Datasets:

NicholasSynovic
/

Modified-VEAA

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (2)

train · 42.9k rows

text stringlengths 1.96k 5.76k	author int64 1 50
don t be a fool you will very soon find out whether i m a fool or not i mean it do you think i d 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 poets and just talked about roses and but we re human all right let s cut out at each other let s admit we both do fool 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 well he was and the valley i used to sit there on the cliffs above for hours at a time main street 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 ufe and not letting the years slip by and here you deliberately go and deprive yourself 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 is but is he calls anybody well informed who s been through the state and heard about now i m 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 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 he was a in right alongside of mark twain you ll find these characters in all these small towns and a pile of in every single one of them if you just dig for it i 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 main street that s unjust i you have everything i am 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 perhaps 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 general all my life like and die in harness 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 i ve kicked in and can t 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 feel like it and i want to have a good house by i ll have as good a house as anybody in this town and if we want to travel and see your or whatever it is why 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 what 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 i m in good safe do you understand why now yes will you try and see if you can t think of me as something more than just a dollar chasing oh my dear i haven t been just i am and	42
i won t call on the and if dr is working for and i hate him chapter xv 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 her confusion of sleep the storm door opened over the inner door the of the electric bell muttering it but patiently creeping out of bed remembering to draw the covers up to keep her warm feeling for slippers and down stairs 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 ist awful sick all night she been having an awful pain in de belly how long she been this way 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 clock so eh i know it but she got a lot last evening i t ought maybe all de time it go but it got a lot any fever veil i t ink she got fever which side is the pain on die which side is it on here so right here it is any there is it rigid stiff i mean does the belly feel hard to the fingers main street i she ain t said yet what she been eating veil i t ink about ve eat maybe corn beef and and und so he all the time she like hell i you come well all right but you call me earlier next time look 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 rattling 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 wiu don t you go back to deep well that s all right now you didn t wait so very long all right shoot her along by his step on the stairs his quiet moving about the room while he dressed his abstracted and cough 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 household on the distant farm pictured 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 hfe but going on at six when the light faltered in as through ground glass and identified the chairs as gray she heard step on the porch heard him at tiie furnace the rattle of shaking the grate the slow grinding removal of ashes the 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 first appealing to her as something brave and enduring many colored and free she the fire box flames turned to and gold as the coal dust over them thin of main street purple ghost flames which gave no light 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 was what were her aspirations beside his she awoke again as he dropped into bed seems just a few minutes ago that you started out i ve been away four hours ive 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 early 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 there main street we are we ll have you out fixing fences	42
and drinking in a month the sat on the couch 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 german the other of gray and white wool then the the leg was of an dead white with the black hairs feeble and thin and and the a line of crimson surely shuddered this was not human flesh the rosy shining of the poets examined the smiled at and his wife fine b couldn t be better the looked the farmer nodded a cue to his wife and she mourned veil how much ve going to owe you doctor i guess it ll be let s see one drive out and two calls i guess it ll 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 i 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 in 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 in time for supper or shall i sit down without him 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 i o main street a a shout the engine before it was shut off she hurried 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 well 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 but i get better so i like to heir you about it i feel h ke dis feeling around the after eating and pain around heard and down the arm and about to hour after eating i feel like and and a dull now you gust know you about i do you say she encountered at the store he looked at her as though he had a right to he spoke softly i haven t see you the last few days no ive been out in the country with will several times he s so do you that people like you and me can never understand people like him we re a pair of you and i while he quietly goes and does things she nodded and smiled and was very busy about he stared after her and slipped away main street i i when she found that he was gone she was slightly disconcerted vi she could at times agree with that the familiarity of married life was not dreary vulgarity but a wholesome frankness that artificial might merely be she was not much disturbed when for hours he sat about the living room in his honest but she would not listen to his theory that all this romance stuff is simply elegant when you re but no use yourself keeping it up all your life she thou t of surprises games to vary the days she an purple which she hid under his supper plate when he discovered it he looked embarrassed and gasped is today an or something i d forgotten it once she filled a bottle with hot coffee a corn box with just baked by and to his office at three in the afternoon she hid her bundles in the hall and peeped in the office was shabby had inherited it from a medical and changed it only by adding a white table a a ray apparatus and a small it was a of two rooms a waiting room with straight chairs pine table and those and magazines which are found only in the offices of and doctors the room beyond looking on main street was business office room and in an and the wooden floors of both rooms were bare the furniture was brown and waiting for the doctor were two women as still as though t o r g and a man in a railroad s uniform holding his right hand with his left they stared at she sat modestly in a stiff chair feeling frivolous and out of place appeared at the inner door out a man with a of wan beard and him all right be careful about the sugar and mind the diet i gave you get the filled and come in and i main street see me next week say better better	42
not drink too much beer all right his voice was hearty he looked at he was a medical machine now not a domestic machine what is it he no hurry just wanted to say well self pity because he did not divine that this was a party rendered her sad and interesting to herself and she had the pleasure of the n s in sa bravely to him it s nothing special if you re busy long i ll trot home while she waited she ceased to pity and began to mock herself for the first time she observed the waiting room oh yes the doctor s family had to have and a wide couch and an electric but any hole was good for sick tired common people who were nothing but the one means and excuse for the doctor s no she couldn t blame he was satisfied by the shabby chairs he put up with them as his did it was her neglected province she who had been going about talking of the whole town when the were gone she brought in her bundles what s those wondered turn your back look out of the window he obeyed not very much bored when she cried now a feast of and small hard and hot coffee was spread on the roll top desk in the inner room his broad face lightened that s a new one on me never was more surprised in my life and by i believe i am hungry say this is fine when the first of the surprise had declined she demanded will i m going to your what s the matter with it it s all right it is not it s hideous we can afford to give jt a better place and it would be good business she felt rats i don t worry about the business you look here now as i told you just because i like to a few dollars away i ll be if i ll stand for your thinking i m nothing but a dollar chasing stop it quick i m not ting feelings i m not main street i i m the least one of thy i just mean two days later with pictures chairs a rug she had made the waiting room and admitted does look a lot better never thought much about it guess i need being she was convinced that she was content in her career as doctor s wife vn she tried to free herself from the speculation and which had been at her sought to dismiss all the of an era she wanted to shine upon the faced bearded as much as upon miles or she gave a reception for the club but her real acquiring of merit was in calling upon that mrs whose good opinion was so to a doctor though the house was next door she had entered it but times now she put on her new cap which made her face small and innocent she rubbed off the traces of a lip stick and fled across the alley before her admirable resolution should away the age of houses like the age of men has small relation to their years the dull green cottage of the good widow was twenty years old but it had the antiquity of and the smell of dust its neatness the street the two stones by the path were painted yellow the was so with vines and that it was not concealed at all the last iron dog remaining in stood among shells the lawn the was the kitchen was an exercise in with problems worked out in chairs the parlor was kept for visitors suggested let s sit in 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 dean but will track mud all over it i ve spoken to him about it a hundred times if i ve spoken once no you i main street sit right there and make a fire no trouble at all practically 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 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 which as they entered mrs hastily 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 parlor 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 bs church and of an elderly clergyman and an tray containing a s rattle and a broken 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 on him 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 don t believe she ought	42
to be allowed to think she can the wool over our eyes the sooner she s sent to the school for girls down at centre the better for all and won t you just have a cup of coffee i m sure you won 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 in this town main street mrs chair nearer her large face with its disturbing collection of and lone black hairs 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 act like they do you don t know the things that go on imder cover this town why it s only the religious training i ve given that s t him so innocent of things just the other day i never pay no attention to stories but i heard it mighty 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 though maybe it s the judgment of god because before she married harry she acted up with more than one 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 whispered 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 right at a another thing heaven knows i never want to start trouble but i can t help what i see from my back steps and i notice your hired girl on with the boys and all mrs i d trust as i would myself oh you don t understand me i m sure she s a good girl i mean she s green and i hope that none of these horrid young men that there are 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 i main street about about things till they was married it s terrible the bald way that some folks talk it just shows and gives away what awful thoughts they got inside them and there s nothing can cure them except coming ri t to god and kneeling down like i do at prayer meeting every wednesday evening and saying o god i would be a miserable sinner except for thy grace i d make every last one of these go to sunday school 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 girls and finding out oh it s dreadful i ve told 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 i she too everybody she too thinks the men are vulgar and limited am i like her this is ghastly 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 viii in courtship days had shown her a photograph 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 oh yes she hastened to put on stockings high boots cap the snow was too thick and the frozen too hard for 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 and eaten now used ever since the herds had the a few miles to the west main street 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 of there boy take it he was thinking he paid no attention to yet it was he who commented pretty nice over there as they approached an oak grove where 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	42
the north pole low hill bottom creek mound fields with frozen brown thrust up the snow her ears and nose were pinched her breath her 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 barn 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 parlor 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 had followed the doctor out of the room glanced in a friendly way at the pine cupboard the framed the traces of i main street 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 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 eyed 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 beside 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 heel you re quite right i agree with you silly people like always ask children their names heel come here and tell you the story of well i don t 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 e 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 main street 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 we ll have to go right from here sorry to drag you clear down there with me please do don t mind me a bit think you could give the usually have my driver do it if tell me how all right say did you hear me putting one over on these that are always in on party wires i hope they heard me i 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 here s the little fellow my lord it ain 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 was not to play better nor to build town halls but to e 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 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 main street supper got any of that good beer s 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	42
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 followed him with surprising delicacy in his large fingers be 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 we ll fix it right up she 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 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 main street 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 watch his breathing look who s real hasn t got a better one class 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 mail bald man kind so 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 light bad light here mrs you stand right here and hold this lamp und lamp halt en so 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 e was beaten she was lost in she heard s voice sick trot couple minutes will stay under now she was at a door which whirled in insulting circles she was on the stoop gasping forcing air into her chest her head clearing as die returned she caught the scene as a whole the kitchen two milk a leaden patch by the wall dangling from a beam bars of light at the stove door and in the illuminated by a small glass lamp held by a frightened stout woman dr bending over a body which was imder a sheet the surgeon his bare arms with blood his hands in rubber gloves the his face without save when he threw up his head and at the main street 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 i she ed 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 i 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 here too late to drive home and tastes to me like a storm coming ix they slept on a feather bed with their fur coats over them in th morning they broke ice in the the vast and 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 of bare wood where the bark had away were white as the flesh of a the snowy were of a harsh the whole land was cruel and a climbing cloud of slate edged blackness the sky guess we re about in for a we can make ben s an really why but still we used to they	42
were fun when i was a girl had to stay home from court and we d stand at the window and watch the snow main street 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 whole 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 through he always got through things save for his presence the world and all normal living disappeared they were lost in the boiling snow he leaned close to 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 the horses fled on she gasped she tried to and did not fed brave as she pulled the robe up about her chin they were passing something like a dark wall on the right i know that barn 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 which scratched at their eyes like a darkness he the harness he turned and back a ponderous figure holding the horses s hand dragging at his sleeve they came to the cloudy bulk of a barn whose outer wall was directly upon the road feeling along it he foimd a gate led them into a yard into the barn the interior was warm it stunned them its languid quiet he carefully drove the horses into her toes were coals of pain let s run for the house she said main street can t not yet might never find it might get lost ten feet away from it sit over in this stall near the horses we ll rush for the house when the lifts i m so stiff i i can t he carried her into the stall stripped of her and boots stopping to blow on his purple fingers as he at her he rubbed 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 might 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 full of that way you 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 xvi was pleased by her presents and he gave her a diamond bar pin but she 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 t 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 apparatus none of these him as did he nursed his two year old even in winter when it main street was stored in the stable behind the house he filled the cups a removed from beneath the back seat the 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	42
he read sporting and thought about remarkable past shots member that time when i got two ducks on a long chance just at 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 his head as he thought about their he kept the tools 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 solemnly defended them well you can t tell they might come in handy some day she flushed she wondered if he was thinking of the child they would have when as he put it they were sure they could afford one mysteriously aching sad she slipped away but only half convinced that it was horrible and unnatural this of release of mother affection this sacrifice to her and to his cautious desire for prosperity main street 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 pulling 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 barn and water in the house for one and eighty or even two he spoke of these details to sam rather often in all his games cars and and land he expected to take an interest but he did not give her the facts which might have created interest he talked only of the obvious and tedious aspects never of his aspirations in nor of the 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 non 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 main street questions he did not know how to answer when she inquired exactly what is the method of 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 ni they had gone to the the were almost as vital to and the other solid citizens of as land speculation and and the feature a brave young yankee who conquered a south american republic he turned the natives from their barbarous habits of singing and laughing to the vigorous 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 converted 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 entitled right on the mr was at various high moments a cook a life guard a actor and a there was a hotel up which charged only to be by plaster hurled upon them from the doors if the plot lacked the of legs and pie was clear and sure bathing and were equally sound occasions for legs the was but an approach to the climax when mr slipped a piece of pie into the clergyman s rear pocket the audience in the palace and wiped their eyes they scrambled under the seats for and while the screen announced that next week mr might be seen in a new extra special of the clean comedy entitled under s bed main street i m glad said to as they stooped before 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 yes it s fine i m glad we have such dainty as right on the instead say what in do you think you re trying to do kid me he was silent she awaited his anger she meditated upon his the dialect	42
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 i d 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 fellows with that and get the world s work done then i m probably a she smiled no i won t admit it you do like to talk but at a show down 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 terror come on now come out of it wake up you ve got a fine nerve kicking 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 main street to show more of them and then didn t 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 that him watching him operate would be enough 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 i m letting the days drown in worship of a good deal ten more per acre i won t i won t how i ve failed at everything the parties city hall and but it doesn t i m not trying to reform the town now i m not trying to clubs and sit in dean white yearning up at with 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 upright 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 labor of the scenes which would be involved in asserting independence she was like the at fifty not afraid main street of death but bored by the of bad and bad and sitting up all night on windy the second evening after the she summoned and to the house for pop corn and in the living room and the value of manual training in below the eighth while sat beside at the dining table pop corn she was quickened by the speculation in his eyes she murmured do you want to help me my dear how i don t know he waited i think i want you to help me find out what has made the darkness of the women gray darkness and shadowy trees we re all in it ten million women young married women with good prosperous husbands and business women in linen and that out to and wives of and who really like to make butter and go to church what is it we want and need will there would say that we need lots of children and hard work but it isn t that there s the same discontent in women with eight children and one more coming always one more coming and you find it in and wives who just as much as in girl college who wonder how they can escape their kind parents what do we want essentially i think you are like myself you want to go back to an age of tranquillity and manners you want to good taste again just good taste fastidious people oh no i believe all of us want the same things we re all together the workers and the women and the farmers and the negro race and the colonies and even a few of the s all the same revolt in all the classes that have waited taken advice i think perhaps we want a more conscious life we re tired of and sleeping and dying we re tired of seeing just a few people able to be we re tired of always hope till the next generation we re tired of hearing the and priests and cautious and the husbands us be calm be patient wait we have the plans for a already made just give us a bit more time and we ll produce main street it trust us we re wiser than you for ten thousand years they ve said	42
that we want our now and we re going to try our hands at it all we want everything for all of us for every and every and every and every teacher we want everything we sha n t get it so we sha n t ever be content she wondered why he was he broke in see here my dear i certainly hope you don t class yourself with a lot of trouble making labor leaders is all right and admit there are but i d rather have them than see the world reduced to a dead level of i refuse to believe that you have anything in common with a lot of laboring men for bigger wages so that they can buy wretched and hideous player and at this second in a newspaper editor broke his routine of being bored by to assert any injustice is better than seeing the world reduced to a gray level of scientific at this second a clerk standing at the bar of a new york saloon stopped his secret fear of his office manager long enough to growl at the beside him aw you make me sick i m an i ain t going to be by no and take orders off labor leaders and mean to say a s as good as you and me at this second realized that for all s love of dead his timidity was as to her as the of sam she realized that he was not a mystery as she had excitedly believed not a romantic messenger from the world outside on whom she could count for escape he belonged to absolutely she was snatched back from a dream of far countries and found herself on main street he was his protest you don t want to be mixed up in all this of discontent she soothed him no i don t i m not heroic i m scared by all the fighting that s going on in the world i want nobility and adventure but perhaps i want still more to curl on the hearth with some one i love would you he did not finish it he picked up a handful of pop corn let it run through his fingers looked at her wistfully main street with the loneliness of one who has put away a possible love saw that he was a stranger she saw that he had never been anything but a frame on which she had hung shining garments if she had let him make love to her it as not because she cared but because she did not care because it did not matter she smiled at him with the of a woman checking a a smile like an airy pat on the arm she sighed you re a dear to let me tell you my imaginary troubles she up and shall we take the pop corn in to them now looked after her while she and she was repeating i must go on vi miles the red had brought circular saw and engine to the house to cut the of for the kitchen range had given the order knew nothing of it till she heard the ringing of the saw and glanced out to see in black leather jacket and enormous ragged purple pressing sticks against the whirling blade and flinging the stove to one side the red irritable kept up a red irritable tip tip tip tip tip tip the of the saw rose till it the shriek of a fire alarm whistle at night but always at the end it gave a lively and in the stillness she heard the of the cut stick falling on the pile she threw a robe 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 horse trading 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 main street 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 invited him to have dinner with in the kitchen she wished that she were independent enough to dine with these her guests she 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 nice girl i guess if i had a woman like you i wouldn t be such a your kitchen is clean makes an old feel say that s nice hair you got me fresh girl if i ever do get fresh 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	42
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 will go on chapter they were driving down the lake to the cottages that january night twenty of them in the bob 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 horses settled over the and down their necks but they laughed beat their leather against their the harness rattled the bells were frantic jack elder s sprang beside the horses barking for a time with them the cold air gave power she felt that she could run on all night leap twenty feet at a stride but the excess of energy tired her and she was glad to under the which covered the hay in 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 she 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 o main street 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 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 tlie 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 yoimg dr 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 k ke 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 nothing better than a especially the cord the cord s lots better than the fabric you said something s a good tire main street say how d you come out with on his he s paying up pretty good that s a nice piece of land he s got that s a farm s got a good place there they glided from these serious topics into the which are the wit of main street sam was particularly apt at them what s this wild eyed sale of summer caps you think you re trying to pull off he at harry did you steal em or are you just us as usual oh say speaking about caps d l ever tell you the good one i ve got on will the thinks he s a pretty good driver fact he thinks he s almost got human intelligence but one time he had his machine out in the rain and the poor fish he hadn t put on chains and thinks i had heard the story rather often she fled back to the dancers and at s of dropping an down mrs s back she applauded they sat on the floor devouring the food the men as they passed the bottle and there s a real sport when took a tried to follow she believed that she desired to be drunk and but the choked her and as she saw frown she handed the bottle on somewhat too late she remembered that she had given up and repentance let s play said ra oh yes do let us said that s the harry they interpreted the word making as may and king the crown was a red flannel cocked on sam s broad pink bald head they forgot they were respectable they made believe was stimulated to cry let s form a dramatic club and give a play shall we it s been so much fun tonight they looked sure observed sam oh do let us i think it would be lovely to present and be a whale of a lot of fun dr granted but if we did it would be awfully o main street silly to amateur we	42
boxes of and the variety of magazines at the news stand the hidden was lively she saw a man who looked like a european in a loose top coat and a hat a woman with a coat a heavy lace veil pearl and a close black hat entered the heavens that s the first really smart woman ive seen in a year i she felt but as she followed to the the girl a confident young woman with cheeks powdered like lime and a low and thin and furiously crimson her and under that glance was shy again she unconsciously waited for the to her into the when he go ahead she was he thought she was a she worried the moment she was in their room with the safely out of the way she looked at for the first time in months she really saw him his clothes were too heavy and provincial his decent gray suit made by of might have been of sheet iron it had no distinction of cut no easy grace like the s his black shoes were blunt and not well polished his was a stupid brown he needed a but she forgot her doubt as she realized the of the room she ran about turning on the of the which instead of like the at home e new wash rag out of its envelope of paper trying the rose shaded li t between the twin beds pulling out ie drawers of the shaped desk to examine the engraved planning to write on it to every one she knew admiring the colored velvet and the blue rug the ice water tap and happily when the water really did come out cold she flung her about kissed him main street like it old lady it s it s so amusing i love you for bringing me you really are a dear i he looked indulgent and yawned and condescended that s a pretty arrangement on the so you can it at any temperature you want must take a big furnace to run this place i hope remembers to turn off the tonight under the glass cover of the dressing table was a with the most dishes breast of guinea hen de de a la oh let s i m going to have a hot bath and put on my new hat with the wool flowers and let s go down and eat for hours and we ll have a i she while labored over ordering it was to see him permit the waiter to be but as the elevated her to a bridge among colored stars as the came in not in the fashion but on the half shell she cried if you only knew how wonderful it is not to have had to plan this dinner and order it at the butcher s and fuss and think about it and then watch cook it i feel so free and to have new kinds of food and different patterns of dishes and linen and not worry about whether the is being spoiled oh this is a great moment for me iv they had all the experiences of in a metropolis after breakfast to a hair s bought gloves and a and met in front of an s in accordance with plans laid down and they admired the diamonds and and frosty and mahogany chairs and polished in shop windows and were abashed by the in the department stores and were by a clerk into buying too many shirts for and at the clever novelty just in from new york got three books on the and spent an hour in warning herself that she could not afford this silk frock in thinking how envious it would make in closing her eyes main street and buying it went from shop to shop earnestly hunting down a felt covered device to keep the of his car dear of rain they dined at their hotel at night and next morning round the corner 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 pay days 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 i hard when they were shown through the gray stone and new of the largest flour mills in the world 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 e q city they surveyed the small eccentric with the houses of and brick with ing above sun and one vast incredible the lake of the they through 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 main street they saw miles of the city which they had	42
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 enough to study the machinery in the mills or go through all these districts wonder folks in wouldn t use their legs and explore the way we do they had two meals with s sister and were bored and felt that intimacy which married people when they suddenly admit that they equally dislike a relative of either of them so it was with affection but also with weariness that they approached the evening on which was to see the plays at the dramatic school suggested not going so dam tired from all this walking don t know but what we better turn in early and get rested up it was only from duty that dragged him and herself out of tie warm hotel into a up the steps of the converted residence which the dramatic school they were in a long hall with a clumsy across the front the folding chairs were filled with people who looked washed and parents of the pupils girl 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 actors moved and spoke just as its was beginning 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 main street 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 thing 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 well 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 restless 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 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 higher than ten tall men he was in mail and under the rim of his were curls his hand was out to her before she touched it she could feel its warmth i main street all what the is all this stuff about she was no queen she was mrs dr she fell with a into a hall and sat looking at two scared girls and a young man in wrinkled fondly as they left the hall what the deuce did that last mean couldn t make head 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 n e 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 through the winter in the car he affectionately patted her knee and he was for a second the in then he was of and she was by main street never not all her life would she behold es and the of kings there were strange things in the world they really existed but she would never see them she would them in plays she would make the dramatic association her they would surely they would she looked doubtfully at the impenetrable reality of yawning conductor and sleepy passengers and soap and chapter xviii 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 committee 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	42
company of boston sent a check for a hundred dollars sam added twenty five and brought the fund to fondly crying there that ll give you a start for putting the thing across swell she the second floor of the city hall for two months all through the spring the association thrilled to its own talent in that dismal room they cleared out the chairs they attacked the 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 might 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 poor interior and a rich interior the last also useful for railway stations offices and as a background for the from there were three of lighting full on half on and entirely off main street 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 cloak model and with between acts but now the motion pictures had the drama intended to be furiously modern in the set the drawing room for mr and the humble home 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 oflf stage the high light was a polished copper pot filled with less clearly she the drawing room as a series of cool high 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 born painter first turned loose among colors she spent absorbed evenings in painting with lights only and helped her they as to how could be lashed together to form a wall they main street hung yellow curtains at the windows they the sheet iron stove they put on ami swept the rest of the association dropped into the th ter every evening and were literary and superior they had borrowed of play production and had become extremely in and ra sat on a watching try to get the right position for a picture on the wall in the first scene i don t want to hand m anything but i believe give a swell performance in this first act confided i wish wasn t so thou 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 old details and and everything that she can t see the picture as a whole now i thought it would be lovely if we had an scene like the one in little but oh my because i saw that in but she simply wouldn t listen at all sighed i wanted to give one speech like would if she was in a play like this harry and i heard her one time in we had seats in the i just know i could imitate her didn t pay any attention to my suggestion i don t want to but i guess knows more about acting than does say do you think has the right about using a strip light behind the fireplace in the second act i told her i we ought to use a bunch offered and i suggested it would be lovely if we used a outside the window in the first act and what do you think she said yes and it would be lovely to have play the lead she said and aside from the fact that it s evening in the first act you re a great she said i must say i think she was pretty sarcastic i ve been reading up and i know i could build a if she didn t want to run everything yes and another thing i think the entrance in the first act ought to be l u e not l e from main street and why does she just use plain white what s a the stared at her ignorance in did not resent their she didn t very much resent their sudden knowledge so long as they let her make pictures it was at that the broke no one understood that were as real engagements as bridge games or	42
at the church they gaily came in half an hour late or they came in ten minutes early and they were so hurt that whispered about when protested they i don t think i d better come out afraid the might start my or guess can t make it tonight wants me to sit in on a game when after a month of labor as many as nine of the cast were often present at a when most of them had learned their parts and some of them spoke like human beings had a new shock in the that and herself were very bad actors and that ra was a good one for all her visions she could not control her voice and she was bored by the repetition of her few lines as maid pulled his soft looked self conscious and turned mr into a limp but as the villain had no the of his head was full of character his was admirably vicious there was an evening when hoped she was going to make a play a during which stopped looking abashed from that evening the play declined they were weary we know our parts well enough now what s the use of getting sick of them they complained they began to to play with the sacred lights to when was trying to make the sentimental into a humorous office boy to act everything but the girl from after through his proper part dr had great applause for his of hamlet even lost his simple faith and tried to show that he could do a main street turned on the company see here i want this nonsense to stop sin ly got to get down to work led the look here don t be so after all we re doing this play principally for the fun of it and if we have fun out of a lot of why then ye es feebly you said one time that folks in g p didn t get enough fun out of life and now we are having a you want us to stop answered slowly i wonder if i can explain what i mean it s the difference between looking at the comic page and looking at i want fun out of this of course only i don t think it would be less fun but more to produce as perfect a play as we can she was curiously exalted her voice was strained she stared not at the company but at the on the backs of wing pieces by stage hands i wonder if you can understand the of making a beautiful thing the pride and satisfaction of it and the the company glanced doubtfully at one another in her it is not good form to be holy except at a church between ten thirty and twelve on sunday but if we want to do it we ve got to work we must have self discipline they were at once amused and embarrassed they did not want to this mad woman they backed off and tried to did not hear in front protesting to if she calls it fun and to sweat over her old play well i don t iv attended the only professional play which came to that spring it was a tent show presenting new under canvas the hard working actors doubled in brass and took tickets and between acts sang about the moon in june and sold dr s for ills of the heart lungs and they presented a dramatic comedy of the with j wringing the soul by his ain t done right by little mr main street city man but yer a goin to find that back in these hills there s honest folks and good shots the audience on beneath the patched tent admired mr s beard and long rifle stamped their feet in the dust at the spectacle of his heroism shouted when the the lady s use of a by looking through a stuck on a fork wept visibly over mr s little who was also mr s legal wife pearl and when the curtain went down listened respectfully to mr s lecture on dr s as a cure for worms which he illustrated by horrible pallid objects curled 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 for she sought faith in spacious phrases taken from books the instinctive nobility of simple souls need only the opportunity to appreciate fine things and sturdy of but these did not sound so loud as the laughter of the audience at the funny man s line yes by i m a smart she wanted 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 straggling wooden village and felt that she 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 he grumbled hope you re going to give this one good show if you don t reckon nobody ever will it was the great night it was the night of the play the two dressing rooms were with actor panting pale the who was as much 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 main street the love o how do you expect me to get your eyelids dark if you keep a the actors were hey put some red in my nostrils you put some in s you didn t hardly do anything	42
to my face they were they examined s box they the scent of paint every minute they ran out to peep through 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 smart in maid s uniform the temporary to finish setting the first act at ie now for heaven s sake remember the change in cue for the in act two slipped out to ask 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 time up and every one 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 play 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 she realized that had forgotten to turn off the some one out front was she galloped 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 main street encouraging them with lying smiles she watched her work go to pieces the seemed the lighting commonplace she watched and twist his when he should have been a as s timid wife chatter at the audience as though they were her class in high school english in the leading defy mr as though she were repeating a list of she had to buy at this morning remark i d like a cup of tea as though she were shall not ring tonight and dr making love to my my you are a won girl as the office boy was so much pleased by the applause 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 oflf the stage only was so as to devote himself entirely to acting that she was ri t in her opinion of the play was certain when miles went out after tiie 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 s they stared at her they nodded at s protest i think one s 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 applause shows the audience think it s just then knew how completely she had failed as the audience out she 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 rs what i like is a good with main street 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 i must go on but i can t she 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 york 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 remember the is a bachelor the local four hundred also report that he is a great hand at shaking the li ht fantastic in the dance as the 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 condemn 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 world feeding and healing the farmers then on the corner below her husband s office she heard a farmer holding forth sure course i was beaten the and the here wouldn t pay us a	42
decent price for our potatoes even though folks in the cities were howling for em so we says well we ll get a and ship em right down to but the commission merchants there were in with the main street 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 higher 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 clothes 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 burn this town observed there s that old shooting off his mouth again but he loves to hear himself talk they ought to nm that fellow out of vn she felt old and detached through high school commencement week which is the 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 when the few civil war followed in his rusty cap along the spring powdered road tc the she met she found that she had nothing to say to him her head ached in an way when rejoiced we ll have a great time 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 she 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 xix in three years of exile from herself had certain experiences as important by the or discussed by the jolly seventeen but the event 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 he had given 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 whom he had for years was the and manager of the wedding you re a to let a good hired girl like go besides how do you know it s a good thing her marrying a bum like this awful red person get wise chase the man off with a and hold your while the holding s good me go to their wedding not a chance the other echoed was dismayed by the of their cruelty but she persisted miles had exclaimed to her jack elder says maybe he ll come to the wedding it would be nice to have meet the as a lar married lady some day i ll be so well off that can play with mrs elder and you watch us there was an uneasy knot of only nine guests at the service in the church and the all brought by s frightened rustic parents her cousin and miles s ex partner in horse trading a surly hairy man who had bought main street 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 on s arm he had with s help made his over into a cottage with white curtains and a and a chair the powerful to call on they half half promised to go s successor was the broad silent who was suspicious of her frivolous mistress for a month so that was able to crow there i told you you d run into the domestic problem but adopted as a daughter and with her as faithful to the kitchen as had been there was nothing changed in s life she was unexpectedly appointed to the town library board by the new mayor the other members were dr the attorney and martin former livery stable keeper and now owner of a she was delighted she went to the first meeting rather regarding herself as the only one besides who knew anything about books or library methods she was planning to the whole system her condescension was ruined and her humility increased when she found the board in the shabby room on the second floor of the house which had been converted into the library not discussing the weather and longing to play but talking about books she discovered that amiable old dr read everything in verse and light fiction that the faced bearded owner of the mill had through and the other thick that he could repeat pages from them and did when dr whispered to her yes is a very well informed man but he s modest about it she felt and and at herself that she had missed the human in this vast g q her when dr quoted the main street don and the she reflected that no one she knew not even her father had read all four she came to the second meeting of the board she did not plan to anything she hoped	42
