house filled with quiet and and of chinese he was i tell you you certainly are a wonder and guess you re it about waking folks up now you ve showed em how they won t go on having the same old kind of parties and and everything here don t touch a done enough pop up to bed and i ll clear up his wise surgeon s hands her shoulder and her irritation at his was lost in his strength from the weekly one of the most delightful social events of recent months was held wednesday evening in the of dr and mrs who have completely their charming home on street and is now extremely in modem color scheme the doctor and his bride were at home to their numerous friends and a number of in were held including a chinese in original and genuine oriental of which ye editor was leader dainty were served in true oriental style and one and all a delightful time vi the week after the gave a party the circle of kept its place all evening and did the of the and the hen chapter v was digging in for the winter through late november and all december it daily the was at and might drop to twenty below or thirty winter is not a season in the it is an industry storm sheds were erected at every door in main street every block the sam the wealthy mr all save who hired a boy were seen staggering up carrying storm windows and them to while put up his windows danced inside the and begged him not to swallow the which he held in his mouth like an extraordinary set of external false teeth the universal sign of winter was the town miles a tall thick red bachelor general store cynical children loved him and he away from work to tell them improbable stories of sea and horse trading and bears the children s parents either laughed at him or hated him he was the one in town he called both the miller and the from lost lake by their first names he was known as the red and considered slightly insane could do anything with his hands a pan an spring soothe a a dock a which went into a bottle now for a week he was general of he was the only person besides the at sam s who understood everybody begged him to look over the furnace and the water pipes he rushed from house to house till after ten o clock from burst water pipes hung along the skirt of his brown overcoat his cap which he never took off in the house was a of ice and coal dust his red hands were cracked to he the of a cigar but he was to he stooped to examine the furnace he straightened glanced down at her and got to fix your furnace no matter what else i do the poorer houses of where the services of miles were a luxury which included the of miles were to the lower windows with earth and along the railroad the sections of snow fence which had been all summer in romantic wooden tents occupied by small boys were set up to prevent from covering the track the farmers came into town in home made with bed and hay piled in the rough boxes fur coats fur caps fur almost to the knees gray ten feet long thick en canvas lined with yellow wool like the of red flannel for the blazing wrists of boys these against winter were busily dug out of ball sprinkled drawers and tar bags in and all over town small boys were h there s my or look at my i there is so sharp a division between the panting and the winter of the northern plains that they with surprise and a feeling of heroism this of an winter garments surpassed even personal gossip as the topic at parties it was good form to ask put on your yet there were as many distinctions in as in cars the lesser sort appeared in yellow and black coats but was in a long and a new seal cap when the snow was too deep for his he went off on country calls in a shiny only his ruddy nose and his cigar emerging from the fur herself stirred main street by a loose coat of her finger tips loved the silken fur her activity now was sports in the town the and bridge had not only made more evident the social divisions in but they had also the love of activity it was so rich looking to sit and drive and so easy	42
and sliding were stupid and old fashioned in fact the village longed for the elegance of city almost as much as the cities longed tor village sports and took as much pride in ne as st or new york in going did inspire a successful party in mid november lake in clear sweeps of ice ringing to the on shore the ice tipped in the wind and oak twigs with stubborn last leaves hung against a sky harry did and was certain that she had found the perfect life but when snow had ended the and she tried to get up a moonlight sliding party the hesitated to stir away from their and their daily wh t of the city she had to them they down a long hill on a bob they upset and got snow down their necks they shrieked that they would do it again and they did not do it again at all main street she another group into going they shouted and threw and informed her that it was such fun and they d have another expedition ri t and they returned home and never thereafter left their of bridge was discouraged she was grateful when invited her to go rabbit hunting in the woods she down between burnt stump and icy oak through marked with a million of rabbit and mouse and bird she as he leaped on a pile of brush and fired at the rabbit which ran out he belonged there masculine in and and high boots that ni t she ate of and potatoes she produced electric sparks by touching his ear with her finger tip she slept twelve hours and awoke to think how glorious was this brave land she rose to a radiance of sun on snow snug in her she trotted up town smoked against a sky colored like blossoms bells shouts ot greeting were loud in the thin bright air and everywhere was a sound of wood it was saturday and the neighbors sons were getting up the winter fuel behind walls of wood in back yards their stood in scattered with yellow of the frames of their buck were cherry red the blades steel and the fresh cut ends of the sticks iron wood were marked with engraved rings of growth the boys wore shoe blue flannel shirts with enormous pearl buttons and of crimson yellow and brown cried to the boys she came in a g ow to s her collar white with frost from her breath she bought a can of as i it were fruit and returned home planning to surprise with an for dinner so brilliant was the snow glare that when she entered the house she saw the door the newspaper on the table every white surface as dazzling and her head was dizzy in the when her eyes had recovered she expanded drunk with health mistress of life the world was so luminous that she sat down at her little desk in the living room to make a poem she got no farther than the sky is bright the sun is warm there ne er will be another storm in the mid afternoon of this same day was called into the country it was s evening out her evening tor the dance was alone from three till midnight she wearied of reading pure love stories in the magazines and sat by a beginning to brood thus she chanced to discover that she had nothing to do n she had she meditated passed through the novelty of seeing the town and meeting le of and sliding and hunting was competent there was no household labor except sewing and and assistance to in bed making she couldn t satisfy her ingenuity in planning meals at s meat market you didn t give orders you inquired whether there was anything today besides and pork and ham the cuts of beef were not cuts they were lamb were as as the meat their best to the with its higher prices in all the shops there was the same lack of choice she could not find a glass headed picture nail in town she did not hunt for the sort of she wanted she took what she could get and only at s was there such a luxury as routine care was all she could devote to the house only by such as the widow s could she make it fill her time she could not have outside employment to the village doctor s wife it was she was a woman with a working brain and no work there were only three things which she could do have children start her career of or become so definitely a part of the town that she would be fulfilled by the of church and study club and bridge parties children yes she wanted them but she was not quite ready she had been embarrassed by s frankness but she agreed with him that in the insane condition of civilization which made the of citizens more costly and perilous than any other crime it was to have children till he had made more money she was sorry perhaps he had made all the mystery of love a mechanical but she fled from the thought with a day her her impulses toward beauty in raw main main street street they had become indistinct but she would set them going now she would she swore it with soft fist beating the edges of the and at the end of all her vows she had no notion as to when and where the was to begin become an part of the town she began to think with unpleasant she reflected that she did not know whether the people liked her she had gone to the women at afternoon to the merchants in their stores with so many comments and that she hadn t given	42
her were typical of all the afternoon s best friends mrs and mrs passed large dinner plates each with a spoon a fork and a cup without they and discussed the afternoon s game as they passed through the thicket of women s feet then they distributed hot rolls coffee poured from an pot stuffed and cake there was even in the most strictly circles a certain as to the need not be stuffed were in some houses thought of as a substitute for the hot rolls but there was in all the town no save who omitted they ate had a suspicion that the made the afternoon treat do for supper she tried to get back into the current she edged over to mrs amiable young mrs with her breast and arms of a and her loud delayed which burst from a sober face was the daughter of old dr and the wife of s partner dr asserted that and and their families were but had found them gracious she asked for friendliness by crying to mrs how is the baby s throat now and she was attentive while mrs rocked and and placidly described symptoms came in after school with miss the town miss s presence gave more confidence she talked she informed the i drove almost down to with will a few days ago isn t the country lovely and i do admire the farmers down there so their big red and and machines and everything do you all know that lonely church with the tin covered spire that stands out alone on a hill it s so bleak somehow it seems so brave i do think the are the and best people main oh do you think so protested mrs elder my husband says the that work in the mill are perfectly terrible so silent and and so selfish the way they keep demanding raises if they had their way they d simply ruin the business yes and they re simply ghastly hired girls mrs i swear i work myself to skin and bone trying to please my hired girls when i can get them i do everything in the world for them they can have their gentleman friends call on them in the kitchen any time and they get just the same to eat as we do if there s any left over and i practically never jump on them rattled they re ungrateful all that class of people i do think the domestic problem is simply becoming awful i don t know what the country s coming to with these demanding every you can save and so ignorant and impertinent and on my word demanding bath and everything as if they weren t mighty good and lucky at home if they got a bath in the wash tub they were off riding hard thought of and them but isn t it possibly the fault of the if the maids are ungrateful for generations we ve given them the of food and holes to live in i don t want to boast but i must say i don t have much trouble with s ie s so friendly the are sturdy and honest mrs snapped honest do you call it honest to hold us up for every cent of pay they can get i cant say that i ve had any of them steal anything though you might call it stealing to eat so much that a roast of beef hardly lasts three days but just the same i don t intend to let them think they can put anything over on me i always make them pack and their trunks down stairs right under my eyes and then i know they aren t being tempted to by any on my part how much do the maids get here ventured mrs b j wife of the banker stated in a shocked manner any place from three fifty to five fifty a week i know positively that mrs after swearing that she wouldn t and encourage them in their outrageous demands went and paid five fifty think of it a dollar a day for work and of course her food and room and a chance to do her own washing right in with the rest of the wash how much do you pay mrs how much do you pay insisted half a dozen w why i pay six a week she feebly confessed they gasped protested n t you think it s hard on the rest of us when you pay so much s demand was re by the universal was angry i don t care a maid has one of the hardest on earth she works from ten to eighteen hours a day e has to wash dishes and dirty clothes she the children and runs to the door with wet hands and mrs broke into s with a furious that s all very well but me i do those things myself when i m without a maid and that s a good share of the time for a person that isn t willing to yield and pay was but a maid does it for strangers and all she gets out of it is the pay their eyes were hostile four of them were talking at once s cut through took control oi the revolution tut tut tut tut what angry passions and what an all of you getting too serious stop it you re probably right but you re too ahead of the times quit looking so what is this a card party or a hen fight you stop admiring as the of arc of the hired girls or you you come over here and talk with if there s any more i ll take charge at the hen myself i they all laughed and talked a small town the wives of a village doctor and a	42
remember when a latin teacher came here from they resented her broad a were sure it was affected of course they have discussed you have they talked about me much my dear i always feel as though i walked around in a cloud looking out at others but not being seen i feel so and so normal so normal that there s nothing about me to discuss i can t realize that mr and mrs must gossip about me was working up a small passion of and i don t like it it makes me to think of their daring to talk over all i do and say me over i resent it i hate wait child perhaps they resent some things in you i want you to try and be they d over anybody who came in new didn t you with in yes well then will you be fm paying you the compliment of supposing that you can be i want you to be big enough to help me make this town worth while i ll be as as cold boiled potatoes not that i shall ever be able to help you make the town worth while what do they say about me really i want to know of course the ones resent your to anything farther away than they re so suspicious that s it suspicious and some think you dress too well oh they do do they shall i dress in to suit them please are you going to be a baby ra be good you certainly will or i won t tell you one single thing you must understand this i m not asking you to change yourself just want you to know what they think you must do that no matter how absurd their prejudices are if you re going to handle them is it your ambition to make this a better town or isn t it i don t know whether it is or not why why tut tut now of course it is why i depend on you you re a born i am not not any more of course you are oh if i really could help so they think i m affected my lamb they do now don t say they re after all standards are as reasonable to as lake shore drive standards are to and there s more than there are or and i ll tell you the whole story they think you re showing off when you say american instead of they think you re too frivolous life s so serious to them that they can t imagine any kind of laughter except s was sure you were her when oh i was not you talked about encouraging reading and mrs elder thought you were when you said she had such main street a pretty little car she thinks it s an enormous car and some of the merchants say you re too when you talk to them in the store and poor me when i was trying to be every in town is doubtful about your being with your all right to be kind but they say you act as though she were your cousin wait now there s plenty more and they think you were eccentric in furnishing this room they think the broad couch and that are absurd wait i know they re silly and i guess i ve heard a dozen you because you don t go to church oftener and can t stand it i can t bear to realize that they ve been saying all these things while i ve been going about so happily and liking them i wonder if you ought to have told me it will make me self conscious i wonder the same thing only answer i can get is the old saw about knowledge being power and some day you ll see how absorbing it is to have power even here to the town oh i m a but i do like to see things it hurts it makes these people seem so and treacherous when i ve been perfectly natural with them but let s have it all what did they say about my chinese party why go on or i ll make up worse things than anything you can tell me they did enjoy it but i guess some of them felt you were showing off pretending that your husband is richer than he is i can t their meanness of mind is beyond any horrors i could imagine they really thought that i and you want to reform like that when is so cheap who dared to say that the rich or the poor fairly well can t they at least understand me well enough to see that thou i might be affected and at least i simply couldn t that other kind of vulgarity if they must know you may tell them with my compliments that will makes about four thousand a year and the party cost half of what they probably thought it did chinese things are not very expensive and i made my own costume stop iti stop beating i know all that what they meant was they felt you were starting dangerous competition by giving a party such as most people here can t afford four thousand is a pretty big income for thb town i never thought of starting competition will you believe that it was in all love and friendliness that i tried to give them the party i could it was foolish it was childish and noisy but i did mean it so well i know of course and it certainly is unfair of them to make fun of your having that chinese food men was it and to about your wearing those pretty trousers sprang up oh they didn t do they didn t fun	42
realized that a head covered with a shawl was thrust up over a snow tipped bush to watch her she admitted that she was taking herself too seriously that villagers at every one she became placid and thought well of her philosophy but next morning she had a shock of shame as she entered s the his and mrs had been about something they halted looked embarrassed about felt guilty that evening when took her to call on the their hosts seemed at their arrival what makes you so hang dog the feebly except sam and there were no merchants of whose welcome was certain she knew that she read mockery into greetings but she could not control her suspicion could not rise from her she alternately raged and at the superiority of the merchants they did not know that they were being rude but they meant to have it understood that they were prosperous and not scared of no doctor s wife they often said one man s good as another and a dam sight better this motto however they did not commend to farmer customers who had had crop failures the yankee merchants were and and from the old country wished to be taken for james bom in new and bom in both proved that they were free american citizens by i don t know whether i got any or not or well you can t expect me to get it delivered by noon it was good form for the customers to fight back cheerfully you have it there by twelve or i ll snatch that fresh delivery boy bald headed but card had never been able to play the game of friendly and now she was certain that she never would learn it formed the cowardly habit of going to s was not respectable and rude he was still a foreigner and he expected to remain one his manner was heavy and his establishment was more fantastic than any cross roads store no one save himself could find anything a part of the of children s stockings was under a blanket on a shelf a part in a tin snap box the rest heaped like a nest of black cotton upon a flour barrel which was surrounded by dried for boxes of and a pair and a half of s rubber footed boots the place was crowded with standing aloof in and ancient colored leg o mutton awaiting the return of their lords they spoke or and looked at they were a relief to her they were not whispering that she was a but what she told herself was that s was so picturesque and romantic it was in the matter of clothes that she was most when she dared to go in her new checked suit with the black embroidered collar she had as good as invited all of which interested in nothing so intimately as in new clothes and the cost thereof to investigate her it was a smart suit with lines to the dragging yellow and pink of the town the w dow s stare from her porch indicated well i never saw anything like that before mrs stopped can at the notions shop to hint my that s a nice suit wasn t it terribly expensive the gang of boys in front of the store hey play you a game of on that dress could not endure it she drew her fur coat over the suit and hastily fastened the buttons while the boys n no group her quite so much as these staring young she had tried to convince herself that the village with its fresh air its lakes for fishing and swimming was than the artificial city but she was by glimpses of main street the gang of boys from fourteen to twenty who before s store smoking displaying fancy shoes and purple ties and coats of diamond shaped buttons whistling the and oh you at every passing girl she saw them playing pool in the room behind s shop and shaking in the smoke house and gathered in a knot to listen to the stories of the of the house she heard them moist lips over every at the palace at the counter of the greek parlor while they ate dreadful of decayed whipped cream and ice cream they screamed to one another hey lone quit dog gone you what you went and done you almost my glass like hell i did hey dam your hide don t you go sticking your coffin nail in my i scream oh you how like dancing with last night some kid by consultation of american fiction she discovered that this was the only and amusing manner in which boys could function that boys who were not of the and the camp were and unhappy she had taken this for granted she had studied the boys but it had not occurred to her that they it touch her now she was aware that they knew all about her that they were waiting for some affectation over which they could no passed their observation posts more than did mrs dr in shame she knew that they glanced at her snowy about her legs theirs were not young there was no youth in all the town she they were bom old grim and old and and she cried again that their youth was and on the day when she overheard and earl n son of the righteous widow who lived across the alley was at this time a boy of fourteen or fifteen had already seen quite enough of on her first evening in had appeared at the head of a immensely upon a discarded his companions were in imitation of had felt rather had gone out and distributed a dollar but was a in he returned with an entirely new group and this time there were three and a rattle when again	42
him she the doubt without answering it iv had taken her north to qui in the big woods it was the entrance to a indian a sandy settlement among pines on the shore of a huge snow glaring lake she had her first sight of his mother except the glimpse at the wedding mrs had a hushed and delicate breeding which dignified her main street over cottage with its worn hard cushions in heavy she had never lost the child s miraculous power of wonder she asked questions about books and cities she murmured ill is a dear hard working boy but he s inclined to be too serious and you ve taught him how to play last night i heard you both laughing about the old indian basket and i just lay in bed and enjoyed your happiness forgot her misery hunting in this of family life she could depend upon them she was not alone watching mrs about the kitchen she was better able to himself he was fact yes and mature he didn t really play he let play with him but he had his mother s genius for trusting her disdain for her sure integrity from the two days at qui drew confidence in herself and she returned to in a throbbing calm like those golden seconds when because he is for an instant free from pain a sick man in living a bright hard winter day the wind shrill black and silver clouds across the sky everything in motion during the brief light they struggled against the surf of wind through deep snow was cheerful he hailed behave yourself while i been away the editor b you stayed so long that all your have got well and took notes for the about their journey elder cried hey how s tricks up north mrs waved to them from her porch they re glad to see us we mean something here these people are satisfied why can t i be but can i sit back all my life and be satisfied with hey folks they want shouts on main street and i want in a room why ran in after school a dozen times she was she had about town and plucked compliments mrs dr had pronounced a sweet bright young woman and the at s store had declared that she was easy to work for and awful easy to look af but could not yet take her in she resented this s knowledge of her shame was not too long she hinted you re a great child buck up now the town s quit you almost entirely come with me to the club they have some of the best papers and current events so interesting in s demands felt a but she was too to obey it was who was really her however charitable toward the lower she may have thought herself had been reared to assume that servants belong to a distinct and inferior species but she discovered that was like girls she had loved in college and as a companion altogether to the young of the jolly seventeen daily they became more frankly two girls playing at considered the most beautiful and accomplished lady in the country she was always shrieking my dot s a hat or ay t ink au ladies die when see how elegant you do your hair but it was not the of a servant nor the of a slave it was the admiration of for junior they made out the day s together thou they began with propriety sitting by the kitchen table and at the sink or the stove the conference was likely to end with both of them by the table while over the ice man s attempt to kiss her or admitted everybody knows that the doctor is lots more clever than dr when came in from plunged into the hall to take off her coat rub her and ask lots of folks up town today this was the welcome upon which depended vi through her weeks of there was no change in her surface life no one save was aware of her on her most despairing days she to women on the street in stores but without the protection of s presence she did not go to the jolly seventeen she delivered herself to the judgment of the town only when she went main street and on the occasions of formal afternoon calls when mrs or mrs george with clean gloves and minute handkerchiefs and card cases and countenances of frozen approbation sat on the edges of chairs and inquired do you find pleasing when they spent evenings of social loss at the or the she hid l hind playing the simple bride now she was had taken a patient to for an operation he would be away for two or three days she had not minded she would the matrimonial and be a fanciful girl for a time but now that he was gone the house was empty was out this afternoon drinking coffee and talking about fellows with her cousin it was the day for the monthly supper and evening bridge of the jolly seventeen but dared not go she sat alone chapter j j the house was haunted long before evening shadows slipped down the walls and waited behind every chair did that door move no e wouldn t go to the jolly seventeen she hadn t energy enough to before them to smile at s not today but she did want a party if some one would come in this afternoon some one who liked her or mrs sam or old mrs damp or mrs dr or she d no that wouldn t be it they must come of themselves perhaps they would why not she d have tea ready anyway if they came splendid if not what did she care she wasn t going	42
