The Seattle Star Newspaper, October 25, 1921, Page 11

TUESDAY, OCTOBER yee MAIN STREET The Story of Carol Kennicott BY SINCLA Copyright, 1920, Harcourt, Brace & Howe, Inc. (Continued From Page ©) 1 practically never jump on Juanita Haydock rattled, “They're eful, all that class of people. think the domestic problem is becoming awful, I don’t what the country's coming to, these Scandahoofian clodhop- demanding every cent you can and so kgmorant and imperti and on my word, demandin, tubs and everything—as if the: geren’t_ mighty good and lucky at} if they got a bath in the wash | o me - were off, riding hard.. Carol it of Bea and waylaid them: isn't it possibly the fault of) mistress if the maids are un} efult For generations we've the leavings of food, and | to live in. 1 don't want to! but I must say I don't have trouble with Bea. She's so ly. The Scandinavians are ly and honest—" Dave Dyer snapped, “Hon- Do you call it honest to hold us| for every cent of pay they can) I can’t say that I've bad any | e steal anything (the you is call it stealing to eat so much | at & roast of beef hardly laste @ays), but just the same I intend to let them think they | my eyes and then I know they aren’t ying tempted to dishonesty by any B. J. Gougerling, wife of the » stated in @ shocked manner, | | Mixg Villets stiffened, and attacked: 25, 1921. Seecvecccecocooosecces IR LEWIS million Carols, with a hundred thou sand Vida Sherwins trying to shoo away the storm. Carol felt guilty, She devoted her. self to admiring the spinsterish Miss Villete-and immediately committed another offense against the laws of decency. “We haven't seen you at the li brary yet,” Miss Villets reproved. “I've wanted to run fn ad) much but I've been getting settled and— | TM probably come in so often you'll get Ured of me! I hear you have such a nice /ibrary.” “There are many who like it. We) have 2,000 more books than Waka min,"* “Ien't that fine, “I'm sure you are largely responsible. I've had some experience in St. Paul.” “So I have been informed, Not that I entirely approve of library methods in these large cities. So careless, letting tramps and all sorts of dirty persons practically sleep in the reading rooms.” “I know, but the poor souls— Well, I'm sure you will agree with me in one thing: The chief task of a Wbrarian ts to get people to read.” “You feal so? My feeling, Mrs. Kennicott, and I am merely quoting the Ubrarian of a very large college, is that the first duty of the con scientious librarian is to preserve the books.” “Oh! Carol repented her “Oh.” “It may all be very well ta cities, | where they have unlimited funds, | to let nasty children ruin books and just deliberately tear them up, and fresh young men take more books out than they are entitled to by the regulations, but I'm never boing to permit it in this library!" “What if some children are de structive? They learn to read. Books you pay?” she (nh sty] ie a2sF is ULAR ; i | : i i i i | iraing homes and kindergartens, but as long as I'm in charge, the Gopher Prairie Mbrary is going to be quiet and decent, and the books Carol eaw that the others were listening, waiting for ber to be ob- Jectionable. DOINGS OF THE DUFFS OcTOBER 25TH! WHY THIS 1S MY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! IMUST GIVE HELEN AN ANNIVERSARY PRESENT ! doesn’t like her and— Just routine work.” “But the unhappy woman docsn’ sound routine.” -# “Her? Just case of nerves. You can't do much with these marriage | mix-ups." ; “But dear, please, will you tell me | about the next case that you think | is interesting?” “Sure. You bet. Tell you about! anything that Say, that's pretty good salmon. Get it at Hewland’s?” | , an Four days after the Jolly Seven. | teen debacle Vida Sherwin called| and casually biew Carol's world be | pieces. “May I come in and gossip al while?” she said. with euch excess! of bright innocence that Carol was uneasy. Vida took off her furs with | bounce, sat down as tho od were a gymnasium exercise, she flung out: “Feel diegracefully good, this Hi i Pa weather! Raymond Wutherspoon. “And 0 you are about to ” Carol was cheerful “Am I? Perhaps. I've been telling each of them what the other | has said, But I want you to take) “| big part in vitalizing Gopher Pral-| ® “Don’t I, in looking for things to . show that I'm