that the wise elders might be so as to listen to her suggestions about changing the of the yet after four of the library board she was where she had been before the first she had foimd that for all their pride in being reading men and and even had no conception of making the library familiar to the whole town they used it they passed resolutions about it and they left it as dead as moses only the books and the books and the latest by moral female and were in general demand and the board themselves were interested only in old volumes they had no tenderness for the of youth discovering great literature if she was about her tiny learning they were at least as much so regarding theirs and for all their talk of the need of additional library tax none of them was willing to risk censure by for it though they now had so small a fund that after paying for rent heat light and miss s salary they had only a hundred dollars a year for the purchase of books the incident of the seventeen cents killed her none too enduring interest she had come to the board meeting singing with a plan she had made a list of thirty european novels of the past ten years with twenty important books on education and which the library lacked she had made promise to give fifteen dollars if each of the board would contribute the same they could have the books looked alarmed scratched himself and protested i think it would be a bad precedent for the board members to contribute money not that i mind but it wouldn t be fair establish precedent gracious they don t pay us a cent for our services certainly can t expect us to pay for the privilege of serving only looked sympathetic and he the pine table and said nothing the rest of the meeting they gave to a investigation main street j of the fact that there was seventeen cents less than there should be in the fund miss was summoned she spent half an hour in defending herself the seventeen cents were over penny by penny glancing at the carefully inscribed list which had been so lovely and exciting an hour before was silent and sorry for miss and for she was reasonably regular in attendance till her two years were up and was appointed to the board in her place but she did not try to be in the course of her life there was nothing changed and nothing new iv made an excellent land deal but as he told her none of the details she was not greatly exalted or agitated what did her was his announcement half whispered and half half tender and half coldly medical that they ought to have a baby now they could afford it they had so long agreed that perhaps it would be just as well not to have any children for a while yet that had come to be natural now she feared and longed and did not know she hesitatingly assented and wished that she had not assented as there appeared no change in their drowsy relations she forgot all about it and life was on the porch of their summer cottage at the lake on when was in town when the water was glazed and the whole air languid she pictured a hundred escapes fifth avenue in a snow storm with golden shops a cathedral spire a reed hut on fantastic piles above the mud of a river a in paris immense high grave rooms and a balcony the enchanted an ancient stone mill in at the turn of the road between rocky brook and abrupt hills an of sheep and flitting cool sunlight a dock where steel from and a concert hall and a famous playing playing to her one scene had a persistent main street she stood on a terrace overlooking a by the warm sea she was certain though she had no reason for it that the place was along the drive below her swept with a mechanical and great cars with polished black and engines quiet as the sigh of an old man in them were women erect slender and as their small hands upon their eyes always forward the men beside them tall men with gray hair and distinguished faces beyond the drive were painted sea and painted sands and blue and yellow nothing moved except the gliding carriages and the people were small and wooden spots in a picture with gold and hard bright there was no sound of sea or winds no softness of whispers nor of falling nothing but yellow and and staring light and the never changing she startled she it was the rapid ot the clock which had her into hearing the steady hoofs no aching color of the sea and pride of people but the reality of a round clock on a shelf against a pine wall with a f gray wash rag hanging above it and a stove standing below a thousand dreams governed by the fiction she had read drawn from the pictures she had envied absorbed her drowsy lake but always in the midst of them came out from town drew on trousers which were with dry fish scales asked enjoying yourself and did not listen to her answer and nothing was changed and there was no reason to believe that there ever would be change vi trains at the lake cottage she missed the passing of the trains she realized that in town she had depended upon them for assurance that there remained a world beyond the railroad was more than a means of to it was a new god a monster of steel limbs oak ribs flesh of gravel and a hunger for freight a deity created by man that he might keep himself	42
to main street property as elsewhere he had elevated and served as gods the mines cotton mills army the east remembered generations when there had been no railroad and had no awe of it but here the had been before time was the towns had been out on barren as convenient points for future train and back in i and there had been much profit much to found aristocratic in the possession of advance knowledge as to where the towns would arise if a town was in the railroad could it cut it off from commerce it to the tracks were eternal and boards of railroad an the smallest boy or the most secluded could tell you whether no had a hot box last tuesday whether no was going to put on an extra and the name of the president of the road was familiar to every breakfast table even in this new era of the citizens went down to the station to see the trains go through it was their romance their only mystery besides mass at the catholic and from the trains came lords of the outer world with on their and visiting cousins from had once been a division point the and repair shops were gone but two still retained residence and they were persons of distinction men who and talked to strangers who wore with brass buttons and knew all about these crooked games of con men they were a special caste neither above nor below the but apart artists and the night telegraph at the railroad station was the most figure in town awake at three in the morning alone in a room with clatter of the telegraph key all night he talked to twenty fifty a hundred miles away it was always to be expected that he be held up by robbers he never was but round him was a suggestion of faces at the window binding him to a chair his struggle to crawl to the key before he fainted during everything about the railroad was there were days when the town was completely shut off when they had no mail no express no fresh meat main street no newspapers at last the snow came the sending up a and the way to the outside was open again the in and fur caps running along the tops of ice freight cars the scratching frost from the cab windows and looking out inscrutable self contained of the sea they were heroism they were to the daring of the quest in a world of and sermons to the small boys the railroad was a familiar they climbed the iron on the sides of the box cars built fires behind piles of old ties waved to favorite but to it was magic she was with the car through darkness the lights showing mud and ragged weeds by the road a train coming a rapid a a it was past the pacific an arrow of flame light from the fir box flashed the imder side of the trailing smoke instantly the vision was gone was back in the long darkness and was giving his version of that fire and wonder no must be ten minutes late in town she listened from bed to the express whistling in the cut a mile north faint nervous horn of the free night to the tall towns where were laughter and and the sound of bells the world going by fainter more wistful gone down here there were no trains the stillness was very great the encircled the lake lay round her raw dusty thick the train could cut it some day she would take a train and that would be a great taking vn she turned to the as she had turned to the dramatic association to the library board besides the permanent mother in new york there are all over these states commercial companies which send out to every smallest town of and to give a week of culture under canvas living in had never encountered the and the announcement of its com main street ing to gave her hope that others might be doing the vague things which she had attempted she a university course brought to the people mornings when she came in from the lake with she saw in every shop window and on a cord across main street a line of alternately the coming i and a solid week of inspiration and enjoyment i but she was disappointed when she saw the it did not m to be a university it did not seem to be any kind of a university it seemed to be a combination of performance y m c a lecture and the exercises of an cl a ss she took her doubt to he insisted well maybe it won t be so awful intellectual the way you and i might like it but it s a whole lot better than nothing added they have some splendid if the le don t carry off so much actual information they do get a lot of new ideas and that s what counts during the attended three evening meet two afternoon meetings and one in the morning she was impressed by the audience the sallow women in skirts and eager to be made to think the men in and 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 night and by day casting an radiance on the patient crowd the scent of dust and trampled grass and sun baked wood gave her an illusion of she forgot the she listened to noises outside the tent two farmers talking hoarsely a wagon creaking down main street the crow of a she was content but it was the contentment of the lost hunter stopping to	42
rest for from the itself she got nothing but wind and and heavy ter the ter of at old jokes a and primitive 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 delivering addresses main street i the only facts or opinions which derived from them were was a celebrated president of the united states but in his youth extremely poor james j hill was best known railroad man of the west and in his youth extremely poor honesty and courtesy in business are to i and exposed but this is not to be taken personally since all persons in are known to be honest and courteous london is a large city a distinguished once taught school 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 and disguised as wash boards the most applauded pieces were those such as the which the audience had heard most often the local who remained through the week while 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 intelligent and made splendid noises he gave most of the morning lectures with equal facility about poetry the holy land and the injustice to in any system of profit sharing the final item was a man who neither inspired nor entertained a plain little man with his hands in his pockets all the other had confessed i cannot keep from 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 main street things all the time new ideas are first rate but not all this criticism enough trouble in life without looking for it 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 her had the delight of shuddering then as the war settled down to a business of fighting they forgot when talked about the and the possibility of a german revolution yawned oh yes it s a great old scrap but it s none of our business folks out here are too busy growing corn 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 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 wouldn t you think she was a bird to listen to her and to see that of hers but say know what she is she 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 xx the baby was coming each morning she was chilly and certain that she would never again be attractive each twilight she was afraid she did not fed exalted but and furious the period of daily ness 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 you ll get over all these ideas of yours and settle down she felt that she was being into the assembly of the baby for she would never escape presently she would be drinking coffee and rocking and talking about i could stand fighting them i m used to that but this being taken in being ta en 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 exclamations and how is our lovely today my ain t	42
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 she 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 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 in 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 main street decent parents but to and miles the good glared at with his blue eyes his honey colored hair and magnificent back and they remarked mrs maybe that is as healthy as 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 pa she raged but so violent was the current of their respectability so persistent was aunt in 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 die 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 m be a big farmer before you can bat an i tell you that yoimg fellow is going to go east to college along with the lots of folks dropping in to chin with and me now say ma come in one she was i liked the old lady fine and the mill comes in right along oh we got lots of friends you 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 sea 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 one in a town precisely like the one he has left there is except among professional men and the wealthy small either f residence or occupation a man becomes a main street farmer town policeman owner agent and farmer all over again and the community more or less patiently suffers from 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 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 gladly 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 she 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 restless forefinger yet to the casual eye she was not discontented she was	42
not an and distressing traitor to the faith of main street the settled citizen believes that the rebel is constantly m a of complaining and hearing of a he what an awful person she must lie a holy terror main street to live with glad my folks are satisfied things way they are it was not so much as five minutes a day that devoted to lonely desires it is probable that the agitated citizen has within his circle at least one inarticulate rebel with aspirations as as s the presence of the baby had made her take 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 upon the elders new car or the job which the oldest boy had taken in the office of the flour mill these topics became things to follow iq day by day with nine of her emotion concentrated upon 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 hu s all ihe way she did not reflect that this store these blocks made up all her background she did her work and she over winning from the at five the most considerable event of the two years after the birth of occurred when resigned from the high school and was married was her attendant and as the wedding was at the church all the women wore new kid slippers and long white kid gloves and looked 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 xxi 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 s life at thirty nine she was small and active and sallow her yellow hair was faded and looked dry her blue silk and modest lace 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 force indicated her faith in the goodness and purpose of everything they were blue and they were never still they expressed 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 think about 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 pupils were beginning to learn more quickly she spent four in building up the society and when the debate really was lively one friday afternoon and the of pieces did not forget their lines she felt rewarded main street 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 dusk of her room she prayed to always to the son of god offering him the terrible power of her adoration 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 cheerfulness she everywhere i guess i m 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 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 professor 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 will was married was his partner at a five hundred 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 on a bench while the others in the room beyond was masculine and he s hand he put his arm carelessly about her shoulder don t she said sharply you re a cunning thing he offered patting the back of her 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	42
her knee she sprang up started and to wash the dishes he helped her he main street 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 imder the robes in the bob he whispered you pretend to be a grown up 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 i m terribly fond of you i m 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 terribly fond she waited for him she in longing and in a sense of guilt because she longed she told herself 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 mm and observe perpetual adoration she bought a but she had been so bitterly reared as a that she 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 and from the cities she main street carelessly ascertained from him the hour of marriage at that hour sitting in her room pictured the in st paul full of an ecstasy which her she followed and the girl who had stolen her place followed them to the train through 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 world 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 hair the airy head and yoimg shoulders but she was suddenly angry glanced at her for a quarter second but looked past her at an old roadside barn if she had made the great sacrifice at least she expected gratitude and recognition raged while her conscious mind begged her to control this insanity during her first call 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 pleasant from devotion she into her room she her hat on the bed and i don t care i m a lot like her 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 main street 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 tliey aren t they re old i hate it i i hate that impertinent young woman i a selfish cat taking his love for granted no she s i don t think she ought to be so friendly with for a year loved longed to and did not into the details of her relations witli enjoyed her spirit of play as expressed in childish tea parties and with the mystic bond between them forgotten was vexed by s assumption that she was a come to save this last of s thought was the one which after a year was most often turned to the light in a way she these people that want to change everything all of a sudden without doing any work make me tired i here i have to go and work for four years picking out the pupils for and them and at them to get them to look up and begging them to choose their own subjects four years to get up a couple of good i and	42
she comes rushing in and expects in one year to change the whole town into a p paradise with everybody stopping everything else to grow and drink tea and it s a old town too she had such an outburst after each of s for better for plays for more human schools but she never betrayed herself and always she was penitent was and always would be a a liberal she believed that details could be altered but that things in general were comely and kind and was without understanding or accepting it a a radical and therefore possessed of ideas which only the can have since the believes that all the essential has already been done after years of intimacy it was this opposition more than the fancied loss of s love which held fascinated but the birth of revived the emotion she was indignant that should not be utterly fulfilled in having borne s child she admitted that main street seemed to have affection and care for the baby but she began to identify herself now and in this phase to fed that she had endured quite too much from s she recalled certain other women who had come from the outside and had not appreciated she remembered the s wife who had been chilly to and who was throughout the town to have said re ah ly i t endure this in the the woman was positively known to have worn handkerchiefs in her as oh the town had simply roared at her of course the and she were got rid of in a few months then there was the mysterious woman with the hair and eyebrows who wore tight english dresses like who of stale who with the men and got them to advance money for her expenses in a who laughed at s reading at a school entertainment and went off owing a hotel bill and the three dollars she had borrowed insisted that she loved but with some satisfaction she compared her to these of the town ii had enjoyed s singing in the choir die had thoroughly the weather with him at and in the bon ton but she did not really know him till she moved to mrs s it was five years after her affair with she was thirty nine perhaps a year younger she said to him and sincerely you can do anything with brains and tact and that heavenly voice you were so good in the girl from you made me feel terribly stupid if you d gone on the stage i believe you d be just as good as anybody in but still i m not sorry you stuck to business it s such a career do you really think so across the apple it was the first time that either of them had found a intellectual companionship they looked down on the bank clerk and his anxious main street wife the silent l the man and the rest of mrs s guests they sat opposite and they sat late they were to find that they agreed in confession of faith people like sam and harry aren t earnest about music and pictures and eloquent sermons and really refined but then on the other hand people like put too much stress on all this art folks ought to appreciate lovely things but just the same they got to be practical and they got to look at things in a practical way smiling passing each other the pressed glass dish seeing mrs s supper cloth by the light of intimacy and talked about s rose colored s sweetness s new low shoes s theory that there was no need of strict discipline in school s in the bon ton s flow of wild ideas which honestly just simply made you nervous trying to keep track of them about the lovely display of shirts in the bon ton window as dressed by about s last sunday the fact that there weren t any of these new as nice as the golden and the way stood up to when she came into the store and tried to run things and he as much as told her that she was so anxious to have folks think she was smart and bright that she said things she didn t mean and an was running the shoe department and if or harry either didn t like the way he ran things they could go get another man about s new which made her look thirty two s estimate or twenty two s estimate s plan to have the high school society give a and the difficulty of keeping the younger boys well behaved on the when a big like acted up so about the picture post card which mrs had sent to mrs from showing roses growing right in february the change in time on no the reckless way dr always drove his the reckless way almost all these people drove their the of supposing that these could carry on a government for as much as six months if they ever did have a chance to try out their main street 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 dean 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	42
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 far made taller and by his interest she poured out oh my yes it was a wonderful 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 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 call 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 main street dropped her hand abruptly and as they sat on a willow log and he brushed 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 i m 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 light weight for summer 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 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 sometimes fails to appreciate dr will s ability in ray habitually asked her about his window the display of the new shoes the best music for the entertainment at the eastern star and though he was recognized as a professional authority on what 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 scholar once she burst out ray i could shake you do you know you re too you always appreciate other 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 i when harry tries to show main street 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 are he could not believe it he kept coming back to her for confirmation he practised glaring and talking deep but he hinted to that when he had tried to look 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 condescension they were sitting on the yellow satin in the 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 oh excuse me he pleaded it s all right well i think i must be running up 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 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 and gold 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 down i m she marched out while he was paying his check she got ahead o main street he ran after her wait in the of the in front of	42
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 she 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 i ll just decide not to renew my contract here and and drift way off his hand was steady on her shoulder she dropped her head rubbed the back of his hand with her cheek they were married in june they took the house it s small said 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 win 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 class 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 start a rival shop i ll clerk behind the myself and a certain party is all ready to put up the money main street 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 i wouldn t have your old husband he hasn t one single bit of ray s spiritual nobility chapter 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 card herself had the baby a larger house to care for all the calls for when he was away and she read everything while was satisfied with newspaper but after detached brown years in boarding houses da 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 die 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 this new life into the world i love her for being so happy i ought to be that way i worship the baby but the oh i suppose i m so much better of 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 comment main street on what a fool dr was to try to use that cheap x ray of his on an a frock heard the furnace tried to read a page of and the day was gone except when was vigorously ty 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 have been converted to s satisfaction in and the floor n drove through an astonishing number of books from the public library and from city shops was at first over her habit of buying them a book was a book and if you had several thousand of them ri t here in the library free why the should you spend your good money after worrying about it for two or three years he decided that this was one of the funny ideas which she had caught as a and from which she would never entirely recover the authors whom she read were most of them annoyed by the they were young american young english russian france wells key lee masters henry and all the other philosophers and artists whom women were consulting everywhere in in new york in san schools	42
for from them she got the same confused desire which the million other women felt the same determination to be class conscious without discovering the class of which she was to be conscious certainly her reading her observations of main street of her and of the several adjacent which she had seen on drives with in her thought certain convictions appeared a fragment of an impression at a time while she was going to sleep or her nails or waiting for convictions she presented to beside a over a bowl of not very good main street and from uncle s on an evening when both and had gone out of town with the other officers of the ancient and order of to a new chapter at had come to the house for the ni t she helped in putting to bed the while about his soft skin then they talked till midnight what said that evening what she was passionately thinking was also emerging in the minds of women in ten thousand her were not pat but visions of a tragic she did not utter them so that they can be given in her words they were with well you see and if you get what i mean and i don t know that i m making myself dear but they were definite enough and indignant enough in in reading popular stories and seeing plays asserted she had found only two traditions of the american small town the first tradition repeated in scores of magazines every month is that the american village remains the one sure abode of friendship honesty and clean sweet girls therefore all men who succeed in painting in paris or in in new york at last become weary of smart women return to their native towns assert that cities are vicious marry their childhood and abide in those towns until death the other tradition is that the significant features of all villages are whiskers iron dogs upon gold bricks of gilded cat tails and shrewd comic old men who are known as and who i swan this altogether admirable tradition rules the stage and newspaper humor but out of actual life it passed forty years ago s small town thinks not in but in cheap cars ready made clothes leather chairs bridge motion pictures land sets of mark twain and a version of national politics with such a small town life a or a is content but there are also hundreds of thousands par main street women and young men who are not at all content the more young people and the flee to the cities with and despite the tradition resolutely stay there seldom returning even for holidays the most protesting of the towns leave them in old age if they can afford it and go to live in or in the cities the reason insisted is not a it is nothing so amusing i it is an background a of speech and manners a rigid ruling of the spirit by the desire to appear respectable it is contentment the contentment of the quiet dead who are scornful of the living for their restless walking it is as the one positive virtue it is the of happiness it is slavery self sought and self defended it is made god a people food and sitting afterward and thou in rocking chairs with listening to mechanical music saying mechanical about the excellence of ford and themselves as the greatest race in the world iv she had inquired as to the effect of this upon foreigners she remembered the feeble quality to be foimd in the first generation she recalled the fair at the church to which had taken her there in the the of a farm kitchen pale women in scarlet embroidered with gold thread and colored beads in black skirts with a line of blue green striped and caps very pretty to set off a fresh face had served sweet cakes and sour milk with for the first time in had found novelty she had in the mild of it but she saw these women exchanging their and red for pork and white trading the ancient christmas h of the for she s my being into and in less than a generation main street losing in the whatever pleasant new customs they mi t have added to the life of the town their sons finished the process in ready made clothes and ready made phrases they sank into propriety and the sound american customs had absorbed one trace of another alien invasion and along with these foreigners she felt herself being into glossy and she in fear the respectability of the said is by vows of poverty and in the matter of knowledge except for half a dozen in each town the citizens are proud of that achievement of ignorance which it is so easy to come by j to be intellectual or artistic or in their own word is to be and of virtue large experiments in politics and in co distribution requiring knowledge courage and imagination do in the west and but they are not of the towns they are of the farmers if these are supported by the it is only by occasional teachers doctors lawyers the labor and workmen like miles who are punished by being as as half baked parlor the editor and the preach at them the cloud of serene ignorance them in and here observed yes well do you know ive always thought that ray would have made a wonderful he has what i call an essentially religious soul my he d have read the service beautifully i suppose it s too late now but as i tell him he can also serve the world by selling shoes and i wonder if we t to have family prayers vi doubtless all small towns in all in all ages admitted have a tendency to be not	42
only dull but mean bitter with curiosity in france or quite as much as in or these are in main street but a village in a country which is taking pains to become altogether and pure which to succeed england as the chief of the world is no longer merely provincial no longer and in its leaf ignorance it is a force seeking to the earth to drain the hills and sea of color to set at and to dress the high gods in sure of itself it other as a in a brown the wisdom of china and of over arches for centuries to the sayings of such a society functions admirably in the large production of cheap dollar watches and safety but it is not satisfied until the entire world also admits that the end and joyous purpose of living is to ride in to make pictures pf dollar watches and in the twilight to sit talking not of love and courage but of the convenience of safety and such a society such a nation is determined by the the greatest is but a sam and all the and are village lawyers and grown nine feet tall though a regards itself as a part of the great world itself to rome and it will not acquire the scientific spirit the mind which would make it great it at information which will visibly procure money or social distinction its conception of a community ideal is not the grand manner the noble the fine aristocratic pride but cheap labor for the kitchen and rapid increase in the price of land it plays at cards on greasy in a and does not know that are walking and talking on the terrace if all the were as kindly as and sam there would be no reason for desiring the to seek great traditions it is the harry the the elders small busy men powerful in their common purpose themselves as men of the world but themselves men of the cash register and the comic who make the town a main street vn she had sought to be definite in the of the she asserted tiiat it is a matter of universal of of construction so that the towns resemble frontier of neglect of natural advantages so that the hills are covered with brush the lakes shut off by and the lined with of of color of buildings and excessive breadth and of the streets so that there is no escape from and from sight of the grim sweep of land nor any to the along while the breadth which would be majestic in an avenue of palaces makes the low shabby shops creeping down the typical main street the more mean by con the universal that is the physical expression of the philosophy of dull safety nine of the american towns are so alike that it is the to wander from one to another always west of and often east of it there is the same lumber yard the same railroad station the same ford the same the same box like houses and two story shops the new more conscious houses are alike in their very attempts at the same the same square houses of or brick the shops show the same advertised wares the newspapers of sections three thousand miles apart have the same features the boy in just such a ready made suit as is foimd on just such a boy in both of them the same phrases from the same sporting pages and if one of them is in college and the other is a no one may which is which if were snatched from and instantly conveyed to a town away he would not realize it he would go down apparently the same main street almost certainly it would be called main street in the same store he would see the same young man serving the same ice cream to the same young woman with the same magazines and records under her arm not till he had climbed to his office and found another sign on the door another dr inside would he that something curious had happened main street finally behind all her comments saw the fact that the towns no more exist to serve the farmers who are their reason of existence than do the great they exist to on the farmers to provide for the large and social and unlike the they do not give to the district in return for a stately and permanent but only this ragged camp it is a greek civilization the civilization there we are then said the remedy is there any criticism perhaps for the beginning of the beginning oh there s nothing that attacks the god that doesn t help a little and probably there s nothing that helps very much perhaps some day the farmers will build and own their market towns think of the they could have but i m afraid i haven t any reform not any the trouble is spiritual and no league or party can a preference for gardens rather than there s my confession in other words all you want is perfection said yes why not how you hate this place how can you expect to do anything with it if you haven t any sympathy but i have and affection or else i wouldn t so i ve learned that isn t just an on the as i thought first but as large as new york in new york i wouldn t know more than forty or fifty people and i know that many here go on say what you re thinking well my dear if i did take all your notions seriously it would be imagine how a person would feel after working hard for years and helping to build up a nice town to have you in and simply say rotten think that s fair why not	42
the gods and empty even of incense and the sound of passengers looking from trains saw her as a village woman of fading virtue and no the heard her say oh yes i do think it will be a good example for the children and all the while she saw herself running through the streets of planting led her to she never got much farther than the tiger lily and the wild rose but she what does the say he cried his hand full of his cheek gilded with she knelt to embrace him she affirmed that he made life more than full she was altogether reconciled for an hour but she awoke at night to hovering death she crept away from the of that was into the and by the mirror in the door of the examined her pallid face wasn t she growing visibly older in as da grew and younger wasn t her nose wasn t her neck she stared and choked she was only main street thirty but the five years since her marriage had they not gone by as hastily and as though she had been under would time not past till death she her fist on the cool rim of the and raged against the indifferent gods i don t care i won t endure it they lie so and will and aunt they tell me i ought to be satisfied with and a good home and planting seven in a station garden i am i when i die the world will be as far as i m concerned i am i i m not content to leave the sea and the ivory towers to others i want them for me damn damn all of them do they think they can make me believe that a display of potatoes at s is enough beauty and strangeness chapter when america entered the great european war sent off to an officers training camp less than a year after her wedding was and rather strong he came out a first lieutenant of and was one of the earliest sent abroad grew definitely afraid of as transferred the passion which had been released in marriage to the cause of the war as she lost all when was touched by the desire for heroism in and tried to express it made her feel like an impertinent child by and the sons of sam joined the army but most of the soldiers were the sons of german and farmers unknown to dr and dr became captains in the medical corps and were stationed at in and they were the only officers besides from the district wanted to go with them but the several doctors of the town forgot medical and meeting in council decided that he would do better to wait and keep the town well till he should be needed was forty two now the only doctor left in a of eighteen miles old dr who loved comfort like a cat rolled out at night for calls and hunted through his collar box for his g a r button did not quite know what she thought about s going certainly she was no wife she knew that he wanted to go she knew that this longing was always in him behind his unchanged and remarks about the weather she felt for him an admiring affection and she was sorry that she had nothing more than affection was the warrior of the town was no longer the boy who had sat in the about s and the mysteries of generation he was nineteen now tall broad busy the town main street s famous for his ability to drink beer to shake to tell stories and from his post in front of s store to the girls by them as they passed his face was at once and was to be heard it abroad that if he couldn t get the widow s permission to he d run away and without it he shouted that he hated every dirty hun by if he could just a into one big fat and learn him some decency and he d die happy got much reputation by a named for being a damn h german this was the younger who was killed in the while he was tr ing to bring the body of his yankee captain back to the lines at this time was still dwelling in her and planning to go to war n everywhere heard that the war was going to bring a change in to and everything from relations to national politics and she tried to in it only she did not find it she saw the women who made for the red cross giving up bridge and laughing at having to do without sugar but over the they did not speak of god and the souls of men but of miles s impudence of s scandalous on with a farmer s daughter four years ago of cooking and of their to the war touched only she herself was punctual and efficient at making but she could not like mrs and mrs fill the with hate for enemies when she protested to the young do the work while these old ones sit around and interrupt us and with hate because they re too feeble to do anything but hate then turned on her if you can t be at least don t be so and now when men and women are dying some of us we have given up so much and we re glad to at least we e q that you others sha n t try to be witty at om main street there was weeping did desire to see the defeated she did persuade herself that there were no save that of she did thrill to motion pictures of troops in new york and she was when she met miles on	42
the street and he how s tricks things going fine with me got two new cows well have you become a eh sure they ll bring the of death yes in every war since the garden of the workmen have gone out to fight each other for perfectly good reasons handed to them by their now me i m wise i m so wise that i know i don t know anything about the war it was not a thought of the war that remained with her after miles s but a perception that she and and all of the good who wanted to do something for the common people were insignificant because the common people were able to do things for themselves and highly likely to as soon as they learned the fact the conception of millions of workmen like miles taking control frightened her and she rapidly away from the thou t of a time when she might no longer retain the position of lady to the and and whom she loved and in it was in june two months after america s entrance into the war that the momentous event happened the visit of the great the president of the velvet car company of boston the one native son who was always to be mentioned to strangers for two weeks there were sam cried to say i hear is coming by it ll be great to see the old eh finally the printed on the front page with a no i head a letter from to elder dear jack well jack i find i can make it tm to go to washington as a dollar a year man for the government in the section and tell them how much i don t know about but before i start in being a hero i want to shoot out and catch me a big black main street bass and out you and sam and harry and will and the rest of you ill land in g p on june on no from shake a day day tell to save me a glass of beer sincerely yours all members of the social financial scientific literary and sporting sets were at no to meet mrs was beside the and almost cordial to miss the saw laughing down at them from the train big with the eye of an in the voice of the professional good fellow he folks as see to him not he to her looked into her eyes and his hand shake was warm he declined the offers of he walked off his arm about the shoulder of the sporting tailor with the elegant harry carrying one of his enormous pale leather bags the other jack elder bearing an overcoat and the fishing tackle noted that though wore and a stick no small boy she decided i must have will get a blue coat and a wing collar and a bow tie like his that evening when was the grass along the walk with sheep rolled up alone he was now in trousers shirt open at the throat a white hat and canvas and leather shoes on the job there old will say my lord this is living to come back and get into a regular man sized pair of they can talk all they want to about the city but my idea of a good time is to loaf around and see you boys and catch a bass he up the walk and at where s that little fellow i hear youve got one fine big he boy that you re holding out on me he s gone to bed rather briefly i know and rules are rules these days get through the shop like a but look here sister i m one great hand at rules come on now let uncle have a look at him please now sister main street he put his arm about her waist it was a large strong arm and very agreeable he grinned at her with a while glowed she flushed she was alarmed by the ease with which the big city man invaded her guarded personality she was glad in retreat to ahead of the two men up stairs to the hall room in which t all the way muttered well well say but it s good to have you back certainly is good to see you lay on his stomach making an earnest business of sleeping he his eyes in the dwarf blue pillow to escape the electric light then sat up abruptly small and frail in his his of brown hair wild the pillow clutched to his breast he he stared at the stranger in a manner of patient dismissal he explained to wouldn t let it be morning yet what does the pillow say dropped his arm on s shoulder he pronounced my lord you re a lucky girl to have a fine young like that i figure will knew what he was doing when he persuaded you to take a chance on an old bum like him they tell me you come from st paul we re going to get you to come to boston some day he leaned over the bed yoimg man you re the sight i ve seen this side of boston with your permission may we present you with a slight token of our regard and appreciation of your long service he held out a red rubber remarked it hid it under the and stared at as though he had never seen the man before for once permitted herself the spiritual luxury of not asking why dear what do you say when some one gives you a present the great man was apparently waiting they stood in suspense till led them out how about planning a fishing trip will he remained for half an always he told what a charming person she was always he looked at her	42
yes he probably would make a woman fall in love with him but it wouldn t last a week i d get tired of his confounded his h he s a spiritual bully he makes me rude to him in self oh yes he is glad main street to be here he does like us he s so ood an actor that he his own self i d hate him in boston he d have all the obvious big things discreet evening clothes order a clever dinner at a smart drawing room decorated by the best firm but the pictures giving him away i d rather talk to in his dusty office how i lie his arm my shoulder and his eyes dared me not to admire him i d be afraid of him i hate him oh the inconceivable imagination of women all this of analysis about a man a good decent friendly efficient man because he was kind to me as will s wife iv the the elders the and went fishing at red lake they drove forty miles to the lake in elder s new there was much and bustle at the start much of lunch baskets and poles much inquiry as to it would really bother to sit with her feet on a roll of when they were ready to go mrs lamented oh sam i forgot my magazine and come on now if you women think you re going to be literary you can t go with us tough every one laughed a great deal and as they drove on mrs explained that though probably she would not have read it still she might have wanted to while the other girls had a nap in the afternoon and she was right in the middle of a it was an awfully exciting story it seems that this girl was a tiu only she was really the daughter of an american lady and a russian prince and men t running after her just but she remained pure and there was a scene while the men floated on the lake casting for black bass the women lunch and yawned was a little of the manner in which the men assumed that they did not care to fish i don t want to go with them but i would like the privilege of refusing the was long and pleasant it was a background for the talk of the great man come home hints of cities and large and famous people modest that yes their friend was doing about as o main street well as most of these boston that so much of themselves because they come from rich old families and went to college and everything believe me it s us new business men that are running today and not a lot of old in their clubs realized that he was not one of the sons of who if they do not actually starve in the east are invariably spoken of as highly successful and she found behind his too incessant flattery a genuine affection for his mates it was in the matter of the war that he most favored and thrilled them dropping his voice while they bent nearer there was no one within two miles to he disclosed the fact that in both boston and washington he d been getting a lot of inside stuff on the war aright straight from he was in touch with some men couldn t name them but they were dam high up in both the war and state and he would say only for s sake they mustn t breathe one word of this it was strictly on the q t and not generally known outside of washington but just between ourselves and they could take this for gospel spain had finally decided to join the in the grand scrap yes sir there d be two million fully equipped spanish soldiers fighting with us in france in one month now some surprise for germany all right how about the prospects for revolution in germany reverently asked the authority nothing to it the one thing you can bet on is that no matter what happens to the german people win or lose they ll stick by the till hell over i got that absolutely straight from a fellow who s on the inside of the inside in washington no sir i don t pretend to know much about affairs but one thing you can put down as settled is that germany will be a empire for the next forty years at that i don t know as it s so bad the and keep a firm hand on a lot of these red who d be worse than a king if they could get control i m terribly interested in this that the in russia suggested she had finally been conquered by the man s knowledge of affairs for her s nuts about this russian revolution is there much to it main street there is not said i can speak by the book there honey i m surprised to find you talking like a new york russian jew or one of these long hairs i can tell you only you don t need to let every one in on it this is confidential i got it from a man who s close to the state department but as a matter of fact the will be back in power before the end of the year you read a lot about his retiring and about his being killed but i know he s got a big army back of him and he ll show these damn lazy beggars hunting for a soft berth the poor that fall for em he ll show em where they get off was sorry to hear that the was coming back but she said nothing the others had	42