to yield to the village and let down she was going to keep up a belief in the of tea to which she had always looked forward as the symbol of a leisurely fine existence and it would be just as much fun even if it was so to have tea by and pretend that she was entertaining clever men it she turned the shining thought into action she to the kitchen the wood range sang while she boiled the kettle warmed up on a newspaper spread on the rack in the oven she up stairs to bring down her tea cloth she arranged a silver tray she proudly carried it into the living room and set it on the long table pushing aside a of a volume of from the library copies of the saturday evening post the literary and s national magazine s ie moved the tray back and forth and regarded the effect she shook her head she busily unfolded the sewing table set it in the bay window patted the tea cloth to moved the tray some time have a mahogany tea table she said happily s ie had brought in two cups two plates for herself a straight chair but for the guest the big wing chair which she to the table s e had finished all the preparations she could think of she sat and waited she listened for the door bell the her eagerness was her hands drooped surely would hear the summons she glanced through the bay window snow was over the ridge of the house like of water from a the wide yards across the street were gray with moving the black trees shivered the was with of ice she looked at the extra cup and plate she looked at the wing chair it was so empty the tea was cold in the pot th wearily dipping finger tip she tested it yes quite cold she couldn t wait any longer the cup across from her was clean empty simply absurd to wait she poured her own cup of tea she sat and stared at it what was it she was going to do now oh yes how take a lump of sugar s ie didn t want the tea she was springing up she was on the couch sobbing n s ie was thinking more sharply than she had for weeks she to her resolution to change the town awaken main street h it reform it what if they were wolves instead of they d eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them fight or be eaten it was easier to change the town completely than to it she could not take their point of view it was a negative thing an intellectual a swamp of prejudices and fears she would have to make them take hers she was not a de paul to govern and a people what of that the change in their distrust of beauty would be the beginning of the end a seed to and some day with roots to crack their wall of if she could not as she desired do a great thing nobly and with laughter yet she need not be content with village e would plant one seed in the blank wall was she just was it merely a blank wall this town which to three thousand and more people was the of the universe hadn t she returning from qui felt the of their greetings no the ten thousand had no of greetings and friendly hands sam was no more loyal than girl she knew in st paul the people she had met in and those others had so much that complacently lacked the world of gaiety and adventure of music and the integrity of bronze of remembered mists from and paris nights and the walls of of justice and a god who not in hymns one seed which seed it was did not matter all knowledge and freedom were one but she had delayed so long in finding that seed could she do something with this or should she make her house so charming that it would be an influence she d make like i that was it for a beginning she conceived so clear a picture of their bending over large fair pages by the fire in a non fireplace that the slipped away doors no longer moved curtains were not creeping shadows but lovely dark masses in the dusk and when came home was singing at the piano which she had not touched for many days their supper was the feast of two girls was in the dining room in a frock of black satin edged with g and in blue and an apron dined in the kitchen but the door was open between and was inquiring did you see any ducks in s window and o ma am say ve have a time dis afternoon she have coffee and and her and ve laughed and laughed and her say he president and he going to make me queen of and ay stick a in may hair and say ay going to go to oh ve so foolish and ve laugh when sat at the piano again she did not think of her husband but of the book she wished that would come calling if a girl really kissed him he d creep out of his den and be human if will were as as or were as as will i think i could endure even lt s so hard to mother i could be maternal with is that what i want something to mother a man or a baby or a town i will have a baby some day but to have him isolated here all his years and so to bed have i found my real level in and kitchen gossip oh i do miss you will but it will	42
in with that gang fm what they call a i guess vm the town mrs town and i suppose i must be an too everybody who doesn t love the and the grand old republican party is an had unconsciously slipped from her attitude of departure into an attitude of listening her face full toward him her lowered she yes i suppose so her own came in a flood i don t see why you shouldn t the jolly seventeen if you want to they aren t sacred oh yes they are the dollar sign has chased the clean off the map but then got no kick i do what i please and i suppose i ought to let them do the same what do you mean by saying you re a tm poor and yet i don t decently envy the rich i m an old i make enough money for a stake and then i sit around by myself and shake hands with myself and have a smoke and read history and i don t contribute to the wealth of brother elder or you fancy you read a good deal in a hit or a miss way i ll tell you i m a lone wolf i trade horses and saw wood and work in lumber i m a first rate always wished i could go to college though i s pose i d find it pretty slow and they d probably kick me out you really are a curious person mr miles half and half usually known as that damn lazy big mouthed that ain t satisfied with the way we run things no i ain t curious whatever you mean by that i m just a probably too much reading for the amount of i ve got probably half baked i m going to get in first and beat you to it because it s dead sure to be handed to a radical that wears they grinned together she demanded ou say that the jolly seventeen is stupid what makes you think so oh trust us into the foundation to know about your leisure class fact mrs say that far as i can make out the only people in this man s town that do have any brains i don t mean keeping brains or brains or baby brains but real imaginative brains are you and me and and the at the flour mill he s a the don t tell that would fire a quicker than he would a horse thief indeed no i sha n t tell him this and i have some great set to s he s a regular old line party member too expects to reform everything from to by saying phrases like value like reading the prayer book but same time he s a j compared with people like or professor or t s interesting to hear about him he dug his toe into a drift like a rats you mean i talk too much well i do when i get hold of somebody like you you probably want to run along and keep your nose from es i must go i suppose but tell me why did you leave miss of the high school out of your list of the town guess maybe she does belong in it from all i can hear she s in everything and behind everything that looks like a reform lot more than most folks realize she lets mrs reverend the president of this here club think she s running the works but miss is the secret and all the easy going into doing something but way i figure it out you see fm not interested in these miss s trying to repair the holes in this covered ship of a town by keeping busy out the water and tries to repair it by reading poetry to the crew me i want to it up on the ways and fire the poor bum of a that built it so it sails crooked and have it right from the up yes that would be better but i must run home my poor nose is nearly frozen main street say you better come in and get warm and see what an old s is like s ie looked doubtfully at him at the low the yard that was with cord wood a wash tub she was but did not give her the opportunity to be delicate he flung out his hand in a gesture which assumed that she was her own that she was not a respectable married woman but fully a human being with a well just a to warm my nose she glanced down the street to make sure that she was not on and bolted toward the remained for one hour and never had she known a more considerate host than the red he had but one room bare pine floor small work bench wall with neat bed pan and ash coffee pot on the shelf behind the pot stove chairs one constructed from half a barrel one from a plank and a row of books and and a manual of gas engines a book by and a on ie care feeding diseases and breeding c poultry and cattle there was but one picture a magazine color plate of a steep village in the mountains which suggested and maidens with golden hair did not fuss over her he suggested might throw open your coat and put your feet up on the box in front of the stove he tossed his coat into the lowered himself into the barrel chair and on fm probably a but by i do keep my independence by doing odd and that s more n these like the clerks in the banks do when i m rude to some it may be partly because i don t know	42
better and god knows i m not no authority on trick forks and what you wear with a prince but mostly it s because i mean something i m about the only man in johnson county that remembers the in the de of independence about americans being supposed to have the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness i meet old on the street he looks at me like he wants me to remember he s a and worth two hundred thousand dollars and he says s my name i says he knows my name all well whatever your name is he says i understand you have a saw i want you to come around and saw up four of for me he says so you like my looks eh i says kind of innocent what difference does that make want you to saw that wood before saturday he says real sharp common workman going and getting fresh with a fifth of a million dollars all walking around in a hand me down fur coat here s the difference it makes i says just to devil him how do you know i like your looks maybe he didn t look sore i says thinking it all over i don t like your application for a loan take it to another bank only there ain t any i says and i walks off on him sure probably i was surly and foolish but i figured there had to be one man in town independent enough to the banker he out of his chair made coffee gave a cup and talked on half defiant and half half wistful for friendliness and half amused by her surprise at the discovery that there was a philosophy at the door she hinted mr if you were i would you worry when people thought you were affected kick em in the face say if i were a sea and all over silver think i d care what a pack of dirty thought about my flying it was not the wind at her back it was the thrust of s scorn which carried her through town she faced cocked her head at s brief nod and came home to radiant she to run over this evening she played the an echo of the red laughing philosopher of the tar paper when she hinted to isn t there a man here who himself by being to the village gods some such a name the reform leader said oh yes things he s awfully impertinent iv had returned at midnight at breakfast he said several times that he had missed her every moment main street on her way to market sam hailed her the top o the to going to stop and pass the time of day warmer eh what d the s say it was say you folks better come round and visit with us one of these evenings don t be so dog gone proud staying by yourselves the wheat at the stopped her in the post office held her hand in his withered peered at her with faded eyes and chuckled you are so fresh and blooming my dear mother was saying t other day that a sight of you was better n a dose of medicine in the bon ton store she found buying a modest gray we haven t seen you for so she said wouldn t you like to come in and play some evening as though he meant it begged may i while she was two yards of the up to her his long sallow face and he you ve just got to come back to my department and see a pair of patent leather slippers i set aside for you in a manner of more than reverence he her boots tucked her skirt about her ankles slid on the slippers she took them you re a good she said i m not a at all i i just like elegant things ah this is so he indicated with a waving hand the shelves of shoe boxes the seat of thin wood in the display of shoe trees and tin boxes of the of a young woman with cherry cheeks who proclaimed in the exalted poetry of my never got to what perfection was till i got a pair of clever shoes but sometimes sighed there is a pair of dainty little shoes like these and i set them aside for some one who will appreciate when i saw these i said right away wouldn t it be nice if they fitted mrs and i meant to speak to you first chance i had i haven t forgotten our jolly talks at mrs sl that evening came in and though instantly impressed him into a game was happy again she did not in recovering something of her forget her determination to begin the of by the easy and agreeable of teaching to enjoy reading poetry in the the campaign was delayed twice he suggested that they call on once he was in the country the fourth evening he yawned pleasantly stretched and inquired well we do tonight shall we go to the i know exactly what we re going to do now don t ask questions come and sit down by the table there are you lean back and forget you re a practical man and listen to me it may be that she had been influenced by the certainly she sounded as though she was selling culture but she dropped it when she sat on the couch her chin in her hands a volume of on her knees and read aloud instantly she was released from the homely comfort of a town she was in the world of lonely things the flutter of twilight the aching call of along a shore to which the foam crept out of darkness the island of	42
and the elder gods and the eternal glories that never were tall kings and women with gold the incessant and the dr she stopped she remembered that he was the sort of person who tobacco she glared while he uneasily that s great stuff study it in college i like poetry fine james and some of this i wish i could appreciate that art stuff but i guess i m too old a dog to learn new tricks with pity for his bewilderment and a certain desire to she consoled him then let s try some you ve read him you bet read him in school there s that and let there be no what is it of farewell when i put out to sea but let the well i don t remember all of it but oh and main street there s that met a little country boy who i don t remember exactly how it does but the chorus ends up we are seven yes well shall we try the of the king they re so full of color go to it shoot but he hastened to shelter himself behind a cigar she was not transported to she read with an eye cocked on him and when she saw how much he was suffering she ran to him kissed his forehead cried you poor forced rose that wants to be a decent look here now that ain t anyway i sha n t torture you any longer she could not quite give up she read with a great deal of emphasis there s a regiment a coming down the grand trunk road he tapped his foot to the he looked normal and reassured but when he her that was fine i don t know but what you can just as good as she the book and suggested that they were not too late for the nine o clock show at the that was her last effort to harvest the april wind to teach divine by a correspondence course to buy the lilies of and the of in tin at s but the fact is that at the motion pictures she discovered herself laughing as heartily as at the humor of an actor who stuffed down a woman s evening frock for a second she her laughter mourned for the day when on her hill by the she had walked the with queens but the celebrated s conceit of dropping into a soup plate flung her into unwilling and the faded the dead queens fled through darkness vi she went to the jolly seventeen s afternoon bridge she had learned the elements of the game from the sam she played quietly and reasonably badly she had no opinions on anything more than union suits a topic on which mrs for five minutes she smiled frequently and was the complete bird in her manner of thanking the hostess mrs her only anxious period was during the conference on husbands the young discussed the of with a frankness and a which dismayed communicated harry s method of and his interest in deer shooting mrs reported fully and with some irritation her husband s of liver and bacon s quoted a recent with him in regard to christian science and the sewing of buttons upon announced that she simply wasn t going to stand his always girls when he went and got crazy jealous if a man just danced with her and rather more than s varieties of kisses so meekly did give attention so obviously was she at last desirous of being one of them they looked on her fondly and encouraged her to give such details of her as might be of interest she was embarrassed rather than she deliberately misunderstood she talked of s and medical till they were thoroughly bored they regarded her as agreeable but green till the end she labored to satisfy the she at the president of the club that she wanted to entertain them only she said i don t know that i can give you any as nice as mrs s or that simply delicious angel s food we had at your house dear we need a hostess for the of march wouldn t it be awfully original if you made it a st s day i ll be to death to help you with it i m glad you ve learned to play bridge at first i didn t hardly know if you were going to like isn t it that you ve settled down to being with maybe we aren t as as the cities but we do have the times and oh we go in summer and dances and oh lots of good times if folks will just take us as we are think we re a pretty good bunch i m sure of it thank you so much for the idea about having a st s day bridge oh that s nothing i always think the jolly seventeen are so good at original ideas if you knew these other towns and and all you d find out and realize main street that g p is the town in the state did you know that the famous came from here and yes i think that a st s day party would be awfully cunning and original and yet not too queer or or anything chapter j j she had often been invited to the weekly meetings of the the women s study club but she had put it off the was promised such a group and yet it puts you in touch with all the intellectual thoughts that are going on everywhere early in march mrs wife of the physician marched into s living room like an amiable old and suggested my dear you really must come to the this afternoon mrs is going to be leader and the poor soul is frightened to death she	42
wanted me to get you to come she says she s sure you will up the meeting with your knowledge of books and writings english poetry is our topic today so put on your english poetry really love to go i didn t realize you were reading poetry oh we re not so slow mrs wife of the richest man in town at them when they appeared her expensive frock of colored satin with rows and of solemn brown beads was intended for a woman twice her size she stood wringing her hands in front of nineteen folding chairs in her front parlor with its faded photograph of falls in its colored of mr its lamp painted with cows and mountains and standing on a marble column she o mrs vm in such a fix i m supposed to lead the discussion and i wondered would you come and help what poet do you take up today demanded in her library tone of what book do you wish to take out why the english ones not all of them w why yes we re learning all of european literature this year the club gets such a nice magazine culture and we follow its last year our subject was men and women of the bible and next year we ll probably take up and china my it does make a body to keep up with all these new culture subjects but it is improving so will you help us with the discussion today on her way over had decided to use the as the tool with which to the town she had conceived enormous enthusiasm she had these are the real people when the who bear the burdens are interested in poetry it means something ill work with them for them anything her enthusiasm had become watery even before thirteen women resolutely removed their sat down ate their fingers folded their hands composed their lower thoughts and invited the naked muse of poetry to deliver her most improving message they had greeted affectionately and she tried to be a daughter to them but she felt her chair was out in the open exposed to their gaze and it was a hard slippery church parlor chair likely to publicly and without warning it was impossible to sit on it without folding the hands and listening she wanted to kick the chair and run it would make a magnificent clatter she saw that was watching her she pinched her wrist as though she were a noisy child in church and when she was decent and cramped again she listened mrs opened the meeting by sighing i m sure fm glad to see you all here today and i understand that the ladies have prepared a number of very interesting papers this is such an interesting subject the poets they have been an inspiration for higher thought in fact wasn t it reverend who said that some of the poets have been as much an inspiration as a good many of the ministers and so we shall be glad to hear the poor lady smiled panted with fright about the small oak table to find her eye glasses and continued we will first have the pleasure of hearing mrs on the subject shakespeare and milton main street mrs said that shakespeare was born in and died he lived in london england and in on which many american loved to visit a lovely town with many and old houses well worth examination many people believed that shakespeare was the greatest who ever lived also a fine poet not much was known about his life but after all that did not really make so much difference because they loved to read his numerous plays several of the best known of which she would now perhaps the best known of his plays was the merchant of having a beautiful love story and a fine appreciation of a woman s brains which a woman s club even those who did not care to themselves on the question of ought to appreciate laughter mrs was sure that she for one would love to be like the play was about a jew named and he didn t want his daughter to marry a gentleman named mrs a slender gray nervous president of the and wife of reported the birth and death dates of scott and wound up was quite a poor boy and he did not enjoy the advantages we enjoy today except for the advantages of the fine old scotch where he heard the word of god preached more than even in the finest big brick churches in the big and so called advanced cities of today but he did not have our advantages and latin and the other treasures of the mind so richly strewn before the alas too feet of our youth who do not always sufficiently appreciate the privileges freely granted to every american boy rich or poor had to work hard and was sometimes led by evil companionship into low habits but it is morally instructive to know that he was a good student and educated himself in striking contrast to the loose ways and so called aristocratic society life of lord on which i have just spoken and certainly though the lords and of his day may have looked down upon as a humble person many of us have greatly enjoyed his pieces about the mouse and other rustic subjects with their message of humble beauty i am so sorry i have not got the time to quote some of them mrs george gave ten minutes to and mrs a faced curiously sweet woman so awed by her that wanted to kiss her completed the day s grim task by a paper on other poets the other poets worthy of consideration were gray mrs and miss obliged with a recital of the and from by request she gave an old sweetheart	42
of mine as had finished the poets it was ready for the next week s labor english fiction and essays mrs now we will have a discussion of the papers and i am sure we shall all enjoy hearing from one who we hope to have as a new member mrs who with her literary training and all should be able to give us many and many had warned herself not to be so had insisted that in the quest of these women was an which ought to stir her tears but they re so self satisfied they think they re doing a they don t they have a quest they re sure that they have culture and hung up it was out of this stupor of doubt that mrs s roused her she was in a panic how could she speak without them mrs leaned over to stroke her hand and you look tired don t you talk unless you want to affection she was on her feet searching for words and the only thing in the way of suggestion i know you are a definite but i do wish that now you ve had such a splendid introduction instead of going on with some other subject next year you could return and take up the poets more in detail especially actual even though their lives are so interesting and as mrs said so morally instructive and perhaps there are several poets not mentioned today whom it ml t be worth while considering for instance and and and would be such a well that is such a contrast to life as we all enjoy it in our beautiful middle west she saw that mrs was not with her she captured her by innocently continuing unless perhaps to be more out main street spoken than you than we really like what do you think mrs the s wife decided why youve caught my very thoughts mrs of course i have never read but years ago when he was in i remember mr saying that or was it but anyway he said that though many so called intellectual people posed and pretended to find beauty in there can never be genuine beauty without the message from the heart but at the same time i do think you have an excellent idea and though we have talked about and china as the probable subject for next year i believe that it would be nice if the committee would try to work in another day entirely devoted to english in fact madame i so move you when mrs s coffee and angel s food had helped to recover from the depression caused by thoughts of shakespeare s death they all told that it was a pleasure to have her with them the committee retired to the sitting room for three minutes and elected her a member and she stepped being she wanted to be one of them they were so loyal and kind it was they who would carry out her her campaign against village was actually begun i on what specific reform should she first loose her army during the gossip after the meeting mrs george remarked that the city hall seemed inadequate for the splendid modem mrs timidly wished that the young people could have free dances there the lodge dances were so exclusive the city hall that was it cared hurried home she had not realized that was a city from she discovered that it was organized with a mayor and city council and wards she was delighted by the simplicity of one s self a metropolis why not she was a proud and patriotic citizen all evening n she examined the city hall next morning she had remembered it only as a bleak she found it a liver colored frame half a block from main street the front was an wall of and dirty win it had an view of a vacant lot and s tailor shop it was larger than the carpenter shop beside it but not so well built no one was about she walked into the corridor on one side was the court like a country school on the other the room of the fire company with a ford cart and the ornamental used in at the end of the hall a filthy two cell jail now empty but smelling of and ancient sweat the whole second story was a large unfinished room with piles of a lime mortar mixing box and the of fourth of july covered with plaster and faded red white and blue at the end was an stage the room was large enough for the community dances which mrs but card was after something bigger than dances in the afternoon she to the public library the library was open three and four evenings a week it was in an old dwelling sufficient but caught herself pleasanter chairs children an art collection a young to experiment she herself stop this fever of everything i will be satisfied with the library the city hall is for a beginning and it s really an excellent library if s it isn t so bad is it possible that i am to find and stupidity in every human activity i encounter in schools and business and government and everything is there never any contentment never any she shook her head as though she were shaking off water and hastened into the library a young light amiable presence modest in fur coat blue suit fresh collar and tan boots from snow miss stared at her and i was so sorry not to see you at the yesterday said you mi t come you went to the did you enjoy it so much such good papers on the poets lied but i did think they should have had you give one of the papers on poetry well of course i m not	42
