The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-20
IN DURHAM.

| lnden-shaded street. The ugly white meet
| ing houses were in the center the high
shouldered white houses drifted north and
| south from them There was, as the old
/ residents thankfully observed mo manu-
| featuring" 1t was a trial to the little pro-
| fessor that at least every other vacation
| must be spent there, since one of the high
| shouldered white houses was hers, and with
| it belonged considerable land for which
| there was no market; and in spite Of her
| devotion 20 Greek literature and her artis-
| tic tastes. Miss Dada's eye for the main
| chance and a reasonable interest on in
| vested capital was undimmed.
| If, however. Professor Dada did not care
for Durham. Durham cared for Professor
| Dada. The old residents knew no end of
! stories of her childhood. and would tell
| with great gusto, of how she brought the
| skeleton from her fathers office to the red
schoolhouse, the bones rafting and clat-
| tering in a CHASTITY manner on the board
| sidewalk as she walked. The teacher was
| trying to explain our bony structure to
! Henry John, one OF the big boys always
| kind to small girls Teacher, just let me
| get Mr.. Peters!' cried Lottie Dada rising
! in her place and swapping her fingers to
| draw attention to herself Then not wait
ing for permission, she had darted out Mr.
| Peters was the skeleton referred to. She
brought him under her arm, and her
| amazement knew no bounds that his APP
| pearance was greeted by screams.
They would tell, too, those old residents
| that, spite of her young looks, the little
professor was born in the year SO. and
that after her fathers death the family had
to receive help from the orthodox church.
| They knew that she wore No. 8 shoes. and
! every one of them discovered Just the quail
| ity and number of garments made for her
! by 'Manda Knapp in the long summer va
cation; and in some occult manner they
knew that on great occasions at Yates
when Miss Dada appeared with the other
! professors, she wore diamonds. They spoke
| OF her with pride, and felt intimate with
| her, and took her little naughty ways and
her refusal to be drawn into the torpid cur
rent OF their social life kindly Had they.
known she called the place duh, they might
! have resented it, for they knew better. AS
| 1t was, they watched her comings and go
| ings through the Stats of their green vene-
| tan blinds, and puzzled over every possi-
bic reason for her movements. When she
went down to see Henry John about repair
ing her trunks, badly damaged in a railway
collision, each house held, as usual, a point
ing finger. 1t was o'clock in the morning.
| cut Mr.. John was already abroad.
He amt in" said fat Mrs Fitch. the
widowed sister, who kept house for him.
and who felt that she knew the little pro-
lessor perfectly since she, too, had attend
ed school in the red structure devoted to
learning in the sixties. But L guess you
can find him. Was you in the wreck, too?"
Il was in the train. Only the baggage
car and engine were damaged"
Il want to know!"
Yes Where find your brother?"
'Well 1 do s'pose it's more'n likely he's
out to the buryin ground. Mrs. Fitch's
voice became confidential, and her glance
suggestive. He's been calculating to go
ever since Alvira Gibbs's funeral He'd "a
gone afore, but he's dreadful drove. Alvira
she died the last o. May. but you know how
it is ibis time O. year. Things drive We right
alone"
''Alvira Gibbs dead!' exclaimed the little
professor in establishment. She remembered
Alvira; she had been her seatmate a whole
year, at the red schoolhouse, and was her
age to a day. 1t came upon her with a sud-
den shock that being who would be forty
in December could die.
Yes she was, as you may say, killed.
said Mrs. Fitch. She smoothed down the
Il only hope Levi Gore'n get his just deserts
at the judgment day if not afore. The
Cores, big and little, deserve all t can be
served out to em, my 'pinion."
MA Fitch said a shrll voice somewhere
in the depths of the house, the Cores is
related to Miss Dada. She won't like it,
Il can't help how folks is related" Mrs.
Fitch had come heavily down the steps.
and standing in the shade of whole
thicket of hollyhocks, red yellow, pink and
white, beautiful to look at. II haint never
been one to change my say about a man
just cause he's dead, or his relations are in
sight. Vt was Levi Gore as killed Alvira
Gibbs, tho he did die a year ago of pneu-
mony.''
There had been heavy fog in the night
and as the little professor neared the bury
ing-ground a vast drift slowly disentangled
itself from the tops of the rugged pines
and glossy oaks, and melted into the sun
shine. Fleets of lupin, blue as sapphire,
glowed in the waste places, with here and
there a carnelian-red columbine. There was
no difficulty in finding the burial lot of the
defunct Levi Gore The professor knew
where it was in a general way, moreover
there came from its vicinity mellifiuous
whistling of China" and the "clink,
clink" of a hammer striking "a chisel. A
dry, keen-eyed, little man was busily az
work at the. back of the very white Gore
monument, a nondescript affair not unlike
a truncated cone i'll shape, and surmounted
by lamb the last beast in the world Sug-
gestive of the Cores.
''Mornin'-ur-Miss Dada" he said, cheer
fully, as the little professor halted before
him and explained her errand, Duham ideas
did not permit him to admit that he knew
her perfectly at the first glance so you've
got a job Well, I'm engaged pretty deep.
First off I must tend to Mrs. Cool Win
dow screens; they don't mt She was a Van
Buren--one o. them Van Burens as lived
down the river and when things don't go
just so somethin gives way in their inside
All them river Van BurenS was that way.
Fly all to flinders eff the world didn't re-
volve their way" The professor had been
warned that she must on no account hurry
Henry John to a decision as to when he
would undertake her work. To do so would
only result in his refusal to do ii at any
time Next comes Squire Tuttle's back
fence" he continued, refiectively 1T must
be made bull-high and pig-tight.
He's got neighbors, tell We. He
an old Ransom Sorel hain't spoke
for twelve years on account of the line be-
tween their two pawsters They wouldn't,
/ don't believe, eff it was to save their lives.
Then I've promised to fix Mis- Colbys we'll.
/ tell her there's kind of spring as inter-
mits, in my pinion. an that's the sort o.
one she's got There's times when that
chain pump'n work splendid, an times
when you can't so much raise a dust.
But my land her husband dug that well
an put up that pump, an now she's
- -.x-I~- ~, h.