looked vacant at the mention of a country so far away as russia now they edged in and asked what he thought about the car in oil wells the comparative merits of young men born in and in the question of the future cost of and wasn t it true that american put it all over these they were glad to find that he agreed with them on every point as she heard announce we re perfectly willing to talk to any committee the men may choose but we re not going to stand for some outside in and telling us how we re going to run our plant remembered that elder now meekly receiving new ideas had said the same thing in the same words while sam was digging up from his memory a long and immensely detailed story of the crushing things he had said to a porter named george his knees and rocked and watched she wondered if he did not understand the of the smile with which she listened to s account of the good one he had on that improper ten times told tale of how she had forgotten to attend to because she was all up the box which may be translated as eagerly playing the piano she was certain that saw through her when she pretended not to hear s invitation to join a game of she feared the comments he might make she was irritated by her fear she was equally irritated when the returned through main street to find that she was proud of sharing in s as people waved and leaned from a window she said to herself as though i cared whether i m seen with this fat and simultaneously everybody has noticed how much will and i are playing with mr the town was full of his stories his friendliness his memory for names his clothes his flies his generosity he had given a hundred dollars to father the priest and a hundred to the reverend mr the minister for work at the bon ton heard the tailor old certainly pulled a good one on this that always is shooting off his mouth he s supposed to of settled down since he got married but lord those fellows that think they know it all they never change well the red got the grand handed to him all right he had the nerve to breeze up to at s and he said he said to i ve always wanted to look at a man that was so useful that folks would pay him a million dollars for existing and gave him the once over and come right back have eh he says well he says i ve been looking for a man so useful sweeping floors that i could pay him four dollars a day want the job my friend ha ha ha i say you know how is well for once he didn t have a thing to say he tried to get fresh and tell what a rotten town this is and come right back at him if you don t like this country you better get out of it and go back to germany where you belong say maybe us fellows didn t give the horse laugh though i oh is the white haired boy in this all had borrowed elder s he stopped at the he at rocking with on the porch better come for a ride she wanted to him thanks so much but i m being maternal bring him along bring him along was out of the seat up the and the rest of her and were feeble main street she did not bring along was silent for a mile in words but he looked at her as though he meant her to know that he understood everything she thought she observed how deep was his chest lovely fields over there he said you really like them there s no profit in them he chuckled sister you can t get away with it i m you you consider me a big bluff well maybe i am but so are you my dear and pretty enough so that i d try to make love to you if i weren t afraid you d slap me mr do you talk that way to your wife s friends and do you call them sister as a matter of fact i do and i make em like it score two i but his chuckle was not so and he was very attentive to the in a moment he was cautiously attacking that s a wonderful boy will great work country are doing the other day in washington i was talking to a big scientific a professor in medical school and he was saying that no one has ever sufficiently appreciated the general and the sympathy and help he gives folks these crack the young scientific fellows they re so and so wrapped up in their that they miss the human element except in the case of a few diseases that no respectable human being would waste his time having it s the old that keeps a community well mind and body and strikes me that will is one of the and headed country i ve ever met eh i m sure he is he s a servant of reality come again um yes all of that whatever that is say child you don t care a whole lot for if i m not mistaken there s where you re missing a big chance there s nothing to these cities believe me i know is a good town as they go you re lucky to be here i wish i could stay very well why don t you why lord can t get away fr you don t have to stay i do so i to it main street do you know that men	42
like you prominent men do quite a reasonable amount of harm by that your native towns and native states are perfect it s you who the not to change they quote you and go on believing that they live in paradise and she clenched her fist the incredible of it suppose you were right even so don t you think you waste a lot of thundering on one poor scared little town kind of mean i i tell you it s dull the folks don t find it dull these couples like the have a high old time dances and cards they don t they re bored almost every one here is and bad manners and gossip that s i hate those things course they re here so are they in and every place else i why the faults you find in this town are simply human nature and never will be changed perhaps but in a boston all the good iii admit i have no faults can find one another and play but here i m alone in a stale pool except as it s stirred by the great mr my lord to hear you tell it a fellow d think that all the as you call em are so unhappy that it s a wonder they don t all up and commit suicide but they seem to struggle along somehow they don t know what they miss and anybody can endure anything look at men in mines and in he drew up on the south shore of lake he glanced across the reflected on the water the quiver of like the distant shores patched with dark woods silvery and deep yellow wheat he patted her hand you re a darling girl but you re difficult know what i think yes maybe you do but my humble not too humble opinion is that you like to be different you like to think you re peculiar why if you knew how many i f thousands of women especially in new york say just what you do you d lose all the fun of thinking you re a lone genius and you d be on the band wagon it up for and a good decent family life there s always about main street a million young women just out of college who want to teach their how to eggs how proud you are of that homely rustic i you use it at and meetings and boast of your climb from a humble you may have my number i m not telling but look here you re so prejudiced against that you the mark you those who might be inclined to agree with you in some particulars but great guns the town can t be all wrong i no it isn t but it could be let me tell you a fable imagine a complaining to her mate she doesn t like one single thing she hates the damp cave the rats running over her bare legs the stiff skin garments the eating of half raw meat her husband s face the constant battles and the worship of the spirits who will her unless she gives the priests her best her man but it can t all be wrong i and he thinks he has reduced her to absurdity now you assume that a world which produces a and a velvet company must be civilized it is aren t we only about half way along in i suggest mrs as a test and well continue in just as long as people as nearly intelligent as you continue to defend things as they are because they are you re a fair child but by i d like to see you try to design a new manifold or run a factory and keep a lot of your fellow from on the job i you d drop your theories so dam quick i m not any of things as they are sure they re rotten only i m sensible he his gospel love of playing the game loyalty to friends she had the s shock of discovery that outside of tracts do not tremble and find no answer when an turns on them but retort with and he was so much the man the the friend that she liked him when she most tried to stand out against him he was so much the successful that she did not want him to despise her his manner of at what he called parlor though the phrase was not new had a power which made her wish to his main street company of fed speed loving when he demanded would you like to associate with nothing but a lot of turkey horn nuts that have and need a hair cut and that spend all their time kicking about conditions and never do a of work she said no but just the same when he asserted even if your was right in knocking the whole works i bet some red blooded regular fellow some real he man found her a nice dry cave and not any radical she her head feebly between a nod and a shake his large hands lips easy voice supported his he made her feel young and soft as had once made her feel she had nothing to say when he bent his powerful head and my dear i m sorry i m going away from this town you d be a darling child to play with you are pretty i some day in boston show you how we buy a lunch well hang it got to be starting back the only answer to his gospel of beef which she could find when she was home was a wail of but just the same she did not see him again before he departed for washington his eyes remained his glances at her lips and hair and shoulders had revealed	42
to her that she was not a wife alone but a girl that there still were men in the world as there had been in college days that admiration led her to study to tear at the of intimacy to perceive the strangeness of the most familiar chapter xxiv all that month was sensitive to she recalled a hundred her comic dismay at his having tobacco the evening when she had tried to read poetry to him matters which had seemed to vanish with no trace or always she repeated that he had been patient in his desire to join the army she made much of her affection for him in little things she liked the of his about the house his strength and as he the hinges of a his when he ran to her to be comforted because he had found in the barrel of his pump gun but at the highest he was to her another without the of s unknown future there was late in june a day of heat lightning because of the work imposed by the absence of the other doctors the had not moved to the lake cottage but remained in town dusty and irritable in the afternoon when she went to s formerly s was vexed by the assumption of the youthful clerk recently come from the farm that he had to be and he was no more familiar than a dozen other clerks of the town but her nerves were when she asked for for supper he what d you want that old dry stuff for i like it guess the can afford something better than that try some of the new we got in swell the use em she exploded my dear young man it is not your duty to instruct me in housekeeping and it doesn t particularly concern me what the condescend to approve he was hurt he hastily wrapped up the fragment of fish he as she out she lamented i main street shouldn t have spoken so he didn t mean anything he doesn t know when he is being rude her repentance was not proof against uncle when she stopped in at his for salt and a of safety matches uncle in a shirt and soaked with sweat in a brown streak down his back was at a clerk come on now get a on and that pound cake up to mis s some folks in this town think a ain t got nothing to do but chase out that dress you got on looks kind of low in the neck to me may be decent and modest i suppose i m old fashioned but i never thought much of showing the whole town a woman s bust heel afternoon mrs sage just out of it sell you some other uncle was indignant certainly t got plenty other good as sage for any se whatever what s the matter with well with when mrs had gone he raged some folks don t know what they want bully my husband s thought she crept into s held up his arms with don t shoot i surrender she smiled but it occurred to her that for nearly five years had kept up this game of pretending that she threatened his life as she went dragging through the hot street she reflected that a citizen of does not have he has a jest every cold morning for five had remarked fair to chilly get worse before it gets better fifty times had informed the public that had once asked shall i this check on the back fifty times had sam called to her where d you steal that hat fifty times had the mention of the town like a in a produced from the story of s directing a minister come down to the and get your case of religious books they re she came home by the route she knew every house front every street crossing every every tree every dog she knew every blackened skin and empty box in the she knew every greeting when jim stopped and at her there was no possibility main street that he was about to confide anything but his well t day all her future life this same red bread in front of the this same shaped crack in the a quarter of a block beyond s granite post she silently handed her purchases to the silent she sat on the porch rocking with s came home grumbled what the devil is the kid about i guess you can stand it ten minutes if i can stand it all day he came to supper in his shirt sleeves his partly open revealing s why don t you put on your nice palm beach suit and take o f that hideous she complained too much trouble too hot to go up stairs she realized that for perhaps a year she had not definitely looked at her husband she regarded his table manners he violently chased fragments of fish about his plate with a knife and licked the knife after them she was sick she asserted i m ridiculous what do these things matter don t be so simple but she knew that to her they did matter these and mixed of the table she realized that they found little to say that they were like the talked out couples whom she had pitied at would have q in a lively exciting manner she realized that s clothes were seldom pressed his coat was wrinkled his trousers would at the knees when he arose his shoes were and they were of an elderly he refused to wear soft hats to a hard as a symbol of and prosperity and sometimes he forgot to take it off in the house she peeped at his they were in of linen she had turned them once she them	42
every week but when she had begged him to throw the shirt away last sunday morning at the crisis of the weekly bath he had uneasily protested oh it ll wear quite a while yet main street he was shaved by himself or more by only three times a week this morning had not been one of the three times yet he was vain of his new turn down and sleek ties he often spoke of the dressing of dr and he laughed at old men who wore or did not care much for the that evening she noted that his nails were jagged and ill shaped from his habit of cutting them with a pocket knife and a nail file as and that they were invariably clean that his were the fingers of the surgeon made his stubborn the more they were wise hands kind hands but they were not the hands of love she remembered him in the days of courtship he had tried to please her then had touched her by wearing a colored band on his straw hat was it possible that those days of for each other were gone so completely he had read books to impress her had said she recalled it that she was to point out his every fault had insisted once as they sat in the secret place beneath the walls of fort she shut the door on her thoughts that was sacred ground but it was a shame that she nervously pushed away her cake and after supper when they had been driven in from the porch by when had for the two time in five years commented we must have a new screen on the porch lets all the in they sat reading and she noted and detested herself for noting and noted again his habitual awkwardness he down in one chair his legs up on another and he the recesses of his left ear with the end of his little finger she could hear the faint he kept it up he kept it up he oh forgot tell you some of the fellows coming in to play this evening suppose we could have some and cheese and beer she nodded he might have mentioned it before oh well it s his house the party in sam jack i main street jim to her they mechanically said but to in a heroic male manner shall we start playing got a i m going to somebody real bad no one suggested that she join them she told herself that it was her own fault because she was not more friendly but she remembered that never asked mrs sam to play would have asked her she sat in the living room glancing across the hall at the men as they over the dining table they were in shirt sleeves smoking incessantly lowering their voices for a moment so that she did not hear what they said and afterward hoarsely using over and over the phrases three to i raise you a come on now up what do you think this is a pink tea the cigar smoke was and the firmness with which the men mouthed their made the lower part of their faces e q heavy they were like dividing how could they her world did that faint and delicate world exist was she a fool she doubted her world doubted herself and was sick in the smoke stained air she slipped back into brooding upon the of the house was as fixed in routine as an isolated old man at first he had deceived himself into liking her e q with food the one medium in which she could express imagination but now he wanted only his round of favorite dishes roast beef boiled pig s feet baked apples because at some more period he had advanced from to fruit he considered himself an q during their first autumn she had smiled over his affection for his hunting coat but now that the leather had come in of pale yellow thread and of canvas with dirt of the fields and from hung in a border of rags she hated the thing wasn t her whole life like that hunting coat she knew every nick and brown spot on each piece of the set of china purchased by s mother in u main street china with a pattern of washed out forget me with gold the boat in a which did not match the solemn and covered v dishes the two twenty times had sighed over the fact that had broken the other the medium sized the kitchen damp black iron sink damp yellow drain board with of wood which from long were as soft as cotton thread table alarm clock stove bravely blackened by but an in its loose doors and broken and oven that never would an even heat had done her best by the kitchen painted it white put up curtains replaced a six year old by a color print she had hoped for and a range for summer cooking but always postponed these expenses she was better acquainted with the in the kitchen than with or the can whose soft gray metal handle was twisted from some ancient effort to open a window was more to her than all the in europe and more significant than the future of asia was the never settled weekly question as to whether the small kitchen knife with the handle or the second best carving knife was better for cutting up cold chicken for supper n she was ignored by the till midnight her husband called suppose we could have some eats as she passed through the dining room the men smiled on her none of them noticed her while she was serving the and cheese and and beer they were the exact of in standing pat two hours before when they were	42
not that you have to laugh at dr so much but my man heavens now there s a rare old bird story books when he ou t to be tending to business i say to him you re a romantic old fool and does he get angry he does not he and sa rs yes my beloved folks do say that married people grow to resemble each other him mrs laughed comfortably after such a d what could do but return the courtesy by remarking that as for he wasn t romantic the darling before she left she had to mrs her dislike for aunt the fact that s income was now more than five thousand a year her view of the reason why had married which included some thoroughly praise of s kind heart her opinion of the library board just what had said about mrs s and what thou t of the several in the cities she went home soothed by confession by finding a new friend main street iv the of the domestic situation went back home to help on the farm and had a succession of maids with between the lack of servants was becoming one of the most problems of the town the farmers against village and against the attitude of the toward hired girls they went off to city or to city shops and that they might be free and even human after hours the jolly seventeen were delighted at s desertion by the loyal they reminded her that she had said i don t have any trouble with maids see how stays on between of maids from the north woods from the occasional and and did her own work and endured aunt s in to tell her how to a for dust how to sugar how to stuff a goose was and won shy praise from but as her shoulder blades began to sting she wondered how many millions of women had lied to themselves during the years through which they had pretended to enjoy the methods in she doubted the convenience and as a natural the of the and separate home which she had regarded as the basis of all decent life she considered her doubts vicious she refused to remember how many of the women of the jolly seventeen their husbands and were by them she did not to but her eyes ached she was not the girl in breeches and a flannel shirt who had cooked over a camp fire in the mountains five years ago her ambition was to get to bed at nine her strongest emotion was resentment over rising at half past six to care for hu the back of her neck ached as she got out of bed she was cynical about the joys of a simple laborious life she understood why workmen and workmen s wives are not grateful to their kind at mid morning when she was free from the ache in her neck and back she was glad of the reality of work the hours were living and but she had no main street desire to read the eloquent little newspaper essays in praise of labor which are daily written by the white she felt and though she hid it a bit surly in cleaning the house she pondered upon the maid s room it was a small hole above the kitchen expressive in summer in winter she saw that while she had been considering herself an unusually good mistress she had been permitting her friends and to live in a she complained to what s the with it he growled as they stood on the perilous stairs up from the kitchen she commented upon the sloping roof of boards stained in brown rings by the rain the floor the cot and its tumbled the broken the mirror maybe it ain t any hotel parlor but still it s so better than anything these hired girls are accustomed to at home that they it s fine seems foolish to spend money when they wouldn t appreciate it but that night he with the of a man who wishes to be surprising and delightful don t know but what we might begin to think about building a new house one of these days how d you like that w why i m getting to the point now where i feel we can afford one and a i ll show this something like a real house i we ll put one over on sam and harry i make folks sit up an take notice yes she said he did not go on daily he returned to the subject of the new house but as to time and mode he was indefinite at first she believed she of a low stone house with windows and beds of brick of a white frame cottage with green shutters and windows to her he answered well ye es might be worth thinking about remember where i put my pipe when she pressed him he i don t know seems to me those kind of houses you of have been it proved that what he wanted was a house exactly like sam s which was exactly like every third new house in every town in the country a square yellow with im main street a broad porch tidy grass plot and walks a house resembling the mind of a merchant who the party ticket straight and goes to church once a month and owns a good car he admitted well yes maybe it isn t so dam artistic but matter of fact though i don t want a place just like sam s maybe i would cut off that fool tower he s got and i think probably it would look painted a nice cream color that yellow on sam s house is too kind of then there s another kind of house that s mighty nice	42
and substantial looking with in a nice brown stain instead of seen some in you re way off your base when you say i only like one kind of house i uncle and aunt came in one evening when was a rose garden cottage you ve had a lot of e q with housekeeping and don t you think appealed that it would be sensible to have a nice square house and pay more attention to getting a furnace than to this architecture and aunt worked her lips as though they were an elastic band why of course i know how it is young folks like you you want towers and bay windows and and heaven knows what all but the thing to get is and a good furnace and a handy place to hang out the washing and the rest don t matter uncle a little put his face near to s and course it don t what d you care what folks think about the outside of your house it s the inside you re living in none of my business but i must say you young folks that d rather have cakes than potatoes get me she reached her room before she became savage below dreadfully near she could hear the of aunt s voice and the of uncle s she had a dread that they would in on her then a fear that she would yield to s conception of duty toward an aunt and go down stairs to be nice she felt the demand for behavior coming in waves from all the citizens who sat in their sitting rooms watching her with respectable eyes waiting demanding she oh all right i ll go she powdered her nose straightened her main street and coldly marched down stairs the three elders ignored her they had advanced from the new house to agreeable general aunt was saying in a tone uke the of dry toast i do think mr ought to have had the rain pipe fixed at our store right away i went to see him on tuesday before ten no it was minutes after ten but it was long before noon i know because i went right from the bank to the meat market to get some my i think it s outrageous the prices charge for their meat and it isn t as if they gave you a good cut either but just any old thing and i had time to get it and i stopped in at mrs s to ask about her was watching uncle she knew from his that he was not listening to aunt but his own thoughts and that he would interrupt her he did will where c n i get an extra pair of for this coat and d want to pay too much well guess could make you up a pair but if i were you i d drop into ike s his prices are lower than the bon ton s got the new stove in your yet no been looking at some at sam s but well y ought get t in don t do to put off getting a stove all summer and then have it come cold on you in the fall smiled upon them do you mind if i slip iq to bed i m rather tired cleaned the upstairs today she retreated she was certain that they were discussing her and her she lay awake till she heard the distant of a bed which indicated that had retired then she felt safe it was who brought up the matter of the at breakfast with no visible connection he said uncle whit is kind of clumsy but just the same he s a pretty wise old he s certainly making good with the store smiled and was pleased that she had come to her senses as whit says after all the first thing is to have the inside of a house right and the people on the outside looking in main street it seemed settled that the house was to be a sound example of the sam school made much of it entirely for her and the baby he spoke of for her a sewing room but when he drew on a leaf from an old he was a paper and a string the plans for the he gave much more attention to a floor and a work and a than he had to she sat back and was afraid in the present there were odd things a step iq from the hall to the dining room a in the shed and bush but the new place would be smooth fixed it was probable now that was past forty and settled that this would be the last venture he would ever make in building so long as she stayed in this ark she would always have a possibility of change but once she was in the new house there she would sit for all the rest of her life there she would die desperately she wanted to put it off against the chance of miracles while was chattering about a patent swing door for the saw the swing doors of a prison she never voluntarily returned to the project stopped drawing plans and in ten days the new house was forgotten every year since their marriage had longed for a trip through the east every year had talked of attending the american medical association and then afterwards we could do the east up brown i know new york clean through spent pretty near a week there but i would like to see new england and all these historic places and have some sea food he talked of it from february to may and in may he invariably decided that coming confinement cases or land would prevent his getting away from home base for very long	42
this year and no sense going till we can do it right the weariness of dish washing had increased her desire she pictured herself looking at s bathing in a surf of and ivory wearing a and summer main street fur meeting an aristocratic stranger in the spring had volunteered s pose you d like to get in a good long tour this summer but with and away and so many depending on me don t see how i can make it by i feel like a though not taking you all this restless july after she had tasted s disturbing flavor of travel and gaiety she wanted to go but she said nothing they spoke of and a trip to the twin cities when she suggested as though it were a tremendous joke i think baby and i might up and leave you and run off to cape by ourselves his only reaction was don t know but what you may almost have to do that if we don t get in a trip next year toward the end of july he proposed say the are holding a in street fair and everything we might go down tomorrow and i d like to see dr about some business put in the whole day might help some to make up for our trip fine fellow dr was a town of the size of their was out of order and there was no at an early hour they went down by freight train after the and business of leaving with aunt was over this irregular it was the first unusual thing except the glance of that had happened since the of they rode in the the small red car jerked along at the end of the train it was a the cabin of a land with black seats along the side and for desk a pine board to be let down on hinges played seven up with the conductor and two liked the blue silk about the s throats she liked their welcome to her and their air of friendly independence since there were no passengers in beside her she in the train s she was part of these lakes and wheat fields she liked the smell of hot earth and clean and the leisurely a of the was a song of contentment in he sun she pretended that she was going to the when hey reached she was radiant with holiday making her eagerness began to lessen the moment they stopped at ft red frame station exactly like the one they had just left main street at and yawned ri t on time just in time for dinner at the i the doctor from g p that we d be here well catch the freight that gets in before twelve i told him he said he d meet us at the and take us right up to the house for dinner is a good man and find his wife is a ty woman bright as a dollar by there he is dr was a clean shaven conscientious looking man of forty he was curiously like his own brown painted car with eye glasses for want you to meet my wife doctor make you with dr said bowed quietly and shook her hand but before he had finished shaking it he was upon with nice to see you doctor say don t let me forget to ask you about what you did in that case that woman at the two men on the front seat of the car and ignored her she did not know it she was to feed her illusion of adventure by staring at houses cottages artificial stone square with and broad and tidy grass plots handed her over to his wife a thick woman who called her and asked if she was hot and visibly searching for conversation produced let s see you and the doctor have a little one haven t you at dinner mrs served the beef and and looked st my looked like the leaves of the men were of their wives as they gave the social of main street the opinions on weather crops and cars then flung away restraint and in the of shop talk his chin in the ecstasy of being inquired say doctor what success have you had with for treatment of pains in the legs before child birth did not resent their assumption that she was too ignorant to be admitted to masculine mysteries she was used to it but the and mrs s monotonous i don t know what we re coming to with all this difficulty getting hired girls were her eyes with she sought to clear them by appealing to in a manner of main street doctor have the medical societies in ever for help to nursing mothers slowly toward her ive never never looked into it i don t believe much in getting mixed up in politics he turned from her and peering earnestly at resumed doctor what s been your e q with of and but seems to me not till after two did they rise in the lee of the mature proceeded to the street fair which added gaiety to the annual rites of the united and order of human were ever thirty second degree in gray sack suits and decent more in crash summer coats and straw hats rustic in shirt sleeves and but whatever his caste every was distinguished by an enormous colored ribbon in silver sir knight and brother u f o b annual state on the of each of their wives was a sir knight s lady the had brought their famous amateur band in k of green jacket blue trousers and scarlet the strange thing was that beneath their scarlet pride the faces remained those of american business men pink smooth and as they stood playing in a circle at the corner	42
square and bright as she ought to of been an artist or a writer or one of those things but once she took a shot at living here she ought to stick by it pretty lord yes but cold she simply doesn t know what passion is she simply hasn t got an i how hard it is for a full blooded man to go on pretending to be satisfied with just being endured it gets awful tiresome having to feel like a criminal just because i m normal she s getting so she doesn t even care for my kissing her well i guess i can weather it same as i did earning my way school and getting started in practise but i wonder how long i can stand being an in my own home he sat up at the entrance of mrs she into a chair and gasped with the heat he chuckled well this is fine where s the list what cause do i get robbed for this trip i haven t any list will i want to see you and you a christian have you given that up what next new thought or no i have not given it up strikes me it s kind of a knock on the your coming to see a doctor no it isn t it s just that my faith isn t strong enough yet so there now and besides you are kind of will i mean as a man not just as a doctor you re so strong and placid he sat the edge of his desk his swinging open with the thick gold line of his chain across the gap his hands in his trousers pockets his big arms bent and easy as she he cocked an interested eye was faded her emotions were moist and her figure was splendid and arms with thick ankles and a body that was in the wrong places but her skin was delicious her eyes were alive her chestnut hair shone and there was a tender slope from ears to the shadowy place below her jaw with unusual solicitude he uttered his stock phrase well what seems to be the matter i ve got such a all the time i m afraid trouble that you treated me for is coming back o main street any definite signs of it n no but i think you d better examine me don t believe it s necessary to be honest between old friends i think your troubles are mostly imaginary i can t really advise you to have an examination she flushed looked out of the window he was conscious that his voice was not and even she tiu ned quickly will you always say my troubles are imaginary why can t you be scientific i ve been reading an article about these new nerve and they claim that lots of imaginary yes and lots of real pain too are what they call and they order a change in a woman s way of living so she can get on a higher plane wait wait now don t mix up your christian science and your they re two entirely different you ll be mixing in next you re as bad as with your why good lord i could talk about and and and and just as well as any damn if i got paid for it if i was in the city and had the nerve to charge the that those fellows do if a stung you for a hundred dollar consultation fee and told you to go to new york to duck s you d do it to save the hundred dollars but you know me i m your neighbor you see me the lawn you figure i m just a general if i said go to new york and you would laugh your heads off and say look at the airs will is putting on what does he think he is as a matter of fact you re right you have a perfectly well developed case of of sex instinct and it raises the old ned with your body what you need is to get away from and travel yes and go to every dog gone kind of new thought and and and meeting you can find i know it well s you do but how can i advise it would be up here taking my hide off i m willing to be family physician and priest and lawyer and and wet nurse but i draw the line at making up on money too hard a job in weather like this so my dear believe it will rain if this heat keeps but will he d never give it to me on my say so he d never let me go away you know how is so jolly and main street liberal in society and oh just loves to match quarters and such a perfect sport if he loses but at home he a till the blood i have to him for every single dollar sure i know but it s your fight honey keep after him he d simply resent my in he crossed over and patted her shoulder outside the window beyond the screen that was with dust and main street was hushed t for the impatient throb of a standing car she took his firm hand pressed his against her cheek o will is so mean and little and noisy the i you re so calm when he s cutting up at parties i see you standing back and watching him die way a watches a he fought for professional dignity with s not a bad fellow she released his hand will drop round by the house this evening and me make me be good and sensible and i m so lonely if i did would be there and we d have to	42
ve been stepping on their pet religious oh the mill keeps dropping in and that and one fellow from elder s factory and a few but you know be big good hearted like her wants a lot of folks around likes to fuss over em never satisfied unless she herself out making coffee for somebody once she me and me to the church i goes in pious as widow and sits still and never cracks a smile while the is us with his on but afterwards when the old were everybody at the door and calling em brother and sister they let me sail by with a they figure i m the town always will be i guess it ll have to be who goes on main street and sometimes blamed if i don t feel like coming out and sa i ve been nothing to it now i m going to start something in these rotten one horse west of town but be s got me lord mrs do you what a jolly square faithful woman she is and i love oh well i won t go and get sentimental on you course i ve had thoughts of pulling up going west maybe if they didn t know it beforehand they t find out i d ever been guilty of trying to think for myself but oh i ve worked hard and built up this business and i hate to start all over again and move be and the kid into another one room that s how they get us encourage us to be and own our own houses and then by they ve got us they know we won t dare risk everything by committing what is it majesty i mean they know we won t be around that if we had a co bank we could get along without well as long as i can sit and play with be and tell to about his s adventures in the woods and how he a and knew paul why i don t mind being a bum it s just for them that i mind say say don t whisper a word to be but when i get this addition done i m going to buy her a he did while she was busy with the her work hungry muscles found washing mending preserving a chicken painting the sink tasks which because she was miles s full partner were exciting and listened to the records with rapture like that of cattle in a warm stable the addition gave her a kitchen with a bedroom above the original one room was now a living room with the a genuine golden oak and a picture of governor john johnson in late july went to the desirous of a chance to express her opinion of and and she found restless from a slight fever and flushed and dizzy but trying to keep up her work miles aside and worried they don t look at all well what s the matter their are out of i wanted to call in main street but be thinks the doesn t like us she thinks maybe he s sore because you come down here but i m getting worried i m going to call the doctor at once she over his eyes were stupid he moaned he rubbed his forehead have they been eating something that s been bad for them she fluttered to miles might be bum water i ll tell you we used to get our water at s place over across the street but kept at me and i was a not to dig a well of my own one time he said sure you are great on up other folks money and water i i knew if he kept it up there d be a fuss and i ain t safe to have around once a fuss starts i m likely to forget myself and let loose with a punch in the i offered to pay but he refused he d rather have the chance to kid me so i starts getting water down at mrs s in the hollow there and i don t believe it s real good to dig my own well this fall one scarlet word was before s eyes while she listened she fled to s office he gravely heard her out nodded said be right over he examined and he shook his head yes looks to me like i ve seen in lumber groaned miles all the strength dripping out of him have they got it very bad oh we ll take good care of them said and for the first time in their acquaintance he smiled on miles and clapped his shoulder won t you need a nurse demanded why to miles hinted couldn t you get s cousin she s down at the old folks in the then let me do it insisted they need some one to cook for them and isn t it good to give them in yes all right was he was the official the physician i guess probably it would be hard to get a nurse here in town just now mrs is busy with an case and that town nurse of yours is off on main street ain t she all right can spell you at night all week from eight each morning till midnight fed them bathed them smoothed sheets took miles refused to let her cook terrified pallid noiseless in feet he did the kitchen work and the sweeping his big red hands awkwardly careful came in three times a day tender and hopeful in the polite to miles understood how great was her love for her friends it bore her through it made her arm steady and to them what exhausted her was the sight of and turned into flushed after taking food begging for	42
the healing of sleep at night during the second week s powerful legs were spots of a delicate pink came out on his chest and back his cheeks sank he looked frightened his tongue was brown and his confident voice to a bewildered murmur ceaseless and had stayed on her feet too long at the beginning the moment had ordered her to bed she had begun to one early evening she startled them by screaming in an intense pain and within half an hour she was in a delirium till dawn was with her and not all of s groping through the blackness of half pain was so pitiful to as the way in which miles silently peered into the room from the top of the narrow stairs slept three hours next morning and ran back was altogether but she muttered nothing save ve have such a good time at ten while was preparing an ice bag in the kitchen miles answered a knock at the front door she saw and mrs wife of the they were carrying grapes and women magazines with high colored pictures and fiction we just heard your wife was sick come to see if there isn t something we can do miles looked steadily at the three women you re too late you can t do nothing now s always kind of hoped that you folks would come see her she wanted to have a chance and be friends she used to sit waiting for somebody main street to knock ive seen her sitting here waiting now ob you ain t worth god he shut the door all day watched s strength he was his ribs were grim clear lines his skin was his pulse was feeble but r id it beat beat beat in a drum roll of death late that afternoon he sobbed and died did not know it she was next morning when she went she did not know that would no longer swing his sword on the door step no longer rule his subjects of the cattle yard that miles s son would not go east to college miles were silent they washed the bodies together their eyes veiled go home now and sleep you re pretty tired i can t ever pay you back for what you done miles to yes but be back here tomorrow go with you to the funeral she said laboriously when the time for the funeral came was in bed she assumed that neighbors would go they had not told her that word of miles s to had spread through town a fury it was only by chance that leaning on her elbow in bed she glanced the window and saw the funeral of and there was no music no carriages there was only miles in his black wedding suit walking quite alone head down behind the shabby that bore the bodies of his wife and baby an hour after came into her room crying and when she said as cheerily as she could what is it dear he i want to go play with that afternoon dropped in to she said too bad about this that was your hired girl but i don t waste any sympathy on that man of hers everybody says he drank too much and treated his family awful and that s how they got sick chapter from in france said that he een sent to the front been slightly wounded been made tain from s pride sought to draw a her from depression les had sold his he had several thousand dollars he said good by with a word a harsh shake going to buy a farm in northern far om folks as i can get he turned sharply away but not walk with his former spring his shoulders seemed was said that before he went he cursed the town was talk of him of riding him on a rail it that at the station old you better not come back here got respect for dead but we haven t got any for a and a r that won t do anything for his country and only bought bond ne of the people who had been at the station declared that made some dreadful retort something about german workmen more than american but asserted that he couldn t find one word with which to ir the that he merely up on the the train he must have felt guilty everybody agreed the train left town a farmer saw him standing in the and looking out j house with the addition which he had built four is ago was very near the track on which his train passed went there for the last time she found s t with its red wheels standing in the sunny corner i the stable she wondered if a quick eye could have d it from a train at day and that week she went reluctantly to red cross she and packed silently while read the war ins and she said nothing at all when com main street from what says i guess was a bad egg after all in spite of don t know but what the citizens committee ought to have forced him to be patriotic let on like they could send him to jail if he didn t and come through for bonds and the y m c a they ve worked that fine with all these german farmers n she found no inspiration but she did find a kindness in mrs and at last she yielded to the old woman s and had relief in sobbing the story of she often met on the street but he was merely a pleasant voice which said things about charles lamb and her most positive e q was the revelation of mrs the tall thin wife of the attorney encountered her at the store walking snapped why	42
he never gets the fact they re him oh i think it s just too funny the jolly seventeen laughed and laughed with them mrs jack elder added that this had confided to mrs that he would love to design clothes for women imagine mrs had had a glimpse of him but honestly she d thought he was awfully handsome this was instantly by mrs b j wife of the banker mrs had had she reported a good look at this fellow she and b j had been and passed elizabeth out by s bridge he was wearing the clothes with the waist pinched in like a girl s he was sitting on a rock doing nothing but when he heard the car coming he snatched a book out of his pocket and as they went by he pretended to be reading it to show off and he wasn t really good looking just kind of soft as b j had pointed out when the husbands came they joined in the expose my name is elizabeth i m the celebrated musical tailor the skirts fall for me by the thou do i get some more loaf merrily shrieked he had some stories about the tricks the town had played on they had dropped a perch into his pocket they had pinned on his back a sign i m the prize kick me glad of any laughter joined the and surprised them by crying i do think you re the dearest thing since you got your hair cut that was an excellent sally everybody applauded looked proud she decided that sometime she really must go out of her way to pass s shop and see this n she was at sunday morning service at the church in a solemn row with her husband i uncle main street despite aunt s the rarely attended church the doctor asserted sure religion is a fine influence got to have it to keep the lower classes in order fact it s the only thing that appeals to a lot of those fellows and makes em respect the rights of property and i this is o k lot of wise old figured it all out and they knew more about it than we do he believed in the christian religion and never thought about it he believed in the church and seldom went near it he was shocked by s lack of faith and wasn t quite sure what was the nature of the faith that she lacked herself was an uneasy and when she ventured to sunday school and heard the teachers that the of was a valuable problem for children to think about when die ex with wednesday prayer meeting and listened to store keeping elders giving their weekly testimony in primitive and such phrases as washed in the blood of the lamb and a god when mrs boasted that through his boyhood she had made confess nightly upon the basis of the ten then was dismayed to find the christian religion in america in the twentieth century as as without the splendor but when she went to church and felt the friendliness saw the gaiety with which the sisters served cold ham and potatoes when mrs cried to her on an afternoon call my dear if you just knew how happy it makes you to come into abiding grace then found the behind the and alien always she perceived that the churches catholic all of them which had seemed so unimportant to the judge s home in her childhood so isolated from the city struggle in st paul were still in the strongest of the forces compelling respectability this august sunday she had been tempted by the announcement that the reverend would preach on the topic america face your problems with the great war workmen in every nation showing a desire to control russia a revolution against woman there seemed to be plenty of problems for the reverend mr to call on america to face main street gathered her family and trotted off behind uncle the congregation faced the heat with men with highly hair so painfully shaved that their faces looked sore removed their coats sighed and two buttons of their sunday large white hot the mothers in and friends of mrs waved their palm leaf in a steady abashed boys into the rear and while little girls up front with their mothers self kept from turning around the church was half barn and half parlor the brown was broken in its dismal sweep only by framed come unto me and the lord is my shepherd by a list of hymns and by a crimson and green drawn upon colored paper indicating the alarming ease with which a young man may descend from palaces of pleasure and the house of pride to eternal but the oak and the new red carpet and the three large chairs on the platform behind the bare reading stand were all of a rocking chair comfort was and and today she beamed and bowed she out with the others the how pleasant tis on sabbath to gather in the church and there i ll have no thoughts nor sin shall me with a rustle of linen skirts and stiff shirt fronts the congregation sat down and gave heed to the reverend mr the priest was a thin intense young man with a bang he wore a black sack suit and a tie he smote the enormous bible on the reading stand come let us reason together delivered a prayer informing almighty god of the news of the past week and began to reason it proved that the only problems which america had to face were and don t let any of these self conceited fellows that are always trying to stir up trouble deceive you with the belief that there s anything to all these smart movements to	42
main street let the and the farmers league kill all our and enterprise by fixing wages and prices there isn t any movement that to a without it s got a moral background and let me tell you that while folks are about what they call and and science and a lot of things that are nothing in the world but a disguise for the old satan is busy reading his secret net and out there in under his guise of joe smith or young or whoever their leaders happen to be today it doesn t make any difference and they re making game of the old bible that has led this american people through its manifold trials and to its firm position as the fulfilment of the and the recognized leader of all nations sit thou on my right hand till i make thine enemies the of my feet said the lord of hosts acts ii the thirty fourth verse and let me tell you right now you got to get up a good deal earlier in the morning than you get up even when you re going fishing if you want to be than the lord who has shown us the straight and narrow way and he that is in eternal peril and to return to this vital and terrible subject of and as i say it is terrible to realize how little attention is given to this evil right here in our midst and on our very as it were it s a shame and a disgrace that the of these united states all its time talking about financial matters that ought to be left to the treasury department as i understand it instead of arising in their might and passing a law that any one admitting he is a shall simply be and as it were kicked out of this free country in which we haven t got any room for and the of satan and to for a moment especially as there are more of them in this state than there are though you never can tell what will happen with this vain generation of young girls that think more about wearing silk stockings than about their mothers and learning to a good loaf of bread and many of them listening to these and i actually heard one of them talking right out on a street corner in a few years ago and the officers of the law not protesting but still as they are a smaller but more immediate problem let me stop for just a moment to pay my respects to these seventh day not that main street i they are i don t mean but when a body of men go on that saturday is the sabbath after christ himself has clearly indicated the new then i think the ought to step in at this point awoke she got through three more minutes by studying the face of a girl in the across a sensitive unhappy girl whose longing poured out with self revelation as she mr wondered who the girl was she had seen her at church she considered how many of the three thousand people in the town she did not know to how many of them the and the jolly seventeen were icy social peaks how many of them might be toiling through thicker than her own with greater courage she examined her nails she read two hymns she got some satisfaction out of rubbing an she on her shoulder the head of the baby who after killing time in the same manner as his mother was so fortunate as to fall asleep she read the introduction title page and acknowledgment of in the she tried to a hy which would explain why could never tie his so that it would reach the top of the gap in his turn down collar there were no other to be found in the she glanced back at the congregation she thought that it would be amiable to bow to mrs her slow turning head stopped across the aisle two rows back was a strange young man who shone among the citizens like a from the sun curls low forehead fine nose chin smooth but not raw from sabbath his lips startled her the lips of men in are flat in the face straight and the stranger s mouth was arched upper lip short he wore a brown coat a blue bow a white silk shirt white flannel trousers he suggested the ocean beach a court anything but the sun utility of main street a visitor from here for business no he wasn t a business man he was a poet was in his face and and arthur whom she had once seen in he was at once too sensitive and too to touch business as she knew it in go i main street with restrained amusement he was the noisy mr was ashamed to have this spy from the great world hear the s she felt responsible for the town she resented his gaping at their private rites she flushed turned away but she continued to feel his presence how could she meet him she must for an hour of talk he was all that she was hungry for she could not let him get away without a word and she would have to she pictured and herself as walking up to him and remarking i am sick with the village will you please tell me what people are saying and playing in new york she pictured and groaned over the expression of if she should say why wouldn t it be reasonable for you my soul to ask that complete stranger in the brown coat to come to supper tonight she not looking back she warned herself that she was probably that no young man could have all these exalted qualities wasn	42