not attentive to Win? Am I impressed enough by his work? I will be. If "t be one of the town, if I must out Kennicott came héme she must tell me cases, I want understand.” And he went 5 Hf : FE il ey Rg & k “| much?" Wy the time they'd strained the whole ocean thru their We they had enough gold to fi and Nick searched all thru after the Fairy Queen's sack Everybody helped, from the eck clam to the big whale. Mr. maid he'd seen lovely lghts h at night and that. perhaps Mn evening rainbow. If the Would follow it, they might to'find the gold. But Cap'n} said it was of no use, B the lovely flashes were only Northern Lighty, and they know. The Goite eel lent light and they minted un- Ahe rocks and in ahe dark faves and caverns, to say of the twilight grpves of Weed trees. But no dag of they find. Wherever the. had hidden it, it seemedivery | that there it would stay. * Curly, the little sea-honse, 4 an idea and he told it qo Master, who confided it ta “Curly says,” said Cap'n “that the water these | Whusually golden. How do {they have enough gold to fill a bag. ill their bag. we know that those mischievous gnomes didn’t empty the gold into the sear” “That's #0, Cap'n,” declared Nick. “But how can we ever get it if it's all melted in the water?” “Humph!" grunted the fairyman. “Gold doesn’t melt in water. Go and get a big coral sieve and strain some sea-water thru it. See. what you find. It won't hurt to try.” And what do you think, my dears? ‘When the Twins bad strained about |?” a riverful of salt-water, they got an ounce of pure gold. And when they'd strained a lakeful, they, got two ounces. When they'd strained a bayful, they got three ounces, and by the time they had strained the whole ocean thru their: sieve, didn’t Curly was right.. The gnomes had emptied the Faify Queen's gold into the water. The Twins flew off at once to her palace. (To Be Continued) (Copyright, 1921, by Seattle Star rie and so Such a very unique! opportunity and— Am I silly?” “I know what you mean, I was too abrupt at the Jolly Seventeen.” | “It ien’t that. Matter of fact, I'm giad you told them some wholesome truths about servants. (Tho per. haps you were just a bit tactless) It's bigger than that. I wonder if you understand that in a secluded community like this every newcomer is on test? People cordial to her, but! from Wellesley, they resented her broad A. Were sure it was affected. Of course, they have discussed you--" “Have they talked about me “My dear? “I always feel as tho I walked) around in a cloud, looking out at} others but not being seen. I feel #0 inconspicuous and so normal— so normal that there's nothing about me to discuss, I can’t realize that Mr. and Mrs. Haydock must gossip about me.” Carol was working up 4 amall passion of distaste. “And I don’t like it. It makes me crawly to think of their daring to talk over all I do and say. Pawing me over!) I resent it. I hate—" “Wait, child! Perhaps they resent some things in you. I want you to try and be impersonal, They'd paw over anybody who came in new. Didn't you, with newcomers in col- lege “Yes.” “Well then! Will you be impersonal? I'm paying you the compliment of supposing that you can be. 1 want you to be big enough to help me make this town worth while.” “I'll be as impersonal as cold dolled potatoes. (Not that I shall ever be able to help you ‘make the town worth while.) What do they say about mo? Really. I gvant to know.” “Of course, the Illiterate ones re- sent your references to anything far- ther away than Minneapolis. They're so suspicious—that’s it, suspicious. And some think you dress too well.” “Oh, they do, do they! Shall T dress in @ gunny sacking to suit them?” “Please! Are you going to be a baby?” , “Ll be good,” sulkily. “you certainly will, or I won't tell you one single thing. You must un- derstand this: I'm not asking you to change yourself. Just want you| to know what they think. You must do that, no matter how absurd their | prejudices are, if you're going to handle them. Is it your ambition to make this a better town, or isn’t “I don’t know whether it is or not” s “Why—why— Tut, tut, now, of course it is! Why, I depend on yon. You're @ born reformer.” “I am not—not any more!” “Of course you are.” “Oh, if I really could help— they think I'm affected?” “My lamb, they do! Now don't say