one of the bunch that seem to have the time to take and run the club and if they prefer to have papers on literature by other ladies who have no main street literary training after all why should i complain what am i but a city you re you re the one person that does that does oh you do so much tell me is there who are the people o control the club miss emphatically stamped a date in the front of on the lower for a small boy at him as thou she were stamping a warning on his brain and sighed i wouldn t put myself forward or any one for the world and is one of my best friends and such a splendid teacher and there is no one in town more advanced and interested in all movements but i must say that no matter who the president or the are seems to be behind them all the time and though she is always telling me about what she is pleased to call my fine work in the library i notice that i m not often called on for papers though mrs once volunteered and told me that she thought my paper on tlie of england was the most interesting paper we had the year we took up english and french travel and architecture but and of course mrs and mrs are very important in the as you might expect of the wives of the of schools and the and indeed they are both very but no you may regard me as entirely unimportant i m sure what i say doesn t matter a bit you re much too modest and i m going to tell so and i wonder if you can give me just a bit of your time and show me where the magazine are kept she had won she was escorted to a room like a grandmother s where she discovered devoted to house and town planning with a six year file of the national miss left her alone fluttering pages with delighted fingers sat cross on the floor the magazines in heaps about her she found pictures of new england streets the dignity of the charm of and and avenue the fairy book of forest hills on long island cottages and and a high street and port sunlight the village of an chased jewel box a town in which had changed itself from the barren brick fronts and frame sheds of a main street to a way led eye down a vista of and gardens assured that she was not quite mad in her belief that a small american town might be lovely as well as useful in buying eat and selling she sat brooding her thin fingers playing a on her cheeks she saw in a city hall warm brick walls with white shutters a a wide hall and stair she saw it the common home and inspiration not only of the town but of the country about it should contain the court room she couldn t get herself to put in a library a of excellent prints rest room and for lecture room free community farm forming about it and by it as villages gathered about the castle she saw a new town as graceful and beloved as or that to washington rode an this the was to accomplish with no difficulty whatever since its several husbands were the of business and politics she was proud of herself for this practical view she had taken only half an hour to change a wire plot into a walled rose garden she hurried out to mrs as president of the of the miracle which had been worked m at a quarter to three had left home at half past four she had created the town at a quarter to e she was in the poverty of tiie her upon mrs like summer rain upon an gray roof at two minutes to five a town oi and windows had been erected and at two minutes past five the entire town was as flat as er t in a y am and mary chair against gray and brown volumes of sermons and and upon long pine shelves her neat black on a rag rug herself as correct and low toned as her background mrs listened comment till was quite through then answered es i think you draw a very nice picture of what might easily come to pass some day i have no doubt that ik h main street villages will be found on the some day but if might make just the least little criticism it seems to me that you are wrong in supposing either that the city hall would be the proper start or that the would be the ri t instrument after all it s the churches isn t it that are the real heart of the community as you may possibly know my husband is prominent in circles all the state for his of church union he hopes to see all tile joined in one strong body opposing and christian science and properly guiding all movements that make for morality and here the combined churches could afford a splendid maybe a and half timber building with and all sorts of pleasing on it which it seems to me would be lots l er to impress the ordinary class of le than just a plain old fashioned house such as you describe and that would be the proper for all and instead d letting them fall into the hands of the i don t suppose it will take more than thirty or forty years for the churches to get together said hardly that long even things are moving so rapidly so it would be a mistake to make any other plans did not recover her	42
zeal till two days after when she tried mrs george wife of the of schools mrs commented personally i am terribly busy with and having the in the house and all but it would be splendid to have the other members of the take up the question except for one thing first and foremost we must have a new mr says they are terribly cramped went to view the old building the and the school were combined in a damp yellow brick structure with die narrow windows of an jail a expressed hatred and training she mrs s demand so violently that for two days she dropped her own campaign then she built the school and city hall together as tile of the town she ventured to the lead colored dwelling of mrs behind the mask of winter stripped vines and a wide only a foot above the ground the cottage was so that could never it nor could she remember anything tiiat was inside it but mrs was personal with mrs mrs and she was a link between the seventeen and tiie serious in contrast to who boasted of being a and publicly stated that she would see herself in jail before e d write any old club papers mrs was nine in the in she received cared her skin was fine pale soft suggesting a weak at afternoon she had been rude but now she addressed as dear and insisted on being called card did not quite know why she was in this atmosphere but she hastened to get into the fresh air of her plans granted that the city hall wasn t so very nice yet as said there was no use doing about it till received an from the state and combined a new hall with a national guard had given what these that hang around tiie room need is universal military training make men of em mrs removed the new from the hall oh so mrs has got you going on her school she s been at that till everybody s sick and tired what she really wants is a big office for her dear bald headed to sit around and look important in of course i admire mrs and vm very fond of her he s so even if she does try to butt in and run the but i must say we re sick of her the old building was good enough for us when we were i hate these would be women don t you iv the first week of march had given promise of spring and with a thousand desires for lakes and and roads the snow was gone except for filthy patches under trees the leaped in a day from chill to warmth as soon as was convinced that even in this imprisoned north spring could exist again the snow came down as abruptly as a paper storm in a the gale flung tt iq in a half and main street her hope of a town went hope of summer meadows but a week later though the snow was everywhere in heaps the promise was unmistakable by the invisible hints in au and sky and earth which had aroused her every year through ten thousand generations she knew that spring was coming it was not a hard dusty day like the treacherous intruder of a week before but soaked with languor softened with a light were hurrying in each alley a calling robin appeared by magic on the tree in the yard everybody chuckled looks like winter is going and this bring the frost out ot the roads have the out pretty soon what kind of bass fishing well get this ought to be good crops this year each evening repeated e better not take off our heavy or the storm windows too soon mi t be spell of cold got to be careful catching cold wonder if the coal will last the forces of life her choked the desire for ie trotted the house planning the spring cleaning with when she attended her second meeting of the she said nothing about the town s e listened to on jane george scott hardy lamb de and mrs ward who it seemed constituted the writers of fiction and essays not till she the rest room did she again become a she had often at the store building which had been turned into a refuge in which f could wait while their husbands business she had heard and mrs caress the virtue of the in establishing the rest room and in sharing with the council the expense of maintaining it but she had never entered it till this march day went in nodded at the matron a worthy widow named and at a couple of o were meekly rocking the rest room resembled a second hand store it was furnished with discarded patent reed chairs a scratched pine table a straw mat old steel of being morally under willow trees faded of roses and fish and a stove for warming the front window was by torn net curtains and by a mound of and rubber plants while she was listening to mrs account of how many thousands of farmers wives used the rest room every year and how much they appreciated the kindness of the ladies in providing them with this lovely place and all free she thought kindness nothing the kind ladies husbands get the farmers trade this is mere commercial and it s horrible it ought to be the most charming room in town to comfort women sick of certainly it ought to have a clear window so that they can see the life go by some day i m going to make a better rest room a club room i ve already planned that as part of my town so it chanced that she was the peace of the at her third meeting	42
they the town but the town as a separate is not the husband of the if you knew the trouble we had in getting the city council to spend the money and cover the with vines whatever you may think of women they re twice as as the men but can t the men see the they don t think it s ugly and how can you prove it matter of taste why should they like what a boston what they like is to sell well why not anyway the point is that you have to work from the inside with what we have rather than from the outside with foreign ideas the shell ought not to be forced on the spirit it can t be the bright shell has to grow out of the spirit and express it that means waiting if we keep after the city council for another ten years they may vote the bonds for a new school i refuse to believe that if they saw it the big men would be too tight to spend a few dollars each for a building think dancing and lectures and plays all done co you mention the word co to the merchants and they ll you the one thing they fear more than mail order houses is that farmers co movements may get started the secret that lead to scared pocket books always in everything and i don t have any of the fine of fiction the and speeches by vm merely blocked by stupidity oh i know i m a fo d i dream of and i live in and because the northern seas aren t tender colored but at least they sha n t keep me from loving and sometime run away all right no more e flung out her hands in a gesture of vi early may wheat springing up in blades like grass com and potatoes being planted the land for two days there had been steady rain even in town the roads were a of mud hideous to view and difficult to cross main street was a black swamp from to on residence streets the grass beside the walks gray water it was hot yet the town was barren under die sky softened neither by snow nor by waving boughs the houses and revealed in their as she dragged homeward looked with at her clay loaded the hem of her skirt she passed s dark red house she a yellow pool this was not her home she insisted her home and her beautiful town existed in her mind they had already been created the task was done what she really had be was some one to share them with her would not could not some one to share her refuge suddenly she was thinking of she dismissed him he was too cautious she needed a spirit as young and unreasonable as her own and she would never find it youth would never come singing she was beaten yet that same evening she had an idea which solved the of within ten minutes she was the old fashioned of mrs opened the door and peered doubtfully about the edge of it kissed her cheek and into the sitting well well you re a si for sore eyes chuckled mr dropping his new pushing his spectacles back cm his forehead you seem so excited sighed mrs i ami mr aren t you a he cocked his head and well i guess if i in on all my and farm and my interests in iron on the and in timber and cut over lands i could push two million dollars pretty close and i ve made every cent of it by hard work and having the sense to not go out and spend every i think i want most of it from the glanced at each other in appreciation of the jest and he you re worse than reverend he hardly ever strike me for more than ten dollars at a time i m not joking i mean it your children in the cities are grown up and well to do you don t want to die and leave your name unknown why not do a big original thing why main street not tbe town get a great and have him a town that would be suitable to the perhaps he d create some entirely new form of architecture then tear down all these buildings mr had decided that she really did mean it he why that would cost at least three or four million but you alone just one man have two of those millions me spend all my hard earned cash on building houses far a lot of beggars that never had the sense to save money not that ever been mean could always have a hired girl to do the work when we could find but her and i have worked our fingers to the bone and spend it on a lot of these t don t be angry i just i mean oh not spend all of it of course but if you led off the list and the others came in and if they heard you talk about a more attractive town why now child you ve got a lot of notions besides i s the matter with the town looks good to me had people that have all over the world tell me time ai again that is the prettiest place in the good enough f anybody good enough for and me besides and me are to go out to and buy a and live there vn she had met miles on the street for the second of welcome encounter workman with the and the muddy seemed nearer than any one else to the youth which she was seeking to fight beside her and she told him as a cheerful anecdote a little	42
of her story he i never thought i d be with old man the penny old land thi and a fine he is too but you got the wrong you aren t one of the people yet you want to do something for the town i don t i want the town to do something for itself we want old s money not if it s a gift with a string we ll take it away from him because it belongs to us you got to get more iron and into you come join us cheerful and some day when we ourselves and quit being take things and run em it he had changed from her friend to a cynical man in she could not relish the of cheerful she forgot him as she the outskirts of town she had replaced the city hall project by an entirely new and hi y thought of how little was done for these poor the spring of the plains is not a reluctant virgin but brazen and soon away the mud roads of a few days ago are dust and the beside them have hardened into of black sleek earth like cracked patent was as she crept to the meeting of the committee i ch was to decide the subject for next f and winter madam miss in an colored asked if there was any new business rose she suggested that the to help the poor of the town she was ever so correct and modem she did not she said want charity for them but a chance of an employment direction in washing babies and pleasing possibly a fund for what do you think of my plans mrs she speaking as one related to the church by marriage mrs gave verdict fm sure we re all heartily in accord with mrs in feeling that wherever genuine poverty is encountered it is not only oblige but a joy to our duty to the less fortunate ones but i must say it seems to me we should lose the point of the thing by not regarding it as charity why that s the chief of the true christian and the church the bible has laid it down for our guidance faith hope and charity it says and the poor ye have with ye always which that there never can be anything to these so called scientific schemes for charity never and isn t it better so i should hate to think of a in which we were deprived of all the pleasure of giving besides if these folks realize getting and not something to which they have a they re so much more grateful besides miss they ve been fool main street log you mrs there isn t any real poverty here take that mrs you speak of i send her our whenever there s too much for our hired girl i must have sent her ten worth the past year fm sure papa would never approve of a city home building fund p pa says these folks are especially all these tenant that pretend they have so much trouble getting seed and machinery papa says they simply won t pay their debts he says he s sure he hates to but it s the only way to make them respect the law and then think of all the clothes we give these people said mrs elder again oh yes the clothes i was going to speak of that don t you think that when we give clothes to the poor if we do give them old ones we t to mend first and make them as as we can next christmas when the makes its distribution wouldn t it be jolly if we got together and on the and trimmed hats and made them and earth they have more time than we have they ought to be mighty good and grateful to get anything no matter what shape it s in i know fm not going to sit and that lazy mrs with all i ve got to do they were glaring at she reflected that mrs whose husband had been killed by a train had ten children but mrs mary was smiling mrs was die of ye art and magazine and book store and the reader of the small christian science church she made it all clear if this class of people had an understanding of science and that we are the children of god and nothing can harm us wouldn t be in error and poverty mrs elder confirmed besides it strikes me the is already doing enough with tree planting and the campaign and the responsibility for the rest room to say nothing of the fact that we ve talked of trying to get the railroad to put in a park at the station think so too said madam she uneasily at miss but what do you think smiled at each of the committee and announced well i don t believe we d better start anything more now but it s been a privilege to hear s dear generous ideas hasn t it oh there is one thing we must decide on at once we must get together and oppose any move on the part of the clubs to elect another state president from the twin cities and this mrs they re putting forward i know there are people who think she s a bright interesting speaker but i regard her as very shallow what do you say to my writing to the lake telling them that if their district will support mrs for vice president well support their mrs and such a dear lovely cultivate woman too f president we ought to show up those folks said and oh by the way we must oppose this movement of mrs s to have the state clubs come out definitely in favor of	42
woman women haven t any place in politics they would lose all their and charm if they became involved in these horrid plots and log rolling and all this awful political stuff about scandal and and so on all save one nodded they interrupted the formal business meeting to discuss mrs s husband mrs s income mrs s mrs s residence mrs s style mrs s evening coat mrs s and mrs s altogether influence on the state of women s clubs before the committee they took three minutes to decide which of the subjects suggested by the magazine culture hints and china or the bible as literature would be better for the coming year there was one incident mrs dr interfered and showed off again she commented don t you think that we already get of the bible in our churches and sunday schools mrs somewhat out of order but much more out of temper cried well upon my word i suppose there was any one who felt that we could get of the bible i guess if the grand old book has the attacks of for these two thousand years it is worth our slight consideration oh i didn t mean card begged inasmuch as she did mean it was hard to be extremely but i wish instead of ourselves either to the bible or to anecdotes about the brothers adam s which culture hints main street seems to regard as the significant point about furniture we could study some of the really stirring ideas that are springing up today whether it s or or labor problems the things that are going to mean so terribly much everybody cleared her polite throat madam inquired is there any other discussion will some one make a motion to adopt the suggestion of to take up and china it was adopted x murmured as she held up her hand had she actually believed that she could plant a seed of in the blank wall of how had she fallen into the folly of trying to plant anything whatever in a wall so smooth and sun glazed and so satisfying to the happy within chapter j one week of spring one rare sweet week ol may one tranquil moment between the blast of winter and the of daily walked from town into flashing country with new life one enchanted hour when she returned to youth and a belief in the possibility of beauty she had walked northward toward the upper shore of lake taking to the railroad track whose and make it the natural highway for on the plains she stepped from tie to tie in long strides at each load crossing she had to crawl ov a cattle guard of sharpened she walked the rails with arms extended cautious heel before toe as she lost balance her body bent over her arms wildly and when she she aloud the thick grass beside the track coarse and with many hid yellow and the and sage green coats of the flowers the branches of the brush were red and smooth as on a bowl s ie ran down the smiled at children gathering flowers in a little basket thrust a handful of the soft flowers into the bosom of her white fields of springing wheat drew her from the straight propriety of the railroad and she crawled through the rusty wire fence she followed a between low wheat blades and a field of which showed silver lights as it flowed before the wind she found a pasture by the lake so sprinkled was the pasture with rag baby blossoms and the of indian tobacco that it spread out like a rare old carpet of cream and rose and delicate green under her feet the rough grass d a pleasant sweet winds blew from the sunny lake beside her and small waves on the shore she leaped a tiny creek in willow she was a frivolous grove of and and wild trees the foliage had the of a the green and silver trunks were as candid as the as slender and as the limbs of a the cloudy white blossoms of the trees filled the grove with a which gave an illusion of distance she ran into the wood crying out for joy of freedom regained after winter choke cherry blossoms her from the outer sun warmed spaces to depths of green stillness where a light came through the young leaves she walked along an abandoned road she found a flower beside a covered log at the end of the road she saw the open acres dipping rolling fields bright with wheat i believe the gods still live and out there the great land it s beautiful as the mountains what do i care for she came out on the spacious under an arch of boldly cut clouds small pools glittered above a marsh chased a crow in a swift of the air on a hill was a man following a drag his horse bent its neck and content a path took her to the road leading back to town glowed in patches amidst the wild grass by the way a stream galloped through a beneath the road she in healthy weariness main street a man in a ford rattled up beside her you a lift mrs thank you it s awfully good of you but fm enjoying the walk day by i seen some wheat that must of been five inches hi well so long she hadn t the notion who he was but his greeting her this gave her a companionship di she had never whether by her fault or or been able to find in the is and commercial lords of the town a mile town in a hollow between bushes and a brook she discovered a a covered wagon a tent a bunch of out a broad shouldered man was on	42