t he too obviously smart too glossy new like a actor probably he was a who sang tenor and fancied himself in of clothes and spoke of the business proposition that ever came down the in a panic she peered at him no this was no this boy with the lips and the serious eyes she rose after the service carefully taking s arm and smiling at him in a mute assertion that she was devoted to him no matter what happened she followed the mystery s soft brown shoulders out of the church the shrill and son of his hand at the beautiful stranger and how s the kid all up like a horse today ain t we was exceeding sick her herald from the outside was elizabeth tailor and hot goose mending dirty respectfully holding a measure about a and yet she insisted this boy was also himself in they had sunday dinner with the in a dining room which about a fruit and flower piece and a main street of uncle did not heed aunt s in regard to mrs robert b s bead and s error in putting on the striped day like this she did not taste the of roast pork she will i wonder if that young man in the white flannel trousers at church this morning was this person that they re all talking about that s him wasn t that the get up he had on scratched at a white on his hard gray sleeve it wasn t so bad i wonder where he comes from he seems to have lived in cities a good deal is he from the east the east him why he comes from a farm right up north here just this side of i know his father typical old farmer oh really believe he has lived in for quite some time though learned his trade there and i will say he s bright some ways reads a lot says he takes more books out of the library than anybody else in town he s kind of like you in that the and laughed very much at this sly jest uncle seized the conversation that fellow that s working for that s what he is makes me tired to see a young fellow that ought to be in the war or anyway out in the fields earning his living honest like i done when i was young doing a woman s work and then come out and dress up like a show actor why when i was his age reflected that the carving knife would make an excellent dagger with which to kill uncle it would slide in easily the would be terrible said oh i don t want to be unjust to him i believe he took his physical examination for military service got veins not bad but enough to him though i will say he doesn t look like a fellow that would be so awful crazy to his into a hun s will please well he don t looks soft to me and they say he told main street when he was getting a hair cut on saturday that he wished he could play the piano isn t it wonderful how much we all know about one another in a town like this said innocently was suspicious but aunt serving the floating island agreed yes it is wonderful folks can get away with all sorts of and sins in these terrible cities but they can t here i was noticing this tailor fellow this morning and when mrs offered to share her hymn book with him he shook his head and all the while we was singing he just stood there like a on a log and never opened his mouth everybody says he s got an idea that he s got so much better manners and all than what the rest of us have but if that s what he calls good manners i want to know again studied the carving knife blood on the whiteness of a might be gorgeous then fool telling yourself orchard fairy tales at thirty dear lord am i really thirty that boy can t be more than twenty five iv she went calling boarding with the widow was a girl of twenty two who was to be teacher of english french and in the high school this coming had come to town early for the six weeks normal course for country teachers had noticed her on the street had heard almost as much about her as about she was tall pretty and whether she wore a low collar or dressed for school in a black suit with a high she was airy she looks like an absolute said all the mrs sam and all the that sunday evening sitting in canvas lawn chairs beside the house the saw laughing with who though still a junior in high school was now a lump of a man only two or three years younger than had to go for matters connected with the main street pool parlor drooped on the porch her chin m her hands she looks lonely said she does poor soul i believe i ll go over and speak to her i was introduced to her at s but i haven t called was slipping across the lawn a white figure in the faintly brushing the grass she was thinking of and of the fact that her feet were wet and she was casual in her greeting the doctor and i wondered if you were lonely i am concentrated on her my dear you sound i know how it is i used to be tired when i was on the job i was a what was your college i was more i went to the u meant the university of you must have had a splendid time was a bit dull where	42
were you a st paul the main library honest oh dear i wish i was back in the cities this is my first year of teaching and i m scared stiff i did have the best time in college and basket ball and and dancing i m simply crazy about dancing and here except when i have the in class or when i m the basket ball team on a trip out of town i won t dare to move above a whisper i guess they don t care much if you put any into teaching or not as long as you look like a good influence out of school hours and that means never doing anything you want to this normal course is bad enough but the regular school will be fierce if it wasn t too late to get a job in the cities i swear i d resign here i bet i won t dare to go to a single dance all winter if i cut loose and danced the way i like to they d think i was a perfect poor harmless me oh i t to be talking like this you never could be don t be frightened my dear doesn t that sound old and kind i m talking to you the way mrs talks to me that s having a husband and a kitchen range i suppose but i feel young and i want to dance like a like a too so i s made a sound of gratitude inquired what main street i experience did you have with college i tried to start a kind of little here it was dreadful i must tell you about it two hours later when came over to greet and to look here don t you suppose you better be thinking about turning in ive got a hard day tomorrow the two were talking so intimately that they constantly each other as she went home by a husband and holding up her rejoiced everything has changed i have two friends and but who s the other that s queer i thought there was oh how absurd she often passed on the street the brown coat became when she was driving with in early evening she saw him on the lake shore reading a thin book which might easily have been poetry she noted that he was the only person in the town who still took long walks she told herself that she was the daughter of a judge the wife of a doctor and that she did not care to know a tailor she told herself that she was not to men not even to she told herself that a woman of thirty who a boy of twenty five was ridiculous and on friday when she had convinced herself that the errand was necessary she went to s shop bearing the not very romantic burden of a pair of her husband s trousers was in the back room she faced the greek god who in a somewhat way was a coat on a sewing machine in a room of plaster walls she saw that his hands were not in keeping with a face they were thick with needle and hot iron and handle even in the shop he persisted in his finery he wore a silk shirt a thin tan shoes this she absorbed while she was saying can i get these pressed please not rising from the sewing machine he stuck out his hand when do you want them oh monday main street the adventure was over she was marching out what name he called after her he had risen and despite the of dr will s trousers draped over his arm he had the grace of a cat oh oh say you re mrs dr then aren t you yes she stood at the door now that she had carried out her preposterous impulse to see what he was like she was cold she was as ready to detect as the virtuous miss ive heard about you was saying you got up a dramatic club and gave a play ive always wished i had a chance to belong to a little and give some european plays or like or a he pronounced it he with rag nodded in the manner of a lady being kind to a and one of her selves sneered our is indeed a lost john he was appealing do you suppose it would be possible to get up another dramatic club this coming fall well it might be worth thinking of she came out of her several conflicting and said sincerely there s a new teacher miss who might have some talent that would make three of us for a if we could scrape up half a dozen we might give a real play with a small cast have you had any experience just a bum club that some of us got up in when i was working there we had one good man an interior maybe he was kind of and but he really was an artist and we gave one play but i of course ive always had to work hard and study by myself and i m probably and i d love it if i had training in i mean the the was the better i d like it if you didn t want to use me as an actor i d love to design the i m crazy about and colors and designs she knew that he was trying to keep her from going trying to indicate that he was something more than a person to whom one brought trousers for pressing he some day i hope i can get away from this fool main street when i have the money saved up i want to go east and work for some big and study art drawing	42
and become a high class or do you think that s a kind of ambition for a fellow i was brought up on a farm and then round with i don t know what do you think says you re awfully educated i am awfully tell me have the boys made of your ambition she was seventy years old and and more than well they have at that they ve me a good deal here and both they say is ladies work but i was willing to get for the war i tried to get in but they rejected me but i did try i thought some of working up in a store and i had a chance to travel on the road for a clothing house but somehow i hate this but i can t seem to get enthusiastic about i keep thinking about a room in gray paper with prints in very narrow gold or would it be better in white but anyway it looks out on fifth avenue and i m a he made it too ous robe of green over cloth of gold you know it s elegant what do you think why not what do you care for the opinion of city or a lot of farm boys but you mustn t you really mustn t let casual strangers like me have a chance to judge you well you aren t a stranger one way miss should say she s spoken about you so often i wanted to call on you and the doctor but i didn t quite have the nerve one evening i walked past your house but you and your husband were talking on the porch and you looked so and happy i didn t dare butt in i think it s extremely nice of you to want to be trained in in by a stage perhaps i could help you i m a thoroughly sound and am by instinct quite hopelessly mature oh you aren t either i she was not very successful at accepting his with the air of amused woman of the world but she sounded reasonably thank you shall we see if we really can get main street up a new dramatic ill tell you come to the house this evening about eight i ll ask miss to com over and we ll talk about it vi he has absolutely no sense of humor less than will but hasn t he what is a sense of humor isn t the thing he the back that passes for humor here poor lamb me to stay and play with him poor lonely lamb if he could be free from from people who say and bum would he develop i wonder if didn t use back street as a boy no not he s sensitive to silken things innumerable of and splendid as are the tiger s deep d wings here a bewildered spirit fallen on main street and main street laughs till it till the spirit doubts his own self and tries to give up the use of wings for the correct uses of a store with its celebrated eleven miles of walk i wonder how much of the is made out of the of john vn was cordial to her told her he was a great hand for running off with pretty and promised that if the school board should object to her dancing he would bat em one over the head and tell em how lucky they were to get a girl with some go to her for once but to he was not cordial he shook hands loosely and said h are was acceptable he had been here for years and owned his shop but this person was merely s workman and the town s principle of perfect was not meant to be applied the conference on a dramatic club included but he sat back patting conscious of s ankles smiling on the children at their sport wanted to tell her was sulky every main street time she thought of the girl from it was who made suggestions he had read with breadth and lack of judgment his voice was sensitive to but he the word glorious he a tenth of the words he had from books but he knew it he was but he was shy when he demanded i d like to stage suppressed desires by cook and miss ceased to be he was not the he was the artist sure of his vision i d make it simple use a big window at the back with a of a blue that would simply hit you in the eye and just one tree branch to suggest a park below put the breakfast table on a let die colors be kind of and tea orange chairs and orange and blue table and blue breakfast set and some place one big of black bang oh another play i wish we could do is s the black mask i ve never seen it but glorious ending where this woman looks at the man with his face all blown away and she just gives one horrible scream good god is that idea of a glorious ending that sounds fierce i do love artistic things but not the horrible ones moaned was bewildered glanced at she nodded at the end of the conference they had decided nothing chapter she had walked up the railroad track with this sunday afternoon she saw coming in an ancient suit sullenly and alone striking at the rails with a stick for a second she wanted to avoid him but she kept on and she serenely talked about god whose voice asserted made the humming in the telegraph wires e stared straightened they greeted each other with say how do you do to mr oh dear me he s got a button	42
worried kneeling frowned then noted the strength with which he swung the baby in the air may i walk along a piece with you i m tired let s rest on those ties i must be trotting back they sat on a heap of discarded railroad ties oak logs spotted with colored dry rot and marked with brown streaks where iron plates had rested learned that the pile was the hiding place of he went for them while the elders talked of uninteresting things the telegraph wires above them the rails were glaring hard lines the dusty across the track was a pasture of dwarf and lawn cut by cow paths beyond its placid narrow green the rough of new jagged with like huge talked of books like a recent convert to any faith he exhibited as many titles and authors as possible halting only to appeal have you read his last book don t you think he s a terribly strong writer she was dizzy but when he insisted youve been a tell me do i read too much fiction she advised him rather he had she indicated never main street studied he had from one emotion to another especially she hesitated then flung it at him he must not guess at he must endure the nuisance of stopping to reach for the dictionary i m talking like a teacher she sighed no and i will study read the damned dictionary right through he crossed his legs and bent over clutching his ankle with both hands i know what you mean i ve been rushing from picture to picture like a kid let loose in an art gallery for the first time you see it s so awful recent that i ve found there was a world well a world where beautiful things counted i was on the farm till i was nineteen is a good farmer but nothing else do you know why he first sent me off to learn i wanted to study drawing and he had a cousin that d made a lot of money out in and he said was a lot like drawing so he sent me down to a hole called to work in a tailor shop up to that time i d only had three months a year walked to school two through snow up to my knees and never would stand for my having a single book except i never read a novel till i got of hall out of the library at i thought it was the loveliest thing in the world next i read burned away and then pope s translation of some combination all right when i went to just two years ago i guess i d read pretty much everything in that library but i d never heard of or john or or but i ll study look here shall i get out of this this pressing and i don t see why a surgeon should spend very much time shoes but what if i find i can t really draw and design after around in new york or i d feel like a fool if i had to go back to work in a store please say all right ill remember he shrugged and spread his fingers wide she was by his humility she put away in her mind to take out and worry over later a speculation as to whether it was not she who was she urged what if you do to go back most of us do we can t all main street j be artists myself for instance we have to and yet we re not content to think of nothing but and i d demand all i could get whether i finally down to or building temples or pressing what if you do drop back you ll have had the adventure don t be too meek toward life go you re young you re unmarried try everything don t listen to and sam and be a steady young man in order to help them make money you re still a blessed innocent go and play till the good people capture you but i don t just want to play i want to make something beautiful god and i don t know enough do you get it do you nobody else ever has do you understand yes and so but here s what me i like things like that little drawings and elegant words but look over there at those fields big new don t it seem kind of a shame to leave this and go back to the east and europe and do what all those people have been doing so long being careful about words when there s millions of of wheat here reading this fellow when i ve helped to dear fields it s good to clear fields but it s not for you it s one of our favorite american that broad plains necessarily make broad minds and high make high purpose i thought that myself when i first came to the big new oh i don t want to deny the future it will be magnificent but equally i m hanged if i want to be by it go to war on behalf of main street be and by the faith that the future is already here in the present and that all of us must stay and worship wheat and insist that this is god s country and never of course do anything original or gay colored that would help to make that future anyway you don t belong here sam and that s what our big has produced go before it s too late as it has been for for some of us young man go east and grow up with the revolution then perhaps you may come back and tell sam and and	42
me what to do with the land we ve been clearing if well listen if we don t you first he looked at her reverently she could hear him saying main street i ve always wanted to know a woman who would talk to me like that her hearing was he was saying nothing of the sort he was saying why aren t you happy with your husband i you he doesn t care for the blessed innocent part of you does he you mustn t first you tell me to go and be free and then you say that i mustn t i i know but you mustn t you must be more he at her like a young owl she wasn t sure but she thought that he muttered i m damned if i will she considered with wholesome fear the perils of with other people s and she said timidly hadn t we better start back now he mused you re younger than i am your lips are for songs about rivers in the morning and lakes at twilight i don t see how anybody could ever hurt you yes we better go he beside her his eyes averted took his thumb he looked down at the baby seriously he burst out all right i ll do it i ll stay here one year save not spend so much money on clothes and then i ll go east to art school work on the side tailor shop s i ll learn what i m good for clothes stage or selling to fat men all settled he peered at her can you stand it here in town for a year with you to look at please i mean don t the people here think you re an odd bird they do me i assure you i don t know i never notice much oh they do kid me about not being in the army especially the old the old men that aren t going themselves and this boy and mr s son he s a horrible but probably he s to say what he thinks about his father s hired man he s they were in town they passed aunt s house aunt and mrs were at the window and saw main street that they were staring so intently that they answered her wave only with the stiffly raised hands of in the next block mrs dr was gaping from her porch said with an embarrassed i want to run in and see mrs ill say good by here she avoided his eyes mrs was felt that she was expected to explain and while she was mentally asserting that she d be hanged if she d explain she was explaining captured that boy up the track they became such good friends and i talked to him for a while i d heard he was eccentric but really i found him quite intelligent crude but he reads reads almost the way dr does that s fine why does he stick here in town what s this i hear about his being interested in i don t know is he i m sure he isn t he said he was quite lonely besides is a babe in arms twenty one if she s a day well is the doctor going to do any this fall n the need of explaining dragged her back into doubting for all his ardent reading and his ardent life was he anything but a small town youth bred on an farm and in cheap tailor shops he had rough hands she had been attracted only by hands that were fine and like those of her father delicate hands and resolute purpose but this boy powerful hands and will it s not appealing weakness like his but sane strength that will the only does that mean anything or am i echoing the world has always let strong and soldiers the men with strong voices take control and what have the thundering done what is strength this of people i i suppose differ as much as or kings frightened me when he turned on me of course he didn t mean anything but i mustn t let him be so personal amazing impertinence main street but he didn t mean to be his hands are firm i wonder if don t have thick hands too of course if there really is anything i can do to the boy though i despise these people who interfere he must be independent m she wasn t altogether pleased the week when was independent and without asking for her inspiration planned the it that he had learned to play in that next to he bad the best serve in town was well spoken of in and almost never played there were three courts one belonging to harry one to the cottages at the lake and one a rough field cm the outskirts laid out by a association had been seen in and an imitation bat playing on the abandoned court with the clerk in s bank suddenly he was going about proposing the of the association and writing names in a fifteen cent note book bought for the purpose at s when he came to he was so excited over being an that he did not stop to talk of himself and for more than ten minutes he begged will you get some of the folks to come in and she nodded agreeably he proposed an exhibition match to the association he suggested that and himself the the and the play and that the association be formed from the gathered he had asked harry to be president harry be reported had promised all right you bet but you go ahead and arrange things and i ll o k em planned that the match should be held saturday afternoon on the old public	42
court at the edge of town he was happy in being for the first time part of through the week heard how select an attendance there was to be growled that he didn t care to go had he any objections to her playing with no sure not she needed the exercise main street went to the match early the court was in a meadow out on the new road only was there he was dashing about with a trying to make the court somewhat less like a field he admitted that he had at the thought of the coming and mrs arrived in home made and black through at the toe then dr and mrs people as harmless and grateful as the was embarrassed and excessively agreeable like the bishop s lady tr not to feel out of place at a they waited the was for three as spectators there assembled one youthful clerk stopping his ford delivery wagon to stare from the seat and one solemn small boy a smaller sister who had a careless nose i wonder where the are they ought to show up at least said smiled confidently at him and peered down the empty road toward town only heat waves and dust and dusty weeds at half past three no one had come and the boy reluctantly got out his ford glared at them in a manner and rattled away the small boy and hi sister ate grass and sighed the players pretended to be by service but they startled at each dust cloud from a car none of the cars turned into the meadow none till a quarter to four when drove in s heart swelled how loyal he is d end on him he d come if nobody else did even though he doesn t care for the game the old darling did not alight he called out harry me that they ve decided to hold the matches or whatever you call em down at the cottages at the lake instead of here the bunch are down there now and and and everybody harry wanted to know if i d bring you down i guess i can take the right back after supper before could sum it all up stammered why didn t say anything to me about the change of course he s the president but main street looked at him heavily and i don t know a thing about it coming i am not the match was to be here and it will be ho e you can tell harry that he s rude she rallied the five who had been left out who be left out come on we ll toss to see which four of us play the only and original first annual of forest hills and don t know as i blame you said well have supper at home then he drove off she hated him for his composure he had ruined her defiance she felt much less like b as she turned to her huddled followers mrs and lost the toss the others played out the game slowly painfully stumbling on the rough earth the easiest shots watched only by the small boy and his sister beyond the court stretched the eternal fields the four awkwardly going through exercises insignificant in the hot sweep of contemptuous land were not heroic their voices did not ring out in the score but sounded and when the game was over they glanced about as though they were waiting to be laughed at they walked home took s arm through her thin linen sleeve she could feel the warmth of his familiar brown coat she observed that there were purple and red gold threads with the brown she remembered the first time she had seen it their talk was nothing but on the theme i never did like this he just considers his own convenience ahead of them the and spoke of the weather and b j s new no one referred to their at her gate shook hands firmly with and smiled at him next morning sunday morning when was on the porch the drove up we didn t mean to be rude to you implored i wouldn t have you think that for anything we planned that will and you should come down and have supper at our cottage no i m sure you didn t mean to be was but i do think you ought to to poor he was terribly hurt main street oh i don t care so much what he thinks objected harry he s nothing but a conceited and i kind of figured he was trying to run this thing too much anyway but you asked him to make arrangements i know but i don t like him good lord you couldn t hurt his feelings he dresses up like a chorus man and by he looks like but he s nothing but a farm boy and these foreigners they all got hides like a of but he is hurt well i don t suppose i ought to have gone off and not him along i ll give him a cigar he ll had been her lips and staring at she interrupted her husband yes i do think harry ought to fix it up with him you like him don t you over and through ran a frightened like him i haven t an i he seems to be a very decent young man i just felt that when he d worked so hard on the plans for the match it was a shame not to be nice to him maybe there s something to that harry then at sight of coming round the corner the red garden by its brass he roared in relief what d you think you re trying to do while explained in detail all that he thought he was trying to do while he rubbed	42
his chin and gravely stated struck me the grass was looking kind of brown in patches didn t know but what i d give it a and while harry agreed that this was an excellent idea made friendly noises and behind the gilt screen of an affectionate smile watched s face iv she wanted to see she wanted some one to play with there wasn t even so dignified and sound an excuse as having s trousers pressed when she them all three pairs looked neat she probably would not have ventured on it had she not in the pool parlor being witty over bottle pool was alone she fluttered toward the tailor shop dashed into its main street heat with the comic of a humming bird dipping into a dry tiger lily it was after she had entered that she found an excuse was in the back room cross legged on a long table sewing a but he looked as though he were doing this eccentric thing to amuse himself i wonder if you couldn t plan a sports suit for me she said he stared at her he protested no i won t i i m not going to be a tailor with you why she said like a mildly shocked mother it occurred to her that she did not need a suit and that the order might have been hard to explain to he swung down from the table i want to show you something he in the roll top desk on which kept bills buttons thread wax shells of for fancy fishing post cards of he pulled out a sheet of board and anxiously gave it to her it was a sketch for a frock it was not well drawn it was too the pillars in the background were but the frock had an original back very low with a central section from the waist to a string of jet beads at the neck it s but how it would shock mrs yes wouldn t it you must let yourself go more when you re drawing don t know if i can i ve started kind of late but listen what do you think i ve done this two weeks ive read almost clear through a latin grammar and about twenty pages of caesar splendid you are lucky you haven t a teacher to make you artificial you re my teacher there was a dangerous edge of personality to his voice she was offended and agitated she turned her shoulder on him stared through the back window studying this typical of a typical main street block a vista hidden from casual the backs of the chief in town surrounded a neglected dirty and dismal from the front s was enough but attached to the rear was a lean to of storm main street i pine lumber with a tar roof a staggering doubtful shed which was a heap of ashes packing boxes of straw board broken olive bottles rotten fruit and utterly vegetables orange turning black and potatoes with the rear of the bon ton store was grim with black painted iron shutters under them a pile of once glossy red shirt boxes now a from recent rain as seen from main street s meat market had a and virtuous expression with its new tile counter fresh on the floor and a hanging cut in but she now viewed a back room a of yellow with black a man in an apron spotted with dry blood was out a hard of meat behind s lunch the cook in an apron which must long ago have been white smoked a pipe and at the of flies in the of the block by itself was the stable for the three horses of the and beside it a pile of the rear of s bank was and back of it was a walk and a three foot square of grass but the window was barred and behind the bars she saw cramped over figures in books he raised his head rubbed his eyes and went back to the eternity of figures the backs of the other shops were an picture of drained heaps of refuse mine is a back yard romance with a tailor i she was saved from self pity as she began to think through s mind she turned to him with an indignant it s disgusting that this is all you have to look at he considered it outside there i don t notice much i m learning to look inside not awful yes i must be as she walked home without she remembered her father saying to a serious ten year old lady only a fool thinks he s superior to beautiful but only a double fool reads nothing but she was startled by the return of her father startled by a sudden conviction that in this boy she had found the gray judge who was divine love perfect under main street standing she it furiously denied it it it of one thing she was unhappily certain there was nothing of the beloved father image in will she wondered why she sang so often and why she found so many pleasant things seen though trees on a cool evening sunshine on brown wood morning black sloping roofs turned to plates of silver by moonlight pleasant things small friendly things and pleasant places a field of a pasture by the creek and suddenly a wealth of pleasant people was to at the dressing class mrs flattered her with questions about her health baby cook and opinions on the war mrs seemed not to share the town s prejudice against he s a nice looking fellow we must have him go on one of our some time unexpectedly also liked him the tight little had a confused reverence for anything that seemed to him refined or clever he answered	42
harry s that s all ri t now elizabeth may doll himself up too much but he s smart and don t you forget it i was asking round trying to find out where this is and if he didn t tell me what s the matter with his talking so polite hell s bells harry no harm in being polite there s some regular that are just as polite as women near found herself going about rejoicing how the town is she drew up with a dismayed am i falling in love with this boy that s ridiculous i m merely interested in him i like to think of helping him to succeed but as she the living room mended a collar band bathed she was herself and a young an nameless and building a house in the or in virginia buying a chair with his first check reading poetry together and frequently being earnest over valuable about labor tumbling out of bed early for a sunday walk and chattering where would have yawned over bread and butter by a lake was in her pictures and he adored the young artist who made castles of chairs and for him beyond these main street she saw the things i could do for and she admitted that did partly make up the image of her altogether perfect artist in panic she insisted on being attentive to when he wanted to be left alone to read the newspaper vi she needed new clothes had promised well have a good trip down to the cities in the fall and take plenty of time for it and you can get your new glad rags then but as she examined her wardrobe she sung her ancient black velvet frock on the floor and raged they re disgraceful everything i have is falling to pieces there was a new and a mrs it was said that she was not altogether an influence in the way she glanced at men that she would as soon take away a appropriated husband as not that if there was any mr it certainly was strange that nobody seemed to know anything about him but she had made for an frock and hat to match universally admitted to be too cunning for words and the went cautiously with darting eyes and excessive politeness to the rooms which mrs had taken in the old house on avenue with none of the spiritual preparation which the buying of new clothes in marched into mrs s and demanded i want to see a hat and possibly a in the dingy old front parlor which she had tried to make smart with a pier glass covers from fashion magazines french prints mrs moved smoothly among the dress and hat rests spoke smoothly as she took up a small black and red i am sure the lady will find this extremely attractive it s dreadfully and small thought while she soothed i don t believe it quite goes with me it s the thing i have and i m sure you ll find it suits you beautifully it has a great deal of please try it on said mrs more smoothly than ever studied the woman she was as as a glass diamond she was the more rustic in her effort to appear main street she wore a severe high with a row of small black buttons which was becoming to her low slim neatness but her skirt was her cheeks were too highly her lips too sharply p she was a specimen of the of forty made up to look thirty clever and while she was trying on the hat felt very she took it off her head explained with the kind smile for i m afraid it won t do though it s unusually nice for so small a town as this but it s really absolutely new well it you see i know my new york i lived in new york for years besides almost a year in you did was polite and edged away and went home unhappily she was wondering whether her own airs were as as mrs s she put on the had recently given to her for reading and looked over a bill she went hastily up to her room to her mirror she was in a mood of self accurately or not this was the picture she saw in the mirror neat eye glasses black hair tucked under a straw hat which would have suited a cheeks clear thin nose gentle mouth and chin a modest with an of lace at the neck a sweetness and no of gaiety no suggestion of cities music quick laughter i have become a small town woman absolute al modest and moral and safe protected from life genteel the village the village my j scrambled together what can see in that wedded there he does like me because i m the only woman who s decent to him how long before hell wake up to me i ve up to myself am i as old as old as i am not really old become let myself look i want to every i own black hair and pale cheeks they d go with a spanish s behind my ear scarlet over one shoulder th other bare she seized the her cheeks scratched at her lips with the pencil until they stung tore open main street her collar she posed with her thin arms in the attitude of the she dropped them sharply she shook her head my heart doesn t dance she said she as she fastened her at least i m much more graceful than heavens i when i came here from the cities girls me now i m trying to imitate a city girl chapter xxx rushed into the house on a saturday morning early in september and shrieked at school starts next	42
tuesday ive got to have one more before i m arrested let s get up a down the lake for this afternoon won t you come mrs and the doctor wants to go he s a but he s lively i don t think the doctor can go he said something about having to make a country call this afternoon but i d love to that s who can we get mrs might be she s been so nice and maybe if he could get away from the store how about i think he s got lots more style than these town boys you like him all right don t you so the of and the was not only moral but inevitable they drove to the grove on the south shore of lake was his most self he wore s hat dropped an ant down s back and when they went swimming the women modestly changing in the car with the side curtains up the men behind the bushes constantly r eating hope we don t run into poison ivy water on them and to clutch his wife s ankle he the others gave an imitation of the greek dancers he had seen in and when they sat down to supper spread on a lap robe on the grass climbed a tree to throw at them but could not she had made herself young with parted hair sailor and large blue bow white canvas shoes and short linen skirt her mirror had asserted that she looked exactly as she had in college that her throat was smooth her collar bone not very noticeable but she was under restraint when they main street le enjoyed the freshness of the water but she was irritated by s tricks by s excessive good spirits she admired s dance he could never betray bad taste as did and x ave she waited for him to come to her he did not come his he had apparently himself to the watched him and after supper cried to liim come sit down beside me bad at his to be a bad boy and come and sit at his enjoyment of a not very game in which and snatched of cold tongue from one another s plates it seemed was slightly dizzy from the swim she remarked publicly dr has helped me so much by putting me on a diet but it was to alone that she gave the complete version of her peculiarity in being so sensitive so easily hurt by the slightest cross word that she simply had to have nice cheery friends was nice and cheery assured herself whatever faults i may have i certainly couldn t ever be jealous i do like she s always so pleasant but i wonder if she isn t just a bit fond of fishing for men s sympathy playing with and her married well but she looks at him in that mid way disgusting lay between the roots of a big smoking his pipe and assuring her that a week from now when he was again a high school boy and she his teacher he d wink at her in class wanted to come down to the beach to see the darling little was left to who tried to entertain her with humorous accounts of s fondness for she watched put her hand on s shoulder to steady herself disgusting she thought covered s nervous hand with his red and when she with half anger and shrieked let go i tell you he grinned and waved his pipe a old disgusting when and returned and the shifted muttered at there s a boat on ore let s off and have a row what will they think she worried she saw main street peer at with moist eyes let s she said she cried to the party with the amount of good by everybody well you from china as the oars and as she floated on an of delicate gray over which the sunset was poured out thin the irritation of and slipped away smiled at her proudly she considered him in white thin shirt she was conscious of his male of his masculine sides his thin his easy they talked of the library of the he and she softly sang swing low sweet chariot a breeze shivered across the lake the wrinkled water was like and polished the breeze flowed round the boat in a chill current drew the collar of her over her bare throat getting cold afraid well have to go back she said let s not go back to them yet they ll be cutting let s keep along the shore but you enjoy the cutting and you had a beautiful time why we just walked on the shore and talked about she was relieved and to her friend of i was joking i ll tell let s land here and sit on the shore that bunch of brush will shelter us from the wind and watch the sunset it s like melted lead just a short while we don t want to go back and listen to them no but she said nothing while he sped ashore the on the stones he stood on the forward seat holding out his hand they were alone in the ripple silence she rose slowly slowly stepped over the water in the bottom of the old boat she took his hand confidently they sat on a log in a twilight which hinted of autumn leaves fluttered about them i wish are you cold now he whispered a little she shivered but it was not with cold i wish we could curl up in the leaves there covered all up and lie looking out at the dark i wish we as though it was comfortably understood that he did not mean to be taken seriously main street like what all the poets say	42
brown and no i can t be a any more too old ik am i old am i faded and why you re the youngest your eyes are like a girl s they re so well i mean like you believed everything even if you do teach me i feel a thousand years older than you instead of maybe a year younger four or five years younger an your eyes are so innocent and your cheeks so soft damn it it makes me want to cry somehow you re so and i want to protect you and there s nothing to protect you against am i young am i honestly truly she betrayed for a moment the childish mock imploring tone that comes into the voice of the most serious woman when an agreeable man treats her as a girl the childish tone and childish up lips and shy lift of the cheek yes you you re dear to believe it n will you play with me a lot perhaps would you really like to curl in the leaves and watch the stars swing by overhead i think it s rather better to be sitting he his fingers with hers and we must go back why it s somewhat late to outline all the history of social custom i know we must are you glad we ran away though yes she was quiet perfectly simple but she rose he her waist with a arm she did not resist she did not care he was neither a peasant tailor a artist a social nor a peril he was himself and in him in the personality flowing from him she was content in his she caught a new view of his head the last light brought out the of his neck his flat cheeks the side of his nose the depression of his temples not as or uneasy lovers but as companions they walked to the boat and he lifted her up on the she began to talk intently as he rowed you ve got to work i you ought to be a personage you re robbed of your kingdom fi t for it i take one of these o main street courses in drawing they t be any good in themselves but they ll make you try to draw and as they reached the ground she perceived that it was dark that they had been gone for a long time what will they say she wondered the others greeted them with the inevitable storm of humor and slight vexation where the deuce do you think you ve been you re a fine pair you are and looked self conscious failed in their effort to be witty all the way home was embarrassed once winked at her that the peeping tom of the should consider her a fellow sinner she was furious and frightened and by turns and in all her moods certain that would read her in her face she came into the house awkwardly defiant her husband half asleep imder the lamp greeted her wed well have nice time she could not answer he looked at her but his look did not he began to wind his watch yawning the old guess it s about time to turn in that was all yet she was not glad she was almost disappointed ii mrs called next day she had a hen like appearance her smile was too innocent the started instantly says you had lots of fun at the yesterday did you enjoy it oh yes i at swimming he beat me badly he s so strong isn t poor boy just crazy to get into the war too but this was along wa n t he yes i think he s an awful handsome fellow and they say he s smart do you like him he seems very polite says you and him had a boat ride my that must have been pleasant yes except that i couldn t get mr to say a word i wanted to ask him about the suit mr is making for main street my husband but he insisted on singing still it was floating around on the water and singing so happy and innocent don t you think it s a shame mrs that people in this town don t do more nice clean things like that instead of all this horrible mrs sounded vacant her bonnet was she was stared at her felt contemptuous ready at last to rebel against the trap and as the rusty again some more she flung out i haven t the slightest ideal oh is that hu i must run up to him but up stairs she remembered that mrs had seen her walking with from the railroad track into town and she was chilly with at the jolly seventeen two days after she was to to she fancied that every one was watching her but she could not be sure and in rare strong moments she did not care she could rebel against the town s now that she had something however indistinct for which to rebel in a passionate escape there must be not only a place from which to flee but a place to which to flee she had known that she would gladly leave leave main street and all that it signified but she had had no destination she had one now that destination was not and the love of she continued to assure herself that she wasn t in love with him but merely fond of him and interested in his success yet in him she had discovered both her need of youth and the fact that youth would welcome her it was not to whom she must escape but universal and joyous youth in class rooms in in offices in meetings to protest against things in general but universal and joyous youth rather resembled all week she thought	42
of things she wished to say to him high improving things she began to admit that she was lonely without him then she was afraid it was at the church supper a week after the that she saw him again she had gone with and aunt to the supper which was spread on and supported tables in the church as helping to fill coffee cups for the wait main street the congregation had their piety children tumbled under the tables and greeted the women with a rolling where s brother jones sister where a brother jones not going to be with us tonight well you tell sister to hand you a plate and make em give you enough shared in the cheerfulness he laughed with her elbow when she was filling cups made deep mock bows to the as they came up for coffee was enchanted by his humor from the other end of the room a matron among observed and hated her and caught herself at it to be jealous of a village girl but she kept it up she detested over his his breaks she called them when he was too expressive too much like a russian in had the ecstasy of pain in seeing the s sneer when trying to talk to three girls at once he dropped a cup and oh she with and ached over the insulting secret glances of the girls from him she rose to compassion as she saw that his eyes begged every one to like him she perceived how her judgments could be at the she had fancied that looked upon too and she had i hate these married women who themselves and feed on boys but at the supper was one of the she with of cake she was pleasant to old women and to she gave no attention at all indeed when she had her own supper she joined the and how ludicrous it was to suppose that was a of emotions saw in the fact that she talked not to one of the town but to the safe himself when glanced at again she discovered that mrs had an eye on her it was a shock to know that at last there was something which could make her afraid of mrs s what am i doing am i in love with i want youth but i don t want him i mean i don t want youth enough to break up my life i must get out of this quick she said to on their way home will i i want to main street run away for a few days wouldn t you like to down to still be pretty hot there no fun in a big city till winter what do you want to go for people to occupy my mind i want he spoke good who s been feeding you meat you got that out of one of these fool stories about wives that don t know when they re well seriously though to cut out the i can t get away then why don t i run off by myself why t the money you understand but what about leave him with aunt it would be just for a few days i don t think much of this of leaving bad for em so you don t think i ll tell you i think we better stay put till after the war then we ll have a long trip no i don t think you better plan much about going away now so she was thrown at in she awoke at ebb time at three of the morning woke sharply and fully and sharply and coldly as her father sentence on a cruel she gave judgment a pitiful and love affair no no defiance a self deceived little woman whispering in corners with a little man no he is not he is fine it s not his fault his eyes are sweet when he looks at me sweet so sweet she pitied herself that her romance should be pitiful she sighed that in this hour to this austere self it should seem then in a very great desire of rebellion and of all her the and more it is the more blame to main street it shows how much i ve been longing to escape any way out any humility so long as i can flee main street has done this to me i came here eager for ready for work and now any way out main street i came trusting them they beat me with rods of they don t know they don t understand how their complacent is like and august sim on a wound pitiful the clean girl that used to walk so fast and in dark corners being sentimental and jealous at church at breakfast time her agonies were night and persisted as a nervous iv few of the of the jolly seventeen attended the humble folk meets of the and church where the the the the butcher the and found release from loneliness but all of the smart set went to the lawn of the church and were polite to the harry gave the last lawn festival of the season a splendor of and card tables and chicken and ice cream was no longer entirely an he was eating his ice cream with a group of the people most in the the elders the themselves kept aloof but the others him he would never fancied be one of the town pillars because he was not in hunting and and but he was winning approbation by his his gaiety the qualities least important in him when the group summoned she made several very well taken points in regard to the weather cried to come on we don t belong with these old folks i want to make you with the girl she	42