they're nervy. After all, Gopher Prairie standards are ay reasonable to Gopher Prairie as Lake Shore drive standards are to Chicago, Amd 80 fl. BET Swe HAS FORGOTTEN Aut ABOUT — AND [© THE MAJORITY: OF PEOPLS THE SEATTLE STAR For-Once Tom Is Ahead of Time* f YOU'RE, GOING Ta Sac! Usren? Doses tT FALL ANY PLATT OR THAN, TH] * * + & : By Mabel Cleland + Page 503 A POCKETFUL OF ROCKS Daddy was called to the phone right in the middie of his story, and while he was gone David ran to get his collection of coins. he said, “how lit- tle our penfifes are beside the Canadian pennies. Isn't that funny? And our 5-cent pleces are & lot bigger, isn’t it queer? I should think if it’s worth 5 cents or 1 cent it would be the same everywhere.” “And this one has a hole in it.” said Pergy. “Yes, that’s a Chinese coin. Daddy says they cut the hole in the middie so they can put a string thru them and carry them around their necks. I wish he would come on and finish the story about pioneer money.” And when daddy did come back he had something in his hand which he put down on the table beside David's money. “Aa I was telling you,” he said, “Governor Abernathy realized what real troubles were arising from not having any change. 80 he gathered a lot of little flat “Look, Pe; {Chapter 2) had left from their making of their arrowheads, put them in his pocket and went home. Then he cut some strips of white paper and pasted them around the little flat rocks and wrote words on them. “On every paper-wrapped rock was his name—Abernathy—the date—1844—and then the word ‘change’ ‘and under that the amount “Look at the one on the table.” ‘The children eagerly picked ft up, and this is what they saw: ee eereceresevcesece 1844 ¢ ABERNATHY CHANGE ee ererecesoceccsccs “How light it is? said David. “And was it really money, daddy?” “Good as any money,” daddy assured him, “and that was why for many, many years all over the United States men called money ‘rocks.’ That’s where the funny papers got their ‘Mrs, Got- rox’ and where the slang term originated.” “They were little stone checks, weren't they?” said David, “with Governor Abernathy for the pieces of flint which’ the Indians pank.” ewkrk there's more Gopher Prairies than there are Chicagos, Or Londons. And “I'll tell you the whole story: They think you're showing off when you say ‘American’ {nstead of ‘Am- murrican,’ ‘They think you're too frivolous. Life's so serious to them that they can't imagine any kfnd of laughter except Juanita’s snorting. Ethel Villets was sure you were patronizing her when—”" “Oh, 1 was not!” “you talked about encouraging reading; and Mrs. Wider thought you were patronizing when you said she had ‘such a pretty little car.’ She thinks it's an enormous car! And some of the merchants say you're too flip when you talk to them in the store and—" “Poor me, when I was trying to be friendly?’ “every housewife in town is doubtful about your being so chum- my with your Bea. All right to be kind, but they say you act as thoshe were your cousin. (Wait now! There's plenty more.) And they think you THAT~ TODAY 1S OCTOBER 25TY OuR WELL,T GUESS TLL BE TROTHIS ALONG CINDE= YSEG, DAD GINE “’ BUTLER STRICT ORDERS TO . WHEN .A WOMAN TELLS By RUTH AGNES ABELING (Copyright 1921 by Seattle Star) CHAPTER LXX—I VISIT THE SCENE OF DEATH I wasn’t surprised that Philip Ames had ended his life, for as I thought of our last conversation, I realized that at that time he had as much as told me he might do such a | thing. And as I stood there in the dusk, the telephone receiver still in my hand, it was his wife of whom I thought. What of her—the wi ot the beautiful voice, the woman who, jit seemed, had never been @ part of jher husband's life? I wondered if she knew, if Miss Howard had called her—and then suddenly came the thought of Lila. What would Lila do? Would she feel a responsibility in the tragedy, and would the accusation of the thing have an effect upon her treat- ment of her husband? I wondered how to tefl her, I even considered the wild scheme of ing to keep the thing from her entirely, but I knew: that would be im- possible, So, fearfulty, I started upstairs and went into my own room. I lis: tened a second. There was no sound in Lila’s room. I tapped lightly on were eccentric in furnishing this room—they think the broad couch and