the waste occupation of learning the earth and send them back to lessons about the number of potatoes in a delightful world by or in cars william sold to the women who had gone bathing all summer looked doubtful when begged let s keep up an life this winter let s slide and their hearts shut again till and the nine months of and and dainty began au over m had started a since and were her only lions and since would have preferred sam to all the poets and in the entire her private and self did not get beyond one evening dinner for and on her first wedding and that dinner did not get beyond a regarding s was the person she had found here he spoke of her new and cream frock naturally not he held her chair for her as they sat down to dinner and he did not like interrupt her to shout h h say of i heard a good story today but was he sat late and talked hard and did not come again then she met in the post and decided that in the history of the was the for for all of america we have lost she told herself we must restore the last of the to power and follow them on the backward path to the integrity of to the gaiety of dancing in a she read in the records of the that only sixty years ago not so far back as the birth of her own father four had composed the log which mrs was to find she in was built afterward by the soldiers as a de main street against the the four were inhabited by who had come up the to st paul and driven north over virgin into virgin woods they ground their own com the men folks shot ducks and and chickens the new yielded the which they ate raw and boiled and baked and raw again for treat they had wild and and tiny wild came darkening the sky and in an hour ate the s garden and the farmer s coat precious horses painfully from were drowned in or by the fear of snow blew the of new made and eastern children with muslin dresses shivered all winter and in were red and black with indians were everywhere they in stalked into to demand came with across their backs into and begged to see the pictures in the of the children and the found of killed fifty a hundred in a day yet it was a life read in the admirable called d rail fence corners the of mrs black who settled in in there was nothing to parade over in those days we took it as it came and had happy lives we would all gather together and in about two minutes would be having a good playing cards or dancing we used to and dance dances none of these new and not wear any clothes to speak of we covered our hides in those days no tight skirts like now you could take three or four steps inside our skirts and then not reach the edge one of the boys would fiddle a while and then some one would spell him and he could get a dance sometimes they would dance and fiddle too she reflected that if she could not have of gray and rose and crystal she wanted to be swinging across a floor with a dancing this in between town which had exchanged money for grinding out it was neither the heroic old nor the new couldn t she somehow some yet how turn it back to simplicity she herself knew two of the the was the at the grain he weighed of wheat on a rough platform scale in the cracks of which the every spring between times he in the dusty peace of his office she called on the at their rooms above s when they were already old they had lost the money which they had invested in an they had given up their beloved yellow brick house and moved into these rooms over a store which were the equivalent of a flat a broad ay led horn the street to the upper hall along which were the doors of a lawyer s office a s a s the lodge rooms of the order of and at the back the apartment they received her their first in a month with aged fluttering tenderness mrs confided my it s a shame we got to entertain you in such a cramped place and there ain t any water except that iron sink outside in the hall but still as i say to beggars can t be sides the brick house was too big for me to sweep and it was way out and it s nice to be living down here among folks yes we re glad to be here but some day maybe we can have a house of our own again we re saving oh dear if we could have our own home but these rooms are real nice ain t they as old people will the world over they had moved as much as possible of their familiar furniture into this small space had none of the superiority she felt toward mrs s parlor she was at home here she noted with tenderness all the the chair arms the patent covered with the of paper mending the bark rings papa and she hinted of her new enthusiasm to find one of the young folks who took them seriously the and she easily drew from them the principles by which should be bom again should again become amusing to live in was their philosophy complete in the era of and the church and somewhat less the and churches is the perfect main street the ordained standard in music and we don t	42
need all this new science or this terrible higher criticism that s our young men in what we need is to get back to the true word of god and a good sound belief in hell like we used to have it preached to us the republican party the grand old party of and is the agent of the lord and of the church in affairs all it to be hanged bell is a lovely writer and he teaches such good morals in his novels and folks say he s made near a million dollars out of em people who make more than ten thousand a year or less than eight hundred are wicked are still it hurt any to drink a glass of beer on a warm day but anybody who touches wine is headed straight for are not so as they used to be nobody needs store ice cream pie is good for anybody the farmers want too much for their wheat the owners of the company expect too much for the they pay there would be no more trouble or discontent in the world if everybody worked as hard as pa did when he cleared our first iv s hero worship to polite nodding and the nodding to a desire to escape and she went home with a headache next day she saw miles on the just back from great summer my lungs full of rocky mountain air now for another whirl at the of she smiled at him and the faded the faded till they were but in a black cupboard chapter j she tried more from loyalty than from desire to call upon the on a november evening when was away they were not at home like a child who has no one to play with she through the dark hall she saw a light under an office door she knocked to the person who opened she murmured do you happen to know where the are she realized that it was tm awfully sorry mrs but i don t know won t you come in and wait for them w why she observed as she reflected that in it is not decent to call on a man as she decided that no really she wouldn t go in and as she went in i didn t know your office was up here yes office town house and in but you can t see the and town house next to the duke of s they re beyond that inner door they are a cot and a wash and my other suit and the blue cr pe tie you said you liked you remember my saying that of course i always shall please try this chair she glanced about the rusty office gaunt stove shelves of tan law books desk chair filled with newspapers so long sat upon that they were in holes and to there were only two things which suggested on the green felt of the table desk between legal and a was a on a swing shelf was a row of books to of the poets black and red german novels a charles lamb in crushed did not sit down he the office a on the scent a with glasses forward on his thin nose and a brown he had a jacket of worn through at the in the main street s ie noted that he did not for it as would have done he made conversation i didn t know you were a bosom friend of the is the salt of the earth but somehow i cant imagine him joining you in or making on the engine no he s a dear soul bless him but he belongs in the museum along with general grant s sword and fm oh i m seeking for a gospel that will really it to to anything that s definite seriousness or or i wouldn t care whether it was a or a but it s merely safe tell me mr is the matter with is anything the matter with it there something the matter with you and me may i join you in the honor of having something the matter yes thanks no i it s the town because they enjoy more than but fm not only more interested in than the jolly seventeen but also in with or slide mr throw just as gladly as talk with you oh yes but they want to stay home and perhaps tm not defending the town it s merely fm a confirmed of myself probably i m conceited about my lack of conceit anyway particularly bad it s like all villages in all countries most places that have lost the of earth but not yet acquired the smell of or of factory smoke are just as suspicious and righteous i wonder if the small town with some exceptions a social some day these dull market towns may be as as i can imagine the farmer and his local store manager going by at the end of the day into a city more charming than any william music a university for like me lord how i d like to have a real she asked you why do you stay here i have the village it sounds dangerous it is more dangerous than the that will get me at fifty unless i stop this smoking the village is the which it s like the hook worm it ambitious people who stay too long in the provinces you ll find it among lawyers and doctors and ministers and c l merchants all these people o have had a glimpse of the world that thinks and laughs but have returned to their swamp fm a perfect example but i sha nt you with my ou won t and do sit down so i can see you he dropped into the shrieking desk chair he looked	42
at her she was conscious of the pupils of his eyes of the fact that he was a man and lonely they were embarrassed they away and were relieved as he went on the of my village is simple i was bom in an town about the same size as and much less friendly it d had more generations in which to form an of respectability here a stranger is taken in if he is correct if he likes hunting and and god and our there we didn t take in even our own till we had contemptuously got used to it was a red brick town and the trees made it damp and it of rotten aj les the country like our lakes and there were small com and brick yards and greasy oil t went to a college and learned that since the bible and a perfect race of ministers to e q lain it god has never done much but creep around and try to ca us it from college i went to new york to the law school and for four years i lived oh i won t about new york it was dirty and noisy and breathless and ghastly expensive but compared with the academy in which i had been smothered went to twice a week i saw and and and from the top gallery i walked in park and i read ing through a cousin i learned that was sick and needed a partner i came here got well he didn t like my way of five hours and then doing my work really not so badly in one we parted when i first came here i swore i d keep up my interests v lofty i read and went to for the i i was up but i guess the had me already i was reading four copies of cheap fiction magazines to one poem i d put off the ol s till i simply had to go on a lot of legal matters main street a few ago i was talking to a patent lawyer from and i realized that i d always felt so superior to people like but i saw that i was as provincial and behind the times as i through the literary and the outlook faithfully while i m turning over pages of a hook hy charles that i already know by heart i decided to leave here stem resolution grasp the world then i found that the village had me i didn t want to face new streets and younger men real competition it was too easy to go on making out and arguing cases so that s all of the biography of a living dead man except the last chapter the lies about my having been a tower of strength and legal wisdom which some day a preacher will spin over my lean dry body he looked down at his table desk the she could not she pictured herself running across the room to pat his hair she saw that his lips were firm under his soft faded she sat still and i know the village perhaps it will get me some day fm going oh no matter at least i am making you you have to be polite to my but now i m sitting at your feet it would be rather nice to have you literally sitting at my feet by a fire would you have a fireplace for me naturally please don t me now let the old man how old are you twenty six i was just leaving new york at twenty six i heard sing at twenty six and now i m forty seven i feel like a child yet i m old enough to be your so it s decently paternal to imagine you curled at my feet of course i hope it isn t but we ll reflect the morals of by announcing that it is these standards that you and i live up to there s one that s the matter with at least with the ruling class there is a ruling class despite all our professions of and the penalty we rulers pay is that our subjects watch us every minute we can t get drunk and we have to be so correct about sex morals and clothes and doing our commercial only in the ways that none of us can live up to it and we become horribly the widow of fiction can t help being the themselves demand it they admire his and look at me suppose i did dare to make love to some exquisite married woman i wouldn t admit it to myself i e with the most over la paris when i get hold of one in yet i shouldn t even try to hold your hand i m broken it s the historical saxon way of making life miserable oh my dear i haven t talked to anybody about myself and all our selves for years can t we do something with the town really no we can t he disposed of it like a judge ruling out an improper objection returned to matters less energetic curious most troubles are unnecessary we have nature beaten we can make her grow wheat we can keep warm when she sends so we raise the devil just for pleasure wars politics race here in we ve cleared the fields and become soft so we make ourselves y at great expense and exertion the man with the laughing at the man with the the worst is the commercial hatred the that any man who doesn t deal with him is him what hurts me b that it applies to lawyers and doctors and decidedly to their wives as much as to the doctors you know about that how your husband and and dislike one another no i won	42
t admit it he grinned oh maybe once or twice when will has positively known of a case where doctor ere one of the others has continued to call on longer than necessary he has laughed about it but he stiu grinned o really and en you say the wives of the doctors share these mrs and i haven t any particular crush m each other she s so stolid but hear mother mrs nobody could be sweeter yes i m sure she s very bland but i wouldn t tell her my heart s secrets if i were you my dear i insist that there s only one professional man s wife in this town who plot and that is you you blessed won t be ed i t believe that medicine the main street of healing can be turned into a penny kicking business see here hasn t ever hinted to you that you d better be nice to some old woman because she tells her friends which doctor to call in but i t to she remembered certain remarks which had regarding the widow she looked at he sprang up strode to her with a nervous step smoothed her hand she wondered if she ought to be offended by his caress then she wondered if he liked her hat the new oriental of rose and silver he her hand his elbow brushed her shoulder he flitted over to the desk chair his thin back stooped he picked up the across it he peered at her with such loneliness that she was startled but his eyes faded into as he talked of the of he stopped himself with a sharp good card you re not a jury you are within your legal rights in refusing to be subjected to this up i m a tedious old the obvious while you re the spirit of rebellion tell me your side what is to you a bore can i help how could your i don t know perhaps by listening i haven t done that tom u but can t i be the of the old french plays the maid with the mirror and the loyal cars oh what is there to confide the people are and proud of it and even if i liked you i talk to you without twenty old watching whispering but you will come talk to me once in a while not sure that i shall i m trying to develop my own large capacity for and contentment failed at every positive thing i ve tried i d better settle down as they can it and be satisfied to nothing don t be cynical it hurts me in you it s like blood on the wing of a humming bird not a humming bird a hawk a tiny hawk to death by these large white but i am grateful to you for me in the faith and going home please stay and have some coffee with me td like to but succeeded in me fm afraid o what people might say not afraid of that i m only afraid of what you might he stalked to her took her hand cared you have been hai y here yes i m begging she squeezed his hand quickly then snatched hers away she had but little of the curiosity of the and none of the s joy in if she was the girl was the clumsy boy he about the office his fists into his pockets he stammered i i i oh the devil why do i awaken from smooth to this jagged e i m going to trot down the hall and bring in the and well all have coffee or something the yes really quite a decent young pair and his wife he s a just come to town they live in a room his office same as i do here they don t know much of anybody heard of them and never thought to call fm horribly ashamed do bring them she stopped for no very clear reason but his e q said her faltering admitted that they wished they had never mentioned the with enthusiasm he said splendid i will from the door he at her curled in the leather chair he slipped out came back with dr and mrs the four of them drank rather bad coffee which made on a they laughed and spoke of and were and started for home through the november wind chapter jl she was marching home no i couldn t fall in love with him i like him very much but he s too much of a could i kiss him main street no at twenty six i could have kissed him then maybe even if i were married to some one else and probably td have been in persuading myself that it wasn t really wrong the amazing thing is that fm not more amazed at myself i the virtuous young matron am i to be trusted if the prince charming came a married a year and yearning for a prince charming like a of sixteen they say that marriage is a magic change but i m not changed but i wouldn t want to fall in love even if the prince did come i wouldn t want to hurt will i am fond of will i am he doesn t stir me not any longer but i depend on him he is home and children i wonder when we will begin to have children i do want wonder whether i remembered to teu to have tomorrow instead of she will have gone to bed by now perhaps be up enough ever so fond of will i wouldn t hurt him even if i had to lose the mad love if the prince came	42
i d look once at him and run dam fast oh card you are not heroic nor fine you are the vulgar young female but fm not the wife who confiding that she s misunderstood oh fm not fm not am i at least i didn t whisper to about will s faults and his to my remarkable soul i didn t matter of fact will probably understands me perfectly if only if he would just back me up in rousing the town how many how many wives there must be who over the first who smiles at them no i will not be one of that herd of the virgin yet probably if the prince were young and dared to face life fm not half as well as that mrs so obviously her and seeing only as an eccentric they weren t silk mrs s stockings they were her legs are nice and slim but no than mine i hate cotton tops on silk stockings are my ankles getting fat i will not have fat ankles no i am fond of will his work one farmer he through is worth all my for a castle in l ain a castle with this hat is so tight i must stretch it liked it there s the house fm awfully chilly time to get out the fur coat i wonder if ever have a coat is not the same glossy like to run my fingers over it s like how utterly absurd am i am fond of will and cant i ever find another word than fond he s home hell think i was out late why can t he ever remember to pull down the shades and all the boys peeping in but the poor dear he s absent minded about minute whatever the word is he has so much worry and work while i do nothing but to i mustn t forget the she was flying into the hall looked up from the journal of the american medical society what time did you get back she cried about nine you been here it is past eleven good natured yet not quite ai did it feel you didn t remember to close the lower in the furnace oh i m so sorry but i don t often forget things like that do i she dropped into his lap and after he had jerked back his head to save his eye glasses and removed the glasses and settled her in a position less to his legs and casually cleared his throat he kissed her and remarked i must say you re fairly good about things like that i wasn t kicking i just meant i wouldn t want the fire to go out on us leave that open and the fire might bum up and go out on us and the nights are beginning to get pr ty cold again pretty cold on my drive i put the side curtains up it was so chilly but the is working all ri t now yes it is chilly but i feel fine after my walk go i went up to see the by a definite act of will she added the truth they weren t in and i saw p into his office why you haven t been sitting and with him till eleven o clock main street oi course there were some other people there and what do you think of dr why noticed him on the street today as he if the poor fish would have his teeth x bet nine and a half cents he d find an there he calls it he s behind the times wonder he doesn t himself a profound and serious i hate to break up the party but it s getting late and a doctor never knows when hell get out before morning she remembered that he had given this explanation in these words not less than thirty times in the year i guess we better be trotting up to bed wound the clock and looked at the furnace did you lock the front door when you came in they up stairs after he had turned out the lights and twice tested the front door to make sure it was fast while they talked they were preparing for bed still sought to maintain privacy by behind the screen of the closet door was not so tonight as every night she was irritated by having to push the old chair out of the way before she could open the closet door every time she opened the door she the chair ten times an hour but liked to have the chair in the room and there was no place for it except in front of the closet she pushed it felt angry hid her anger was yawning more the room stale she shrugged and became you were speaking of dr tell me youve never him up is he really a good doctor oh yes he s a wise old you see there is no medical not in my she said to she hung her silk on a closet hook and went on dr is so gentle and well i don t know as i d say he was such a whale of a scholar i ve always had a suspicion he did a good deal of four flushing about that he likes to have people think he s up his french and greek and l m d knows what all and he s always got an old book lying around the but i ve got a he reads stories bout like the rest of us and i don t know where he d ever learn so many languages anyway he kind of lets people as he went to or or oxford or somewhere but i looked him up in the medical register and he from a college	42
you what where d you meet he s just come to town he and his wife were at mr s tonight y what d you think of them didn t strike you as pretty light why no he seemed intelligent fm sure he s much more wide awake than our well now the old man is a good he knows his business and wouldn t up to the too close if i were you all right for and that s none of our business but we i think i d just give the the ad hand and pass em up but why he isn t a rival that s all was awake now hell work right in with and matter of fact i suspect they were largely responsible for his here they ll be sending him and hell send all that he can get hold of to them i don t trust anybody that s too much hand in glove with you give main street a shot at some fellow that s just bought a farm here and into town to get his teeth looked at and after gets through with him you ll see him around to and every time reached for her which hung on a chair by the bed she draped it about her shoulders and sat up studying her chin in her hands in the gray light from the small electric down the hall she could see that he was frowning will this is i must get this straight some one said to me the other day that in towns like this even more than in cities all the doctors hate each other because of the money who said that it doesn t matter tu bet a hat it was your she s a woman but she d be a damn sight if she kept her mouth shut and didn t let so much of her brains out that way will o that s horrible aside from the vulgarity some ways is my best friend even if she had said it which as a matter of fact she didn t he reared up his thick shoulders in absurd pink and i he sat straight and snapped his fingers and growled weu if she didn t say it let s forget her doesn t make any difference who said it anyway the point is that you believe it god to think you don t understand me any than that money this is the first real quarrel we ve ever had she was he thrust out his long arm and snatched his from a chair he took out a cigar a match he tossed the on the floor he lighted the cigar and puffed savagely he broke up the match and snapped the fragments at the foot board she suddenly saw the foot board of the bed as the of the grave of love the room was colored and ill did not believe in opening the windows so dam wide that you heat all the stale air seemed never to change in the light from the hall they were two of with shoulders and heads attached she begged i didn t mean to wake you up dear and please don t smoke you ve been smoking so much please go back to sleep i m sorry being sorry s all right but i m going to tell you one or two things this falling for anybody s say so about medical jealousy and competition is simply part and parcel of your usual to think the worst you possibly can of us poor in trouble women like you is you always want to argue can t take things the way they are got to argue well i m not going to argue about this in any way shape manner or form trouble with you is you don t make any effort to appreciate us you re so superior and think the city is such a hell of a lot finer place and you want us to do what you want all the time that s not true it s i who make the effort it s th it s you who stand back and i have to come over to the town s opinion i have to devote myself to their interests they can t even see my interests to say nothing of i get ever so excited about their old i e and the cottages but they simply in that lovely friendly way you so much if i speak of wanting to see also sure whatever that is some nice expensive colony i suppose sure that s the idea champagne taste and beer income and make sure that we never will have more than a beer income too are you by any chance that i am not economical well i hadn t intended to but since you bring it up yourself i don t mind saying the bills are about twice what they ought to be yes they probably are i m not economical i can t be thanks to where d you get that thanks to you please don t be quite so or shall i say vulgar ni be as as i want to how do you g that thanks to you here about a year ago you jump me for not remembering to give you money well i m reasonable i blame you and i said i was to blame but have i ever forgotten it since practically no you haven t but that it i ought to have an allowance i will too i must have an agreement for a regular stated amount every month fine idea of course a doctor gets a regular stated amount sure a thousand one month and lucky if he makes a hundred the next ml main street very well then a or something else no matter	42