comes from she s staying with mary saw him being to the guest from she saw him strolling with she burst out to mrs and seem to have quite a crush on each other mrs glanced at her curiously before she yes don t they i m mad to talk this way worried main street she had regained a feeling of social virtue by telling how darling her lawn looked with the when she saw that was her though he was merely about with his hands in his pockets though he did not peep at her she knew that he was calling her she away from hastened to her she nodded coolly she was proud of her coolness i ve got a wonderful don t know but what some ways it might be better than going east to take art says i dropped in to say to last evening and had quite a long talk with her father and he said he was hunting for a fellow to go to work in the flour mill and learn the whole business and maybe become general manager i know something about wheat from my farming and i worked a couple of months in the flour mill at when i got sick of what do you think you said any work was artistic if it was done by an artist and flour is so important what do you think wait wait this sensitive boy would be very stamped into by and his sallow daughter but did she the plan for this reason i must be honest i mustn t his future to please my vanity but she had no sure vision she turned on him how can i decide it s up to you do you want to become a person like or do you want to become a person like yes like me wait don t be flattering be honest this is important i know i am a person like you now i mean i want to rebel yes we re alike gravely only i m not sure i can put through my schemes i really can t draw much i guess i have pretty fair taste in but since i ve known you i don t like to think about with dress but as a miller i d have the means books piano travel i m going to be frank and don t you realize that it isn t just because her papa needs a bright young man in the mill that is amiable to you can t you understand what she ll do to you when she has you when she sends you to church and makes you become respectable he glared at her i don t know i suppose so main street you are thoroughly what if i am most fish out of water are don t talk like mrs how can i be anything but wandering from farm to tailor shop to books no training nothing but trying to make books talk to me probably fail oh i know it probably i m but i m not in thinking about this job in the mill and i know what i want i want you please please oh please i do i m not a any more i want you if i take it s to forget you please please it s you that are you talk at things and play at things but you re scared would i mind it if you and i went off to poverty and i had to dig i would not but you would i think you would come to like me but you won t admit it i wouldn t have said this but when you sneer at and the mill if i m not to have good sensible things like those d you think i ll be content with trying to become a after you are yoa fair are you no i suppose not do you like me do you yes no please i can t talk any more not here mrs is looking at us no nor anywhere o i am fond of you but i afraid what of of them of my rulers l m dear boy we are talking very foolishly i am a normal wi i and a good mother and you are oh a college you do like me i m going to make you love me she looked at him once and walked away a serene gait that was a disordered flight grumbled on their way home you and this fellow seem quite oh we are he s interested in m n and i was telling him how nice she is in her room she i have become a liar fm with lies and and desires i who was clear and sure she hurried into s room sat on the edge of his main street bed he a drowsy hand at her from the expanse of and pillows will i really think i ought to trot off to st paul of or some place i thought we settled all that few nights ago wait till we can have a real trip he shook himself out of his you might give me a good night kiss she did he held her lips against his for an intolerable time don t you like the old man any more he he sat up and fitted his palm about the of her waist of course i like you very much indeed even to herself it sounded flat she longed to be able to throw into her voice the passion of a li t woman she patted his cheek he sighed i m sorry you re so tired seems like but of course you aren t very strong yes then you don t think you re quite sure i ought to stay here in town i told you so	42
i certainly do she crept back to her room a small figure in white i can t face will down demand the right he d be obstinate and i can t even go off and earn my living again out of the habit of it he s driving me i m afraid of what he s driving me to afraid that man in there in stale air my husband could any ceremony make him my husband no i don t want to hurt him i want to love him i can t when i m thinking of am i too honest a funny honesty the of i wish i had a more mind like men i m too toward my child who needs me is an affair like a gambling debt demands honor than the legitimate debt of matrimony because it s not enforced that s nonsense i don t care in the least for not for any man i want to be let alone in a woman world a world without main street or or business men or men with that sudden hungry look that glistening expression that wives know if were here if he would just sit quiet and kind and talk i could be still i could go to sleep i am so tired if i could sleep chapter their night came was on a country call it was cool but huddled on the porch rocking meditating rocking the house was lonely and and though she sighed i ought to go in and read so many things to ought to go in she remained suddenly was coming turning in swinging open the screen door touching her band saw your husband driving out of town couldn t stand it well you mustn t stay more than five minutes couldn t stand not seeing you every day towards evening felt i had to see you pictured you so clear ive been good though staying away haven t i and you must go on being good why must i we better not stay here on the porch the across the street are such window and mrs she did not look at him but she could divine his as he stumbled indoors a moment ago the night had been coldly empty now it was hot treacherous but it is women who are the calm once they the of the hunt was serene as she murmured hungry i have some little honey colored cakes you may have two and then you must home take me up and let me see asleep i don t believe just a glimpse well she doubtfully led the way to the nursery their heads close s curls pleasant as they touched her cheek they looked in at the baby was pink with slumber he had into his pillow with such energy that it main street was almost him beside it was a tight in his hand a torn picture of old king said quite she in to pat the pillow as she returned to she had a friendly sense of his waiting for her they smiled at each other she did not think of the baby s father what she did think was that some one rather like an older and ought to be s father the three of them would play incredible imaginative games you ve told me about your own room let me peep in at it but you mustn t stay not a second we must go downstairs wai you be good r reasonably he was pale large eyed serious you ve got to be more than reasonably good she felt sensible and superior she was energetic about pushing open the door had always seemed out of place there but with the spirit of the room as he the books glanced at the prints he held out his hands he came toward her she was weak betrayed to a warm softness her head was back her eyes were closed her thoughts were but many colored she felt his kiss and on her then she knew that it was impossible she shook herself she sprang from him please she said sharply he looked at her i am fond of you she said don t spoil everything be my friend how many thousands and millions of women must have said that and now you and it doesn t spoil everything it everything dear i do think there s a tiny streak of fairy in you whatever you do with it perhaps i d have loved that once but i won t it s too late but i ll keep a fondness for you i will be it needn t be just a thin fondness you do need me don t you only you and my son need me i ve wanted so to be wanted once i main street wanted love to be given to me now be content if i can give almost content i we women we like to do things for men poor men i we on you when you re and fuss over you and insist on you but it s so in us you ll be the one thing in which i haven t failed do something definite even if it s just selling sell beautiful from stop you do love me i i do not it s just can t you understand everything in on me so all the gaping dull people and i look for a way out please go i can t stand any more please he was gone and she was not relieved by the quiet of the house she was empty and the house was empty and she needed him she wanted to go on talking to get this out to build a sane friendship she wavered down to the living room looked out of the bay window he was not to be	42
seen but mrs was she was walking past and in the light from the corner arc lamp she quickly the porch the windows drop ed the curtain stood movement and reflection without reasoning she i will see him again soon and make him understand we must be friends but the house is so empty it echoes so ii had seemed nervous and absent minded through that supper hour two evenings after he about the living room then growled what the have you been saying to ma s book rattled what do you mean i told you that and his wife were jealous of us and here you been up to them and from what tells me ma has been going around town saying you told her that you hate aunt and that you fixed up your own room because i and you said was too good for and then just recent that you were sore on the town because we don t all go down on our knees and beg this fellow to come take supper with us god only knows what else she says you said main street i it s not true any of it i i did like mrs and i ve called on her and she s gone and twisted everything i ve said sure of course she would didn t i tell you she would she s an old cat like her hand holding husband lord if i was sick i d rather have a faith than and she s another off the same bacon what i can t understand though she waited is whatever possessed you to let her pump you bright a girl as you are i don t care what you told her we all get sometimes and want to blow off steam that s natural but if you wanted to keep it dark why didn t you it in the da or get a and stand on top of the hotel and or do anything besides it to her i know you told me but she was so and i didn t have any woman s become so married and well next time have better sense he patted her head down behind his new said nothing more enemies through the windows stole on her from the hall she had no one save this kind good man he was an elder brother it was her fellow outcast to whom she wanted to run for through her storm she was to the eye sitting quietly with her fingers between the pages of a baby blue book on home but her dismay at mrs s treachery had risen to active dread what had the woman said of her and what did she know what had she seen who else would join in the who else had seen her with what had she to fear from the what precisely had she answered to mrs s questioning all next day she was too restless to stay home yet as she walked the streets on errands she was afraid of every person she met she waited for them to speak waited with she repeated i mustn t ever see again but the words did not register she had no indulgence in the sense of guilt which is to the women of main street the escape from blank at five in a chair in the living room she started main street at the sound of the bell some one opened the door she waited uneasy charged into the room here s the one person i can trust rejoiced was serious but affectionate she at with oh there you are so glad t find you in sit down want to talk to you sat obedient over a large chair and out i ve been hearing vague you were interested in this i knew you couldn t be guilty and i m than ever of it now here we are as blooming as a how does a respectable look when she feels guilty sounded why oh it would besides i know that you of all people are the one that can appreciate dr will what have you been hearing nothing really i just heard mrs say she d seen you and walking together a lot s she looked at her nails but i suspect you do like oh i don t mean in any wrong way but you re young you don t know what an innocent liking might drift into you always pretend to be so and all but you re a baby just because you are so innocent you don t know what thoughts may in that fellow s brain you don t suppose could actually think about making love to me her rather cheap sport ended abruptly as cried with face what do you know about the thoughts in hearts you just play at the world you don t know what it means to suffer there are two which no human being will endure the assertion that he hasn t a sense of humor and the doubly impertinent assertion that he has never known trouble said furiously you think i don t suffer you think i ve always had an easy no you don t i m going to tell you something i ve never told a living soul not even ray the dam of repressed imagination which had for years which now with off at the wars she was building again gave way main street i was i liked will terribly well one time at a party oh before he met you of course but we held hands and we were so happy but i didn t feel i was really suited to him i let him go please don t think i still love i see now that ray was to be my mate but because i liked him i know how sincere and pure and noble will	42
is and his thoughts never from the path of and if i gave him up to you at least youve got to appreciate we danced together and laughed so and i gave him up but this is my affair i m not i see the whole thing as he does because of all i ve told you maybe it s to bare my heart this way but i do it for him for him and you understood that believed herself to have and a story of intimate love understood that in alarm she was trying to cover her shame as she struggled on liked him in the most honorable way simply can t help it if i still see things through his eyes if i gave him up i certainly am not beyond my rights in demanding that you take care to avoid even the appearance of evil and she was weeping an insignificant flushed weeping woman could not endure it she ran to kissed her forehead comforted her with a murmur of dove like sounds sought to her with worn and hastily assembled gifts of words oh i appreciate it so much and you are so fine and splendid and let me assure you there isn t a thing to what you ve heard and oh indeed i do know how sincere will is and as you say so so sincere believed that she had explained many deep and matters she came out of her like a shaking off rain drops she sat up and took advantage of her victory i don t want to rub it in but you can see for yourself now this is all a result of your being so discontented and not the dear good people here and another thing people like you and me who want to reform things have to be particularly careful about appearances think how much better you can conventional customs if you yourself live up to them then people can t say you re attacking them to excuse your own to was given a sudden great philosophical understanding an of half the cautious in his main street tory yes i ve heard that plea it s a good one it sets aside to cool it keeps in the flock to word it differently you must live i to the popular code if you believe in it but if you don t believe in it you must live up to it i don t think so at all said vaguely she began to look hurt and let her be in had done her a service had made all seem so that she ceased and saw that her whole problem was simple as mutton she was interested in s interest gave her a hesitating fondness for him and the future would take care of the event but at night thinking in bed she protested i m not a accused innocent though if it were some one more resolute than a an artist with bearded surly lips they re only in books is that the real tragedy that i never shall know tragedy never find anything but that turn out to be a farce no one big enough or pitiful enough to sacrifice for tragedy in neat the eternal flame all nice and safe in a stove neither heroic faith nor heroic guilt peeping at love from behind lace curtains on main street aunt crept in next day tried to pump her tried to prime the pump by again that might have his own affairs snapped whatever i may do i ll have you to understand that will is only too safe she wished afterward that she had not been so lofty how much would aunt make of whatever i may do when came home he at things and and brought out saw this afternoon she said you weren t very polite to her laughed he looked at her in a puzzled way and fled to his newspaper iv she lay sleepless she alternately considered ways of leaving and remembered his virtues pitied his bewilderment in face of the subtle which he could not main street dose nor cut out didn t he perhaps need her more than did the book suppose will were to die suddenly suppose she never again saw him at breakfast silent but amiable listening to her chatter suppose he never again played elephant for i suppose a country call a slippery road his the edge of the road crumbling the car turning will pinned beneath suffering brought home looking at her with eyes or waiting for her calling for her while she was in knowing nothing of it suppose he were by some vicious shrieking woman for he tried to get witnesses spread lies his friends doubted him his was so broken that it was horrible to see the of the decisive man he was convicted taken on a train she ran to his room at her nervous push the door swung sharply in struck a chair he awoke gasped then in a steady voice what is it dear anything wrong she darted to him for the familiar harsh cheek how well she knew it every and hardness of bone and roll of fat yet when he sighed this is a nice visit and dropped his hand on her thin covered shoulder she said too cheerily i thought i heard you moaning so silly of me good night dear she did not see for a fortnight save once at church and once when she went to the tailor shop to talk over the plans and of s annual campaign for getting a new suit was there and he was not so as he had been with unnecessary he chuckled some nice them he touched her arm to call attention to the fashion plates and he glanced from her to at home she wondered if the little beast might not be suggesting himself	42
as a rival to but that she would not consider she saw slowly walking past the house as mrs had once walked past she met mrs in uncle s store and before that alert stare forgot her determination to be rude and was cordial t main street she was sure that all the men on the street even and sam at her in an interested ful way as though she were a notorious she felt as as a criminal she wished to see and wished that she had never seen him she fancied that was the only person in town who did not know all know more than there was to know about herself and she crouched in her chair as she imagined men talking of her thick in shops and the tobacco pool parlor through early autumn was the only person who broke the suspense the frivolous teacher had come to accept as of her own youth and though school had begun she rushed in daily to suggest dances rabbit parties begged her to go as to a barn dance in the country on a saturday evening could not go the next day the storm chapter was on the back porch a bolt on the baby s go cart this sunday afternoon throng an open window of the house she heard a heard mrs s voice did too and there s no use your denying it no you don t you march yourself right straight out of the house never in my life heard of such never had nobody talk to me like walk in the ways of sin and leave your clothes here and heaven knows that s more than you deserve any of your lip or call the policeman the voice of the other not catch nor though mrs was that he was her and present assistant did she catch the voice of mrs s god another row with inferred she the go cart down the back steps and wheeled it across the yard proud of her she heard steps on the she saw not but carrying a suit case hurrying up the street with her head low the widow standing on the porch with arms after the girl and don t you dare show your face on this block again you can send the for your trunk my house has been long enough why the lord should me was gone the righteous widow glared into the house came out at her bonnet marched away by this time was staring in a manner not visibly to be from the window peeping of the rest of she saw mrs enter the house then the not till did she reach the the doctor answered her ring and greeted her well well how s the good neighbor main street the good neighbor charged into the living room waving the most of black kid gloves and you may well ask how i am i really do wonder how i could go through the awful scenes of this day and the impudence i took from that woman s tongue that ought to be cut out hold up roared who s the sister sit down and take it cool and tell us about it i can t sit down i must hurry home but i couldn t devote myself to my own selfish cares till i d warned you and heaven knows i don t expect any thanks for trying to warn the town against her there s always so much evil in the world that folks simply won t see or appreciate your trying to them and forcing herself in here to get in with you and many s the time i ve seen her doing it and thank heaven she was found out in time before she could do any more harm it simply breaks my heart and me to think what she may have done already even if some of us that understand and know about things up who are you talking about she s talking about put in not pleasantly was incredulous i certainly am flourished mrs and good and thankful you may be that i found her out in time before she could get you into something because even if you are my neighbor and will s wife and a lady let me tell you right now that you ain t always as respectful to you ain t as don t stick by the good old ways like they was laid down for us by god in the bible and while of course there ain t a bit of harm in having a good laugh and i know there ain t any real wickedness in you yet just the same you don t fear gk d and hate the of his like you ought to and you may be thankful i found out this serpent i nourished in my bosom and oh yes oh yes indeed my lady must have two eggs every morning for breakfast and eggs sixty cents a dozen and wa n t satisfied with one like most folks what did she care how much they cost or if a person couldn t make hardly nothing on her board and room in fact i just took her in out main street of charity and i might have known from the kind of stockings and clothes that she into my house in her trunk before they got her story she had five more minutes of the comedy turned into high tragedy with in black kid gloves the actual story was simple and unimportant as to details mrs was indefinite and angry that she should be questioned and had the evening before driven alone to a barn dance in the country brought out the admission that had tried to get a at the dance had kissed she confessed that had obtained a pint of he	42
said that he didn t remember where he had got it mrs implied that had given it to him herself insisted that he had stolen it from a farmer s overcoat which mrs raged was obviously a lie he had become drunk had driven him home deposited him and on the porch never before had her boy been shrieked mrs when she owned well maybe once or twice i ve on his breath she also with an air of being only too exact granted that sometimes he did not come home till morning but he couldn t ever have been for he always had the best excuses the other boys had tempted him to go down the lake by or he had been out in a machine that ran out of gas anyway never before had her boy fallen into the hands of a woman what do you suppose miss could design to do with him insisted mrs was puzzled gave it up went on this morning when she had faced both of them had confessed that all of the blame was on because the teacher his own teacher had dared him to take a drink had tried to deny it then mrs then that woman had the to say to me what purpose could i have in wanting the filthy to get drunk that s just what she called him i ll have no such nasty language in my house i says and you pretending and pulling the wool over people s eyes and making them think you re educated and fit to be a teacher and look out for young people s morals you re w o main street n any street i i says i let her have it good i wa n t going to from my duty and let her think that decent folks had to stand for her vile talk purpose i says purpose ill tell you what purpose you had ain t i seen you making up to everything in that d waste time and pay attention to your impertinence ain t i seen you showing off your legs with them short skirts of yours trying to make out like you was so girlish and la de da running along the street was very sick at this version of s youth but she was as mrs hinted that no one could tell what had happened between and before the drive home without exactly describing the scene by her power of imagination the woman suggested dark country places apart from the and rude and dance steps in the barn then madness and hateful conquest was too sick to interrupt it was who cried oh for god s sake quit it i you haven t any idea what happened you haven t given us a single proof yet that is anything but a rattle i haven t well what do you say to this i come straight out and i says to her did you or did you not taste the had and she says i think i did take one made me she said she owned up to that much so you can imagine does that prove her a asked don t you never use a word like that again the outraged well does it prove her to be a bad woman that she took a taste of i ve done it myself that s different not that i approve your doing it what do the tell us strong drink is a but that s entirely different from a drinking with one of her own pupils yes it does bad was silly but as a matter of fact she s only a year or two older than and probably a good many years younger in experience of vice that s not true she is plenty old enough to corrupt him the job of was done by town five years ago main street mrs did not rage in return suddenly she was hopeless her head drooped she patted her black kid gloves at a thread of her faded brown skirt and sighed he s a good boy and awful affectionate if you treat him right some thinks he s terrible wild but that s because he s young and he s so brave and truthful why he was one of the first in town that wanted to for the war and i had to speak real sharp to him to keep him from running away i didn t want him to get into no bad influences round these and then mrs rose from her recovered her pace then i go and bring into my own house a woman that s worse when all s said and done than any bad woman he could have met you say this woman is too young and inexperienced to corrupt well then she s too young and inexperienced to teach him too one or t other you can t have your cake and eat it so it don t make no difference which reason they fire her for and that s practically almost what i said to the school board have you been this story to the members of the school board i certainly every one of em and their wives i says to them tain t my affair to decide what you should or should not do with teachers i says and i ain t to dictate in any way shape manner or form i just want to know i says whether you re going to go on record as keeping here in schools among a lot of innocent boys and girls a woman that drinks curses uses bad language and does such dreadful things as i wouldn t lay tongue to but you know what i mean i says and if so i ll just see to it that the town about it and that s what i	42
told professor too being and he s a righteous man not going on the sabbath like the school board members and the professor as much as admitted he was su of the woman himself n was less shocked and much less frightened than and more articulate in his description of mrs when she had gone to and after a rather improbable question about cooking beans with bacon main street have you heard the scandal about this miss and i m sure it s a lie oh probably is s manner indicated that the of the story was an insignificant flaw in its general crept to her room sat with hands curled tight together as she listened to a plague of voices she could hear the town with it every soul of them at new details panting to win importance by having details of their own to add how well they would make up for what they had been afraid to do by imagining it in another they who had not been entirely afraid but merely careful and all the shop and parlor how they were this second she could hear them at it with what self they were their wit you can t tell me she ain t a gay bird i m wise and not one man in town to carry out their tradition of superb and contemptuous cursing not one to the that their rough chivalry and rugged virtues were more generous than die petty scandal picking of older lands not one dramatic to thunder with fantastic and oaths what are you at what are you at what facts have you what are these unheard of sins you condemn so and like so well no one to say it not nor nor possibly he would uneasy protest she suddenly wondered what connection her interest in had with this affair wasn t it because they had been prevented by her caste from bounding on her own trail that they were howling at m before supper she found by half a dozen calls that had fled to the house she hastened there trying not to be self conscious about the people who looked at her on the street the clerk said indifferently that he guessed miss was up in room and left to find the way she hunted along the stale smelling with their ol v t green main street in white spots from water their red and yellow and rows of pine doors painted a sickly blue she could not find the number in the darkness at the end of a corridor she had to fed the figures on the door she was startled once by a man s voice want and fled when she reached the right door she stood listening she made out a long sobbing there was no answer till her d knock then an alarm who is it go her hatred of the town turned resolute as she pushed open the door yesterday she had seen in boots and skirt and yellow fleet and self possessed now she lay across the bed in cotton and shabby very feminine utterly she lifted her head in stupid terror her hair was in strings and her face was sallow her eyes were a from weeping i didn t i i didn t i was all she would say at first and she repeated it while kissed her cheek her hair bathed her forehead she rested then while looked about the room the to strangers the of hospitable main street the property of s friend elder it of old linen and carpet and ancient tobacco smoke the bed was with a thin the sand colored walls were scratched and in every corner under everything were dust and ashes on the wash stand was a and the only chair was a grim straight object of but there was an altogether splendid gilt and rose she did not try to draw out s story insisted on telling it she had gone to the party not quite liking but willing to endure him for the sake of dancing of escaping from mrs s flow of moral comments of after the first strained weeks of teaching promised to be good he was on the way out there were a few workmen from at the dance with many young farm people half a dozen from a colony in a brush hidden hollow of potatoes suspected thieves came in drunk they all the floor of the barn in old fashioned square dances swinging their s m main street under the of the who and called the figures had two drinks from pocket saw him among the piled on the at the far end of the bam soon after she heard a farmer declaring that some one had stolen his bottle she with the he chuckled oh it s just a joke i m going to give it back he demanded that she take a drink unless she did he wouldn t return the bottle i just brushed my lips with it and gave it back to him moaned she sat up glared at did you ever take a drink i have a few i d love to have one right this contact with has about done me up could laugh then so would i i don t suppose i ve had five drinks in my life but if i meet just one more and son well i didn t really touch that bottle horrible raw though i d have loved some wine i felt so jolly the barn was almost like a stage scene the high and the dark and tin swinging and a up at the end like some mysterious kind of machine and i d been having lots of fun dancing with the young farmer so strong and nice and awfully intelligent but i got uneasy when i saw how was so i doubt if i	42
touched two drops of the stuff do you suppose god is me for even wanting wine my dear mrs s god may be main street s god but all the courageous intelligent people are fighting him though he us danced again with the young farmer she forgot while she was talking with a girl who had taken the university agricultural course could not have returned the bottle he came staggering toward her taking time to make himself offensive to every girl on the way and to dance a she insisted on their returning went with her and he kissed her outside the door and to think i used to think it was interesting to have men kiss you at a dance she ignored the kiss in the need of getting him home before he started a fight a farmer helped her harness the while in the seat he awoke before they set out all the way home he alternately slept and tried to make love to her i m almost as strong as he is t managed to keep him main street s away while i drove such a i didn t feel like a girl i felt like a no i guess i was too scared to have any feelings at all it was terribly dark i got home somehow but it was hard the time i had to get out and it was quite muddy to read a sign post i lit matches that i took from s coat pocket and he followed me he fell off the step into the mud and got up and tried to make love to me and i was scared but i hit him quite hard and got in and so he ran after the crying like a baby and i let him in again and right away again he was trying but no matter i got him home up on the mrs was waiting up you know it was funny all the time she was oh talking to me and was being terribly sick i just kept thinking i ve still got to drive the down to the livery stable i wonder if the livery man will be awake but i got through somehow i took the down to the stable and got to my room i locked my door but mrs kept saying things outside the door stood out there saying things about me dreadful things and rattling the and all the while i could hear in the back yard being sick i don t think m ever marry any man and then today she drove me right out of the house she wouldn t listen to me all morning just to i suppose he s over his headache now even at breakfast he thought the whole thing was a grand joke i suppose right this minute he s going around town about his conquest you understand oh you i did keep him away but i don t see how i can face my school they say country towns are fine for bringing up boys in but i can t believe this is me lying here and saying this i don t believe what happened last night oh this was curious when i took off my dress last night it was a darling dress i loved it so but of course the mud had spoiled it i cried over it and no matter but my white silk stockings were all torn and the strange thing is i don t know whether i caught my legs in the when i got out to look at the sign post or whether scratched me when i was fighting him os main street iv sam was president of the school board when told him s story sam looked sympathetic and and mrs sat by oh isn t that too bad was interrupted only when mrs begged dear don t speak so bitter about pious people there s lots of sincere christians that are real like the rs yes i know unfortunately there are enough kindly people in the churches to keep them going when had finished mrs breathed poor girl i don t doubt her story a bit and sam sure miss is young and reckless but everybody in town except ma knows what is but miss was a fool to go with him but not wicked enough to pay for it with disgrace n no but sam avoided clung to the horrors of the story ma ho out all morning did she jumped her neck eh ma certainly is one hell cat yes you know how she is so vicious oh no her best style ain t her what she in our store is to come in smiling with christian fortitude and keep a clerk busy for one hour while she out half a dozen nails i remember one time sam was uneasy you ll fight for won t you when mrs came to see you did she make definite charges well yes you might say she did but the school board won t act on them guess we ll more or less have to but you ll do what i can for the girl personally but you know what the board is there s reverend sister about half runs his church so of course he ll take her say so and as a banker he has to be all hell for morality and purity might s well admit it i m afraid be a majority of the board against her not that any of us would believe a word said not if he swore it on a of but still after all this gossip miss wouldn t hardly be the party to basket ball team main street when it went out of town to play other high schools would she perhaps not but couldn t some one else why tiiat	42
s one of the things she was hired for sam sounded stubborn do you realize that this isn t just a matter of a job and and firing that it s actually sending a splendid girl out with a stain on her giving all the other in the world a chance at her that s what will happen if you discharge her sam looked at his wife scratched his head sighed said nothing won t you fight for her on the board if you lose won t you and whoever with you make a report no reports made in a case like this our rule is to just decide the thing and announce the final decision whether it s unanimous or not rules against a girl s future dear god rules of a school board sam won t you stand by and threaten to resign from the board if they try to discharge her rather tired of so many he complained m do what i can but have to wait till the board meets and i ll do what i can together with the secret admission of you and i know what ma is was all could get from george the reverend mr or any other member of the school board afterward she wondered whether mr could have been referring to herself when he observed there s too much license in high places in this town though and the wages of sin is death or anyway bein fired the holy with which the priest said it remained in her mind she was at the hotel before eight next morning longed to go to school to face the but she was too read to her all day and by her convinced her own self that the school board would be just she was less sure of it that evening when at the motion pictures she heard mrs exclaim to mrs she may be so innocent and all and i suppose she probably is but still if she drank a whole bottle of at that dance the way everybody says she did she have forgotten she was so innocent i main street leaning back from her seat put in that s what ive said all along i don t want to roast anybody but have you noticed the way she looks at men when will they have me on the stopped the on their way home hated him for his manner of assuming that they two had a mysterious understanding without quite he seemed to wink at her as he what do you folks think about this woman i m not strait but i tell you we got to have decent women in our schools d you know what i heard they say whatever she may of done afterwards this dame took two of to the dance with her and got before did i some that ha ha ha i rats i don t believe it muttered he got away before she was able to speak she saw passing the house late alone and she stared after him longing for the lively bitterness of the things he would say about town had nothing for her but oh course ev body likes a story but they don t intend to be mean she went up to bed proving to herself that the members of the school board were superior men it was tuesday afternoon before she learned that the board had met at ten in the morning and to accept miss s resignation sam the news to her we re not making any charges we re just letting her resign would you like to drop over to the hotel and ask her to write the resignation now we ve accepted it glad i could get the board to put it that way it s to you but can t you see that the town will take this as proof of the charges we re not making no charges whatever sam was obviously finding it hard to be patient left town that evening went with her to the train the two girls through a silent lip crowd tried to stare them down but in face of the of the boys and the gaping of the men she was embarrassed did not glance at them felt her arm tremble though she was she squeezed s hand said something unintelligible stumbled up into the main street remembered that miles had also taken a train what would be the scene at the station when she herself took departure she walked up town behind two strangers one of them was see that good looking that got on here the swell kid with the small black hat she s some i i was here yesterday before my jump to falls and i heard all about her seems she was a teacher but she certainly was a high o boy high wide and fancy her and couple of other skirts bought a whole case of and went on a tear and one night if this bunch of cradle robbers didn t get hold of some young just small boys and they all got lit up like a white way and went out to a dance and they say the turned saw a woman near and not being a common person nor a coarse workman but a clever and a lowered his voice for the rest of the tale during it the other man laughed hoarsely turned off on a side street she passed he was some achievement to a group which included the and a o the lawyer they were men far older than but they accepted him as one of their own and encouraged him to go on it was a week before she received from a letter of which this was a part of course my family did not really believe the story but as they were sure i must	42
me seriously my dear boy if i took you seriously i don t want us to be hurt more than more than we will be tell me the poem i ve never had a poem written about me i it isn t really a poem it s just some words that i love because it seems to me they catch what you are of course probably they won t seem so to anybody else but well little and tender and merry and wise with eyes that meet my eyes do you get the idea the way i do yes i m terribly grateful and she was grateful while she noted how bad a verse it was she was aware of the haggard beauty in the lowering night monstrous tattered clouds round a forlorn moon and rocks with inner light they were passing a grove of feeble by day but like a menacing wall she stopped they heard the dripping the wet leaves sullenly on the waiting waiting everything is waiting she she drew her hand from his pressed her clenched fingers main street against her lips she was lost in the i am happy so we must go home before we have time to become unhappy but can t we sit on a log for a minute and just listen no too wet but i wish we could build a fire and you could sit on my overcoat beside it i m a grand fire my cousin and me spent a week one time in a cabin way up in the big woods in the fireplace was filled a dome of ice when we got there but we it out and the thing full of pine boughs couldn t we build a fire back here in the woods and sit by it for a while she pondered half way between yielding and refusal her head ached faintly she was in everything the night his the cautious treading future was as as though she were drifting in a fourth while her mind the lights of a car round a bend in the road and they stood farther apart what ought i to do she mused i think oh i won t be robbed i am good i if i m so that i can t sit by the fire with a man and talk then i d better be dead the lights of the car grew were upon them abruptly stopped from behind the of the a voice annoyed sharp there she realized that it was the irritation in his voice smoothed out having a walk they made sounds of assent pretty wet isn t it better ride back jump up in front here his manner of swinging open the door was a command was conscious that was climbing in that she was apparently to sit in the back and that she had been left to open the rear door for herself instantly the wonder which had to the skies was and she was mrs w p of riding in a old car and likely to be by her husband she feared what would say to she bent toward them was observing going to have some rain before the night s over all right yes said been funny season this year anyway never saw it with such a cold october and such a nice november member main street we had a snow way back on october ninth but it certainly was nice up to the twenty first this month as i remember it not a of snow in november so far has there been but i shouldn t wonder if we d be having some snow most any time now yes good chance of it said wish i d had more time to go after the ducks this fall by what do you think sounded appealing fellow wrote me from man trap lake that he shot seven and couple of canvas back in one hour that must have been fine said was ignored but was cheerful he shouted to a farmer as he up to pass the frightened team there we are she sat back neglected frozen heroine in a drama she made a resolute and enduring she would tell what would she tell him she could not say that she loved did she love him but she would have it out she was not sure whether it was pity for s blindness or irritation at his assumption that he was enough to fill any woman s life which prompted her but she knew that she was out of the trap that she could be frank and she was with the adventure of it while in front he was entertaining nothing like an hour on a duck pass to make you relish your and this machine hasn t got the power of a fountain pen guess the are jam full of again don t know but what maybe i ll have to put in another set of rings he stopped on main street and there that ll give you just a block to walk g night was in suspense would away he moved to the back of the car thrust in his hand muttered good night i m glad we had our walk she pressed his hand the car was flapping on he hidden from her by a corner store on main street did not recognize her till he drew up before th house then he condescended better jump out here an i ll take the boat around back say see if the back door is unlocked will you she the door for him realized that she still carried the damp glove she had stripped off for she drew it on she stood in the of tbe main street living room in damp coat and muddy was as as ever her task wouldn t be anything so lively as having to endure	42
a scolding but only an effort to command his attention so that he would understand the things she had to tell him instead of interrupting her by yawning winding the clock and going up to bed she heard him coal into the furnace he came through the kitchen but before he spoke to her he did stop in the hall did wind the clock he sauntered into the living room and his glance passed from her hat to her she could hear she could hear see taste smell touch his better take your coat off looks kind of wet yes there it was well you better he his own coat on a chair stalked to her went on with a rising voice you better cut it out now i m not going to do the outraged husband i like you and i respect you and i d probably look like a if i tried to be dramatic but i think it s about time for you and to call a halt before you get m dutch like did do you course i know all about it what d you expect in a town that s as filled with that have plenty of time to stick their noses into other folks business as this is not that they ve had the nerve to do much to me but they ve hinted around a lot and anyway i could see for myself that you liked him but of course i knew how cold you were i knew you wouldn t stand it even if did try to hold your hand or kiss you so i didn t worry but same time i hope you don t suppose this young farmer is as innocent and and all that stuff as you are wait now don t get i m not knocking him he isn t a bad sort and he s young and likes to gas about books course you like him that isn t the real rub but haven t you just seen what this town can do once it goes and gets moral on you like it did with you probably think that two young folks making love are alone if anybody ever is but there s nothing in this town that you don t do in company with a whole lot of but awful interested guests don t you realize that if ma and a few s started they d drive you up a tree and you d find yourself so main street well advertised as being in love with this fellow that you d have to be just to spite em i let me sit down was all could say she drooped on the couch wearily without he yawned your coat and and while she stripped them off he his watch chain felt the peered at the he shook out her in the hall hung them up with exactly his usual care he pushed a chair near to her and sat bolt up he looked like a physician about to give sound and advice before he could into his heavy discourse she desperately got in please i want you to know that i was going to tell you everything tonight well i don t suppose there s really much to tell but there is i m fond of he appeals to something in here she touched her breast and i admire him he isn t just a young farmer he s an artist wait now he s had a chance all evening to tell you what a whale of a fine fellow he is now it s my turn i can t talk artistic but do you understand my work he leaned forward thick capable hands on thick sturdy mature and slow yet no matter even if you are cold i like you better than anybody in the world one time i said that you were my soul and that still goes you re all the things that i see in a sunset when i m driving in from the country the things that i like but can t make poetry of do you realize what my job is i go round twenty four hours a day in mud and trying my to heal everybody rich or poor you that re always about how ought to rule the world instead of a bunch of spread eagle can t you see that i m all the science there is here and i can stand the cold and the roads and the lonely rides at night all i need is to have you here at home to welcome me i don t expect you to be passionate not any more i don t but i do expect you to appreciate my work i bring babies into the world and save lives arid make husbands quit being mean to their wives and then you go and moon over a tailor because he can talk about how to put on a skirt hell of for a man to fuss over she flew out at him you make your side clear let m give mine i admit all you say except about but is main street it only you and the baby that want me to back you up that demand things from me they re all on me the whole town i can feel their hot on my neck aunt and that horrible old uncle and and mrs and mrs and all of them and you welcome them you encourage them to drag me down into their cave i won t stand it do you hear now right now i m done and it s who gives me the courage you say he just thinks about which do not usually go on skirts by the way i tell you he thinks about god uie god that mrs covers up with greasy will be a great man	42