that Japanese dingus are ab- surd. (Wait! I know they're aijly.) And I guess I've heard a dozen criti- cize you because you don't go to church oftener and—* “I can’t stand it—I can't bear to realize that they've been saying all these things while I've been going about so happily and liking them. I wonder If you ought to have told me? It will make me self-conscious.” “I wonder the same thing. Only answer I can get is the old saw about knowledge being power. And some day you'll see how absorbing it is to have power, even here; to contro] the town— Oh, I'm a crank. But I do like to see things moving.” “It hurts, It makes these people seem so beastly and treacherous, when I’ve been perfectly natural with them. But let's have it all. What did they say about my Chinese house-warming party?" “Why, uh—" “Go on, Or I'll make up worse things than anything you can tell me." “They did enjoy ft, But I guess some of them felt you were showing off—pretending that your husband is richer than he is.” hey door. Almost instantly she open- it, “He's asleep,” she whispered. I motioned to her to come into my room. As 1 closed the door she gripped both of my arms. “What is wrong?” she demanded. Her eyes in their fear were like those of a wild beast trapped and strug- sling. “Philip Ames is dead,” I said. “He killed himself.” Tila made no outcry. She put her hands over her eyes. I saw her figure sway slightly. My room was shadowy. I had not lighted the lights, Her tears were her own. I thought. I did not want to see them; T had no right. Finally, thru the darkness, her voice came to me. “Does his wife know?” she asked. And then I knew that Lila Ames no longer cared for Philip. “I don't know,” I half whispered. “I suppose someone should go—" “Where did—it happen?” asked Mrs. Ames. “At his office.” “Could you—would you go there and do anything you can to help? “T can't— Their meanness of mind is beyond apy horrors I could imagine. They really thought that I — And you want to ‘reform’ people like that when dynamite is so cheap? Who dared fo say that? The rich or the poor?” “Fairly well assorted.” “Can't they at least understand me well enough to see that tho I might be affected and culturine, at least I simply couldnt commit that other kind-of vulgarity? If they must know, you may tell them, with My compliments, that Will makes about four thousand a year, and the party cost half of what they prob- ably thought it did. Chinese things are not very expensive, and I made my own costume—” “Stop It! Stop beating me! I know all that, What they meant was: they felt you were starting danger- ous competition by giving a party such as most people here can't af: ford, Four thousand is a pretty big income for this town.” “Tt never thought ‘of starting com: petition. Will you believe that it was all in love and friendliness that tried to give them the gayest party could? It was foolish; it was child- ish and nolsy, But I did mean it so well,” would still be crying. I found the door of the office closed. I knocked, then opened it. Only a desk light was lighted, so by the beauty of Poise. She had some- thing in her hand, something that under It looked Goor, she looked slightly, a faint ile quivered at the corners of her uth, and then she was on her {To Be Continued) “I know, of course. And it cer tainly is unfair of them to make fun of your having that Chinese food— chow men, was it?—and to laugh about’ your wearing those pretty trousers—" Carol sprang up whimpering, “Oh, they didn’t do that! They didn’t poke fun at my feast, that I ordered so carefully for them! And my little Chinese costume thit I was so hap- py making—I made it secretly, to surprise them. And they've been ridiculing it, all this while!’ She was huddled on the couch, Vida was stroking her hair, mut tering, “I shoulin't—" Shrouded in shame, Carol did not know when Vida slipped away. The clock’s bell, at half past five, aroused her, “I must get hold of myself before Will comes. I hope he never knows what a fool his wife fe. Frozen, sneering, horri- ble hearts.” Like a very small, very lonely gitl she trudged upstairs, slow step by step, her feet dragging, her hand on the rail. It was not her husband to whom she wanted to run for pro- tection—it was her father, her smfl- understanding father, dea@ these 12 years. d (Con!