how much you vary you can make a rough average for ut what s the idea what are you trying to get at mean to say fm unreasonable think fm so and that you ve got to tie me down with a contract by god that i thought i d been pretty generous and and i took a lot of pleasure thinks i shell be when i hand her over this twenty or fifty or whatever it was and now seems you been wanting to make it a kind of me like a poor fool thinking i was liberal all the and you please stop pitying you re having a beautiful time feeling injured i admit all you say certainly you ve given me money both freely and quite as if i were your h mean iti what was a magnificent spectacle of generosity to you was humiliation to me you gave me money gave it to your mistress if she was and then you don t then you felt you d discharged all obligation well hereafter i ll refuse your money as a gift either i m your partner in charge of the department of our business with a regular for it or else i m nothing if fm to be a mistress i shall choose my lovers oh i hate it i hate it this and for money and then not even spending it on jewels as a mistress has a right to but spending it on double and for you yes indeed you re generous you give me a dollar right out the only is that i must spend it on a tie for you and you give it when and as you wish how can i be anything but oh well of course looking at it that way i can t shop around can t buy in large quantities have to stick to stores where i have a charge account good deal of the time can t plan because i don t know how much money i can depend on that s what i pay for your charming about giving so generously you make m e wait wait you know you re you never thought about that mistress stuff till just this minute matter of fact you never have and hoped for money but all the same you may be right you ought to run the household as a business ill figure out a definite plan tomorrow and hereafter you ll be on a regular amount or with your own checking account oh that is decent of you she turned toward him trying to be affectionate but his eyes were pink and in the of the match with i he lighted his dead and cigar his head drooped and a ridge of flesh scattered with pale small out under his chin she sat in till he no t especially decent it s just fair and god knows i want to be fair but i expect others to be fair too and you re so high and mighty about people take sam best soul that ever lived honest and loyal and a good fellow yes and a good shot at ducks don t forget well and he is a good shot tool sam drops around in the evening to sit and visit and by just because he takes a dry smoke and rolls his cigar around in his mouth and maybe a few times you look at him as if he was a oh you didn t know i was you and i certainly hope sam hasn t noticed it but i never miss it i have felt that way but i m sorry you caught my thoughts i tried to be nice i tried to hide them maybe i catch a whole lot more than you think i yes you do and d you know why sam doesn t light his cigar when he s here he s so dam afraid you ll be offended if he you scare him every time he speaks of the weather you jump him because he ain t talking about poetry or or some other you ve got him so he scarcely dares to come here oh i am sorry though i m sure it s you who are now well now i don t know as i ami and i can teu you one thing if you keep on you ll manage to drive away every friend got that would be horrible of me you know i don t mean to will what is it about me that if i do frighten him main street x h you do all stead of putting his legs up on another chair and his and telling a good story or me about something he sits on the edge of his chair and tries to make conversation about and he even and sam s never real comfortable unless he can a little in other words he isn t comfortable unless he can behave like a peasant in a mud hut now that ll be about enough of that you want to know how you scare him first you deliberately fire some question at him that you know dam well he can t answer any fool could see you were with him and thai you shock him by talking of or something like you were doing just now of course the pure samuel never speaks of such ladies in his private conversations not when there s ladies around you can bet your life on that so the lies in failing to pretend that now we won t go into that or whatever damn you choose to call it as i say first you shock him and then you become so dam that nobody can follow you either you want to dance or you bang the piano or else	42
you get moody as the devil and don t want to talk or anything else if you must be why can t you be that way by yourself my dear man there s nothing i d like better than to be by myself occasionally to have a room of my own i suppose you expect me to sit here and dream delicately and satisfy my while you wander in from the with all over your face and shout seen my brown he did not sound impressed he made no answer he turned out of bed his feet making one solid on the he marched from the room a grotesque figure in union she heard him drawing a drink of water at the tap she was furious at the of his exit she down in bed and looked away horn him as he returned he ignored her as he into bed he yawned and casually stated well you ll have plenty of privacy when we build a new house oh it an n iu t you fret but of i don t expect any credit for it now it was she v o and ignored him and felt independent and as she shot up out of bed turned her back on him a lone and out of her glove box in the top right hand drawer of the at it found that k had filling said wished that she had not said it so that she be superior to his and hurled the into the where it made an evil and mocking clatter among the d of torn linen and box then in great dignity and self she returned to bed all this time he had been talking on his assertion that he didn t expect any credit she was reflecting that he was a rustic that she hated him that she had been insane to marry him that she had married him only because she was tired of work that she must get h c long cleaned that she would never do anything more for him and that she mustn t forget his for breakfast she was roused to attention by his tm a fool to think about a new house by the time i get it probably have succeeded in your plan to g me completely in dutch with every friend and every patient got she sat up with a she said coldly thank you very much for revealing your real opinion of me if that s the way you feel if i m such a to you i can t stay under this roof minute and i am able to earn my own living i will go at once and you may get a divorce at your pleasure what you want is a nice sweet cow of a woman who will enjoy having your dear friends talk about the weather and spit on the floor tut don t be a fool you will very soon find out whether i m a fool or not i mean it do you think stay here one second after i found out that i was you at least i have enough sense of justice not to do that please stop flying off at this let me tell you isn t a play it s a serious effort to have us get together on we ve both been and said a lot of things we didn t mean i wish we were a couple o main poets and just talked about roses and but we tc human all right let s cut out at each other let s admit we both do things see here you know you feel superior to folks you re not as bad as i say but you re not as good as you say not by a long shot what s the reason you re so superior why can t you take folks as they are her preparations for out of the doll s house were not yet visible she mused i think perhaps it s my childhood she halted when she went on her voice had an artificial sound her words the quality of meditation my father was the tenderest man in the world but he did feel superior to ordinary people he was and the valley i used to sit there on the cliffs above for hours at a time my chin in my hand looking way down the valley wanting to write poems the shiny roofs below me and the river and beyond it the level fields in the mist and the rim of across it held my thoughts in i lived in the valley but the all my thoughts go flying off into the big space do you think it might be that um well maybe but you always talk so much about getting all you can out of life and not letting the years slip by and here you deliberately go and deprive of a lot of real good home pleasure by not enjoying people unless they wear frock coats and trot out morning clothes oh sorry didn t mean t interrupt you to a lot of tea parties take jack elder you think jack hasn t got any ideas about anything but and the on lumber but do you know that jack is about music hell put a grand opera record on the and sit and listen to it and close his eyes or you take ever realize what a well informed man he but is he calls anybody well informed o s been the state and heard about f ow telling you reads a lot solid stuff history or take the he s got a lot of prints of famous pictures in his office or old air that died here bout a year ago lived seven miles out he was a captain in the civil war and knew general and they say	42
he was a in right alongside of mark twain find these characters in all these small towns and a pile of in every sin e one of them if you just dig for it know and i do love them especially people like but i can t be so very enthusiastic over the like jack elder then i m a too whatever that is no you re a oh i will try and get the music out of mr elder only why can t he let it come out instead of being ashamed of it and always talking about hunting dogs but i will try is it all right now sure but there s one other thing you might give me some attention tool that s unjust you have everything i ami no i haven t you think you respect me you always hand out some about my being so useful but you never think of me as having just as much as you have not i think of you as being perfectly satisfied well i m not not by a long shot i don t want to be a gen all my life like and die in because i can t get out of it and have em say he was a good fellow but he couldn t save a cent not that i care a what they say after kicked in and cant hear em but i want to put enough money away so you and i can be independent some day and not have to work unless i fed like it and i want to have a good house by ni have as good a house as anybody in this town and if we want to travel and see your or whatever it is y we can do it with enough money in our so we won t have to take anything off anybody or fret about our old age you never worry about might happen if we got sick and didn t have a good fat away do you i don t suppose i do well then i have to do it for you and if you think for one moment i want to be stuck in this all my life and not have a chance to travel and see the different points of interest and all that then you simply don t get me i want to have a at the world much s you do only i m practical about it first place i m going to make the money fm in good safe do you understand why now yes main street will you try and see if you can t think of me as something more than just a chasing oh my dear i haven t been i am and i won t call on the i and if dr is working for and i hate him i chapter j that december she was in love with her husband she herself not as a great but as the wife of a country physician the realities of the doctor s household were colored by her pride late at night a step on the wooden porch heard through confusion of sleep the storm door opened over the inner door the of the bell muttering dam it but patiently creeping out of bed remembering to draw the covers up to keep her warm feeling for slippers and downstairs from below half heard in her a in the german of the farmers who have forgotten the old country language without learning the new du doctor die awful sick all night she been having an awful pain in de belly how long she been this way long eh i maybe two days why didn t you come for me yesterday instead of waking me up out of a sound sleep here it is two o so t eh i know it but she a lot last evening i fought maybe all de time it go but it got a lot any m i she got fever which side is the pain on die which side is it on here so right here it is any there ml l it i mean does the belly feel hard to the fingers i she ain t said yet what she been veil i t ink about ve eat maybe com beef and and und so all the time she like hell i you come well all right but you call me earlier next time lock here you better a some of you will be dying one of these days before you can fetch the doctor the door closing s wagon the wheels silent in the snow but the wagon body the hook to rouse the night giving a number waiting cursing mildly waiting again and at last growling this is the doctor say send me up a team guess snow s too thick for a machine going eight miles south all right the hell i you go back to sleep well that s all right now you didn t wait so very dam long all right shoot her al by his steps on the stairs his quiet moving about the room while he dressed his abstracted and ess she was supposed to be asleep she was too exquisitely drowsy to break the charm by speaking on a slip of paper laid on the she could hear the pencil grinding against the marble he wrote his destination he went out hungry chilly and she before she fell asleep again loved him for his and saw the drama of his riding by night to the frightened on the distant farm pictured children standing at a window waiting for him he suddenly had in her eyes the heroism of a on a ship in a collision of an fever deserted by his but going on going	42
at six when the light faltered in as through ground ass and identified the chairs as gray she heard his step on the porch heard um at the furnace the rattle of shaking the grate the slow grinding removal of ashes die thrust into the coal bin the abrupt clatter of the coal as it flew into the fire box the of the daily sounds of a life now main street appealing to her as something brave and enduring and free she the fire box flames turned to and gold as the coal dust over them thin of purple g flames which gave no li t slipping up between the dark coals it was luxurious in bed and the house would be warm for her when she rose she reflected what a worthless cat she what were her aspirations beside his she awoke again as he ed into bed seems just a few minutes ago that you started been away four hours a woman for in a dutch kitchen came awful close to losing her too but i pulled her through all right close says he shot ten last sunday he was instantly asleep one hour of rest before he had to be up and ready for the farmers who came in she that in what was to her but a night moment he should have been in a distant place have taken charge of a strange house have a woman saved a life what wonder he detested the lazy and how could the easy understand this skill and endurance then was grumbling seven fifteen aren t you ever going to get up for breakfast and he was not a but a rather irritable and commonplace man who needed a they had coffee cakes and and talked about mrs s hide belt night and morning were alike forgotten in the march of realities and days n familiar to the doctor s wife was the man with an injured leg driven in from the country on a sunday afternoon and brought to the house he sat in a in the back of a lumber wagon his face pale from the anguish of the his leg was thrust out before him resting on a box and covered with a leather bound horse blanket his courageous wife drove the wagon and she helped support him as he up the steps into the house fellow cut his leg with an ax pretty bad nine miles out observed fluttered at the back of the room excited when she was sent to fetch and a basin of water lifted the farmer into a chair and chuckled we are well have you out fixing fences and in a month the sat on the in a man s coat and of the silk handkerchief which she had worn over her head now hung about her neck her white wool gloves lay in her lap drew from the injured leg the thick red the other of gray and wool then the the leg was of an dead white with the black hairs feeble and and and the a line of crimson surely card shuddered this was not human flesh the rosy shining of the poets examined the smiled at and wife fine b couldn t be better the looked the farmer nodded a cue to his wife and she mourned ell how much ve going to owe you doctor i guess let s see one drive out and two calls i guess be about eleven dollars in all i ve can pay you a little w doctor over to her patted her shoulder roared why lord love you sister i won t worry if i never get it you pay me next fall when you get your crop suppose you or could shake up a cup of coffee and some cold lamb for the they got a long cold drive ahead m he had been gone since morning her eyes ached with reading could not come to tea she wandered through the house empty as the street without the problem of will the doctor be home m tune for supper or shall i sit down without was important in the household six was the rigid the supper hour but at half past six he had not come much speculation with had the case taken longer than he had expected had he been called somewhere else was the snow much heavier out in the country so that he should have taken a or even a instead of the car here in town it had melted a lot but still a a shout the engine before it was shut ofl main she to the window the car was a monster at rest after furious adventures the blazed on the of ice in the road so that the gave shadows and the cast a circle of on the snow behind was opening the door crying here we are old girl got stuck couple times but we made it by we made it and here we be come on food s she rushed to him patted his fur coat the long hairs smooth but chilly to her fingers she summoned all right he s here we u sit right down iv there were to inform the doctor s wife of his no clapping nor book nor degrees but there was a letter written by a german farmer recently moved from to dear as you bin treading for a dis and seen is wit so in regarding to i wont to you the doctor heir say shot bee wit and day give but it like you now day i ad all you well i haven ben ting for about one vi but i get better so i like to heir you about it i feel like dis feeling around the after eating and pain around heard and down the arm and about to v hour	42
of dust its neatness the street the two stones by the path were painted the was so with vines and that it was not concealed at all the last iron dog remaining in stood among upon the lawn the was the kitchen was an exercise in with problems worked out in chairs the parlor was kept for visitors suggested s sit m the kitchen please don t trouble to light the parlor stove no trouble at all my gracious and you coming so seldom and all and the kitchen is a perfect sight i try to keep it clean but will track mud all over it ive spoken to him about it a hundred times if spoken once no you sit right there and make a fire no trouble at all no trouble at all mrs groaned rubbed her joints and repeatedly her hands while she made the fire and when tried to help she lamented oh it doesn t matter guess i main ain t good for much but toil and anyway seems as though that s what a lot of folks think the parlor was distinguished by an expanse of rag carpet from as they entered mrs hastily picked one sad dead fly in the of the carpet was a rug a red dog in a green and yellow field and our friend the organ tall and thin was adorned with a mirror partly circular partly square and partly diamond shaped and with holding a pot of a mouth organ and a copy of the on the table was a mail order catalogue a silver frame with photographs of the bi church and of an elderly clergyman and an tray containing a s rattle and a spectacle mrs spoke of the eloquence of the reverend mr the coldness of cold days the price of wood s new hair cut and s essential piety as i said to his sunday school teacher may be a little wild but that s because he s got so much better brains than a lot of these boys and this farmer that claims he caught stealing is a liar and i ought to have the law oa hun mrs went thoroughly into the that the girl waiter at s lunch was not all she might be or rather was quite all she might be my lands what can you expect when everybody knows what her mother was and if these would let her alone she would be all right though i certainly believe she ought to be allowed to think she can pull the wool over our eyes the sooner she s sent to the school for down at centre the better for all and won t you just have a cup of coffee i m sure you w mi t mind old calling you by your first name when you think how long i ve known will and i was such a friend of his dear lovely mother when she lived here and was that fur cap expensive but don t you think it s awful the way folks talk m this town mrs her chair nearer her large face its disturbing collection of and lone black wrinkled she showed her decayed teeth in a smile and in the confidential voice of one who stale bedroom scandal she breathed i just don t see how folks can talk and aa like they da you m the things that go oa under cover thb town it s only the religious training i ve given that s kept him so innocent of things just the other day i never pay no attention to stories but i heard it good and straight that harry is carrying on with a girl that clerks in a store down in and poor not knowing anything about it thou maybe it s the judgment of god because before she married harry she acted up with more than me boy well i don t like to say it and maybe i ain t up to date like says but i always believed a lady shouldn t even give names to all sorts of dreadful things but just the same i know there was at least one case where and a boy well they were just dreadful and and then there s that the that thinks he s so smart and i know he made up to a farmer s wife and and this awful man that does and and there was it seemed no person in town who was not living a life of shame except mrs and naturally she resented it she knew she had always happened to be there once she she was going by when an had been left up a couple of inches once she had noticed a man and woman holding hands and at a another thing heaven knows i want to start trouble but i can t help what i see from my back steps and i notice your hired girl carrying on with the boys and all mrs i d trust as i would h you don t understand me i m sure she s a good i mean she s green and i hope that none of these horrid young men that there are around town will get her into trouble it s their parents fault letting them run wild and hear evil things if i had my way there wouldn t be none of them not boys nor girls neither allowed to know anything about about things till they was married it s terrible the bald way that some fc talk it just shows and gives away v they got inside them and there s nothing can cure them except coming right to god and kneeling down like i do at prayer meeting every wednesday evening and saying god i would be a miserable sinner except for thy grace rd make	42
every last one of these go to sunday school main street and learn to think about nice things stead of about and on and these dances they have at the are the worst thing that ever happened to this town lot of young men and finding out oh it s dreadful t ad the mayor he ought to put a stop to them and there was one boy in this town i don t want to be suspicious or but it was half an hour before escaped she stopped on her own porch and thought if that woman is on the side of the angels then i have no choice i must be on the side of the devil but isn t she like me she too wants to reform the town she too everybody she too thinks the men are vulgar and limited am i like her this is that evening she did not merely consent to play with she urged him to play and she worked up a interest in land and sam vm in courtship days had shown her a of s baby and log cabin but she had never seen the they had become merely of the doctor her on a mid december afternoon want to throw your coat on and drive out to s with me fairly warm got the x h yes she hastened to put on stockings high boots cap the snow was too thick and the frozen too hard the they drove out in a clumsy high carriage tucked over them was a blue cover to her wrists and outside of it a robe humble and eaten now used ever since the herds had the a few miles to the west the scattered houses between which they passed in town were small and desolate in contrast to the expanse of huge snowy yards and wide street they crossed the railroad tracks and instantly were in the farm country the big horses clouds of steam and started to trot the carriage in drove with ducks of there boy take it easy he was thinking he paid no attention to yet it was he who commented pretty nice over there as they approached an oak grove ere winter sunlight quivered in the hollow between two snow they drove from the natural to a cleared district which twenty years ago had been forest the country seemed to stretch to the north pole low hill bottom creek mound fields with frozen brown thrust up through the snow her ears and nose were pinched her breath her collar her fingers ached getting colder she said that was all their conversation for three miles yet she was happy they reached s at four and with a throb she recognized the courageous venture which had her to the cleared fields among a log cabin with mud and with dry hay but had he used the log cabin as a bam and a new house reared up a proud unwise house the more naked and in its glossy white paint and pink every tree had been cut down the house was so so battered by the wind so thrust out into the harsh clearing that shivered but they were welcomed warmly enough in the kitchen with its crisp new plaster its black and range its cream in a comer mrs begged her to sit in the where there was a and an oak and leather the farmer s proofs of social progress but she dropped down by the kitchen stove and insisted please don t mind me when mrs had followed the doctor out of the room glanced in a friendly way at the pine cupboard the framed the traces of eggs and on the dining table against the wall and a jewel among presenting not only a young woman with cherry lips and a advertisement of s but also a and a match she saw that a boy of four or five was staring at her from the hall a boy in shirt and faded trousers but large ey firm mouthed wide he vanished then peeped in again biting his turning his shoulder toward her in shyness didn t she remember what was it sitting be main street ride her at fort urging see how scared that baby is needs some woman like you magic had fluttered about her then magic of sunset and cool air and the curiosity of lovers she held out her hands as much to that as to the boy he edged into the room doubtfully his thumb she said what s your name you re quite right i agree with you silly people like me always ask children their names heel come here and i ll tell you the story of well i know what it will be about but it will have a slim heroine and a prince charming he stood while she spun nonsense his ceased she was winning him then the bell two long rings one short mrs galloped into the room shrieked into the veil yes yes dis is s place oh you de doctor appeared growled into the well what do you want oh what do you want which s s all right i see say get to harness up and take my down there and have him take some i ll go straight down from here may not get home tonight you can get me at s no can give the i guess g by no tell me about that tomorrow too damn many people always listening in on this farmers line he turned to farmer ten miles of town got his arm crushed fixing his cow shed and a post in on him smashed him up pretty bad may have to says afraid well have to go right from here dam sorry to drag you clear down there with me ml do don	42