some day and if i could contribute one tiny bit to his success wait wait wait now hold up you re assuming that your will make good as a matter of fact at my age he ll be running a one man tailor shop in some about the size of he will not that s what he s headed for now all right and he s or six and what s he done to make you think he ll ever be anything but a he has and talent wait now what has he actually done in the art line has he done one first class picture or sketch d you call it or one poem or played the piano or anything except gas about what he s going to do she looked thoughtful then it s a hundred to one shot that he never will way i understand it even these fellows that do something pretty good at home and get to go to art school there ain t more than one out of ten of em maybe one out of a hundred that ever get above grinding out a bum living about as artistic as and when it comes down to this tailor why can t you see you that take on so about can t you see that it s just by contrast with folks like or that this fellow seems artistic suppose you d met up with him first in one of these lar new york you wouldn t notice him any more n a rabbit she huddled over folded hands like a temple virgin shivering on her knees before the thin warmth of a she could not answer rose quickly sat on the couch took both her main street hands suppose he fails as he he goes back to and you re his wife is that going to be this artistic life you ve been thinking about he s in some bum pressing all day or stooped over sewing and having to be polite to any that blows in and a dirty old suit in his face and sa here you fix this and be blame quick about it he won t even have enough to get him a big shop hell along doing his own work unless you his wife go help him go help him in the shop and stand over a table all day pushing a big heavy iron complexion will look fine after about fifteen years of that way won t it and be over like an old and probably you ll live in one room back of the shop and then at night oh you ll have your artist sure hell come in of and from hard work and around that if it hadn t been for you he d of gone east and been a great artist sure and be entertaining his relatives talk about whit you ll be having some old coming in with on his boots and sitting down to supper in his and yelling at you hurry up now you make me sick yes and you ll have a every year at you while you press clothes and you won t love em like you do up stairs all and asleep please not any more her face was on his knee he bent to kiss her neck i don t want to be unfair l guess love is a great thing all right but think it would of that kind of stuff oh honey am i so bad can t you like me at all i ve i ve been so fond of you she snatched up his hand she kissed it presently sh sobbed i won t ever see him again i can t now th hot living room behind the tailor shop i don t love enough for that and you are even if i were sure o him sure he was the real thing i don t think i could actually leave you this marriage it people together it not easy to break even when it ought to be broken and do you want to break it no he lifted her carried her up stairs laid her on her turned to the door come kiss me she main street he kissed her lightly and slipped away for an hour she heard him moving about his room lighting a cigar with his on a chair she felt that he was a between her and the darkness that grew thicker as the delayed storm came down in n he was cheery and more casual than ever at breakfast all day she tried to devise a way of giving up the village central would listen in a letter it might be found go to see him impossible that evening gave her without comment ah envelope the letter was signed e v i know i can t do anything but make trouble for you i think i am going to tonight and from there as soon as i can to new york or i will do as big things as i can i i can t write i love you too much god keep you until she heard the whistle which told her that the train was leaving town she kept herself from thinking from moving then it was all over she had no plan nor desire for anything when she caught looking at her over his newspaper she fled to his arms thrusting the paper aside and for the first time in years they were lovers but she knew that she still had no plan in life save always to go along the same streets past same people to the same shops in a week after s going the maid startled her by there s a mr down stairs say he to see you she was conscious of the maid s interested stare angry at this of the	42
calm in which she had hidden she crept down pe ed into the living room it was not who stood there it was a small gray bearded man in boots canvas jacket and red he at her with shrewd red eyes you de s wife yes main street i m from up by i m s father oh he was a monkey faced little man and not gentle what you done wit my son i don t think i understand you i t ink you re going to understand before i get t where is he why really i presume that he s in you presume he looked through her with a such as she could not have imagined only an insane of could his his he presume dot s a fine word i don t want no fine words and i don t want no more lies i want to know what you know see here mr you may stop this right now i m not one of your i don t know where your son is and there s no reason why i should know her defiance ran out in face of his immense he raised his fist worked up his anger with the gesture and sneered you dirty city women wit your fine ways and fine dresses a father come here trying to save his boy from wickedness and you call him a bully by god i don t have to take no thin off you nor your husband i ain t one of your hired men for one time a woman like you is going to hear de about what you are and no fine city words to it really mr what you done wit him i ll tell you what you done he was a good boy even if he was a damn fool i want him back on de farm he don t make enough money and i can t get me no hired man i want to take him back on de farm and you butt in and fool wit him and make love wit him and get him to run away you are lying it s not true that it s not true and if it were you would have no right to speak like this don t talk foolish i know ain t i heard from a fellow dot live right here in town how you been acting wit de boy i know what you done walking wit him in de country hiding in de woods wit him yes and i guess you talk about religion in de woods sure women like you you re worse dan street rich women like you wit fine husbands and no decent work to do and me look at my hands look main street how i work look at those hands but you oh god no you mustn t work you re too fine to do decent work you got to play wit young fellows younger as you are laughing and rolling around and acting like de animals you let my son alone d you hear he was shaking his fist in her face she could smell the and sweat it ain t no use to women like you get no out of you but next time i go by your husband he was marching into the hall flung herself on him her hand on his dusty shoulder you horrible old man you ve always tried to turn into a slave to your you ve sneered at him and him and probably you ve succeeded in preventing his ever rising above your heap and now because you can t drag him back you come here to vent go tell my husband go tell him and don t blame me when he you when my husband you he will kill you the man looked at her said one word and walked out she heard the word very plainly she did not quite reach the couch her knees gave way she pitched forward she heard her mind saying you haven t fainted this is ridiculous you re simply yourself get up but she could not move when arrived she was lying on the couch his step quickened what s happened you haven t got a bit of blood in your face she clutched his arm you ve got to be sweet to me and kind i m going to mountains sea please don t argue about it because i m going quietly all right we ll go you and i leave the kid here with aunt now well yes just as soon as we can get away now don t talk any more just imagine you ve already started he smoothed her hair and not till after supper did he continue i meant it about but i think we better wait three weeks or so till i get hold of some young fellow released from the medical corps to take my practice and if people are you don t want to give them a chance by running away can you stand it and face em for three weeks or so yes she said main street iv people stared at her on the street aunt tried to her about s disappearance and it was who silenced the woman with a savage say are you that had anything to do with that fellow s beating it then let me tell you and you can go right out and tell the whole town that and i took took riding and he asked me about getting a better job in and i advised him to go to it getting much sugar in at the store now crossed the street to be pleasant of and new novels dragged her to the jolly seventeen there with every one rigidly listening shot at i hear has left town was amiable yes so i hear in fact he called me up	42
told me he had been offered a lovely job in the city so sorry he s gone he would have been valuable if we d tried to start the dramatic association again still i wouldn t be here for the association myself because will is all in from work and i m thinking of taking him to you know the coast so well tell me would you start in at los or san and what are the best hotels the jolly seventeen looked disappointed but the jolly seventeen liked to give advice the jolly seventeen liked to mention the expensive hotels at which they had stayed a meal as a stay before they could question her again escorted in with drum and the topic of had news from her husband he had been in the had been in a hospital for two weeks had been promoted to major was learning french she left with aunt but for she would have taken him she hoped that ii some miraculous way yet she might find it to remain in she did not want to see again the were to occupy the house and quite the hardest thing to endure in the month of waiting was the series of between and uncle main street in regard to the and having the furnace cleaned did inquired wish to stop in to buy new clothes i want to get as far away as i can as soon as i can let s wait till los sure sure just as you like cheer we re going to have a large wide time and everything be different we come back vi dusk on a snowy december afternoon the which would connect at city with the train rolled out of st paul with a a a as it crossed the other tracks it through the factory belt gained speed could see nothing but gray fields which had closed in on her all the way from ahead was darkness for an hour in i must have been near he s still there somewhere he ll be gone when i come back m never know where he has gone as on the seat light she turned to the illustrations in a motion picture magazine chapter they for three and a half months they saw the grand the walls of fe and in a drive from el into their first foreign land they from san and la to los through towns with bell and they viewed and san and a forest of they bathed in the surf and climbed and danced they saw a game and the making of motion pictures they sent one hundred and seventeen post cards to and once on a by a sea when she was walking alone found an artist and he looked up at her and said too damned wet to paint sit down and talk and so for ten minutes she lived in a romantic novel her only struggle was in not to spend all his time with the from the ten thousand other in winter is full of people from and and who having thousands of miles from their familiar villages hasten to secure an illusion of not having left them they hunt for people from their own states to stand between them and the shame of naked mountains they talk steadily in on hotel at and motion picture shows about the and crops and county politics back home discussed land prices with them he went into the merits of the several sorts of cars with them he was intimate with train and he insisted on seeing the at their in where sat and to go back and make some more money but gave promise of learning to play he shouted in the pool at the and he spoke of though he did nothing more radical than speak of buying evening clothes was touched by his efforts to enjoy picture galleries and the dogged way in main street which he accumulated dates and dimensions when they followed guides through she felt strong whenever she was restless she her thoughts by the familiar vagabond of running away from them of moving on to a new place and thus she persuaded herself that she was tranquil in march she willingly agreed with that it was time to go home she was longing for they left on april first on a day of high blue skies and and a summer sea as the train struck in among the hills she resolved i m going to love the fine will quality that there is in the nobility of good sense it will be sweet to see and and the and i m going to see my baby all the words he ll be able to say now it s a new start everything will be different thus on april first among hills and the bronze of oaks while on his toes and chuckled wonder what u say when he sees us three days later they reached in a storm n no one knew that they were coming no one met them and because of the icy roads the only conveyance at the station was the hotel which they missed while was giving his trunk check to the station agent the only person to welcome them waited for him in the station among huddled german women with and and ragged bearded farmers in coats mute as oxen in a room thick with the steam of wet coats the of the red hot stove the of boxes which served as the afternoon light was as reluctant as a winter dawn this is a useful market an interesting post but it is not a home for me meditated the stranger suggested i d for a but it d take quite a while for it to get here let s walk they stepped from the safety of the plank platform and on their toes taking cautious strides	42
ventured along the road the rain was turning to snow o main street the air was stealthily cold beneath an inch of water was a of ice so that as they wavered with their suit cases they slid and almost fell the wet snow their gloves water their ankles they ed inch by inch for three blocks in front of harry s sighed we better stop in here and for a machine she followed him like a wet the saw them laboring up the y walk up the perilous front steps and came to the door well well well back again eh say this is fine have a fine trip my you look like a rose how did you like the coast well well i where all did you go but as began to proclaim the list of places achieved harry ted with an account of how much he himself had seen two years ago when boasted we went through the mission at harry broke in that s an interesting old mission say never forget that hotel there it was swell why the rooms were made just like these old and i went from to san you folks go to san no but well you ought to gone to san and then we went from there to a least they called it a got in only one considerable narrative which began say i never knew did you harry that in the district the as well as the i never thought much of the but i met a gentleman on the train it was when we were pulling out of and i was sitting on the back platform of the observation car and this man was next to me and he asked me for a light and we got to talking and come to find out he came from and when he found out i came from he asked me if i knew dr of red wing and of course while i ve never met him ive heard of lots of times and seems he s this man s brother quite a coincidence well we got to talking and we called the porter that was a pretty good porter on that car and we had a couple bottles main street of ale and i happened to mention the and this man seems he s driven a lot of different kinds of cars he s got a now and he said that he d tried the and liked it first rate well when we got into a station i don t remember the name of it what the deuce was the name of that first stop we made the other side of well anyway i guess we must have stopped there to take on water and this man and i got out to stretch our legs and if there wasn t a drawn right up at the ot platform and he pointed out something i d never noticed and i was glad to learn about it seems that the gear in the is an inch longer even this chronicle of voyages harry interrupted with remarks cm the advantages of the ball gear shift gave up hope of adequate credit for being a man and to a for a ford while kissed and made sure of being the first to tell the latest which included seven distinct and about mrs and one considerable doubt as to the of they saw uie ford making its way over the ice through the snow storm like a boat in a fog the driver stopped at a corner the car it turned about with comic reluctance into a tree and stood on a broken wheel the refused harry s not too urgent offer to take them home in his car if i can manage to get it out of the terrible day stayed home from the store but if you say so i ll take a shot at it no i think we d better walk probably make better time and i m just crazy to see my baby with their suit cases they on their coats were soaked through had forgotten her hopes she looked about with eyes but through rain lashes caught the glory that was back home she noted bare tree trunks black branches the brown earth between patches of decayed snow on the the vacant lots were full of tall dead weeds stripped of summer leaves the houses were hopeless temporary chuckled by look down there jack elder must have painted his and look martin has put up a new fence his chicken yard say that s o main street a good fence eh chicken tight and dog tight that s certainly a fence wonder how much it cost a yard yes sir they been building right along even in winter got more enterprise than these pretty good to be home eh she noted that all winter long the citizens had been throwing into their back yards to be cleaned up in spring the recent had disclosed heaps of ashes dog bones torn paint all half covered by the icy pools which filled the hollows of the yards the refuse had stained the water to vile colors of waste thin red sour yellow brown chuckled look over there on main street they got the feed store all fixed up and a new sign on it black and gold that ll improve the appearance of the block a lot she noted that the few people whom they passed wore their coats for the evil clay they were in a town to think she of coming two thousand miles past mountains and cities to get off here and to plan to stay here what conceivable reason for choosing this particular place she noted a figure in a rusty coat and a cloth cap chuckled look who s coming it s	42
sam all out for the weather the two men shook hands a dozen times and in the western fashion well well well well you old hell hound you old devil how are you an old horse thief maybe it ain t good to see you again while sam nodded at her over s shoulder she was embarrassed perhaps i should never have gone away i m out of practise in l ring i wish they would get it over just a block more and my baby they were home she brushed past the aunt and knelt by as he stammered o don t go away stay with me she cried no i ll never leave you again he volunteered that s by he knows us just as if we d never been away said you don t find any of these as bright as he is at his age when the trunk came they piled about the main street little wooden men fitting one inside another the miniature and the oriental drum from san the blocks carved by the old frenchman in san the from san will you forgive for going away will you she whispered absorbed in asking a hundred questions about him had he had any did he still over his what about unfortunate morning incidents she viewed only as a source of information and was able to her hint pointed by a shaken finger now that you ve had such a fine long trip and spent so much money and all i hope you re going to settle down and be satisfied and not does he like yet replied she was cheerful as the snow began to conceal the yards she assured herself that the streets of new york and were as ugly as in such weather she dismissed the thought but they do have charming for refuge she sang as she looked over s clothes the afternoon grew old and dark aunt went home took the baby into her own room the maid came in complaining i can t get no extra milk to make beef for supper was sleepy and he had been spoiled by aunt even to a returned mother his and his trick of seven times her silver brush were as a background behind the noises of and the kitchen the house with a stillness from the window she heard greeting the widow as he had always done always every snowy evening guess this keep up all night she waited there they were the furnace eternal removing ashes coal yes she was back home nothing had changed she had never been away had she seen it had she for one minute left this sound of the small in the ash pit of the furnace but supposed that she had never had she been quite so far from going away as now when he believed she had just come back she felt through the walls the spirit of small houses and righteous people at that instant she knew that in running io main street away she had merely hidden her doubts behind the stir of travel dear god don t let me begin again she sobbed wept with her wait for a second i she hastened down to the cellar to he was standing before the furnace however inadequate the rest of the house he had seen to it that the cellar should be large and clean the square pillars and the for coal and potatoes and trunks convenient a glow from the fell on the smooth gray floor at his feet he was whistling tenderly staring at the furnace with which saw the black monster as a symbol of home and of the beloved routine to which he had returned his decently accomplished his duty of sights and performed with unconscious of her he stooped and peered in at the blue flames among the coals he the door briskly and made a whirling gesture with his right hand out of pure bliss he saw her why old lady pretty good to be back eh yes she lied while she not now i can t face the job of explaining now he s been so good he me and i m going to break his heart she smiled at him she his sacred cellar by throwing an empty bottle into the bin she mourned it s only the baby that holds me if died she fled upstairs in panic and made sure that nothing had happened to in these four minutes she saw a pencil mark on a window sill she had made it on a september day when she had been planning a for and and she had been hysterical with nonsense had invented mad parties for all the coming winter she glanced across the alley at the room which had occupied a rag of a gray curtain the still window she tried to think of some one to whom she wanted to there was no one the sam called that evening and encouraged her to describe the a dozen times they told her how glad they were to have her back it is good to be wanted she thought it will me but oh is all life always an but chapter she tried to be content which was a contradiction in terms she cleaned house all april she a for she was at red cross work she was silent when that though america hated war as much as ever we must germany and wipe out every man because it was now that there was no soldier in the german army who was not prisoners and cutting off babies hands was nurse when mrs suddenly died of in her procession were the eleven people left out of the grand army and the old men and women very old and weak who a few ago had been boys and girls of the frontier riding through the rank windy grass of	42
this they behind a band made up of business men and high school boys who along without or ranks or leader trying to play s funeral march a shabby group of neighbors with grave eyes stumbling through the under a solemnity of faltering music was broken his was worse the rooms over the store were silent he could not do his work as at the farmers coming in with loads of wheat complained that could not read the scale that he seemed always to be watching some one back in the darkness of the he was seen slipping through talking to himself trying to avoid observation creeping at last to the once followed him and found the coarse tobacco stained old man lying on the snow of the grave his thick arms spread out across the raw mound as if to protect her from the cold her whom he had carefully covered up every night for sixty years who was alone there now for the company president let him go main street the company explained to had no funds for giving she tried to have him appointed to the which since all the work was done by was the one in town the one reward for political purity but it proved that mr the former desired the at her gave a warm berth as night small boys played a good many tricks on when he fell asleep at the mill n she had happiness in the return of major ra he was well but still weak from having been he had been discharged and he came home as the first of the war it was that he surprised by coming that fainted when she saw him and for a night and day would not share him with the town when saw them was about except and never went so far from him that she could not slip her hand under his without understanding why was troubled by this intensity and surely this was not but a brother of his this man with the tight the shoulder the trim legs in boots his face seemed different his lips more tight he was not he was major and and were grateful when he that paris wasn t half as pretty as that all of the american soldiers had been distinguished by their morality when on leave was respectful as he inquired whether the had good and what a was and a and going west in a week major was made full manager of the bon ton harry was going to devote himself to the half dozen branch stores which he was establishing at harry would be the town s rich man in the coming generation and major would rise with him and was though she was at having to give up most of her red cross work ray still needed nursing she explained when saw him with his off in a and main street salt suit and a new gray felt hat she was disappointed he was not major he was for a month small boys followed him down the street and everybody called him major but that was presently to and the small boys did not look up from their as he went by in the town was as a result of the war price of wheat the wheat money did not remain in the pockets of the farmers the towns existed to take care of all that farmers were selling their land at four dollars an acre and coming into but whoever bought or sold or the invited themselves to the feast real estate men lawyers merchants and dr will they bought land at a hundred and fifty sold it next day at a hundred and seventy and bought again in three months made seven thousand dollars which was rather more than four times as much as society paid him for healing the sick in early summer began a campaign of the commercial club decided that was not only a wheat but also the perfect site for summer cottages and state institutions in charge of the was mr james who had recently come to town to in land mr was known as a he to be called honest jim he was a noisy humorous man with narrow eyes a rustic complexion large red hands and brilliant clothes he was attentive to all women he was the first man in town who had not been sensitive enough to feel he put his arm about her while he condescended to nice i ll say and when she answered not warmly thank you very much for the he blew on her neck and did not know that he had been insulted he was a on of hands he never came to the house without trying to her he touched her arm let his fist brush her side she hated the man and she was afraid of him she wondered if he had heard of and was taking advantage she spoke ill of him at home and in public places but and the other powers insisted maybe he is main street kind of a but you got to hand it to him he s got more up and than any fellow that ever hit this and he s pretty too hear what he said to old him in the ribs and said say boy what do you want to go to for wait i get time and i ll move the mountains here any will be to death to here once we get the white way the town welcomed mr as fully as him he was the guest of honor at the commercial banquet at the house an occasion for printed in gold but proof read for free cigars soft damp of lake superior served as of sole cigar ashes gradually filling the of coffee cups and to punch go vigor enterprise red blood he men fair women god s country james	42
j hill the blue sky the green fields the harvest increasing population fair return on alien who threaten the security of our institutions the the foundation of the state e one hundred per cent and pointing with pride harry as introduced honest jim and i am proud to say my fellow citizens that in his brief stay here mr has become my warm personal friend as well as my fellow and i advise you all to very carefully attend to the hints of a man who knows how to achieve mr reared up like an elephant with a s neck red faced red eyed heavy slightly born leader intended to be a but to the more honors of real estate he smiled on his warm personal friends and fellow and i certainly was astonished in the streets of our lovely little city the other day i met the meanest kind of that god ever made than the or the laughter and do you know what the was he was a laughter and applause i want to tell you good people and it s just as sure as god made little apples the thing that our american from the and tin horns in other countries is our punch you take a honest to god and there ain t anything he s afraid to main street tackle snap and speed are his middle name he ll put her across if he has to ride from hell to breakfast and believe me i m mighty good and sorry for the that s so unlucky as to get in his way because that poor is going to wonder where he was at when old mr hit laughter now s there s some folks so yellow and small and so few in the that they go to work and claim that those of us that have the big vision are off our they say we can t make god bless her just as big as or st paul or but tell you right here now that there ain t a town imder the blue of heaven that s got a better chance to take a running jump and go right up into the two hundred thousand class than little old g p and if there s anybody that s got such cold that he s afraid to after jim on the big going up then we don t want him here way i it you folks are just patriotic enough so that you ain t going to stand for any and knocking his own town no matter how of a smart he is and just on the side i want to add that this farmers league and the whole bunch of are right in the same or as the fellow says in the same meaning this way out exit beat it while the going s good this means you for all of prosperity and the rights of property fellow citizens there s a lot of folks even ri t here in this fair state fairest and richest of all the glorious union that stand up on their hind legs and claim that the east and europe put it all over the golden now let me nail that lie right here and now ah ha says they so jim is claiming that is as good a place to live in as london and rome and and all the rest of the big is he how does the poor fish know says they well i ll tell you how i know i ve seen i ve done europe from soup to nuts they can t spring that stuff on jim and get away with it and let me tell you that the only live thing in europe is our boys that are fighting there now london i spent three days sixteen straight hours a day giving london the once over and let me tell you that it s nothing but a bunch of fog and out of date buildings that no live american would stand for one minute you may not believe it but there ain t one first class in the whole works and the same thing goes for that crowd of i main street and down east and next time you hear some from on the the rag and and trying to get your goat you tell him that no two would have new york for a gift now the point of this is i m not only that is going to be s pride brightest ray in the glory of north star state but also and that it is right now and still more shall be as good a place to live in and love in and bring up the little ones in and it s got as much refinement and culture as any on the whole expanse of god s green and that goes get me that goes half an hour later moved a vote of thanks to mr the campaign was on the town sought that efficient and modem variety of fame which is known as the band was and provided by the commercial club with of purple and gold the amateur team hired a semi professional from des and made a of games with every town for fifty miles about the citizens accompanied it as in a special car with watch grow and with the band playing smile smile smile whether the team won or lost the shrieked boys and together put on the map brilliant record of our team then glory of glories the town put in a white way white ways were in in the they were composed of ornamented posts with clusters of high electric lights along two or three blocks on main street the confessed white way is town lit up like speech by hon james come on you twin our hat is in the ring	42
m damned if i ll agree to all your notions but i will say i ve got to depend on you never thought of that did you in this o f to and express yourself and free love and live your own life stuff you have a right to me if you can keep me can you he moved uneasily n for a month they discussed it they hurt each other very much and sometimes they were close to weeping and invariably he used phrases about her duties and she used phrases quite as about freedom and through it all her discovery that she really could get away from main street was as sweet as the discovery of love never consented definitely at most he agreed to a public theory that she was going to take a short trip and see what the east was like in she set out for washington in october just before the war ended she had determined on washington because it was less than the obvious new york because she hoped to find streets in which could and because in the stress of war work with its demand for thousands of temporary clerks she could be into the world of offices main street was to go with her despite the and rather extensive comments of aunt she wondered if she might not in the east but it was a chance thou t soon forgotten m the last thing she saw on the station platform was faithfully waving his hand his face so full of loneliness that he could not smile but only up his lips she waved to him as long as she could and when he was lost she wanted to leap from the and run back to him she thought of a hundred she had neglected she had her freedom and it was empty the moment was not the highest of her life but the lowest and most desolate which was altogether excellent for instead of slipping downward she began to climb she sighed i couldn t do this if it weren t for will s kindness his giving me money but a second after i wonder how many women would always stay home if they had the money con notice me he was beside her on the red seat of the day coach a boy of three and a half i m tired of playing train let s play something else let s go see oh no i do you really like mrs yes she gives me and she tells me about the dear lord you never tell me about the dear lord why don t you tell me about the dear lord says i m going to be a preacher can i be a preacher can i preach about the dear lord oh please wait till my generation has stopped before yours starts in what s a generation it s a ray in the illumination of the spirit that s foolish he was a serious and literal person and rather she kissed his frown and i am away from my husband after liking a ne er do well and expressing opinions just as in a romantic story and my own son me because i haven t given him religious instruction but the story main street doesn t go right i m neither groaning nor being saved i keep on away and i enjoy it i m mad with joy over it is lost back there in the dust and and i look forward she continued it to darling do you know what mother and you are going to find beyond the blue horizon rim what we re going to find with golden from which peep young with of and a dawn sea colored like the breast of a dove and a white and green house filled with books and silver tea sets and oh most decidedly we ve had enough of bread and we d get sick on too many but ever so much on no at all that s foolish it is o male said ii and went to sleep on her shoulder iv the theory of the regarding s absence mrs will and son left on no on saturday last for a stay of some months in new york and washington mrs confided to ye that she will be connected with one of the war now in the nation s capital for a brief period before returning her countless friends who appreciate her splendid labors with the local red cross realize how valuable she will be to any war board with which she chooses to become connected thus adds another shining star to its service flag and without wishing to knock any neighboring we would like to know any town of near our size in the state that has such a sterling war record another reason why you d better watch grow c c mr and mrs david mrs s sister mrs of and dr will drove to on tuesday for a delightful chapter she found employment in the of war risk though the with germany was signed a few weeks after her coming to washington the work of the continued she filed correspondence all day then she dictated answers to letters of inquiry it was an endurance of monotonous details yet she asserted that she had found real work she did have she discovered that in the afternoon office routine stretches to the grave she discovered that an office is as full of and as a she discovered that most of the women in the government lived on in their crammed apartments but she also discovered that business women may have and as frankly as men and may in a bliss which no a free sunday it did not appear that the great world needed her inspiration but she felt that her letters her contact with the anxieties of men and women all over the country	42
be eminent among these did not keep her from being proud of them from defending them in imaginary conversations with who she could hear his voice they re simply a bunch of wild round the rag and i haven t got the time to chase after a lot of these fool i m too busy putting aside a stake for our old age most of the men who came to the flat whether they were army officers or who hated the army had the easy gentleness the acceptance of women without embarrassed for which she had longed in yet they seemed to be as efficient as the sam she concluded that it was because they were of secure reputation not hemmed in by the fire of provincial had asserted that the s lack of courtesy is due to his poverty we re no he boasted yet these army and navy men these and of were cheerful on three or four thousand a year while had outside of his land speculations six thousand or more and sam had eight main street nor could she upon inquiry learn that many of this reckless race died in the that institution is reserved for men like who after fifty years to putting aside a stake invest the stake in furious iv she was encouraged to believe that she had not been in as tedious and she found the same faith not only in girls escaped from but also in old ladies who deprived of esteemed husbands and huge old houses yet managed to make a very comfortable thing of it by living in small and having time to read but she also learned that by comparison was a model of daring color clever planning and from her teacher she had a description of a railroad division town of the same size as her but devoid of and trees a town where the tracks along the main street and the railroad s dripping from and doorway rolled out smoke in greasy other towns she came to know by anecdote a village where the wind blew all day long and the mud was two feet thick in spring and in summer the flying sand houses and dust covered the few flowers set out in pots new england mill towns with the hands living in rows of cottages like blocks of a rich farming in new off the railroad furiously pious ruled by old men ignorant old men sitting about the talking of james g a southern town full of the and white which had accepted as proof of romance but the to the old families a western settlement like a a semi city with and clever visited by famous and but irritable from a struggle between union labor and the association so that in even the of the new houses there was a ceaseless and hunt main street the which plots progress is not easy to read the lines are broken and uncertain of direction often instead of rising they sink in wavering and the colors are watery blue and pink and the dim gray of rubbed pencil marks a few lines are unhappy women are given to protecting their by cynical gossip by by high church and new thought or by a fog of had hidden in none of from reality but she who was tender and merry had been made by even her flight had been but the temporary courage of panic the thing she gained in washington was not information about office systems and labor but renewed courage that amiable contempt called her glimpse of tasks millions of people and a score of nations reduced main street from in to its actual she could never again be quite so awed by the power with which she herself had endowed the and and from her work and from her association with women who had organized associations in hostile cities or had defended political prisoners she caught something of an attitude saw that she had been as personal as and why she began to ask did she rage at individuals not individuals but institutions are the enemies and they most the who the most generously serve them they their tyranny under a hundred and names such as polite society the family the church sound business the party the country the superior white race and the only against them beheld is laughter chapter she had lived in washington for a year she was tired of the office it was tolerable far more tolerable than but it was not adventurous she was having tea and toast alone at a small round table on the balcony of s four in she had felt young and dissipated had thought rather well of her black and leaf green suit but as she watched them thin of ankle soft under the chin seventeen or eighteen at most smoking with the correct and talking of bedroom and their desire to run up to new york and see something she became old and rustic and plain and desirous of retreating from these hard brilliant children to a life easier and more sympathetic when they out and one child gave orders to a was not a defiant philosopher but a faded government clerk from she started up avenue she stopped her heart stopped coming toward her were harry and she ran to them she kissed while harry confided hadn t expected to come to washington had to go to new york for some bu didn t have your address along just got in this morning wondered how in the world we could get hold of you she was definitely sorry to hear that they were to leave at nine that evening and she clung to them as long as she could she took them to st mark s for dinner stooped her elbows on the table she heard with excitement that had the but of course he was too mean	42
to die of it will wrote me th t mr has gone away how did he get on fine fine great loss to the town there was a real public spirited fellow all right she discovered that she now had no opinions whatever about main street mr and she said will you up the town campaign harry well dropped it just temporarily but sure you bet say did the write you about the luck b j had hunting ducks down in when the news had been told and their enthusiasm had she looked about and was proud to be able to point out a to explain the cleverness of the garden she fancied that a man with dinner coat and glanced at harry s highly form fitting suit and s tan silk frock which was doubtful at the she glared back defending her own daring the world not to appreciate them then waving to them she lost them down the long train shed she stood reading the list of stations beyond she saw the lakes and fields heard the of insects and the of a was greeted by sam s well well how s the lady nobody in washington cared enough for her to fret about her sins as sam did but that night they had at the flat a man just back from n she was on the roof with the captain at a table somewhat buying improbable soft drinks for two girls was a man with a large familiar back oh i think i know him she murmured who there oh yes you ve met him what sort of a man is he he s a good hearted idiot i rather like him and i believe that as a of he s a wonder but he s a nuisance in the section tries so hard to be useful but he doesn t know anything he doesn t know anything rather pathetic rich man around and trying to be useful do you want to speak to him i don t think so main street ni she was at a motion picture show the was a highly advertised and thing of cheap perfume red on the back streets of and complacent fat women it pretended to deal with the life of the leading man did a portrait which was a he also saw visions in pipe smoke and was very brave and poor and pure he had and his was strangely like an enlarged photograph prepared to leave on the screen in the of a appeared an actor called she was startled incredulous then wretched looking straight out at her wearing a and a velvet jacket was he had a pale part which he played neither well nor badly she i could have made so much of him she did not finish her speculation she went home and read s letters they had seemed stiff and but now there strode from them a personality a personality unlike that of the young man in the velvet jacket playing a piano in a canvas room iv first came to see her in november thirteen months after her arrival in washington when he announced that he was coming she was not at all sure that she wished to see him she was glad that he had made the decision himself she had leave from the office for two days she watched him marching from the train solid assured carrying his heavy suit case and she was he was such a person to handle they kissed each other and said at the same time you re looking fine how s the baby and you re looking awfully well dear how is everything he grumbled i don t want to butt in on any plans you ve made or your friends or anything but if you ve got time for main street it i d like to chase around washington and take in some and shows and stuff and forget work for a while she realized in the that he was wearing a soft gray suit a soft easy hat a tie like the new got em in i hope they re the kind you like they spent half an hour at the flat with she was but he gave no sign of kissing her again as he moved about the small rooms she realized that he had had his new tan shoes polished to a there was a recent cut on his chin he must have shaved on the train just before coming into washington it was pleasant to feel how important she was how many people she recognized as she took him to the as she told him he asked and she guessed how many feet it was to the top of the dome as she pointed out and the vice president and at lunch time showed herself an by leading him through the to the she realized that he was slightly more bald the familiar way in which his hair was parted on the left side agitated her she looked down at his hands and the fact that his nails were as ill treated as ever touched her more than his pleading shoe shine you d like to down to mount this afternoon wouldn t you she said it was the one thing he had planned he was delighted that it seemed to be a perfectly well bred and thing to do he held her hand on the way and told her the news they were the for the new made him tired the way she always looked at the poor had been killed in a accident out on the coast he did not her to like him at mount he admired the library and washington s tools she knew that he would want that he would have heard of s of grant and and she took him there at dinner his hearty voice his holiday of everything	42
showed me those places today i d already made up my mind that when i built new house we used to talk about i d fix it the way you wanted it i m pretty practical about foundations and and stuff like that but i guess i don t know a whole lot about architecture my dear it occurs to me with a sudden shock that i don t either well anyway you let me plan the and the and you do the rest if you ever i mean if you ever want to doubtfully that s sweet of you look here you think i m goin to ask you to love main street me i m not and i m not going to ask you to come back to she it s been a whale of a fight but i guess i ve got m to see that you won t ever stand g p you want to come back to it i needn t say i m y to have you but i won t ask you i just want you to know how i wait for you every mail i look for a letter and when i get one i m kind of scared to open it i m hoping so much that you re coming back evenings you know i didn t open the cottage down at the lake at all this past summer simply t stand all the others ng and and you not there i used to sit on the porch in town and i i couldn t get over the feeling that you d simply run up to the store and would be right back and till after it got dark i d catch myself watching looking up the street and you came and the house was so empty and still that i didn t like to go in and sometimes i fell asleep there in my chair and didn t wake up till after midnight and the house oh the devil please get me i just want you to know how welcome you ll be if you ever do come but i m not asking you to you re it s awfully thing i m going to be frank i haven t always been absolutely absolutely proper i ve always loved you more than anything else in die world you and the kid but sometimes when you were chilly to me i d get lonely and sore and out and never intended she rescued him with a pitying it s all right let s forget it but before we were married you said if your husband ever did anything wrong you d want him to tell you did i i can t remember and i can t seem to think oh my dear i do know how generously you re trying to make me happy the only thing is i can t think i don t know what i think then listen don t think here s what i want you to do get a two weeks leave from your office weather s beginning to get chilly here let s run down to and and maybe a second no don t even call it that call it a second i won t ask anything i just want the chance to chase around main street with you i guess i never appreciated how lucky i was to have a girl with imagination and lively feet to play with so could you maybe run away and see the south with me if you wanted to you could just you could just pretend you were my sister and get an extra nurse for i get the best dog gone nurse in washington vn it was in the villa by the palms of the battery and the harbor that her melted when they sat on the upper balcony enchanted by the moon glitter she cried shall i go back to with you decide for me i m tired of deciding and no youve got to do your own deciding as a matter of fact in spite of this i don t think i want you to come home not yet she could only stare i want you to be satisfied when you get there ill do everything i can to keep you happy but i ll make lots of breaks so i want you to take time and think it over she was relieved she still had a chance to seize splendid indefinite she might go oh she d see europe somehow before she was but she also had a firmer respect for she had fancied that her life might make a story she knew that there was nothing heroic or obviously dramatic in it no magic of rare hours nor challenge but it seemed to her that she was of some significance because she was the ordinary life of the age made articulate and protesting it had not occurred to her that there was also a of will into which she entered only so much as he entered into hers that he had and as intricate as her own and soft treacherous desires for sympathy thus she looking at the amazing sea holding his hand main street she was in washington was in writing as as ever about water pipes and goose hunting and mrs s she was talking at dinner to a of should she return the leader spoke wearily my dear i m perfectly selfish i can t quite the needs of your husband and it seems to me that baby will do quite as well in the schools here as in your at home then you think i better not go back sounded disappointed it s more difficult than that when i say that i m selfish i mean that the only thing i consider about women is whether they re likely to prove useful	42
in building up real political power for women and you shall i be frank remember when i say you i don t mean you alone i m of thousands of women who come to washington and new york and every year dissatisfied at home and seeking a sign in the heavens women of all sorts from timid mothers of fifty in cotton gloves to girls just out of who strikes in their own fathers all of you are more or less useful to me but only a few of you can take my place because i have one virtue only one i have given up father and mother and children for the love of god here s the test for you do you come to conquer the east as people say or do you come to conquer yourself it s so much more complicated than any of you know so much more complicated than i knew when i put on ground and started out to reform the world the final in conquering washington or conquering new york is that the must beyond all things not conquer it must have been so easy in the good old days when authors dreamed only of selling a hundred thousand volumes and of being in big houses and even the like me had a simple hearted ambition to be elected to important offices and invited to go but we have upset everything now the one thing that is disgraceful to any of us is obvious success the who is very popular with wealthy can be pretty sure that main street he has softened his philosophy to please them and the author who is making lots of money poor things ive heard em for it to the shabby bitter ive seen em ashamed of the sleek luggage they got from rights do you want to sacrifice yourself in such a world where popularity makes you with the people you love and the only failure is cheap success and the only is the person who gives up all his to serve a jolly ungrateful which its nose at him smiled to indicate that she was indeed one who desired to sacrifice but she sighed i don t know i m afraid i m not heroic i certainly wasn t out home why didn t i do big effective not a matter of heroism matter of endurance your is double on top of new england bluff on the surface but in its heart it still has the ideal of rock in a storm there s one attack you can make on it perhaps the only kind that much anywhere you can keep on looking at one thing after another in your home and church and bank and ask why it is and who first laid down the law that it had to be that way if enough of us do this enough then we ll become civilized in merely twenty thousand years or so instead of having to wait the two hundred thousand years that my cynical friends allow easy pleasant home work for wives asking people to define their that s the most dangerous doctrine i know was i will go back i will go on asking questions i ve always done it and always failed at it and it s ill i can do i m going to ask why he s to the of and ask why a always is pleased when he s called doctor and maybe ask mrs why she wears a widow s veil that looks like a dead crow the woman leader straightened and you have one thing you have a baby to that s my temptation i dream of babies of a baby and i around to see them playing the children in circle are like a and the call me was thinking in panic t to have main street country air i won t let him become a i can guide him away from street corner i think i can on her way home now that ive made a precedent joined the union and gone out on one strike and learned personal i won t be so afraid will won t always be resisting my running away some day i really will go to europe with him or without him ive lived with people who are not afraid to go to jail i could invite a miles to dinner without being afraid of the hay i think i could i ll take back the sound of s songs and s they ll be only the against the of in the on an autumn day i can laugh now and be serene i think i can though she should return she said she would not be utterly defeated she was glad of her rebellion the was no longer empty land in the sun glare it was the living beast which she had fought and made beautiful by fighting and in the village streets were shadows of her desires and the sound of her marching and the seeds of mystery and greatness ix her active hatred of had run out she saw it now as a toiling new settlement with sympathy she remembered s of its citizens as a lot of pretty good folks working hard and trying to bring up their families the best they can she recalled tenderly the young awkwardness of main street and the of the little brown cottages she pitied their and had compassion for their assertion of culture even as expressed in papers for their of greatness even as in she saw main street in the dusty sunset a line of frontier with solemn lonely people waiting for her solemn and lonely as an old man who has his friends she remembered that and sam had listened to her songs and she wanted to run to them and sing at last she rejoiced i ve come to a	42
fairer attitude toward the town i can love it now she was perhaps rather proud of herself for having acquired so much main street she awoke at three in the morning after a dream of being tortured by and the widow i ve been making the town a this is how people ke up the tradition of the perfect home town the happy boyhood the brilliant college friends we forget so ive been forgetting that main street doesn t think it s in the least lonely and pitiful it thinks it s god s own country it isn t waiting for me it doesn t care but the next evening she again saw as her home waiting for her in the sunset round with i she did not return for five months more five months crammed with greedy of sounds and colors to take back for the long still days she had spent nearly two years in washington when she departed for in june her second baby was stirring within her chapter she wondered all the way home what her sensations would be she wondered about it so much that she had every sensation she had imagined she was excited by each familiar porch each hearty well well and flattered to be for a day the most important news of the community she about making calls over their washington encounter and took to her social bosom this ancient opponent seemed likely to be her most intimate friend for though she was cordial stood back and watched for imported in the evening went to the mill the om om om of the in the electric light plant behind the mill was louder in the darkness outside sat the night he held up his hands and we ve all missed you terrible who in washington would miss her who in washington could be depended upon like when she saw him on the street smiling as always he seemed an eternal thing a part of her own self after a week she decided that she was neither glad nor sorry to be back she entered each day with the matter of fact attitude with which she had gone to her office in washington it was her task there would be mechanical details and talk what of it the only problem which she had approached with emotion proved insignificant she had on the train worked herself up to such devotion that she was willing to give up her own room to try to share all of her life with he ten minutes after she had entered the house say i ve kept your room for you like it was i ve kind of come round to your way of thinking don t see why folks need to get on each other s nerves just because they re friendly if i haven t got so i like a little privacy and things over by myself main street n she had left a city which sat up nights to talk of universal transition of european revolution free verse she had fancied that all the world was changing she found that it was not in the only ardent new topics were the place in where you could get at thirteen dollars a for home made beer the high of living the election s new car and not very novel of their problems were exactly what they had been two years ago what they had been twenty years ago and what they would be for twenty years to come with the world a possible the were at the base of the mountain a does occasionally drop a river of on even the best of to their astonishment and considerable injury but their cousins inherit the farms and a year or two later go back to the she was unable to much over the seven new and the two which had made to seem so important her thought about them was oh yes they re all right i suppose the change which she did heed was the of the with its cheerful brick walls broad windows for and cooking it indicated s triumph and it stirred her to activity any activity she went to with a i think i shall work for you and i ll begin at the bottom she did she relieved the attendant at the rest room for an hour a day her only was painting the pine table a black and orange rather shocking to the she talked to the and soothed their babies and was happy thinking of them she did not think of the of main street as she hurried along it to the chatter of the jolly seventeen she wore her eye glasses on the street now she was beginning to ask and if she didn t look young much younger than thirty three the eye glasses pinched her nose she considered spectacles they would make her seem older and hopelessly settled no i she would not wear main street yet but she tried on a pair at s office they really were much more comfortable in dr sam and were talking in shop well i see s wife is taking a whirl at the now said dr he the now interrupted the of sam and with his brush dripping he observed what ll she be up to next they say she used to claim this wasn t swell enough for a city girl like her and would we please tax ourselves about thirty seven point nine and fix it all up pretty with on the and on the sam blew the from his lips with small and be a good thing for most of us if we did have a smart woman to tell us how to fix up the town just as much to her kicking as there was to jim s about and you can bet mrs is smart even if she is glad to see her back	42
wares that would be sold up the and across the the rolled out in greeting a chorus cheerful as the april dawn the song of labor in a built it seemed for giants t here was nothing of the in the aspect of the man who was beginning to awaken on the sleeping porch of a d house in that district of known as j his name was g f t he was forty six years old now in ril and he made no ng i pa ti i neither butter nor shoes nor poetry but he was calling s fo r til people ld afford his la head was pink h is wn hair thin dry his face was sh in er his and the red spectacle on of bis nose he was not fat but he was exceedingly well fed his cheeks were and the hand w hich lay helpless upon the blanket was slightly he seemed extremely married and and altogether appeared this porch which looked on o ne si date grass a and a iron yet was again dreaming of the fairy child a dream more romantic than scarlet by a silver sea f or years the fairy child had come t o where others saw but youth ie waited for in the darkness b nd mysterious groves when at last he could slip away from the crowded house he darted to her his wife bis sought to follow but he escaped the girl fleet beside him and they crouched together on a shadowy she was so slim so white ao e she cried that h e was gay and t hat she ti n that tn aod bang of the milk lock moaned turned over ed back toward dream he could see only her face now beyond mis s the furnace man the door a dog in the next yard as sank into a dim warm tide the p er went by i and he t advocate the front door roused his stomach with alarm as he relaxed he pierced by the familiar and rattle of some one a ford snap ah ah snap ah ah snap ah ah himself a t pious with the unseen driver with him waited hours for the roar of the starting en e with him as the roar ceased and again began patient snap ah ah a round flat sound a cold sound a sound and the rising voice of the told him that the ford ns moving was he released from the panting he once at his favorite tree elm twigs against the gold of sky and for sleep as for a he who bad been a boy very of life was no longer greatly in the and improbable adventures of ea h w day he escaped from reality till the alarm dock rang at ra s the best of sad y all modern alarm and a was proud of being awakened by such a rich device it was almost as creditable as buying ex pensive cord he admitted now that th e was no more but he l ay and the grind of the real estate and di his and d them the lie had ed at s till midnight and after such holidays he was irritable before breakfast it may have the tremendous home beer of the era and the to which that beer him it may have been resentment of return from this fine bold man world to a re on of wives and and of suggestions not to smoke so much from the bedroom beside the sleeping porch his wife s cheerful time to get up boy and the sound the brisk and sound of hairs oat of a stiff brush he he dragged his thick le in faded baby blue from under the blanket be sat on the edge of the cot running bis fingers through his wild hair while his plump feet mechanically felt for his slippers he looked re at the forever a s to him of and ho u t it for g camp i ng had never come off it gorgeous gorgeous cursing shirts he to his feet at the waves of pain which passed behind his though he waited for their ing he looked out at the rd it him as always it was the neat yard of a successful man of that is it was perfection and made him perfect he regarded the iron for the three hundred and sixty fifth time in a year he reflected no class to that tin have to build me a frame but by it s the only thing on the place that t up js le he stared he thought of a community for his development he ed puffing and g his arms were his sleep swollen face was set in harder lines he suddenly seemed capable an official a man to contrive to direct to get things done on the vigor of his idea he was carried down the hard clean looking hall into the the house was not large it had all houses on an altogether royal of and glazed tile and metal sleek as silver the rack was a rod of dear glass set in the tub was long enough for a guard and above the set bowl was a exhibit of tooth brush brush soap dish dish and medicine cabinet so glittering and so ingenious that they resembled an instrument board but the whose god was modem was not pleased the air of the was thick with the smell of a heathen been at it stead of sticking to like ive repeat ed ly asked her she s gone and gotten some confounded stuff that makes you sick the bath mat was wrinkled and the floor was wet his daughter took in the morning now and then he slipped on the mat and slid against the tub	42
he said damn furiously he snatched up his of cream furiously he with a of the brush furiously he his plump cheeks with a safety it pulled the blade was dull he said damn oh damn it he hunted through the medicine for a packet of new blades reflecting as invariably be cheaper to buy one of these and your own blades and he discovered the packet behind the round box of of he thought ill of his wife for putting it there and very well of himself for not saying damn but he did say it immediately afterward when with wet and so be tried to remove the horrible little envelope and crisp clinging paper from the new then there was the oft never solved of what to do the old blade might the fingers of bis young as usual he tossed it on tt of the with a mental note that some day he must remove the fifty or sixty other blades that were also temporarily piled up there he finished his in a increased by his spinning headache and by the in his stomach when he was done his round face smooth and and his es from water he for a the family were wet wet and and vile all of them wet he found as he blindly snatched them his own face his wife s s ted s s and the lone bath with the huge of then george f did a thing he wiped his face on the guest i it was a embroidered trifle which always there to indicate that the were in the best heights society no one had ever used it no guest had ever dared to guests took a corner of the nearest regular he was raging by here th go and use all the every one of em and they use em and get era all wet and and never put out a dry one for me of course i m the and then i want one and i m the only person in the house that s got the slightest bit of consideration for other people and thou and consider there may be others that may want to use the do one after me and consider he was the into the bath tub pleased by the of that desolate flapping sound and in the midst hb wife serenely trotted in observed serenely why dear what are you doing are i going to wash out the why you needn t wash out the oh you didn t go and use the did you it u not recorded that he was able to answer for the first time in weeks he was roused by his wife to look at her b mrs f was i y she had from s of her mouth to the bottom of her chin and her plump neck but the thing that marked her as having passed the line was that she no longer had before her husband and no longer worried about not having she was in a now ami which and unaware of being in she had become so du l ly jo married life that in her die was a s s as an was a d a kind woman a nt y t ut no one save perhaps t lt a p old was at all interested in h er or e ware that she was after a discussion of all the domestic and social aspects of she to for his having an headache and he recovered enough to endure the search for a b v d which had he pointed out been concealed among his dean he was fairly amiable in the conference on the brown suit what do you think he at the clothes hundred on a chair in their bedroom while she moved about and patting her and to his e never seeming to get on with her dressing how about it shall i wear the brown suit another day well it looks awfully nice on you i know but it needs pressing that s so perhaps it does it certainly could stand being pressed all ri t r yes perhaps it wouldn t butt it to be pressed but the coat doesn t need no sense in having the whole dam suit pressed when the coat doesn t need it that s so but the certainly need it all right at them look at those wrinkles the certainly do need pressing that s so oh why couldn t you wear the brown coat with the blue trousers we were wondering we d do with them good did you ever in all my life know me to wear the coat of one suit and the of another what do you think i am a er well why don t you put on the dark gray suit to day and stop in at the tailor and leave the brown trousers well they certainly need now where the devil is tiiat gray suit oh yes here we are he was able to get through the other of dressing with comparative and calm his first was the b v d undo rt in which he resembled a small boy wearing a at a he never put on b s without thanking the god of progress that he didn t wear tight long old fashioned un his father in law and partner henry his was and back bis hair it gave bim a tremendous forehead up two inches beyond the former hair line but most wonder working of all was the of his spectacles there is in the the meek of the school teacher the twisted silver framed glasses of the old s spectacles had huge circular of the very best glass i the eat were thin bars of gold in them he was the modern ness man one who	42
gave orders to clerks and a car and played occasional and was in to his bead suddenly appeared not but and you noted bis heavy blunt nose bis t and thick long upper lip his chin but with you beheld him put on the rest of bis uniform a a solid citizen the gray suit was well cut well made i n f y y it white on v of the added a flavor of law and learning a j were black la b good boots honest b d boots uninteresting boots the only was in his purple with considerable comment on the matter to mrs who the back of her to her skirt with a safety pin did not hear a word he said he chose between the purple and a with ess brown among blown and into it he thrust a snake head pin with eyes a event was ig th p brown suit to thrill die ins ot n he was earnest about objects ce like w the n par v tb a o a il a r pencil always lacking a supply of new leads which in the i per pocket without them he would have on his watch chain were a gold cigar seven keys the use of two of which he had forgotten and incidentally a good watch depending from the chain was a large s tooth of his in the and order of most significant of all was his loose leaf pocket note book that modem and efficient note book which contained the addresses of people whom be had forgotten of money orders which had reached their months ago which bad lost their of verses by t and of the newspaper from which got his and his notes to be sure and do things which lo he did not intend to do and one curious inscription d s s d m y p d f but be had no case no me had ever happened to give him one so he hadn t the habit and people who car cases he regarded as last be stuck in his the club button with the of great art the button displayed two words l it made fed loyal and it g with men who were nice and human in in business it was his y c bis of h n his k with of dressing ran other i feel kind of this morning he said i think i had too much dinner last evening you t to serve those heavy but you asked me to have s ne i know but i tell you when a fellow gets past forty he has to look his there s a lot of fellows that don t take proper care of i tell you at forty a man s a fool or his doctor i mean his own doctor folks don t give attention to this matter of now i think course a man ou t to have a good meal after the day s work but it would be a good thing for both of ua if we took lighter but here at home i always do have a t lunch mean to imply i make a of myself eating down town yes sure you d have a swell time if you had to eat the that new steward hands out to us at the club but i certainly do feel out of sorts this morning funny got a pain down here on the left side but no that wouldn t be would it last ni t when i was driving over to s i felt a pain in my stomach too right here it kind of a sharp shooting pain i where d that go to wh t you serve more at ii of course i eat an every an le a day keeps the doctor away but still you ought to have more and not all these fancy the last time i had you didn t eat them well i didn t feel like eating em i suppose matter of fact i think i did eat some of em anyway i tell you it s mighty important to i was saying to just last evening most pet le don t take care of ih r shall we have the for our dinner next we why sure you bet now see here george i want you to put on nice dinner jacket that evening rats the rest of em won t want to dress of course they will you remember when you didn t dress for the per party and all the rest did and how embarrassed you were embarrassed i wasn t embarrassed everybody knows i can put on as expensive a as body else and i should worry if i don t happen to have it on sometimes all a dam nuisance anyway all ri t for a woman that stays the house all the time but when a fellow s worked like the all day he doesn t want to go and his head off getting into the soup and fish for a lot of folks that he s seen in just ordinary clothes that same day you know you enjoy being seen in one the other evening you admitted you were glad i d insisted on your vou said you felt a lot better for it and oh e i do wish you wouldn t say it s dinner jacket rats what s the odds well it s what all the nice folks say suppose mc heard you calling it a well that s all ri t can t pull anything on her are common as mud even if her and her are i suppose you re trying to rub io your exalted social well let me tell you that your paternal henry t doesn t call	42
it a m he calls it a jacket for a monkey and you couldn t get him into one unless you bim now don t be horrid george well i don t want to be horrid but you re getting as as ever since she got out of college she s been too to live doesn t know what she wants well i know what she wants all she wants is to marry a and live in europe and hold some and simultaneously at the same time stay right here in and be some blooming kind of a ot charity or some thing lord and ted is just as bad he wants to go to college and be doesn t want to go to college only one of the three that knows her own mind is simply can t understand how i ever came to have a pair of children like and ted t may not be any or james j shakespeare but i certainly do know my own mind and i do keep ri t on along in the and do you know the latest far as i can figure out ted s new bee is he d like to be a actor and and here i ve told him a hundred times if hell go to college and law school and make good i ll set him up in business and just exactly as bad doesn t know what she wants well well come on aren t you ready yet the girl rang the bell three minutes ago before he followed his wife stood at the window of their room this settlement heights was on a rise and though the of tht city was three miles away had between three and hundred thousand inhabitants now he could see the t ol second national tower an oe w thirty five stories i its shining walls rose against ril sky to a simple like a streak of white fire was in the tower and i decision it bore its strength lightly as a tall soldier as stared the was soothed from his face his i chin lifted in reverence all he was that s one lovely sight but he was by the of the i city his love of it renewed he beheld the tower as a i pie spire of the religion of business a faith passionate exalted surpassing men and as be down to i breakfast he whistled th e ballad oh by by by as though it were a hymn melancholy and noble i z l chapter n relieved of s and the soft with his wife expressed the sympathy she was too to feel and much too ex not to show their settled instantly into it gave od the ing porch it s both of them as room and on the nights gave up the duty of being manly and retreated to the bed inside to curl his toes in the warmth and laugh at the january gale the room displayed a modest and pleasant color scheme after one of the best standard designs of the who did the for most of the houses in the pray the the rug a s en e t and ve ry much like the furniture the with its great clear mirror mrs s dressing table with toilet articles of almost solid silver the plain twin beds between them a small table holding a standard electric bedside lamp a g ss for water and a standard bedside book with colored illustrations what particular book it was cannot be ascertained since no one had ever opened it the were firm but not hard triumphant modem which had cost a great deal of money the was of exactly the proper scientific surface for the contents of the room the windows were large and easily opened with the best catches and and holland shades not to crack it was a among right out of cheerful modern or medium only it had nothing to do with tl i nor with any one if people bad ever and loved here read at midnight and in beautiful on a sunday morning there were no signs of it it had the air of being a very good room in a very good one expected the to come in and make it ready for people who would stay but one night go without looking back and never think of it again every second house in heights had a bedroom like this the house was five years it was au as competent and glossy as this bedroom it had the best of taste the best of a simple and architecture and the latest throughout took the place of candles and hearth fires along the bedroom were three for electric concealed by little brass doors in the halls were lor the i and in the fer the for the electric fan the trim dining room with its glass cupboard its plaster walls its modest scene of a salmon e upon a pile of had which supplied the electric and the electric in fact there was but one thing with the house it was not a home often of a morning came and in to breakfast but things were mysteriously to day as he tread the upper hall he looked into s bedroom and protested what s the use of giving the family i high class house when they don t appreciate it and tend he marched upon them ver wa brown haired of twenty two just out of to ad b bout duty a nd sex and god a nd the l gray suit s he was now wearing ted a boy seventeen still a baby at ten with radiant red hair and a thin skin which hinted of too much and too many ice cream did not show his vague	42
irritation as he in he r a t y a t a family at and his was as m e as it he shouted at well it was the only pet name in his except the dear and hon with he recognized bis wife and he flung it at every he a cup of coffee in the b of his stomach and his soul his stomach ceased to feel as though did not belong to him but began to be conscientious and and abruptly there returned to the doubts regarding life and families and business v ch had at him when his dream life and the slim fairy had fled j f f j h l f i jf j t g v with a prospect of becoming to mr and thus as defined it getting some good out of your expensive college education till you re ready to marry and settle down but now said father i was talking to a of mine that s working for the associated oh there s the sweetest little babies that come to the and i feel as though i ought to be doing something worth while like that what do you mean worth while if you get to be s secretary and maybe you would if you kept up you and didn t go off to and talk every evening i guess you ll find thirty five or fort a week worth f but oh i want to contribute i wish i were in a settlement house i wonder if i could get one of the department stores to let me put in department a nice rest room and and chairs and so m and so forth i could ow you look here the first thing you got to understand is that all this i lift and and settlement work and is nothing in god s tho a r sm the so he isn t going to be and he needn t expect a lot of free and all free classes and and for bis unless e em why the sooner bell get on the job and produce produce i that s what the country needs and i dot all this fancy stuff that just the will power of the man and gives bis a lot of notions above their j and you if you d tend to business instead of au the time when i was a young man i made j my mind what i wanted to do and stuck to it through thick and thin and that s why i m where i am to day and what do you let the girl chop the toast up into little for can t get your fist em half cold anyway i ted junior in the great east side high school had been making like sounds of interruption he now say you going to whirled will you kindly not t us we re talking about serious aw said ted ever since somebody slipped up and let you out of college you been these nut conversations about what and so so are you going to i want to use the car tonight ob you may want it myself protested oh you do mr i m going to e it myself ob papa you said maybe d drive us down to and mrs ful your sleeve is in the they and hurled ted you re a p pig about the cat you re not a ted could be bland you just want to it off right after dinner and leave it in front of some skirt s all evening you sit and gas about and the you re going to marry if they only well t to ever let you have it you and i those jones boys drive like the idea of your taking the turn on place at forty miles an aw where do you get that stuff you re so dam scared of the car that you drive up hill with the emergency on i do and always talking about how much you know about and told me you said the battery fed the you why my good woman you don t know a from a not was ted y with her he was a natural a maker and of machines he in for the came that ll do flung in mechanically as he lifted the satisfying first cigar of the day and tasted the of the advocate times ted honest i don t want to take the old boat but i promised couple o in my class i d drive em down to the of the school chorus and e i don t want to but a gentleman s got to keep his social engagements well upon my word you and your social engagements in high school oh ain t we select since we went to that hen let me tell you there isn t a private in the state that s go as swell a bunch as we got in this ye v i there s two fellows that their are sa ll i to have a car of m i s demanded that this almost rose a car be dead right by a and a house and lot with german gold anyway a boy that can t pass with the irish or any to and he our bands strictly off and and i a from russia that reward for the hard he put me why we don t just well when you i i out somewhat later after te i admit that she was merely to the to see the dog and cat show she was then ted planned to park the car in front of the tore across from the and he would pick it up there wore regarding	42
leaving the key and having the filled and passionately of the great god they the patch on the spare inner and the lost ted observed that her friends were a scream of a bunch stuck up four his friends she indicated were disgusting imitation sports and little ng ignorant girls further it s of you to smoke and so on and so forth and those es you ve got on this morning they re too utterly ridiculous honestly simply disgusting over to the low mirror in the regarded his charms and hi s t the latest thing in old top was skin tight with trousers to the tops of bis sm ig tan boots a man pattern of an a check and across the back a which nothing his was an enormous black silk his lu r was ice smooth back parting when he went to school he would add a cap with a long like a blade of all was his waistcoat b for begged for for a real fancy of th of a decayed red the points long i ful your sleeve is in ce a high school button a class hurled ted you re a course you re not he was and swift and you just to be cynical were dinner and leave it in front o over he waved his while you sit and gas and yes i guess youve going to if i and i rather guess well ought tb n y a l yo v i it might add to beauty if you wiped some oi mat egg off your mouth i momentary victor in the greatest of great wars which is the family war ted looked at k then shrieked at for the love o quit pouring the sugar bowl on your corn when and ted were gone and upstairs groaned to his wife nice family i must i don t pretend to be any lamb and maybe i m a little at breakfast sometimes but the way they go on i singly can t stand it i swear i fed like going os some place where i can get a little peace i do think after a man s spent his lifetime trying to give his a chance and a decent education it s pretty to hear them all the time like a bunch of and never and curious here in the paper it says never silent for one mom seen the morning paper yet no dear in twenty years of married life mrs had seen the before her husband just times lots of news terrible big in the south d luck all right but this say tliis is beginning of the end for those new york assembly has passed some bills that ought to completely the and s an strike in new york and a lot college boys are taking their places that s the stuff a mass meeting in s demanded that this this de be dead ri t by all these paid with german gold anyway and we got no business interfering with the irish or any foreign government keep our hands strictly off and there s another well from russia that is dead that s fine it s beyond me why we don t just step in there and kick those out that s so said mrs and it says here a fellow was mayor in preacher tool what do you think of i well he searched for an but a aa nor a real state did he have any doctrine preacher laid down for him so he granted and went on she looked sympathetic and did not tear a word later she would read the the society columns and the department store what do you know about still d the as heavy as ever s what that woman says about last night never is society with the big big s more flattered than when are to partake of good cheer at the distinguished and hospitable residence of mr and mrs charles l as they were last night set in its spacious and one of tbe notable sights crowning royal ridge but merry and its mighty stone walls and its vast rooms for their their home was thrown open last night for a dance in honor of mrs s notable guest miss j of washington the wide hall is so generous in its proportions that it made a perfect its floor reflecting the charming above its polished surface even the delights of dancing before the opportunities for a that invited soul to loaf in the long library before the fireplace or drawing room with its deep its shaded lamps made for a sly whisper of pretty all a or even i in the room where one could take a and a at still another game than that by and there was more a great deal more in the best style of miss pearl tbe popular society editor of the advocate but could not abide it he he wrinkled the new he protested can you beat i m willing to hand a lot of credit to when we were in college he was just as hard up as ar of us and he s made a million good out of and hasn t been any or bought any more city than was necessary and that s a good of his though it ain t any stone walls and it ain t worth the ninety thousand it cost him but it comes to talking as though and all that set of his are any blooming bunch of of ol why it makes me timidly from mrs i would like to see tbe inside of their though it must be lovely i ve never been inside well i lots o times to see about business in the evening it s not so much i wouldn t want to go	42
there to dinner with that gang of of and bet i make a whole lot more money some of those tin horns that spend all th got on dress suits and haven t got a decent suit of to their name hey what do you think of this mrs was strangely unmoved by the tidings from uie real estate and column of the advocate times i street j k to i thomas april x i i and this morning was too to entertain her with from recorded he rose as be looked at her bis eyebrows seemed than usual suddenly yes maybe kind of shame to not keep in touch with folks like the we might try inviting them to some evening oh thunder let s not waste our good time thinking about our little bunch has a lot liver times than all those just compare a real human hke you with these birds like all talk and dressed i like a you re a great old girl he covered his of softness with a complaining say don t let go and eat any more of that poison for heaven s sake try to keep her from her i tell you most folks don t appreciate how important it is to have a good and regular habits be back bout usual time i guess he kissed he didn t quite her he laid lips against her cheek he hurried out to the muttering ex rd what a family and now is going to get pathetic on me because we don t train with this lord sometimes i d like to quit the whole game and the office worry and detail just as bad and i act and i don t mean to but i get so dam i z l chapter m to george f as to most prosperous citizens of his car was poetry and tragedy love and hero i the office was his ship but the car his perilous e ashore among the tremendous of each day none was dramatic than starting the engine it was slow on cold was the long anxious of the and sometimes he had to into the of the c which was so very interesting that at lunch he would chronicle it drop by drop and calculate how much each drop had cost him this morning he was darkly prepared to find something wrong and he felt when the mixture exploded sweet and strong and the car didn t even brush the door and with many by as he backed out of the he was confused he shouted morning to sam with more cordiality than he had intended i s green and white dutch house was one of three in that block on road to the left of it was the residence of mr samuel secretary of an excellent firm of his was a comfortable house with no manners whatever a large wooden box with a tower a broad porch and glossy paint yellow as a of mr and mrs as from their house came midnight music and laughter there were of and fast rides they furnished with many ha y evenings of discussion during which he announced firmly i m not and i don t mind seeing a f ow throw in a drink once in a but when it comes to trying to get a lot of raising all the like the do it s too rich for my on the other side of lived d in a strictly modem house whereof the lower part was dark red brick with a the upper part of pale like clay and the roof red was the great scholar of the neighborhood the authority on everything in the world except babies cooking and y he was a bachelor of arts of college and a doctor of philosophy in of he was the manager and counsel of the street company he could on ten hours notice appear before the board of or the state and prove with figures all in rows and with from and new that the street car company loved tlie public and its that all its stock was owned by and and that whatever it desired to do would benefit property owners by increasing and help the poor by lowering rents all his acquaintances to when they desired to know the date of the battle of the of the word the future of the mark the translation of or the number of of coal tar he awed by that he often sat up till midnight reading the figures and in government reports or with amusement at the author s mistakes the latest volumes of and but s great value was as a spiritual example despite his strange he was as strict a r and as firm a republican as george f he the business men in the faith they knew only by passionate instinct that their of industry and manners was perfect dr proved it to them out of history and the of had a good deal of honest pride in being the neighbor of such a and in ted s intimacy with at sixteen was interested in no save those regarding the ages and of motion picture stars but as put it she was her father s daughter the difference between a light man like sam and a really fine character like was revealed in their appearances was young for a man of ei t he wore his on the back of his head and bis red face was wrinkled with laughter but was old for a man of forty two he was tall broad thick his gold were in the folds of his long face his hair was a tossed mass of greasy blackness he puffed and as he talked his key shone against a black he of old pipes he was altogether and and to and the of	42
he added an of this morning he was in front of his house the grass between the and the broad stopped his car and leaned out to shout l over and stood with one foot up on the running board fine morning said lighting his second cigar of the day yes it s a mighty fine morning said i spring coming along fast now yes it s real spring now all right said still cold nights though had to have a couple blank on the sleeping porch last night yes it wasn t any too warm last t said but i don t anticipate we ll have any more real cold now no but still there was snow at yesterday said the scholar and you remember the they had out west three days ago thirty inches of snow at and two years ago we had a snow here in on the twenty fifth of april is that a fact say old man what do you think about the republican candidate they for president don t you think it s about time we had a real business administration in my opinion what the needs first and foremost is a good sound business like conduct of its affairs what we need is a business administration said i m glad to hear you say that i certainly am glad to hear you say that i didn t know how you d feel about it with all your associations with and so on and i m glad you fed that way what the country needs just at this present juncture is neither a president nor a lot of with foreign affair hut a good sound economical business administration that will give us a chance to have something like a decent yes it isn t generally realized that even in china the are giving way to more practical men and of course you can see what that is that a fact well breathed feeling much calmer and much happier about the way were going in the world well it s been nice to stop and second guess have to get down to the now and sting a few well so long old man see you tonight so long they had labored these solid citizens twenty years be fore the on ts was spread with its bright roofs and turf and amazing comfort had been a wilderness of rank second growth elms and oaks and along the precise streets still a few wooded vacant lots and the fragment of an old orchard it was to day the apple boughs were lit with fresh leaves like of green fire the first white of cherry blossoms down a and the earth chuckled at the as he would have chuckled at or at a comic he was to the eye perfect office go ing a man in a correct brown soft hat spectacles smoking a large cigar driving a good along a semi b ut in him was s om v love for his neighborhood his the winter was wai come for the building the visible growth which to him was glory he lost his dawn depression he was cheerful when he stopped on smith street to leave the brown trousers and to have the filled the familiarity of the fortified him the sight of the tall red iron pump the hollow tile and the window full of the most agreeable shiny spark with tire chains of gold and silver he was flattered by the friendliness with which moon and most skilled of came out to serve him mr said moon and felt himself a person of importance one whose name even busy ed not one of these cheap flying around in he admired the ingenuity of the dial off by admired the of the sign a fill in time getting stuck gas to day cents admired the of the as it flowed into the and the mechanical regularity with which moon turned the handle how much we to day asked moon in a manner the of the great the friendliness of a familiar gossip and respect for a man of t in the community like george f fill er up who you for for republican candidate mr it s too early to make any yet after all there s a good month and two weeks no three weeks most be almost three weeks well there s more than six weeks in all before the republican and i feel a ought to keep an open and give all the a show look em all over and size em up and then decide carefully that s a fact mr but tell you and my stand on this is just the same as it was four years ago and eight years ago and it ll be my stand four years from now yes and eight years from now i wliat i tell everybody and it can t be too generally b that what we need first last and all the time is a good sound business i by that s right how do those front look to you fine fine wouldn t be much work for if looked after their car the way you do well i do try and have some sense about it paid his bill said oh keep the change and drove off in an ecstasy of honest self appreciation it was with the rf of a good that he shouted at a looking man who was waiting for a car a lift as the man climbed in condescended going clear down town whenever i see a fellow waiting for a i always make it a practice to give him a lift r unless of course he looks like a bum wish were more folks that were so generous with their machines said the victim of oh no	42
tain t a question of generosity hardly fact always feel i was saying to my son just the other s a fellow s duty to share the good things of this world bis neighbors and it gets my goat when a fellow gets on himself and goes around his horn merely because he s charitable the victim seemed unable to find the ri t answer bat on pretty service the company giving us on these lines nonsense to only run the road cars once seven minutes fellow gets mighty cold on a winter morning on a street comer with the wind at his ankles that s right the street car company don t care a damn what kind of a deal they give us something ought to happen to em was alarmed but still of course it won t do to just keep knocking the company and not realize the difficulties they re i und like these that want the way these workmen hold iq the company for high wages is simply a crime and of course the burden falls on you and me that have to pay a fact there s remarkable service on all their lines considering well uneasily dam fine morning spring coming along fast yes it s real spring now the victim bad no originality no wit and fell into a great silence and devoted to the game of beating cars to the comer a a tail chase nervous between the huge yellow side of the and the jagged row of shooting past just as the a rare game and and all the be was conscious of the loveliness of for weeks together he noticed nothing but and tbe to rent signs of rival to day in mysterious he raged or rejoiced with equal nervous swiftness and to day the light of ring was so that he lifted bis bead and saw he admired each district along his familiar route to tbe office the and shrubs and winding irregular of heights the one story shops on smith street a s e of plate glass and new yellow brick and and stores to supply the more immediate needs of east side the market gardens in dutch hollow patched with iron and stolen doors with crimson nine feet tall pipe tobacco and powder the along ninth street s e like aged in filthy linen wooden castles turned into boarding houses muddy walks and rusty hedges by fast cheap apartment houses and fruit stands conducted by bland sleek across the belt of railroad tracks with high perched water and tall producing milk paper boxes lighting cars then the business the darting traffic the crammed and high of marble and polished granite it was bi and respected i anything jn n i h e was for a ring enchanted mom ent th i i n i an j of he thought ot the factory of river with its strangely banks of the orchard hills to the north and all the fat land and big and comfortable herds as he dropped his passenger he cried i feel pretty good this as starting the car was the drama of it before he entered his office as he turned from avenue round the corner into third street n e he peered ahead for a ace in the line of cars he angrily just missed a space as a rival driver slid into it ahead another car was leaving the and iq holding out his hand to the cars pressing on him from behind an old woman to go ahead avoiding a which bore down on him from one side with front wheels the of the car in front he cramped his wheel slid back into the vacant lace and with eighteen inches of room to bring the car level with the it was a adventure executed with satisfaction he locked a thief proof steel on the front wheel and crossed the street to his real estate office on the ground floor of the building the building was as as a rock and as efficient as a fourteen stories of yellow pressed brick with dean upright lines it was filled with the offices of lawyers doctors agents for machinery for wheels tor wire for stock their gold signs shone on the windows the entrance was too modern to be with pillars it was quiet shrewd neat along the third street side were a western union telegraph office the blue shop s shop and the company could have entered his office from the street as customers did but it made him feel an to go the corridor of the building and enter by the back door thus he was greeted by the villagers the little unknown people who inhabited the building and the doubtful looking lame man who conducted the news and cigar stand in no way city they were living in a valley interested only in one another and in the building their main street was the entrance hall with its stone floor severe marble ceiling and the inner windows of the shops the place on the street was the building shop but this was also s one embarrassment himself he the glittering shop in the hotel and every time he passed the shop ten times a day a hundred times he felt to his own village now as one of the greeted with honorable by the villagers he marched into his office and peace and dignity were upon him and the morning s all unheard they were heard again immediately the outside was talking on the with tragic lack of that firm manner which say i think i got just the house that would suit you the house in oh you ve seen it well how d it strike you oh oh i see as marched into his private room a with of oak and ass at	42
the back of the office he reflected how hard it was to find who had his own faith that he was going to make there were nine members of the staff besides and his partner and father in law henry who rarely came to the office the nine were the outside a man given to and the playing of pool old mat general utility man of rents and of broken silent gray a mystery to have been a crack real estate man with a firm of his own in ty resident out at the development an enthusiastic person with a and much family miss the swift and rather miss the thick slow laborious and file and four commission l as he looked from his own cage into the main room mourned s a good smart s a whip but and all those the zest of the firing morning was smothered in the stale office air he admired the with a pleased surprise that he should have created this sure lovely thing he was stimulated by the dean of it and the air of bustle but to day it seemed flat the floor like a the colored metal ceiling the faded maps on file hard plaster walls the chairs of pale o the and of painted in olive it was a vault a chapel where and laughter were raw sin he hadn t even any satisfaction in the new water and it was the very best of water up to date and t thinking it had cost a great deal of money in itself a virtue it possessed a non conducting a water jar a non and machine painted in two tones of gold he looked down the stretch of floor at the water cooler and assured that no tenant of the building had a more expensive one but he could not the of social superiority it had given him he i d like to beat it off to the woods right now and loaf all day and go to s again to night and play and as much as i feel like and drink a hundred and nine thousand bottles of he sighed he read through his mail he shouted which meant miss and began to dictate this was his own version of hi first letter send it to his office miss yours of twentieth to hand and in reply would say look here i m awfully afraid if we go on like this we ll just naturally lose the sale i had up on carpet day before yesterday and got right down to cases and think i can assure you no change that all my experience he is all right means to do business looked into his financial record which is fine that sentence seems to be a little up miss make a couple sentences out of it if you have to period new paragraph he is perfectly willing to pro rate the special and strikes me am dead sure tho e will be no difficulty in getting him to pay for title so now for heaven s sake let s get busy no make that so now let s go to it and get down no that s you can tie those sentences up a little better when you type em miss your sincerely this is the version of his letter which he received from miss that afternoon co homes for folks avenue d st esq north american building dear mr your letter of the twentieth to hand i my i m awfully afraid that if we go on like this we ll lose the sale i had up on the carpet day before yesterday and got right down to cases all my experience that he means to do business i have also looked into his financial record which is fine he is perfectly willing to pro rate the special and there will be no difficulty in getting him to pay for title so got yours as be read and signed it in his correct flowing bu hand reflected now that s a good strong letter and dear s a bell now what the i never told to make a third paragraph there wish she d quit trying to improve on my but what i can t understand is why can t or write a letter like that with punch with a kick the most important thing he dictated that morning was the form letter to be and sent out to a thousand prospects it was diligently of the best literary models of the day of heart to heart talk pulling letters on the development of will power and hand shaking house organs as richly poured forth by the new school of poets of business he bad painfully written out a first and he it now like a met delicate and old i just want to know can i do you a favor no i know you re interested in getting a house not merely a place where you hang up the old bonnet but a love nest for the wife and and m for the out be nt be sure and that b e y a n t miss the garden say did you ever stop to think that we re here to save you trouble that s how we make a living folks don t pay us for our lovely now take a look sit right down at the handsome carved mahogany and shoot us in a line telling us just what you want and if we can find it we ll come down your lane with the good tidings and if we can t we won t bother you to save your time just fill out the blank enclosed on request will also send blank regarding store properties in heights silver grove and all east side districts yours for service	42