t mind me a bit think you could give the usually have my driver do it if you u tell me how a right say did you hear me putting one over on these that are always in on party wires i hope they heard me well now don t you worry about he s getting along all right tomorrow you or one of the neighbors drive in and get this filled at s give him a every four hours good by lo here s the little fellow my lord it am t possible this is the fellow that used to be so sickly why say he s a great big now going to be bigger n his s made the child with a delight which could not it was a humble wife who followed the busy doctor out to the carriage and her ambition was not to play better nor to build town halls but to chuckle at babies the sunset was merely a flush of rose on a dome of silver with oak twigs and thin branches against it but a on the horizon changed from a red to a tower of violet over with gray the purple road vanished and without lights in the darkness of a world destroyed they swayed on toward nothing it was a cold way to the farm and she was asleep when they arrived here was no glaring new house with a proud but a low kitchen smelling of cream and mc was lying on a couch in the rarely used dining room his heavy work wife was shaking her hands in anxiety felt that would do something magnificent and startling but he was casual he greeted the man well well have to fix you up eh quietly to the wife hat die store my bag so ist s supper got any of that good beer left he had in four minutes his coat off his sleeves rolled up he was his hands in a tin basin in the sink using the bar of yellow kitchen soap had not dared to look into the farther room while she labored over the supper of beer bread moist and set on the kitchen table the man in there was groaning in her one glance she had seen that his blue flannel shirt was open at a tobacco brown neck the hollows of which were sprinkled with thin black and gray hairs he was covered with a sheet like a corpse and outside the sheet was his right arm wrapped in stained with blood but strode into the other room gaily and she fed main street him with surprising delicacy in his large fingers he the and revealed an arm which below the elbow was a mass of blood and raw flesh the man the room grew thick about her she was very she fled to a chair in the kitchen through the haze of she heard grumbling afraid it will have to come off what did you do fall on a blade well fix it right up couldn t she couldn t get up then she was up her knees like water her stomach revolving a thousand times a second her eyes her ears full of roaring she couldn t reach the dining room she was going to faint then she was in the dining room leaning against the wall trying to smile flushing hot and cold along her chest and sides while say help mrs and me carry him in on the kitchen table no first go out and those two tables together and put a blanket on them and a clean sheet it was salvation to push the heavy tables to them to be exact in placing the sheet her head cleared she was able to look calmly in at her husband and the while they the wailing man got him into a clean and washed his arm came to lay out his instruments she realized that with no hospital yet with no worry about it her husband her husband was going to perform a operation that miraculous boldness of which one read in stories about famous she helped them to move into the kitchen the man was in such a that he would not use his legs he was heavy and of sweat and the stable but she put her arm about his waist her sleek head by his chest she at him she her tongue in imitation of s cheerful noises when was on the table laid a steel and cotton frame on his face suggested to now you sit here at his head and keep the dripping about this fast see i ll watch his breathing look who s here real hasn t got a better one eh now now take it easy this won t hurt you a bit put you all nice and asleep and it won t hurt a bit bald man kind so bald s as she let the nervously trying to keep the that had indicated stared at her husband with the abandon of hero worship he shook his head bad bad light here mrs you stand right here and hold this lamp und lamp by that glimmer he worked swiftly at ease the room was still tried to look at him yet not look at the blood the crimson the vicious the were sweet choking her head seemed to be floating away from her body her arm was feeble it was not the blood but the grating of the saw on the living bone that broke her and she knew that she had been fighting off that she was beaten she was lost in she heard s voice sick trot couple minutes will stay under now she was at a door in insulting circles she was on the stoop gasping forcing air into her chest her head clearing as she returned she caught	42
the scene as a whole the kitchen two milk a leaden patch by the wall dancing from a beam bars of light at the stove door and in the illuminated by a small ass lamp held by a frightened stout woman dr bending over a body which was under a sheet the surgeon his bare arms with blood his hands in pale yellow rubber the his face without emotion save when he threw up his head and at the hold that light steady just a second more he speaks a vulgar common german of life and death and birth and the soil i read the french and german of sentimental lovers and christmas and i thought that it was i who had the culture she as she returned to her place after a time he snapped that s enough don t give him any more he was concentrated on tying an his seemed heroic to her as he shaped the of flesh she murmured oh you are wonderful he was surprised why this is a now if it had been like last week get me some more water now last week i had a case with an in the and by if it wasn t a stomach that i hadn t suspected and there say i certainly am sleepy let s turn in main street here too late to drive home and tastes to me like a storm coming they slept on a feather bed with their fur coats over them in the morning they broke ice in the the vast and gilt s storm had not come when they set out it was and growing warmer after a mile she saw that he was studying a dark cloud in the north he urged the horses to the run but she forgot his unusual haste in wonder at the tragic landscape the pale snow the of old and the of ragged brush faded into a gray obscurity under the were cold shadows the about a were agitated by the rising wind and the patches of bare wood where the bark had away were white as the flesh of a the snowy were of a harsh the land was cruel and a climbing cloud of blackness the sky guess we re about in for a we can make ben s anyway really why but still we used to think they were fun when i was a girl had to stay home from court and we d stand at the window and watch the snow not much fun on the get lost to death take no chances he at the horses they were flying now the carriage rocking on the hard the air suddenly into large damp the horses and the robe were covered with snow her face was wet the thin butt of the whip held a white ridge the air became colder the were harder they shot in level lines at her face she could not see a hundred feet ahead was stem he bent forward the reins firm in his she was certain that he would get he always got through things save for his presence the world and all normal living they were lost in the boiling snow he leaned close to ba letting the horses have their heads they ll get us home with a they were off the road with two wheels in the ditch but instantly they were jerked back as die horses fled on she gasped she tried to and did not feel brave as she pulled the robe up about her chin they were passing something like a dark wall on the know that bam he he pulled at the reins peeping from the covers she saw his teeth pinch his lower lip saw him as he and and jerked sharply again at the racing horses they stopped there put robe around you and come on he cried it was like into icy water to climb out of the carriage but on the ground she smiled at him her face little and childish and pink above the robe over her shoulders in a of ch at their eyes like a darkness he the harness he turned and back a ponderous figure holding the horses cane s hand dragging at his sleeve they came to the cloudy bulk of a bam whose outer wall was directly upon the road feeling along it he found a gate led them into a yard into the bam the interior was warm it stunned them with its languid quiet he carefully drove the horses into her toes were coals of pain let s mn for the house she said can t not yet might never find it might get lost ten feet away from it sit over in this stall near the horses well rush for the house when the lifts tm so stiff i can t walk he carried her into the stall stripped off her and boots stopping to blow on his purple fingers as he at her he her feet and covered her with the robe and horse blankets from the pile on the feed box she was drowsy hemmed in by the storm she sighed you re so strong and yet so skilful and not afraid of blood or storm or used to it only thing that s me was the chance the t last night i don t understand why the dam fool sent me instead of like i told him and you know are mighty especially with that lamp right by the table but i had to operate of course wound fuu of that way main street knew all the time that both you and i might have been blown up you knew it while you were sure didn t you why what s the matter chapter j f was heavily pleased by her christmas presents and he gave her a diamond bar pin but she	42
could not persuade herself that he was much interested in the rites of the morning in the tree she had decorated the three stockings she had hung the ribbons and gilt and hidden messages he said only nice way to fix things all right what do you say we go down to jack elder s and have a game of five hundred this afternoon she remembered her father s christmas the sacred old rag doll at the top of the tree the score of cheap presents the punch and the roast by the fire and the gravity with which the judge opened the children s notes and took of demands for rides for opinions upon the existence of she remembered him reading out a long of himself for being a against the peace and dignity of the state of she remembered his thin legs twinkling before their she muttered must run up and put on my shoes slippers so cold in the not very romantic solitude of the locked she sat on the slippery edge of the tub and wept n had five medicine land and hunting it is not certain in what order he preferred them solid though his were in the matter of medicine his admiration of this city surgeon his condemnation of that for ways of persuading country to bring in his indignation about fee his pride in a new x ray none of these him as did he nursed his two year old even in winter when it was stored in the stable behind the house he filled the cups a removed from beneath the back seat the d of gloves copper maps dust and greasy rags winter he wandered out and stared at the car he became excited over a trip we might take next summer he galloped to the station brought home railway maps and traced from to or des or grand thinking aloud and expecting her to be about such questions as now i wonder if we could stop at and break the jump from la to to him was a faith not to be questioned a with electric sparks for candles and rings possessing the of altar vessels his was composed of and road comments they say there s a pretty good from to falls hunting was equally a devotion full of veiled from all winter he read sporting and thought about remarkable past shots member that time when i got two ducks on a long chance just at sunset at least once a month he drew his favorite repeating his pump gun from its of flannel he the and spent silent moments at the ceiling sunday mornings heard him up to the and there an hour later she found him turning over boots wooden duck or at old shells rubbing their brass caps with his sleeve and shaking hb head as he thought about their he kept the tool he had used as a boy a for shot gun shells a for lead bullets when once in a frenzy for getting rid of things she raged why don t you give these away he defended them well you can t tell they might come in handy some day she flushed she wondered if he was thinking of the they would have when as he put it they were sure they could afford one mysteriously aching sad she slipped half convinced but only half convinced that it was horrible and unnatural this of release of mother af main street sacrifice to her and to his cautious desire for prosperity but it would be worse if he were like sam insisted on having children she considered then if will were the prince wouldn t i demand his child s land were both financial advancement and favorite game driving through the country he noticed which farms had good crops he heard the news about the restless farmer who was thinking about selling out here and his freight for he asked the about the value of different of stock he inquired of whether or not really had had a yield of forty of wheat to the acre he was always consulting who handled more real estate than law and more law than justice he studied maps and read notices of thus he was able to buy a quarter section of land for one hundred and fifty dollars an acre and to sell it in a year or two after a floor in the bam and running water in the house for one hundred and eighty or even two hundred he of these details to sam rather in all his games cars and guns and land he expected to take an interest but he did not give her the facts might have created interest he talked only of the obvious and tedious aspects never of his aspirations in nor of die mechanical principles of this month of romance she was eager to understand his she shivered in the while he spent half an hour in deciding whether to put or patent liquid into the or to drain out the water entirely or no then i wouldn t want to take her out if it turned warm still of course i could fill the again wouldn t take so awful long just take a few of water still if it turned cold on me again before i drained it course there s some people that put in but they say it the connections and where did i put that it was at this point that she gave up being a and retired to the house in their new intimacy he was more about his practise he informed her with the invariable warning not to tell that mrs had another baby coming that the hired girl at s was in trouble but when she asked questions he did not know how to answer when she inquired what is the method of	42
taking out the he yawned why you just if there s you operate just take em out seen the er what the devil did do with it she did not try again m had gone to the the were almost as vital to and the other solid citizens of her as land speculation and guns and the feature a brave young yankee who conquered a south american r he turned the natives from their barbarous habits of singing and laughing to the us the and punch and go of the north he taught them to work in to wear and to shout oh you baby doll watch me gather in the he changed nature itself a mountain which had borne nothing but lilies and and clouds was by his so that it broke out in long wooden sheds and piles of iron ore to be converted into to carry iron ore to be into to carry iron ore the intellectual induced by the master was relieved by a more and less philosophical drama and the bathing suit in a comedy of manners right on the mr was at various hi moments a cook a life guard a actor and a there was a hotel up which only to be stunned by hurled upon them from the ous doors if the plot lacked the of legs and pie was dear and sure bathing and were equally sound occasions for legs the wedding scene was but an approach to the climax when mr slipped a piece of pie into the s rear pocket the audience in the palace and wiped their eyes they under the seats for and while the screen announced that next week mr be seen in a new extra special of the comedy tion under s bed i m ad said to as they stooped before main street the gale which was the barren street that this is a moral country we don t allow any of these frank novels vice society and department won t stand for them the american people don t like es it s fine fm glad we have such dainty as on the instead say what in do you think you re trying to do kid he was silent she awaited his anger she meditated upon his the dialect characteristic of he laughed when they came into the glow of the house he laughed again he condescended i ve got to hand it to you you re consistent all right rd of thought that after getting this look in at a lot of good decent farmers you d get over this high art stuff but you hang right on well to herself he takes advantage of my trying to be good tell you there s just three classes of people folks that haven t got any ideas at all and that kick about everything and regular the fellow with that and get the world s work done then fm probably a she smiled no i won t admit it you do like to talk but at a you d prefer sam to any damn long haired artist well oh well my we re just going to change everything aren t we going to tell fellows that have been making for ten years how to direct em and tell how to build towns and make the magazines publish nothing but a lot of stories about old maids and about wives that don t know what they want oh we re a come on now come out of it wake up you ve got a fine nerve about a because it shows a few legs why you re always these greek dancers or whatever they are that don t even wear a but dear the trouble with that it wasn t that it got in so many legs but that it and promised to show more of them and then didn t keep the promise it was peeping tom s idea of humor i don t get you look here now she lay awake while he with sleep i must go on my ideas he calls them i thought that him watching him would be it isn t not after the first thrill i don t want to hurt him but i must go on it isn t enough to stand by while he fills an and me bits of information if i stood by and admired him long enough i would be content i would become a nice little woman the village already i m not reading anything i haven t touched the piano for a week fm letting the days drown in worship of a good deal ten more per acre i won tl i wont how i ve failed at everything the parties city hall and but it i m not trying to reform the town now i m not trying to and sit in clean white yearning up at with eye i am trying to save my soul will asleep there trusting me thinking he holds me and i m leaving him all of me left him when he laughed at me it wasn t enough for him that i admired him i must change myself and grow like him he takes advantage no more it s finished i will go on iv her lay on top of the piano she picked it up since she had last touched it the dried strings had snapped and upon it lay a gold and crimson cigar band she longed to see for the of the brethren in the faith but s was heavy upon her she could not determine whether she was checked by fear or him or by by dislike of the li r of the scenes which would be involved in asserting independence she was like the at fifty not afraid of death but bored by the probability of bad and bad and sitting up all it on	42
over her ran out welcomed her well well well here s old miles fresh as ever well say that s all right he ain t even begun to be yet next summer he s going to take you out on his trip clear into yes and i may go how s tricks crazy about the town yet no but i probably shall be some day don t let em get you kick em in the face he shouted at her while he worked the pile of grew the pale bark of the sticks was with of sage green and dusty gray the newly ends were fresh colored with the agreeable of a to the winter air the wood gave a scent of march sap that he was going into the country had not finished his work at noon and she him to have dinner with in the kitchen she wished that she were independent enough to dine with these her guests she considered their friendliness she sneered at social distinctions she raged at her own and she continued to regard them as and herself as a lady she sat in the dining room and listened through the door to s and s she was the more absurd to herself in that after the of dining alone she could go out to the kitchen lean against the sink and talk to them they were attracted to each other a and more useful and amiable than their told his selling horses in a camp breaking a log jam being impertinent to a oh my and kept his coffee cup filled he took a long time to finish the wood he had frequently to go into the kitchen to get warm heard him confiding to you re a dam nice girl i guess if i had a woman like you i wouldn t be such a your kitchen is clean makes an feel say that s nice hair you got me fresh girl if i ever do get you ll know it why i could pick you up with one finger and hold you in the air long enough to read robert j clean through oh he s a religious writer sure you d like him fine when he drove off he waved to and lonely at the window above was envious of their pastoral and i but i wiu go on chapter j v they were driving down the lake to the cottages that january night twenty of them in the they sang toy land and seeing home they leaped from the low back of the to race over the slippery snow and when they were tired they climbed on the for a lift the moon tipped kicked up by the over the and down their necks but they laughed beat their leather against their the harness the bells were frantic jack elder s sprang beside the horses barking for a time card with them the cold air gave power she felt that she could run on all night leap main street twenty feet at a stride but the excess of energy tired her and she was glad to under the which covered the hay in the box in the midst of the she found enchanted along the road the shadows from oak branches were on the snow like bars of music then the came out on the surface of lake across the thick ice was a veritable road a short cut for farmers on the glaring expanse of the lake of hard crust flashes of green ice blown clear chains of like the sea beach the moonlight was overwhelming it on the snow it turned the woods ashore into of fire the night was tropical and in that magic there was no difference between heavy heat and cold was dream strayed the turbulent voices even being beside her were nothing repeated deep on the roof the are sparkling to the moon the words and the light into one vast indefinite happiness and she believed that some great thing was coming to her she withdrew from the into a worship of incomprehensible gods the night expanded she was conscious of the universe and all mysteries stooped down to her she was out of her ecstasy as the bob up the steep road to the bluff where stood the cottages they dismounted at jack elder s the interior walls of boards which had been grateful in august were forbidding in the chill in fur coats and tied over caps they were a strange company bears and talking jack elder lighted the waiting in the belly of a cast iron stove which was like an enlarged pot they piled their high on a and cheered the as it solemnly tipped over backward mrs elder and mrs sam made coffee in an enormous blackened tin pot and mrs and mrs warmed up hot dogs in rolls dr after announcing ladies and prepare to be shocked shock line forms on the right produced a bottle of the others danced muttering as their feet struck the pine had lost her dream harry lifted her by the waist and swung her she laughed the gravity of the people who stood apart and talked made her the more impatient for sam elder young dr mc and james on their toes near the stove conversed with the of the in details the men were unlike yet they said the same things in the same hearty monotonous voices you had to look at them to see which was speaking well we made pretty good time coming up from one any one we hit it up after we struck the good going on the lake seems kind of slow though after driving an it does at that say how d you make out with that tire you got seems to hold out fine still i don t know s i like it any better than the cord	42
the of his car clear of rain they dined at their hotel at night and next morning round the comer to at a they were tired by three in the afternoon and at the motion pictures and said they wished they were back in and by eleven in the evening they were again so lively that they went to a chinese that was frequented by clerks and their on they sat at a and marble table eating eggs and listened to a piano and were altogether on the street they met people from home the they laughed shook hands repeatedly and exclaimed well this is quite a coincidence they asked when the had come down and begged for news of the town they had left two days before whatever the were at home here they stood out as so superior to all the strangers hurrying past that the held them as long as they could the said good by as though they were going to instead of to the station to catch no north they was and regarding and and no hard when they were shown through the gray stone and new of the largest flour mills in the ld they looked across park and the parade to the towers of st mark s and the and the red roofs of houses climbing hill they drove about the chain of garden lakes and viewed the houses of the and and real estate the of the city they surveyed the small eccentric main street with the houses of and brick with sleeping above sun and one vast incredible the lake of the they a shining new section of apartment houses not the tall bleak apartments of eastern cities but low of cheerful yellow brick in which each flat had its glass enclosed porch with swinging couch and scarlet cushions and russian brass between a waste of tracks and a raw hill they found poverty in staggering they saw miles of the city which they had never known in their days of in college they were distinguished and they remarked in great mutual esteem i bet harry s never seen the city like this why he d never have sense to study the machinery in the go through all these districts wonder folks in wouldn t use their legs and explore the way they had two meals with s sister and were bored and felt that intimacy ch married people when they suddenly admit that they dislike a relative of either of them so it was with affection but also with weariness that they i the evening on which was to see the plays at the dramatic suggested not going so dam tired from all this walking don t know but what we better turn in and get rested up it was only from duty that card dragged him and herself out of the warm into a up the steps of the converted residence which the dramatic they were in a long hall with a clumsy across the front the folding chairs were filled with people o looked washed and parents of the pupils students dutiful teachers strikes me it s going to be if the first play isn t good let s beat it said all right she yawned with eyes she tried to read the lists of characters which were hidden among lifeless of music she regarded the play with no vast interest the ft actors moved and spoke stiffly just as its was b to rouse her village it was over don t think a whale of a lot of that how about taking a oh let s try the next one how he lied to her husband the conceit amused her and perplexed strikes me it s dam fresh thought it would be don t know as i think much of a play where a husband actually claims he wants a fellow to make love to his wife no husband ever did that shall we shake a leg i want to see this land of heart s desire i used to love it in college she was awake now and urgent i know you didn t care so much for when i read him aloud to you but you just see if you don t him on the stage most of the cast were as as oak chairs marching and the setting was an arrangement of and heavy tables but was slim as and and her voice was a morning bell in her lived and on her lifting voice was transported from this sleepy husband and all the rows of polite parents to the of a cottage where in a green beside a window by branches she bent over a chronicle of twilight women and the ancient gods weu nice kid played that girl good said want to stay for the last piece she shivered she did not answer the curtain was again drawn aside on the stage they saw nothing but long green curtains and a leather chair two young men in brown robes like furniture covers were and sentences full of it was s first hearing of she with the as he felt in his pocket for a cigar and unhappily put it back without understanding when or how without a change in the of the stage she was conscious of another time and place stately and aloof among maids a queen in robes that murmured on the marble floor she trod the gallery of a crumbling palace in the and men with crimson stood with blood stained hands folded upon their guarding the from el the with of main street and beyond the of the outer wall the glared and shrieked and the sun was furious above a youth came through the doors the sword bitten doors that were hi er than ten tall men he was in mail and under the rim of his were curls	42
his hand was out to her before she touched it she could feel its warmth all what the is all this stuff about she was no queen she was mrs dr she with a into a hall and sat looking at two scared girls and a young man in wrinkled ti ts fondly as they left the hall what the deuce did that last mean make bead or tail of it if that s drama give me a every time thank god that s over and we can get to bed wonder if we wouldn t make time by walking over to to take a car one thing i will say for that they had it warm enough must have a big hot air furnace i guess wonder how much coal it takes to run em the winter in the car he affectionately patted her knee and he was for a second the youth in then he was of and she was by main street never not all her life would she behold and the of kings there were strange things in the they really existed but she would never see them she would them in she would make the dramatic association understand her they would surely they would she looked doubtfully at the impenetrable reality of yawning conductor and sleepy passengers and soap and chapter j q she hurried to the first meeting of the play reading committee her romance had faded but she retained a religious a of half formed thought about the creation of beauty by suggestion a play would be too difficult for the association she would let them compromise on on and the lion which had just been published the was composed of and they were exalted by the picture of themselves as being simultaneously business like and artistic they were entertained by in the parlor of mrs s boarding house with its steel of grant at its basket of views and its mysterious on the carpet was an advocate of culture buying and she hinted that they ought to have as at the committee meetings of the a order of business and the reading of the minutes but as there were no minutes to read and as no one knew exactly what was the regular order of the business of being literary they had to give up as said politely you any ideas about what play we d better give first she waited for them to look abashed and vacant so that she mi t suggest answered with readiness to tell you since we re going to try to do something artistic and not simply fool around i believe we ought to give something classic how about the school for scandal why don t you think that has been done a good deal yes perhaps it has was ready to say how about when he went on how would it be then to give a greek drama say t main street why i don t believe tm sure that would be too hard for us now i ve brought something that i think would be awfully jolly she held out and took a thin gray entitled s mother in law it was the sort of farce which is advertised in school entertainment as knock out m f time interior set popular with churches and all class occasions glanced from the object to and realized that she was not joking but is this is why it s just a why i thought you appreciated well appreciated art oh art oh yes i do like art it s very nice but after all what does it matter what kind of play we give as long as we get the association started the thing that matters is something that none of you have of that is what are we going to do with the money if we make any i think it would be awfully nice if we presented the high school with a full set of s travel moaned oh but dear do forgive me but this farce now what i d like us to give is something distinguished say s have any of you read yes good play said then spoke up so have l i read through all the plays in the public library so s to be ready for this meeting and but i believe you grasp the ideas in this mrs i guess the feminine mind is too innocent to understand all these writers i m sure i don t want to i understand he is very popular with the hi brows in but just the same as far as i can make out he s downright the things he says well it would be a very thing for our young folks to see it seems to me that a play that doesn t leave a nice taste in the mouth and that hasn t any message is nothing but nothing but well whatever it may ht it art so now i ve found a play that is clean and there s some funny scenes in it too i laughed out loud reading it it s called his mother s heart and it s about a young man in college who gets in with a lot of and and everything but in the end his mother s influence broke in with a h rats can the mother s influence i say let s give something with some class to it i bet we could get the rights to the from and that s a real show it ran for eleven months in new york that would be lots of fun if it wouldn t cost too much reflected s was the only vote cast against the girl from she disliked the girl from even more than she had expected it the success of a farm in her brother of a charge of	42
she became secretary to a new york and social to his wife and after a well conceived speech on the discomfort of having money she married his son there was also a humorous office boy discerned that both and wanted the lead she let have it kissed her and in the manner of a new star presented to the committee her theory what we want in a play is humor and there s where american put it all over these dam old european as selected by and confirmed by the committee the persons of the play were john a his wife his son his business rival friend of mrs the girl from her brother her mother her boy miss dr t miss mrs c dr mrs david miss miss maid in the home mrs w p of mrs among the minor was s ell of course i suppose i old to be s mother main street even if is eight months older than i am but i don t know as i care to have everybody noticing it and pleaded oh my dear you two look exactly the same age i chose you because you have such a darling complexion and you know with powder and a white wig anybody twice her age and i want the mother to be sweet no matter o else is the professional perceiving that it was because of a conspiracy of jealousy that e had been given a small part between lofty amusement and christian patience hinted that the play would be improved by cutting but as every actor except and and herself at the loss of a single line she was defeated she told herself that after all a great deal could be done with direction and sam had written about the dramatic association to his president of the velvet company of boston sent a check for a hundred dollars sam added twenty five and brought the fund to fondly crying there give you a start for putting the thing across swell she the second floor of the city hall for two months all the spring the association thrilled to its own talent in that dismal room they cleared out the boxes chairs they attacked t stage it was a simple minded stage it was raised above the floor and it did have a curtain painted with the advertisement of a dead these ten years but otherwise it mi t not have been recognized as a stage there were two dressing rooms one for men one for women on either side the dressing room doors were also the stage opening from the house and many a citizen of had for his first glimpse of romance the bare shoulders of the leading woman there were three sets of scenery a a interior and a rich interior the last also useful for railway stations and as a background for the from there were three of lighting full on half on and entirely off this was the only in it was known as the op ra house once strolling companies had used it for performances of the two and the beautiful model and with be acts but now the had the drama intended to be furiously modem in the d the drawing room for mr and the humble near it was the first time that any one in had been so as to use enclosed scenes with continuous side walls the rooms in the op ra house sets had separate wing pieces for sides which as the villain could always get out of the hero s way by walking out through the wall the inhabitants of the humble home were supposed to be amiable and intelligent planned for them a simple set with warm color she could see the beginning of the play all dark save the high settles and the solid wooden table between them which were to be illuminated by a ray from the high light was a polished copper pot filled with less clearly she the as a series of hi white arches as to how she was to produce these effects she had no notion she discovered that despite the enthusiastic young writers the drama was not half so native and close to the soil as cars and she discovered that simple arts require training she discovered that to produce one perfect stage picture would be as difficult as to turn all of into a garden she read all she could find regarding she bought paint and light wood she borrowed furniture and she made turn carpenter she with the problem of lighting against the protest of and she the association by sending to for a baby a strip light a device and blue and and with the rapture of a bom painter first loose among colors she spent absorbed evenings in painting with li ts only and helped her they as to how could be lashed together to form a wall they hung yellow curtains at the windows they the sheet stove they put on and swept the rest of the association every evening and were literary and superior they had borrowed s of play production and had become extremely in main street and sat on a watching try to get the ri t position for a picture on the wall in the first scene i don t want to hand myself anything but i believe ih give a swell performance in this first act confided i wish wasn t so though she doesn t understand clothes i want to wear oh a dress i have all scarlet and i said to her when i enter wouldn t it knock their eyes out if i just stood there at the door in this straight scarlet thing but she wouldn t let me young agreed she s so much taken up with her ad details and and everything that she can t see the	42
a cure for worms which he illustrated by horrible pallid objects in bottles of shook her head is right i m a fool of the drama the only trouble with the girl from is that it s too subtle to she sou t faith in spacious phrases taken from books the nobility of simple souls need only the opportunity to appreciate fine things and sturdy of but these did not sound so loud as the ter of the audience at the funny man s line yes by i m a smart she want to give up the play the dramatic association the town as she came out of the tent and walked with down the dusty spring street she peered at this ing wooden village and felt that die could not possibly stay here through all of tomorrow it was miles who gave her strength he and the fact that every seat for the girl from had been sold was company with every night he was sitting on the back steps once when appeared be hope you re to give this one good show if you don t reckon nobody ever will it was the great night it was the ni t of the play the two dressing rooms were with actors panting pale in the who was as a professional as having once gone on in a mob scene at a performance in was making them up and showing his scorn for with stand still for the love o how do you expect me to get your eyelids dark if you keep a wig in the actors were hey put some red in my nostrils you put some in s you didn t hardly do anything to my face they were they examined s box they the scent of paint every minute they ran out to peep the hole in the curtain they came back to inspect their and they read on the walls of the dressing rooms the pencil the comedy company and this is a bum and felt that they were companions of these vanished card smart in maid s uniform the to finish setting the first act at the now for heaven s sake remember the in cue for the in act two slipped out to ask main street the ticket if he could get some more chairs warned the frightened to be sure to upset the waste basket when john called here you s of piano and began to tune up and behind the magic line of the arch was frightened into wavered to the hole in the curtain there were so many people out there staring so hard in the second row she saw miles not with but alone he really wanted to see the it was a good omen who could tell perhaps this evening would convert to conscious beauty she darted into the women s dressing room roused from her fainting panic pushed her to the wings and ordered the curtain up it rose doubtfully it staggered and trembled but it did get up without catching this time then e realized that had forgotten to turn off the some one out front was she round to the left wing herself pulled the looked so at that he and fled back mrs was creeping out on the half darkened stage the play was begun and with that instant realized that it was a bad play acted encouraging them with lying smiles she watched her work go to pieces the seemed the lighting commonplace she watched and twist his en he should have been a as s timid wife chatter at the audience as thou they were her class in hi school english in the leading defy mr as thou she were repeating a list of things she had to buy at the this remark i d like a cup of tea as though she were shall not t and dr making love to my my you are a won girl as the office boy was so much pleased by the i of her relatives then so much agitated by the remarks of in the back row in reference to her wearing trousers that she could hardly be got c the stage only was so as to devote himself entirely to acting that she was right in her opinion of the play was certain when miles went out after the first act and did not come back vi between the second and third acts she called the company together and i want to know something before we have a chance to separate whether we re doing well or badly tonight it is a beginning but will we take it as merely a beginning how many of you will pledge yourselves to start in with me right away tomorrow and plan for another play to be given in september they stared at her they nodded at s protest think one s enough for a while it s going elegant tonight but another play seems to me it ll be time enough to talk about that next fall i hope you don t mean to hint and suggest we re not doing fine tonight i m sure the q shows the audience think it s just then knew how completely she had failed as the audience out e heard b j the banker say to the well i think the folks did splendid just as good as but i don t care much for these plays what i like is a good with accidents and hold and some to it and not all this talk then knew how certain she was to fail again she wearily did not blame them company nor audience herself she blamed for trying to in good wholesome jack pine it s the worst defeat of all i m beaten by main street must go on but i can t she	42
was not vastly encouraged by the would be impossible to distinguish among the actors when all gave such fine account of themselves in difficult of this well known new york stage play as the old could not have been for his fine of the old mrs harry as the young lady from the west who so easily showed the new four where they got off was a vision of loveliness and with fine stage presence miss the ever popular teacher in our high school pleased as mrs dr was well suited in the of young lover girls you better look out re main street member the is a bachelor the local four hundred also report that he is a great hand at shaking the light in the dance as the her s was pretty as a picture and miss s long and study of the drama and kindred arts in eastern schools was seen in the fine finish of her part to no one is greater credit to be given than to mrs will on whose capable shoulders fell the burden of directing so kindly mused so well meant so and so is it really my failure or theirs she sought to be sensible she explained to herself that it was hysterical to because it did not foam over the drama its justification was in its service as a market town for farmers how bravely and generously it did its work the bread of the feeding and healing the farmers then on the comer below her husband s she heard a farmer holding forth sure course i was beaten the and the here wouldn t pay us a decent price for our potatoes even though folks in the cities were howling for em so we says weu well get a and ship em right down to but the merchants there were in with the local here they said they wouldn t pay us a cent more than he would not even if they was nearer to the market well we found we could get prices in but when we tried to get freight cars to ship there the wouldn t let us have em even though they had cars standing empty right here in the yards there you got it good market and these towns keeping us from it that s the way these towns work all the time they pay what they want to for our wheat but we pay what they want us to for their and every they can and put in tenant farmers the lies to us about the league the lawyers sting us the machinery hate to carry us over bad years and then their daughters put on swell dresses and look at us as if we were a bunch of man i d like to bum this observed there s that old shooting off his mouth again but he loves to hear himself they ou t to run that fellow out of vn she felt did and detached through high school commencement week which is the f te of youth in through sermon senior parade junior entertainment commencement address by an clergyman who asserted that he believed in the virtue of and the procession of day the few civil war followed in his rusty cap along the ring powdered road to the she met she found that she had nothing to say to him her head ached in an way when rejoiced well have a great time this summer move down to the lake early and wear old clothes and act natural she smiled but her smile in the heat she along ways talked about nothing to people and reflected that e might never escape from them she was startled to find that she was using the word escape then for three years which passed like one paragraph she ceased to find anything interesting save the and her baby chapter j i n three years of exile from herself had certain experiences as important by the or discussed by the jolly seventeen but the event discussed and was her slow admission of longing to find her own people n and miles were married in june a month after the girl from miles had turned respectable he had his of state and society main street he had up as horse and wearing red in lumber he had gone to work as engineer in elder s mill he was to be seen upon the streets to be with suspicious men he had for years was the and manager of the wedding you re a to let a good hired like go how do you know it s a good thing her marrying a bum like this awful red person get chase the man off with a and your while the holding s good me go to their wedding not a the other echoed was dismayed by the of their cruelty but she persisted miles had exclaimed to her jack elder says maybe hell come to the wedding it would be nice to have meet the as a married lady some day be so well off that can play with mrs elder and watch there was an uneasy knot of only nine guests at the service in the church and the all brought by s rustic parents her cousin and miles s ex partner in horse trading a surly hairy man who had bought a black suit and come twelve hundred miles from for the event miles glanced back at the church door elder did not appear the door did not once open after the awkward entrance of the first guests miles s hand closed ml s arm he had with card s help made his over into a cottage with white curtains and a and a the powerful to call on they half half promised to go s successor was the broad silent was suspicious of her frivolous mistress	42
line of alternately the and a week of inspiration and enjoyment but she was when she saw the it did not seem to be a university it did not seem to be any kind of a university it seem to be a combination of performance y m c a lecture and the exercises of an class she took her doubt to he insisted maybe it won t be so awful dam intellectual the way you and i might like it but it s a lot better than nothing added they have some if the people carry off so much actual information they do get a lot of new ideas and that s what counts during the attended three evening meetings two afternoon meetings and one in the morning s ie was impressed by the audience the sallow women in skirts and eager to be made to think the men in and shirt sleeves eager to be allowed to laugh and the children eager to away she liked the plain benches the stage under its red the great tent over all shadowy above strings of at ni t and by day casting an radiance on the patient crowd the scent of dust and trampled grass and sun baked wood gave her an of she forgot the if she listened to noises outside the tent two talking hoarsely a wagon creaking down main street the crow of a s ie was content but it was the of the lost hunter stopping to rest for from the itself she got nothing but wind and and heavy ter the laughter of at old a and primitive sound like the cries of beasts on a farm these were the several in the university s seven day course nine four of them ex ministers and one an all of them d addresses the only facts or opinions which cared derived from th n were was a celebrated president of the united states but in his youth extremely poor james j hill was the best known railroad man of the west and in his youth poor honesty and courtesy in business are to and exposed but this is not to be taken personally since all persons in her are known to be honest and courteous london is a large a distinguished once taught sunday four who told stories irish stories german stories chinese stories and stories most of which had heard a lady who and children a with motion pictures of an excellent pictures and a halting narrative three brass bands a company of six opera singers a and four youths who played ones and disguised as wash boards the most applauded pieces were those as the which the audience had heard most often the local who remained through the week the other went to other for their daily performances the was a man who worked hard at rousing artificial enthusiasm at trying to make the audience cheer by dividing them into and telling them that they were and made splendid noises he gave most of the morning lectures with equal unhappy facility about poetry the holy land and the injustice to in any system of profit sharing main street tlie final item was a man who neither inspired dot entertained a plain little man with his hands in his pockets all the other had confessed i cannot keep telling the citizens of your beautiful city that none of the talent on this circuit have found a more charming spot or more and hospitable people but the little man suggested that the architecture of was and that it was to let the lake front be by the heaped wall of the railroad afterward the audience grumbled maybe that s got the right but what s the use of looking on the dark side of things all the time new ideas are first rate but not all this criticism enough trouble in life without looking for iti thus the as saw it after it the town felt proud and educated vm two weeks later the great war smote europe for a month had the delight of shuddering then as the war settled down to a business of fitting they forgot when talked about the and the possibility of a german yawned h yes it s a great rid scrap but it s none of our business folks out here are too busy growing com to monkey with any fool war that those foreigners want to get themselves into it was miles who said i can t figure it out i m opposed to wars but still seems like germany has got to be licked because them stands in the way of progress she was calling on miles and early in autumn they had received her with cries with of chairs and a running to fetch water for coffee miles stood and beamed at her he fell often and into his old about the lords of but always with a certain difficulty he added something and lots of people have come to see you haven t they hinted why be s cousin comes in right along and the at the mill and oh we have good times say take a look at that be wouldn t you think she was a bird to listen to her and to see that tow head of hers but say know what she is sale s a mother hen way she over me way she makes old miles wear a hate to spoil her by letting her hear it but she s one pretty nice nice hell what do we care if none of the dirty come and call we ve got each other worried about their struggle but she forgot it in the stress of sickness and fear for that autumn she knew that a baby was coming that at last life promised to be interesting in the peril of the great change chapter j the baby was	42