p s just a hint of some we can pick for you some genuine that came in to day silver grove four room a n i g shade tree swell neighborhood handy car line oo down and balance liberal terms cheaper than a t artistic two family house all oak trim floors lovely gas log big heated all weather a bargain at over with its need of sitting and thinking io of bustling around and making a noise and really doing something sat back in bis revolving and beamed on miss he was conscious of ba as a girl of black against cheeks a which was from loneliness him while she waited tapping a long precise pencil point on the desk he half identified her with the fairy girl of bis dreams he imagined their eyes meeting with imagined touching her lips with frightened reverence and she was any more mist he that winds it up i guess and turned heavily away for all his wandering thoughts they had never been more intimate than this he often reflected forget how old said a wise bird never goes love making in hb own or his own home start trouble sure but in twenty three years of married life he had peered uneasily at every ankle every soft in thought he had them but not once had he respectability by now as he calculated the cost of the house he was restless again discontented about nothing and everything ashamed of his lonely for the fairy girl i i chapter iv it was a morning of artistic creation fifteen minutes after the purple prose of s form letter the resident at came in to a sale and submit an of who sang in and was merry at home over games of hearts and old maid he bad a tenor voice chestnut hair and a like a s hair brush considered it in a family man to growl seen this new picture of the kid little devil eh but s domestic confidences were as as a girl s say i think i got a of an ad for the mr why don t we try something in poetry honest it d have wonderful pulling power mid pleasures and palaces wherever you may you just provide the little bride and we ll provide the home do you get it see like home sweet home don t you yes yes yes hell yes of course i get it but oh i think we d better use something more dignified and like we lead others follow or eventually why not now course i believe in using poetry and humor and all that when it turns the trick but with a high development like the we better stick to the more dignified approach see how i mean well i guess that s all this morning by a tragedy familiar to the world of art the april enthusiasm of served only to the talent of the older george f he grumbled to that tan colored voice of gets on my nerves yet he was aroused and in one he wrote do you respect your loved ones when the last sad rites of are over do you know for certain that you have done your best for the departed you haven t unless they lie in the beautiful lane e only strictly up to date burial place in or near where exquisitely plots look from dotted hill slopes across the smiling fields of sole agents company building he rejoiced i guess that ll show and his ty old something about modern he sent mat to the s office to dig out the names of the owners of which were displaying for rent of other he talked to a man who desired to lease store building for a pool room he ran over the list of which were about to he sent thomas street car conductor who played at real estate in spare time to call on side street prospects who were unworthy the of but he had spent his excite meat of creation and e routine annoyed hi m one moment of heroism he had in a new way of stopping smoking he stopped smoking at least once a month he went through with it like the solid citizen be was admitted the evils of tobacco made laid out plans to check the vice off his allowance of cigars and the pleasures of to every one he met he did everything in fact except stop smoking two months before by ruling out a noting down the hour and minute of each smoke and increasing the intervals between he had brought himself down to three cigars a day then he had lost the a week ago he had invented a system of leaving his and box in an unused drawer at the bottom of the correspondence file in the outer office i ll just naturally be ashamed to go in there all day long making a fool of myself before my own he reasoned by the end of three days he was trained to leave his desk walk to the file take out and li t a cigar without knowing that he was doing it this morning it was revealed to him that it had been too easy to open the file lock it that was the inspired be rushed out and locked up his cigars his and even his box of safety matches and the key to the file drawer he hid in his desk but the passion of it made him so tobacco hungry that he recovered the key walked with forbidding dignity to the file took out a cigar and a match but only one match if cigar goes out it ll by have to stay out later when the cigar did go out he took one more match from the file and when a and	42
a came in for a conference at eleven thirty naturally be had to offer them cigars his conscience protested why you re smoking with them but he it oh shut i m busy now of course by and by there was no by aod yet his belief that he had crushed the habit made him feel noble and very happy when he called up paul he was in his moral splendor unusually he was of paul than of any one on earth t himself and his daughter th bad been in the state but always he thought of paul with his dark his precisely parted hair his nose glasses his speech his lis love of music as a younger brother to be and protected paul had gone into his father s business after he was now a and small of prepared paper but believed and to the world of good fellows that paul could have been a great or painter or writer why say the letters that boy sent me on his trip to the they just absolutely make you see the place as if you were standing there believe me he could have given any of authors a whale of a run for their yet on the they said only south no no no i said south south say what the is the trouble can t you get me south why certainly they ll answer oh speak mist mist talking ix paul s george speaking how s old fair to how re you fine well what do you know oh nothing much where you been yourself oh just round what s up how bout lu lunch s noon be all right with me i guess club meet you there twelve thirty a right twelve thirty s i his morning was not sharply marked into divisions with and writing were a thousand nervous details calls from clerks who were incessantly and seeking five furnished rooms and bath at sixty dollars a month advice to mat on getting money out of tenants who had no money s virtues as a real estate as the servant of society in the d of finding homes for families and for of food were and diligence he was honest be kept his records of and complete he had experience with and titles and an excellent memory for prices his shoulders were broad enough his voice deep enough his relish of hearty humor strong enough to establish him as one of the ruling caste of good fellows yet bis importance to mankind was perhaps lessened by his large and complacent ignorance of all architecture save the types of houses turned out by all landscape save the use of roads grass and six ordinary shrubs and all the commonest of he serenely believed that the one purpose of the real estate business was to make money for george f true it was a good advertisement at club and all the varieties of annual to which good fellows were invited to speak of unselfish public service the s obligation to keep the trust of his and a thing called whose nature was but if you had it you a high class and if you hadn t you were a a and a fly these virtues awakened confidence and enabled you to handle bigger but th didn t imply that you were to be and refuse to take twice the value of a house if a was such as idiot that he didn t jew you down on the asking price spoke well and often at these of commercial about the s function as a of the future development of the community and as a prophetic a clearing the pathway for inevitable changes that a real estate could make money by which way the town would grow this he called on in an address at the club he had admitted it is at the duty and the privilege of the to know everything about his own city and its where a surgeon is a on every vein and mysterious cell of the human body and the engineer upon in all its phases or every bolt of some great bridge o er a mighty flood the must know his inch by inch and all its faults and virtues though he did know the market rice inch by inch of certain districts of he did not know whether the police force was too large or too small or whether it was in alliance vith gambling and he knew the means of buildings and the relation of to but he did not know how many there were in the city how they were trained and paid or how complete th r apparatus he sang the advantages of of school buildings to homes but he did not know he did not know that it was worth while to know whether the city were properly heated lighted furnished be did not know how the teachers were chosen and though he one of the of is that we pay our teachers that was because he had read the statement in the advocate times himself be could not have given the average salary of teachers in or anywhere he bad heard it said that conditions in the county jail and the city prison were not very scientific he had with indignation at the criticism of through a in which the notorious the radical lawyer asserted that to throw boys and young girls into a bull pen crammed with men suffering from delirium and insanity was not the p way of them he had the by growling folks that think a jail ought to be a hotel make me sick if people don t like a jail let em behave and keep out of it besides these reform always that was the beginning and quite completely the end of his into s and and as to the vice	42
too late to walk it took but little more time to start his car and edge it into the traffic than it would have taken to walk the three and a half blocks to the club as he drove he glanced with the fondness of familiarity at the buildings a stranger suddenly dropped into the business of could not have told whether he was in a city of or or or but to every inch was individual and stirring as always he noted that the building across the way was three stories lower therefore three stories less beautiful than his own building as always when he passed the shoe shine parlor a one story hut which beside the granite and red brick of the old building resembled a bath house under a cliff he commented ought to get my shoes this afternoon keep forgetting it at the office furniture shop the national cash agency he for a for a which would add and as a poet for or a physician for at the men s wear shop he took his left hand o the wheel to touch his and thought well of himself as one who bought expensive ties and could pay cash for em too by and at the united cigar store with its crimson and gold he reflected if i need some cigars idiot forgot going t cut down my fool smoking he looked at his bank the and national and considered how clever and solid he was to bank with so an establishment high moment came in the clash of c when he was halted at the comer beneath the lofty second national tower car was with four others in a line of steel restless as cavalry while the cross town traffic and enormous moving and poured by on the farther comer rang on the sun skeleton of a new building and out of this flashed inspiration of a familiar face and a fellow shouted h are you waved in and slid on with the traffic as the policeman lifted his hand he noted how quickly his car picked i he felt superior and powerful like a of polished steel darting in a vast machine as always he ignored the next two blocks decayed blocks not yet from the and of the of while he was passing the five and ten cent store the lodging house hall with its lodge rooms and the offices of fortune and he thought of how much mon he made and he boasted a little and worried a little and did old familiar sums four hundred fifty this morning from the deal but taxes due let s see i ought to pull out eight thousand net this year and save fifteen hundred of that no not if i put up and let s see six hundred and forty clear last month and twelve times forty makes makes let see six times twelve is seventy two hundred and oh rats anyway i ll make eight thousand now that s not so bad mighty few fellows pulling down eight thousand dollars a year t thousand good bard iron dollars bet there isn t more than five per cent of the people in the w united states that make more than uncle george does by ri t up at the top of the but way are family wasting and always dressed like and sending that eighty a month to mother and all these and men me for every cent they can the effect of his scientific planning was that he felt at once triumphantly wealthy and p poor and in the midst of these he stopped his car r s to a small news and and bought the electric which he bad for a he his conscience by being and noisy and by shouting at the clerk guess this will near pay for itself in matches eh it was a pretty thing a with an almost silvery to be attached to the of his car it was not only as the on the counter observed a little refinement the last touch of class to a s but a time by him from halting the car to light a match it would in a month or two easily save ten minutes as he drove on he at it pretty nice always wanted one he said wistfully the one thing a needs too then he remembered that he had given up smoking it he mourned ob well i suppose i ll hit a cigar once in a while and be a great convenience for other folks might make just the difference in getting with some fellow that would put over a sale and certainly looks nice there certainly is a mighty clever little gives the last touch of refinement and class i by i guess i can it if i want to not going to be the only member of this family that never has a single luxury thus laden with treasure after three and a half blocks of romantic adventure drove up to the club the club is not and it isn t exactly a club but it is in perfection it has an active and smoke room it is represented by and and in the pool and the a tenth of the members try to reduce but most of its three thousand members use it as a in which to play cards tell stones meet customers and entertain out at it is tlie largest club in the city and its chief hatred is union club which all call a rotten dull e q ve not one good in the place you couldn ta show that no of the has ever refused election to the union and of those are i sixty per cent resign from the a heard to say in the drowsy of the union the	42
would be a pretty good hotel if it were more exclusive the club building is nine stones high yellow brick with roof above and of huge columns below the with its thick pillars of stone its pointed and a brown glazed tile floor like baked bread crust is a combination of and the members rush into the as thou they were and hadn t much time for it thus did enter and to the group standing by the he how s the boys how s the boys well weu fine they back the coal dealer the ladies ready to wear for s department store and professor h k owner of the business college and in public business english writing and commercial law though admired this and appreciated as a mighty smart and a good liberal it was to that he turned with enthusiasm mr was president of the club a weekly lunch club local chapter of a national organ which promoted sound business and friendliness among regular fellows he was also no less an official than esteemed leading knight in the benevolent and order of and it was that at the next election he would s be a candidate lor exalted ruler he was a jolly man given to and to with the arts he called on the famous actors and artists when th came to town gave them cigars addressed them by their first names and sometimes succeeded in bringing them to the to give the boys a free entertainment he was a large man with hair en and he knew the latest jokes but be played close to the c lest it was at his party that had sucked in the of to day s restlessness shouted how s the old how do you feel the morning after the night before oh boy some head that was a regular party you threw hope you haven t forgotten i took that last little jack pot he was three feet from i that s all right what iii hand you next time say notice in the paper the way the new york assembly stood up to the you bet i did that was fine eh nice day to day yes it s one mighty fine spring day but still cold j you re right they are had to have blankets last night out on the sleeping porch say ned to the got something ask you about i went out and bought me an cigar lighter or the car this noon and good said while even the learned professor a man with a and salt and a pipe organ voice commented that makes a cigar lighter tone to the finally decided i d buy me one got the best on the market the clerk said it was paid five for it just wondering if i got stuck what do charge for em at the store asserted that five dollars was not too great a sum not for a really high class lighter which was and provided with of the very best quality i always say and believe me i base it on a pretty fairly extensive experience the best is the in the long run of course if a fellow wants to be a jew about it be can get cheap but in the long run the thing is the best you can get now you take here just th other day i got a new top for my old boat and some and i paid out a hundred and twenty six fifty and of course a lot of fellows would say that was too much lord if the old folks they live in one of these towns state and they simply can t get the way a city fellow s mind works and then of course they re jews and they d he right down and die if they knew had up a hundred and twenty six bones but i don t figure i was stuck george not bit machine looks brand new now not that it s so old of course had it less n three years but i give it hard service never drive less n a hundred miles on sunday and oh i don t really think you got stuck george in the long run the best is you might say it s unquestionably the est that s right said that s the way t look at it if a fellow is up to you might call living the way you get it here in all the and mental activity that s going on with a of live wires like the and here in the c why he s got to save his nerves ty having the best nodded his head at every fifth word in the roaring and by the conclusion in s renowned vein he was enchanted still at that george don t know s you can afford it i ve heard your business has been kind of under the e of the ment since you stole the tail of park and sold iti oh you re a great little but when it comes to how about this that you stole the black marble steps off the post office and sold em for high grade vi coal i in t patted s back bis arm that s all light but what i want to know is who s the real estate that bought that coal for his i guess that ll hold you for a said i ll tell you thou boys what i did hear george s went into the wear department at s to buy him some and before she could give bis neck the clerk slips her some how know the says mrs and the k says men that let their wives bi for em always wear thirteen madam how s that that s pretty good eh how	42
s that eh i guess that ll about you george i i sou t for amiable in answer he stopped stared at the door paul was coming in cried see you later boys and hastened across the he was just then neither the sulky child of the sleep ing porch the domestic tyrant of the breakfast table the money of the conference nor the good the and regular of the club he was an older brother to paul swift to defend him admiring him with a proud and love passing the love of paul and he shook hands solemnly they smiled as as though they had been parted three years not three days and they said how s the old horse thief all ri t i guess how re you you poor i m first rate you second hand o cheese reassured thus of their high fondness you re a fine you ten minutes late snapped well you re lucky to have a chance to lunch with a gentleman they grinned and went into the where a line of m i bent over the along a prodigious of marble as in religious before own images in tbe mirror voices thick satisfied along the marble walls bounded from the ceiling of while the lords of the city the of and law and and laid down the law for announced that the day was warm indeed of spring that wages were too high and the interest on too low that babe tbe eminent player of was a noble man and that those two nuts at the climax this week c are a pair of actors thou ordinarily his voice was the and most al of all was silent in the ke of the slight dark of paul be was awkward he desired to be quiet and firm and the entrance of tbe club was the imperial the spanish mission and the reading room in chinese but the of the was the dining room the of s it was lofty and with an a somewhat mu gallery and believed to illustrate the of the open beams had been hand at s car body works the hinges were of hand wrought iron the studded with wooden and at one mid of the room was a and stone which the club s asserted to be not only larger than any of the in european castles but of a draught more scientific it was also much as no fire had ever been built in it half of the tables were which seated twenty or thirty men usually sat at the one near the door with a group including professor his t the poet and agent and jones o was in many ways the best in they composed a within the club and merrily called themselves the to day as he passed their table the greeted him come on sit in you n paul too proud to feed with poor folks afraid somebody might stick you for a bottle of george strikes me you are getting awful exclusive he thundered you bet we can t afford to have our ruined by being seen with you and guided paul to one of the small tables beneath the gallery he felt guilty at the club privacy was very bad form but he wanted paul to himself that morning be bad lighter and now be ordered nothing but english mutton chop peas apple pie a bit of cheese and a pot of coffee with cream adding as he did invariably and oh and you might give me an order of french potatoes when the came he vigorously it and it he always and his meat and vigorously before it paul and he took up the spring like quality of the spring the virtues of the electric cigar lighter and the action of the new york state assembly it was not till was thick and with mutton that be flung out i up a nice little deal with ad this mom ing that put five hundred good round in my pocket pretty nice pretty nice and yet i don t know what s the matter with me to day maybe it s an attack of spring fever or staying up too late at s or ni it s just the winter s work up but i ve felt kind of down in the mouth all day long course i wouldn t beef about it to the fellows at the table there but you ever feel that way paul kind of comes over me here i ve pretty much done all the things i ought to supported my family and got a good house and a six car and built up a nice little business and i haven t any vices specially except and i m practically cutting that out by the way and belong to the church and play enough to keep in trim and i only associate with good decent fellows and yet even so i don t know that i m entirely satisfied i it was out broken by shouts from the neighboring tables by mechanical love making to the by as the coffee filled him with and he was and doubtful and it was paul with his thin voice who pierced the fog good lord george you don t suppose it s any novelty to me to find that we that think we re so all fired successful aren t getting much out of it you look as if you me to you as i you know what ray own life s been i know old man i ought to have been a and i m a of and oh i don t want to but you know as well as i do about how inspiring a wife she is typical instance last evening we went to the there a big crowd waiting in the us at the	42
tail end she began to push right through it with her sir how dare you manner honestly sometimes when i look at her and see how she s always so made up and of perfume and ng for trouble and kind of always i tell i m a lady damn why i want to kill her well she through the crowd me after her feeling good and ashamed till she s almost up to the velvet rope and ready to be be next let in but there was a little of a man e probably been waiting half an hour i kind of admired the little and he turns on and says perfectly polite madam why are you trying to push past me and she simply god i was so ashamed she out at him you re no gentleman and she me into it and paul this person insulted and the poor lie got ready to fight i made oat i hadn t beard them same as yoa wouldn t hear a factory and i tried to look away i can tell you exactly how every tile looks in the ceiling of that there s one with brown spots on it like the face of the devil and all the time the le there they were packed in like they kept making about us and w it right on talking about the little chap and that folks like him t to be admitted in a place that s supposed to be for ladies and gentlemen and paul will you kindly call the manager so i can report this dirty rat and maybe i wasn t glad when i could inside and hide in the dark after twenty four years of that kind of thing you don t e me to fall down and foam at the mouth when you hint that this sweet clean respectable moral life isn t all it s cracked up to be do you i can t even talk about it except to you because anybody else would think i was maybe i am don t care any you ve had to stand a lot of from me first and last rats now paul you ve never really what you could call sometimes i m always blowing to and the about what a whale of a i am and yet sometimes i get a idea i m not such a as i let on to be but if i do help by you along old i guess maybe saint may let me in after all you re an old blow hard you cheerful but you ve certainly kept me going why don t you divorce why don t ii if i only could if she d just give me the chance you couldn t hire her to divorce me no nor me she s too of her three squares and a few pounds of nut in between if she d only be what they call to me george i don t want to be too much ot a back in college i d ve thought a man who could say that ought to be shot at sunrise but honestly i d be to death if she d really go making love somebody fat of course shell with anything you know how she holds hands and laughs that laugh that horrible the way she you man you be careful or my big husband will be after you and the looking me over and thinking why you thing you nm away now or iii and shell let him go far enough so she gets some excitement out of it and then begin to do the injured innocent and have a beautiful time wailing i didn t think you were that kind of a person they talk about these in stories these but the hard old married women like are worse than any haired girl that ever went boldly out into this here storm of life and kept her umbrella slid up her but rats you know what is how she how she wants everything i can buy her and a lot that i can t and how absolutely unreasonable she is and i get sore and try to have it out with her she plays the perfect lady so well that even i get and get all up in a lot of why did you say s and i didn t mean s ii tell you you know my tastes are pretty fairly simple in the matter of food at least course as you re always complaining i do like decent cigars not those de you re smoking that s all right now that s a good two for by the way paul did i tell you i decided to practically cut out yes you at the same time if i can t get what i like why i can do without it i don t mind sitting down to burnt with and store cake for a thrilling little afterwards but i do draw the line at having to with she s so rotten bad tempered that the cook has quit and she s been so busy sitting in dirty lace all afternoon reading about some brave manly hero that she hasn t had time to do any cooking you re always talking about morals meaning suppose you ve been the rock of ages to me all right but you re essentially a you where d you get that little man let me j you i love to earnest and inform the world that it s the duty of responsible business men to be strictly moral as an example to the community in fact you re so earnest about morality old that i	42
half an hour after the time at which bad sternly told miss he would be back paul sighed look here old man t to talked about way i did rats old man it lets off steam oh i after all noon at the conventional stuff i m conventional enough to be ashamed of ing my life by out with my fool troubles old paul your nerves are kind of on the bum i m going to take you away i m going to this thing i m going to have an important deal in new york and and sure of course need you to advise me on the roof of the and the deal will fall through and there ll be nothing for us but to go on ahead to i paul when it comes right down to it i don t care whether you bust or not i do like having a for being one of the bunch hut if you ever needed me i d it and come out for you every time not of course but what you re course i don t mean you d ever do anything that would put that would put a decent position on the but see how i mean i m kind of a clumsy old and i need fine hand we oh hell i can t stand here all day on the job s long don t take any wooden money see you soon s long i z l chapter vi he got paul in an afternoon of not details after a return to his which seemed to have staggered on without him he drove a prospect out to view a four flat in the district he was inspired by the customer s admiration of the new cigar lighter thrice its novelty made him use it and thrice he hurled half smoked from the car protesting i got to quit smoking so blame much their ample discussion of every detail of the cigar them to speak of electric hat irons and bed for being so old fashioned as still to use a hot water bottle and he announced that he would have the sleeping porch at once he had enormous and poetic admiration though very little understanding of of truth a nd beauty regarding each new intricate metal two et machine gun he learned one good sounding phrase and used it over and over with a delightful feeling of being and the customer joined him in the worship of machinery and they came to the and began that examination of slate roof doors and seven ei blind nailed began those of hurt surprise and readiness to be persuaded to do something they had already decided to do which would some day result in a sale on the way back picked up his partner and law henry t at his kitchen cabinet works and th drove south a high colored exciting region new of hollow tile with gigantic windows surly old red brick stained with tar high perched water big red like and on a score of side tracks far wandering freight cars from the new york central and apple the great northern and wheat the southern pacific and orange groves th talked to the secretary of the company about an interesting artistic project a cast iron fence for lane they drove on to the ny and the manager about a on a car for and were fellow members of the club and felt right if he bought anything from another without receiving a but henry growled oh t hell with i m not going to around not from nobody it was one of the differences between the old fashioned lean yankee stage type of american business man and the plump smooth efficient up to the minute and otherwise modern whenever put your john on that line was as much amused by the as any englishman by any american he knew himself to be of a breeding altogether more and sensitive than s he was a college he played he often smoked instead of cigars and when he went to he took a room ith a private bath the whole thing b he explained to paul these old lack the that you got to have to day this advance in civilization could be carried too far perceived manager of the was a frivolous of while was a sound and standard ware from that great department store the state university wore he wrote long letters about o city and singing and though he was a be was known to in his pocket small volumes of poetry in a foreign language all this was going too far henry was the extreme of and the extreme of while between them the state defending the and domestic brightness and sound business were and his friends with this just estimate of himself and with the promise of a on s car be returned to his ia triumph but as he went through the corridor of the building he sighed poor old i got to oh damn ry i land damn c just because they make more money than i do they think th re so i i wouldn t be foimd dead in their old union cm i somehow to day i don t feel like going w oh j he answered he read the four o clock mail be signed his morning s letters he talked to a tenant about he t with young the outside was that he deserved an increase of commission and to day he complained i think i ou t to get a if i put through the sale i m chasing around and working on it single evening almost frequently remarked to his wife that it was to your help and ke em happy stead of jumping on em and em up	42
get more work out of em that way but this lack of appreciation hurt him and he turned on look here let s get this clear you ve got an idea somehow that it s you that do all the selling e d that stuff where d you think you d be if it wasn t f capital yoa and our lists of o les and all tbe prospects we find for all you got to do is follow up our tips and dose the deal the ball porter could sell you say you re engaged to a girl but have to put in your evenings chasing after well why the devil shouldn t you what do you want to do sit around her hand let me tell you if your girl is worth her salt shell be glad to know you re out making some money to furnish the home nest instead of doing the the kind of fellow that about working that wants to end his evenings reading novels or and exchanging a lot of nonsense and foolishness with some girl be ain t the kind of young man with a future and with that we want here how about it what s your ideal anyway do you want to make money and be a responsible member of the community or do you want to be a with no inspiration or was not so to vision and as usual ton bet i want to make money that s why i want that honest mr i don t want to get fresh but this house is a terror fall for it the is rotten and the walls are fuu of cracks that s exactly what i to a with a love for his it s bard problems like that that inspire him to do his best besides matter o fact and i are against as a matter of principle we like you and we want to help you so you can get married but we can t be unfair to the others on the staff if we start giving you don t you see we re going to hurt the feeling and be unjust to and right s right and is unfair and there ain t going to be any of it in this don t get the idea that because during the war were hard to hire now when there s a lot of men out of work there aren t a of bright young fellows that would be glad to step in and enjoy your opportunities and not act as if and i were his enemies and not do any work except for how about it how about it oh well of course si ed as he went out did not often with his he liked to like the people about bim he was dismayed when they did not like him it was only when they attacked the sacred purse that he was into fury but then being a man given to and high principles he enjoyed the sound of bis own and the warmth of his own virtue today he had so passionately indulged in self approval that he wondered whether he had been entirely just after all isn t a boy any more t to call him so hard but rats got to haul folks over the coals now and then for their own good unpleasant duty but i wonder if is sore what s he saying to out there so chill a wind of hatred blew from the outer office that the normal comfort of his evening home going was ruined he was distressed by losing that approval of his en to which an is always slave ordinarily he left the office with a thousand directions to the effect that there would undoubtedly be important tasks to morrow and miss and miss would do well to be there early and for heaven s sake remind him to call up soon s he came in to night he departed with feigned and he was as afraid of his still faced clerks of the eyes on him miss staring with head lifted from her miss looking over her mat around at his desk in the dark sullenly as a before the bleak of his butler he hated to expose his back to their laughter and in bis effort to be casually merry he stammered and was friendly and out of the door but be forgot his misery when he saw from smith street the of heights the roofs of red tile and i slate the shining new sun and the walls he ed to inform his that the day had been ike the evening mi t be add he went in to where are you at his wife with no very definite desire to know where she was he examined the lawn to see the furnace man had it with satisfaction and a good deal of discussion of the matter with mrs ted and he concluded that the man had not it he cut two of wild grass with his wife s largest he informed ted that it was ail having a furnace man big fellow like you ou t to do all the work around the and privately he meditated that it was agreeable to have it known ut the that he was so prosperous that his son never worked around the house he stood on the porch and did his day s exercises aims out for two minutes up for two minutes while he ou t take more exercise keep in shape then went in to see whether his collar needed changing before dinner as usual it af did not the maid a powerful woman beat the the roast of beef potatoes and string beans were this evening and after an adequate sketch of the day s weather states his four hundred and	42
fee his lunch with paul and the merits of the new cigar lighter he was moved to a sort o thinking about buying a new car don t well get hm till next year but still we might l the older daughter cried oh if you do why don t you get a that would be perfectly a closed car is so much more than an open one well now i don t know about that i kind of like an open car you get more fresh air that way oh shoot that s just because you never tried a let s get one it s got a lot more class said ted a closed car does ke the clothes from mrs you don t get your hair blown all to pieces from it s a lot from ted and from the youngest oh let s have a mary s father has got one ted wound up ob everybody s got a closed car now t us faced them i guess you got nothing very terrible to complain about anyway i don t ke a car just to enable you children to look like and i like an open car so you can put the top down on summer evenings and go out for a drive and get some good fresh air besides a closed car costs more money aw if the can a closed car i guess we can ted i make eight thousand a year to his seven but i don t blow it all in and waste it and throw it around the way he does don t believe in this business of going and spending a whole lot of money to show off and they went with and some into the matters of bodies hill climbing power wire wheels steel systems and body colors it was much more than a study oi it was an for k nightly rank in the city of in the barbarous century a family s indicated its social rank as precisely as the of the determined the rank of an english family indeed more precisely considering the opinion of old county families upon newly created and mill the details of were never determined there was no court to decide whether the second son of a pierce arrow should go in to dinner before the first son of a but of their respective social importance there was no doubt and where as a boy bad to the his son ted to a twin six and an established position in the gentry the favor which had won from hb family by speaking of a new car as they realized that he didn t intend to buy one this year ted lamented oh the old boat looks as if it d had and been scratching its off mrs said father raged if you re too much of a high class gentleman and you belong to the ban ton and so on why you needn t take the car out this evening ted explained i didn t mean and dinner dragged on with normal domestic delight to the inevitable point at which protested come come now we can t sit here all evening give the girl a chance to clear away the table he was what a family i i don t know how we all get to this way like to go os some place and be able to hear myself think paul wear old and loaf and he said cautiously to his wife i ve been in correspondence with a man in new york wants me to see him about a real estate trade may not come off till summer hope it doesn t break just when we and the get ready to go to be a shame if we couldn t make the trip there together well no use worrying now escaped immediately after dinner with no discussion save an why don t you ever stay home from i in the living room in a comer of the ted settled down to his home study plain and the of i don t see why th give us this old fashioned by milton and shakespeare and and all these he protested oh i guess i could stand it to see a show by shakespeare if they had swell and put on a lot of dog but to sit down in cold blood and read en these how do they get that way mrs yes i wonder why of course i don t want to fly in the face of the professors and everybody but i do think there s things in shake ware not that i read him much but when i was young the girls used to show me passages that weren t really they weren t at all nice looked up from the comic in the evening advocate they composed his favorite literature and art these illustrated in which mr hit mr with a rotten egg and mother corrected father s by means of a rolling pin with the solemn face of a breathing heavily through his open mouth he nightly through every picture and during the he detested he felt that on the subject of shakespeare be wasn t really an authority neither the advocate times the evening advocate nor the of the chamber of commerce had ever had an on the matter and until one of them had spoken he found it hard to form an original opinion but even at risk of in strange be could not keep out of an open j i ll tell you why you have tc shake and those k it s because the y re ed for c en tr ance and that s i ail is to it personally i don t see myself why they stuck em into an up to date high school system like we have in this state be	42
a good deal better if you took business and learned how to write an ad or letters that would pull but there it is and there s no talk argument or discussion about it trouble with you ted is you always want to do something different if you re going to law school and you i never had a chance to but see that you why want to lay in all the english and latin you can get oh i don t see what s the use of law school or even finishing high school i don t want to go to college specially honest there s lot of fellows that have from that don t begin to make as much money as fellows that went to work early old that teaches latin in the high he s a what is it from and he sits np all night reading a lot of greasy books and he s always about the value of languages and the poor doesn t make but eighteen hundred a year and no would think of working for that i know what i d like to do i d like to be an or own a big or else a fellow was telling me about it yesterday like to be one of these fellows that the standard oil company sends out to china and you live in a compound and don t have to do any work and you get to see the world and and the ocean and everything and then i could take up correspondence courses that s the real you don t have to to some frosty faced old dame that s trying to show off to the principal and you can study any subject you want to just listen to these i out the of some swell courses he snatched from the back of his half a hundred of those home study courses which the energy and foresight of american commerce have contributed to the science of education the first displayed the portrait of a young man with a pure brow an iron jaw silk and hair like patent leather standing with one hand in his and the other extended with forefinger he was an audience of men with gray bald heads and every other sign of wisdom and prosperity above the picture was an inspiring no lamp or torch or owl of but a row of dollar the text ran power and prosperity in public speaking a told at the club do you think i ran into the other evening at the de why old that used to be a alive shipping clerk in my old place mr mouse man we used call the dear fellow one time he was so he was scared of the and never got credit for the work he did him at the de i and if be wasn t ordering a feed with all the from to nuts i and instead of being embarrassed by the like be used to be at the little where we in old he was them around like he was a what we teach you i how to address your lodge how to give how to tell dialect stories how to propose to a lady how to entertain ban how to make convincing selling talks how to build big how to create a strong personality how to become a rational powerful and original how to be a master man i i cautiously asked him what he was doing laughed and said say old i guess you re wondering what s come over me you ll be glad to know i m now assistant at the old shop and right on the high road to prosperity and and i look forward with confidence to a car and the wife is things hum in the best society and the getting a first class here s how it happened i ran i across an ad of a course that claimed w f to teach people how to talk easily and on their feet how to answer author of the how to lay a proposition cut course in the how to hit a bank speaking is the for a loan how to hold a big with wit humor l w j t a anecdote inspiration etc it was of some oi by the master orator t j i i im f feet i was too extensive i wrote just on a with author of books name and address to the poetry etc a man for the lessons sent on trial with the unique per money back if you are not of the lately satisfied there were eight master minds he simple lessons in plain language j anybody could understand and i studied them just a few hours a night then on the k wife soon found i could talk right interfere with other up to the and get due credit occupations for all the good work i did they began to appreciate me and advance me fast and say old what do you think they re paying me now per and say i find i can keep a big audience fascinated speaking on any topic as a friend old boy i advise to send for circular no obligation and valuable free art picture to co desk wa are you a or a all the secrets of his culture and force o was a in without a which enable him to speak with authority nothing in or real estate had indicated a solid citizen and to think ut co by ma ij he began with hesitation veil sounds as if it ground it certainly is a line thing to be able to i ve sometimes thou t i had a little talent that way myself and i know well that one reason why a old back number like can	42
physician and the third that miss j l recently a per in a store is now getting ten real dollars a day teaching our system of breathing and mental control ted had collected fifty or sixty from annual reference books from sunday school fiction magazines and of discussion one benefactor implored don t be a be more popular and make more money you can or sing yourself into society by the secret principles of a newly discovered system of music teaching any one man lady or child can without tiresome exercises training or long drawn out study and with out waste of time money or energy learn to play by note j piano or drum learn sight singing i the next under the wistful appeal finger wanted big confided you red blooded men f and women thb is the you have been looking there s money in it big mc and that rapid of scene that and interest and fascination which your active mind and spirit think of being the chief figure and in strange mysteries and this ful profession you into contact with men on the basis of equality and often calls upon you to travel maybe to distant lands all expenses paid no education required ob boy i i guess that wins the fire brick wouldn t it be to travel everywhere and some famous ted i don t think much of that likely to get hurt still that music study mi t be pretty fair though there s no reason why if put their minds to it the way they have to in a factory they couldn t figure out some scheme so a person wouldn t have to monkey with all this and that you get in music was impressed and he had a parental feeling that they two the men of the family understood each other he listened to the notices of mail box whidi taught short story writing and in the memory motion picture acting and developing the soul power and spanish and and window poultry raising and well well sou t for adequate expression of his admiration i m a son of a i knew this correspondence school business had become a mighty profitable game makes real estate look like two cents but i didn t realize it d got to be such a key mu tj up with and always figured somebody d i me along with the brains to not leave education to a lot of and in but make a big thing out of it yes i can see how a lot of these courses might interest you i must ask the fellows at the if they ever realized but same time ted you know how i means some don t know as they d be able to jam you through these courses as fast as th claim th can oh sure of course ted had the immense and joyful maturity of a boy v is respectfully listened to by his elders concentrated on him with grateful i can see what an these courses might have on the whole works course i d never admit it publicly fellow like myself a state u it s only decent and patriotic for him to blow his horn and the but er of fact t here s a whole lot of valuable ui time lost even at n r p k p i fi t y ty i b t may e these prove to he one of the most important american inventions trouble th a lo t of folks is th ey re so blame m th ey f g of america n they think that inventions like the and t v and no that was a invention but anyway they think these mechanical are all that we stand for whereas to a real thinks he sees tha t y and movements like and r a nd and a re what compose and truest wealth and maybe this new principle in education at home may be another may be another i tell you ted we ve got to have vision i think those courses are terrible the philosophers ed it was mrs who had made this discord in their spiritual harmony and one of mrs s virtues was that except during dinner parties en she was into a raging hostess she took care of the house and didn t bother the by thinking she went on firmly it sounds awful to me the way they those poor young folks to think they re learning something and nobody round to help them and you two learn so quick but me i always was slow but just the same attended to her get just as much at home you don t think a fellow any more because he blows in his father s hard earned mon and sits around in chairs in a swell with pictures and and table covers and those do you i tell you i m a college man i know there b one objection you mi t make though i certainly do protest against any effort to get a lot of out of and into the professions re too crowded already and we do for workmen if all those fellows go and get educated ted was leaning back sm j g a without he was for the moment sharing the high thin air of s as though he were paul or even dr how ard he hinted well what do you think then wouldn t it be a good idea if i could go off to china or some place and study or something by mail no and i ll tell you son i ve found out it s a mighty nice thing to be able to say you re a b a some that doesn t	42

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.