coming each morning she was chilly and certain that she would never again be attractive each twilight she was afraid she did not feel exalted but and furious the period of daily sickness crawled into an endless time of it became difficult for her to move about and she raged that she who had been slim and light footed should have to lean on a stick and be heartily commented upon by street she was encircled by greasy eyes every matron hinted now that you re going to be a mother get over all these ideas of yours and settle down she felt that she was being into the assembly of with the baby for she would never escape presently she would be drinking coffee and rocking and talking about could stand fighting them i m used to that but this being taken in being taken as a matter of course i can t stand it and i must stand it she alternately detested herself for not the kindly women and detested them for their advice hints as to how much she would suffer in labor details of baby based on long experience and total misunderstanding superstitious about the things she must eat and read and look at in care for the baby s soul and always a of baby talk mrs in to lend ben as a of future infant the widow appeared trailing ex main street and how is our lovely today my ain t it just like they always say being in a family way does make the so lovely just like a tell me her whisper was tinged with does oo feel the dear one stirring the pledge of love i remember with of course he was so big i do not look lovely mrs my complexion is rotten and my hair is coming out and i look like a and i think my arches are falling and he isn t a pledge of love and i m afraid he will look like us and i don t believe in mother devotion and the whole business is a confounded nuisance of a process remarked then the baby was born without unusual difficulty a boy with straight back and strong legs the first day she hated him for the tides of pain and hopeless fear he had caused she resented his raw after that she loved him with all the devotion and instinct at which she had she at the perfection of the miniature hands as as did she was overwhelmed by the trust with which the baby turned to her passion for him grew with each thing she had to do for him he was named for her father developed into a thin healthy child with a large head and straight delicate hair of a faint brown he was thou and casual a two years nothing else existed she did not as the cynical had give up worrying about the world and other folks babies soon as she got one of her own to fight for the of that to sacrifice other children so that one child might have too much was impossible to her but she would sacrifice herself she understood she who answered s hints about having i refuse to insult my baby and myself by asking an ignorant young man in a frock coat to sanction him to permit me to have him i refuse to subject him to any devil chasing rites if i didn t give n baby my baby in those nine hours of hell then he can t get any more out of the reverend mr well hardly ever i was kind of thinking more about reverend said hu was her reason for living promise of accomplishment in the future shrine of adoration and a toy thou i d be a mother but tm as natural as mrs she boasted for two years was a part of the town as much one of our young mothers as mrs her seemed dead she had no i parent desire for escape her brooding on while she wondered at the pearl texture of his ear she i feel like an old woman with a skin like beside him and fm glad of iti he is perfect he shall everything he always stay here in i wonder which is really the best or or oxford n the people who hemmed her in had been brilliantly by mr and mrs n small s and aunt the true main a relative as a person to i house you go to stay as long as you like if you hear that on his journey east has spent all his time visiting in it does not mean that he prefers that village to the rest of new en and but that he has relatives there it does not mean that he has written to the relatives these many years nor that they have ever given signs of a desire to look upon but you t expect a man to go and spend good money at a hotel in boston his own third cousins live right in the same state would when the sold their in north they visited mr s sister s mother at qui then on to to stay with their nephew they appeared before the baby was bom took their welcome for granted and immediately began to complain of the fact that their room faced north uncle and assumed that it was their privilege as relatives to laugh at and their duty as christians to let her know how absurd her notions were they objected to the food to s lack of friendliness to the wind the rain and the of s gowns they were strong and enduring for an hour at a time they could go on heaving questions about her father s income about her and about the reason why she had not put	42
d do now we ve sold the and my farms so i had a talk with about his and i guess i ll buy him out and for a while he did soothed her oh we wont see much of them they ll have their own house she resolved to be so chilly that they would stay away but she had no talent for conscious insolence they found a house but was never safe from their appearance with a hearty thought we d drop in this evening and keep you from being why you ain t had them curtains washed yet invariably whenever she was touched by the that it was they who were lonely they wrecked her pitying by comments questions comments advice they became friendly with all of their own race with the the and mrs and brought them along in the evening aunt was a bridge over whom the older women bearing gifts of and the ignorance of experience poured into s island of reserve aunt urged the good widow drop in and see real often young folks today don t understand housekeeping like we do mrs showed herself perfectly willing to be an associate was thinking up when s mother came down to stay with brother for two months was fond of mrs she could not carry out her she felt s ie had been by the town she was aunt s niece and she was to be a mother she was expected she almost expected herself to sit forever talking of babies the price of potatoes and the tastes of husbands in the matter of she found a refuge in the jolly seventeen she suddenly understood that they could be depended upon to laugh with her at mrs and she now saw s gossip not as vulgarity but as gaiety and remarkable analysis her life had changed even before appeared she looked forward to the next bridge of the jolly seventeen and the security of whispering with her dear friends and and mrs she was part of the town its philosophy and its her m she was no longer irritated by the of the nor by their opinion that diet didn t matter so long as the little ones had plenty of lace and moist kisses but she concluded that in the care of babies as in politics intelligence was superior to about she liked best to talk about to and the she was happily domestic when sat by her on the floor to watch baby make faces she was delighted when miles speaking as one man to another i wouldn t stand them skirts if i was you come on join the union and strike make em give you as a parent was moved to establish the first child welfare week held in helped him weigh babies and examine their throats and she wrote out the for mute german and mothers the aristocracy of even the wives of the rival doctors took part and for several days there was community spirit and much but this reign of love was when the prize for best baby was not to decent parents but to and miles the good glared at with his blue eyes his honey colored hair and magnificent back and they ed main street mrs maybe that is as healthy ai your husband says he is but let me tell you i hate to think of the future that any boy with a hired girl for a mother and an awful for a she raged but so violent was the current of their respectability so persistent was aunt in running to her with their that she was embarrassed when she took to play with she hated herself for it but she hoped that no one saw her go into the she hated herself and the town s indifferent cruelty when she saw s radiant devotion to both babies alike when she saw miles staring at them wistfully he had saved money had quit elder s mill and started a on a vacant lot near his he was proud of his three cows and sixty chickens and got up nights to nurse them ill be a big farmer before you can bat an eye i tell you that young fellow is going to go east to college along with the lots of folks dropping in to with and me now ma come in one day she was i liked the old lady fine and the mill comes in right along oh we got lots of friends you bet iv though the town seemed to to change no more than the surrounding fields there was a constant shifting these three years the citizen of the always westward it may be because he is the heir of ancient and it may be because he finds within his own spirit so little adventure that he is driven to seek it by changing his horizon the towns remain yet the individual faces alter like classes in college the out for no reason and moves on to or the state of washington to open a shop precisely like his former me in a town precisely like the one he has left there is except among professional men and the wealthy small either of residence or occupation a man becomes farmer town policeman agent and farmer all over again and the community more or less patiently suffers his lack of knowledge in each of his experiments the and the butcher moved on to south and and mrs picked up ten thousand acres of soil in the magic form of a small check book and went to to a and sunshine and sold his furniture and undertaking business and wandered to los where the reported our good friend has accepted a fine position with a real estate firm and his wife has in the charming social circles of the queen city of the that same popularity which she	42
enjoyed in our own society sets was married to and as the of the young married set but also acquired merit harry s father died harry became senior partner in the bon ton store and was more and shrewd and than ever she bought an evening frock and exposed her collar bone to the wonder of the jolly seventeen and talked of moving to to defend her position against the new mrs she sought to attach to her by that some folks might call innocent but i ve got a that she isn t half as ignorant of things as are supposed to be and of course isn t one two three as a doctor alongside of your husband herself would have followed mr and even to another main street flight from familiar to new would have for a time the outer look and promise of adventure she hinted to of the probable medical advantages of and knew that he was satisfied with but it gave her hope to think of going to ask for railroad at the station to trace the maps with a forefinger yet to the casual eye she was not discontented she was not an and distressing traitor to the faith of main street the settled citizen believes that the rebel is constantly in a of complaining and hearing of a card he what an awful person she must be a holy terror to live with glad my folks are satisfied with things way they are actually it was not so much as five minutes a day that devoted to lonely desires it is that the agitated citizen has within his circle at least one rebel with aspirations as as s the presence of the baby had made her take main and the brown house seriously as natural places of residence she pleased by being friendly with the complacent maturity of mrs and mrs elder and when she had often enough been in conference the elders new car or the job the oldest boy had taken in the office of the flour mill these topics became important things to follow up day by day with nine of her emotion concentrated upon hu she did not shops streets acquaintances this year or two she hurried to uncle s store for a of corn she listened to uncle s of martin for asserting that the wind last tuesday had been south and not she came back along streets that held no surprises nor the startling faces of strangers thinking of s all the way she did not reflect that this store these blocks made up all her background she did her and she over winning from the at five hundred the most considerable event of the two years after the birth of occurred when resigned from the high school and was married was her t and as the wedding was at the church all the women wore new kid slippers and long white kid gloves and locked refined for years had been little sister to and had never in the least known to what degree loved her and hated her and in curious strained ways was bound to her chapter a i gray steel that seems because it so fast in the balanced fly wheel gray snow in an avenue of elms gray dawn with the sun behind it this was the gray of da s life at thirty six she was small and active and sallow her yellow hair was faded and looked dry her blue silk and modest and high black shoes and sailor hats were as literal and as a desk but her eyes determined her appearance revealed her as a personage and a indicated her faith m the goodness and purpose of everything they were blue and they were never still they amusement pity enthusiasm if she had been seen in sleep with the wrinkles beside her eyes and the hiding the radiant she would have lost her she was born in a hill smothered village where her father was a minister she labored through a college she taught for two years in an iron range town of faced and and of ore and when she came to its trees and the shining of the wheat made her certain that she was in paradise she admitted to her fellow teachers that the was slightly damp but she insisted that the rooms were arranged so conveniently and then that bust of president at the head of the stairs it s a lovely art work and isn t it an inspiration to have the brave honest martyr president to she taught french english and history and the latin class which dealt in matters of a nature called discourse and the absolute each year she was that the were beginning to learn more quickly she spent four in building up the society and when the debate really was one friday afternoon and the of pieces did not f their lines she felt re she lived an engrossed useful life and seemed as cool and simple as an apple but secretly she was creeping among fears longing and guilt she knew what it was but she dared not name it she hated even the sound of the word sex when she dreamed of being a woman of the with great white warm limbs she awoke to shudder in the dusk of her room she prayed to always to the son of god offering him the terrible power of her addressing him as the eternal lover growing passionate exalted large as she contemplated his splendor thus she mounted to endurance and by day rattling about in many she was able to ridicule her blazing nights of darkness with cheer main street fulness she announced everywhere i guess fm a bom and no one will ever marry a plain am like me and you men great big noisy creatures we women wouldn t have you round the	42
place up nice clean rooms if it wasn t that you have to be and guided we just ought to say to all of you but when a man held her close at a dance even when george patted her hand as they considered the of she quivered and reflected how superior she was to have kept her in the autumn of a year before dr wiu was married was his partner at a five she was thirty four then about thirty six to her he was a superb boyish creature all the heroic qualities in a manly magnificent body they had been helping the hostess to serve the and coffee and they were in the kitchen side by side cm a bench while the others in the room beyond was masculine and he s hand he put his arm carelessly about her shoulder tl she said sharply you re a cunning thing he offered patting the back of her shoulder in an manner while she strained away she longed to move nearer to him he bent over looked at her she glanced down at his left hand as it touched her knee she sprang up started and to wash the dishes he helped her he was too lazy to adventure further and too used to women in his profession she was grateful for the of his talk it enabled her to gain control she knew that she had skirted wild thoughts a month after on a party under the robes in the bob he whispered you pretend to be a but you re nothing but a his arm was about her she resisted don t you like the poor lonely bachelor he in a way no i don t you don t care for me in the least you re just on me you re so mean i m terribly fond of you fm not of you and i m not going to let myself be fond of you either he persistently drew her toward him she clutched his arm then she threw off the robe climbed out of the after it with harry at the dance which followed the ride was devoted to the watery of and was interested in getting up a virginia without seeming to watch she knew that he did not once look at her that was all of her first love affair he gave no sign of remembering that he was fond she waited for him she in longing and in a sense of guilt because she longed she told that she did not want part of him unless he gave her all his devotion she would never let him touch her and when she found that she was probably lying she burned with scorn she fought it out in prayer she knelt in a pink flannel her thin hair down her back her forehead as full of horror as a mask of tragedy while she identified her love for the son of god with her love for a mortal and wondered if any other woman had ever been so she wanted to be a and observe perpetual adoration she bought a but she had been so reared as a that could not bring herself to use it yet none of her in the school and in the knew of her abyss of passion they said she was so when she heard that was to marry a girl pretty young and from the cities she congratulated carelessly ascertained from him the hour of marriage at that hour sitting in her room pictured the wedding in st paul full of an ecstasy which her she followed and the girl who had stolen her place followed them to the train the evening the night she was relieved when she had worked out a belief that she wasn t really shameful that there was a relation between herself and so that she was yet with and had the right to be she saw during the first five minutes in she stared at the passing at and the girl beside him in that fog of of emotion had no normal jealousy but a conviction that since through she had received s love then was a part of her an self a heightened and more beloved self she was glad of the girl s charm of the smooth black main street hair the head and young shoulders but she was suddenly angry glanced at her for a quarter second but looked past her at an old roadside bam if she had made the great sacrifice at least she expected gratitude and recognition raged while her conscious mind her to control this insanity during her first half of her wanted to welcome a fellow reader of books the other half to find out whether knew anything about s former interest in herself she discovered that was not aware that he had ever touched another woman s hand was an amusing curiously learned child while was most describing the glories of the and this on her training as a she was that this girl was the child bom of herself and and out of that she had a comfort she had not known for months when she came home after supper with the and she had a sudden and rather from devotion s ie into her room she her hat on the bed and i don t care i m a lot like except a few years older i m light and quick too and i can talk just as well as she can and i m sure men are such fools i d be ten times as sweet to make love to as that dreamy baby and i am as good looking but as she sat on the bed and stared at her thin defiance away she mourned no i m not dear god how we fool ourselves i pretend i m spiritual i pretend my legs are graceful	42
his the reckless way almost all these people drove their the of supposing that these could carry on a government as much as six months if they ever did have a chance to try out their theories and the crazy way in which jumped from subject to subject had once beheld as a thin man with spectacles mournful drawn out face and stiff hair now she noted that his jaw was square that his long hands moved quickly and were in a refined manner and that his trusting eyes indicated that he had led a clean life she began to call him ray and to in of his and every time or about him at the jolly seventeen on a sunday afternoon of late autumn they walked down to lake ray said that he would like to see the ocean it must be a grand sight it must be much than a lake even a great big lake had seen it she stated modestly she had seen it on a summer trip to cape have you been clear to cape i knew you d but i never realized you d been that made taller and younger by his interest she poured out x h my yes it was a trip so many points of interest through historical there s where we turned back the and s home at cambridge and cape just everything and and sand and everything main street she wished that she had a little cane to carry he broke off a willow branch my you re strong she said no not very i wish there was a y m c a here so i could take up regular exercise i used to think i could do pretty good if i had a chance i m sure you could you re unusually for a large man oh no not so very but i wish we had a y m it would be to have lectures and everything and i d like to take a class in improving the memory i believe a fellow ought to go on himself and improving his mind even if he is in business don t you i guess i m kind of fresh to you i ve been calling you ray for weeks he wondered why she sounded he helped her down the bank to the edge of the lake but dropped her hand abruptly and as they sat on a willow log and he her sleeve he delicately moved over and murmured oh excuse me accident she stared at the mud chilly water the floating gray you look so thoughtful he said she threw out her hands i am will you kindly tell me what s the use of anything oh don t mind me fm a moody old hen tell me about your plan for getting a in the bon ton i do think you re right harry and that mean old ought to give you one he the old unhappy wars in which he had been and the yet gone his righteous ways by the cruel kings why if i ve told em once i ve told em a dozen times to get in a side line of for wear and of course here they go and let a cheap like beat them to it and the trade right off em and then harry said you know how harry is maybe he don t mean to be but he s such a sore head he gave her a hand to rise if you don t mind i think a fellow is awful if a lady goes on a walk with him and she can t trust him and he tries to with her and all i m sure you re highly she snapped and she sprang up without his aid then smiling excessively don t you think fails to appreciate dr s m ray habitually asked her about his window the of the new shoes the best music for the entertainment at the eastern star and he was recognized as a professional authority on the town called about his own clothes she persuaded him not to wear the small bow ties which made him look like an sunday school once she burst out ray i could shake do you know you re too i k you always appreciate people too much you fuss over when she has some crazy theory that we all ought to turn or live on and nuts or something and you listen when harry tries to show off and talk about and and things you know lots better than he does look folks in the eye glare at em talk deep you re the man in town if you only knew it you he could not believe it he kept coming back to her for confirmation he practised and talking deep but he hinted to that when he had tried to harry in the eye harry had inquired what s the matter with you got a pain but afterward harry had asked about in a manner which ray felt was somehow different from his former they were sitting on the yellow satin in die boarding house parlor as ray that he simply wouldn t stand it many more years if harry didn t give him a his hand touched s shoulders x h excuse he pleaded it s an right i think i must be running iq to my room headache she said briefly iv ray and she had stopped in at s for a hot on their way home from the that march evening q do you know that i may not be here next year what do you mean with her fragile narrow nails she smoothed the glass which formed the top of the round table at which they sat she peeped through the glass at the perfume boxes of black main street and gold	42
and in the hollow table she looked about at shelves of red rubber water bottles pale yellow with blue borders hair of polished cherry backs she shook her head like a nervous medium coming out of a trance stared at him unhappily demanded why should i stay here and i must make up my mind now time to renew our teaching for next year i think go teach in some other town everybody here is tired of me i might as well go before folks come out and say they re tired of me i have to decide tonight i might as well oh no matter come let s it s late she sprang up his wail of wait sit i m she marched out while he was paying his check she got ahead he ran after her wait in the shade of the in front of the house he came up with her stayed her flight by a hand on her shoulder oh don t don t what does it matter she begged was sobbing her soft soaked with tears who cares for my affection or help i might as well drift on forgotten o ray please don t hold me let me go ill just decide not to renew my contract here and and drift way off his hand was steady on her shoulder she dropped her bead rubbed the back of his hand with her cheek they were married in june they took the house it s small said da but it s got the dearest vegetable garden and i love having time to get near to nature for once though she became and though she certainly had no about the independence of keeping her name she continued to be known as she had resigned from the school but she kept up one class in english she about on every committee of the she was always into the rest room to make mrs sweep the floor she was appointed to the library board to succeed she taught the senior girls in the sunday school and tried to revive the king s daughters she exploded into self confidence and happiness her thoughts were by marriage turned into energy she became daily and visibly more plump and though she as eagerly she was less obviously admiring of bliss less sentimental about babies in demanding that the entire town share her the purchase of a park the cleaning of back yards she harry at his desk in the bon ton she interrupted his joking she told him that it was ray who had built up the shoe department and men s department she demanded that he be made a partner before harry could answer she threatened that ray and she would start a rival shop ril clerk behind the counter myself and a certain party is all ready to put up the money she rather wondered who the certain party was ray was made a one sixth partner he became a floor greeting the men with new no longer to pretty women when he was not affectionately people into buying things they did not need he stood at the back of the store glowing abstracted feeling masculine as he recalled the surprises of love revealed by the only remnant of s of herself with was a jealousy when she saw and ray together and reflected that some people might suppose that was his superior she was sure that thought so and she wanted to shriek you needn t try to i wouldn t have your old husband he hasn t one single bit of ray s spiritual nobility chapter j j the greatest mystery about a human being is not his reaction to sex or praise but the manner in which he to put in twenty four hours a day it is this which the about the clerk the about the it was this which puzzled in regard to the married herself had the baby a larger house to care for all the calls for main street when he was away and she read everything while was satisfied with newspaper but after detached brown years in boarding houses was hungry for for the most detail of it she had no maid nor wanted one she cooked baked swept washed supper with the triumph of a in a new to her the hearth was the altar when she went she the of soup and she bought a or a side of bacon as though she were preparing for a reception she knelt beside a and i raised this with my own hands i brought new life into the world i love her for being so happy i ought to be that way i worship the baby but the i suppose vm fortunate so much better off than on a new clearing or people in a it has not yet been recorded that any human being has gained a very large or permanent contentment from meditation upon the fact that he is better off than others in s own twenty four hours a day she got up dressed the baby had breakfast talked to about the day s put the baby on the porch to play went to the butcher s to choose between and pork bathed the baby nailed up a shelf had dinner put the baby to bed for a nap paid the read for an hour took the baby out for a walk called on had supper put the baby to bed listened to s yawning on what a fool dr was to try to use that cheap x ray of his on an repaired a frock heard the furnace tried to read a page of and the day was gone except when was vigorously naughty or or laughing or saying i like my chair with thrilling maturity she was always by loneliness she no longer felt superior about that misfortune she would gladly	42

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