Smyrna times., 1900-08-08

fable AFTER SuppCIs MAliC ACA Ohly oOuJ |
Henry. sat and watched her. Every
movement of the thin, wiry figure of
the woman expressed a tensity of
feeling forclbly expressed. She sat
one plate upon another noiselessly,
and did not clatter the knives and
forks as she gathered them up. Her
sons face wore an anxious, unhappy
EXPRESSION, which deepened into posi-
tive miseryas the silence between them
grew.
"Well," he said at last, "what do
YOU think of it mother?"
"You know what 1 think of it" she
replied in a low voice, as though she
hardly trusted herself to speak louder.
"I've told you often enough what I
think of it. But you're of age, and you
can go ahead and do what you please
with your own money, it's none of my
business"
''It isn't a question of right. l
want you to want me have an edu-
cation as much as 1 want one my
self. You know how 1 have always
wanted to go to college, and now this
money from my grandfather makes it
possible. Why don't you want me to
go?"
"Why?" Because 1 want you here.
Because you're my son. never
thought of anything else. Don't you
know enough now? I'd like to know
who there is ir this town who knows
more than you do. And what good
will it do you? What will you ever
get out of it?" Mrs. Heaton put the
two questions as though they had not
been asked and answered dozen
times since Henry had determined to
buy with the money left him by his
grandfather college education.
"Well, mother, it's hard to make
you see what 1 expect to get out of
it, because you don't know what it is
to hold a desire in your mind for
years, and when you have finally
given it up have the means of graft
iying it thrust into your hands, I'll
get more out of it than / can make you
see."
Mrs. Heaton went on with her work
without speaking, passing back and
forth from the kitchen to the dining
room. When the dishes had been piled
up ready to be washed she came and
-o4 1o,,,, I1, baY con'S chair
"Do you suppose, Henry, that
have gone through my life without
knowing what it is to want a thing fol-
years and years and never get it? Dc
you think that have done the work IL
this house day after day because
loved it? There's such thing in thi
world as duty"
His mother had never spoken to hin
in Just this way before, and he wa
touched. He laid his hand over the thil
blue-veined one resting on the arm
his chair, and said gently.
81 have thought that could do my
duty better to you in the end by goin
to college now. I could push ahea
faster and give you everything you wan
sooner than [ could by staying her
and running the store. Father neve
made anything out of that before h
died, and neither could get star
College opens so much toa man. The
say that employers now ask new ma
the first thing if he is college maj
and all his chances of advance ar
better. Oh mother, it seems like STAG
nation to stay here in this town doin
| the same old sordid thing day In an
day out"
| I've stagnated long enough tim'
and expect to go on dong it. Liste
4 to me, Henry, 1 hadn't thought
4 speak out so plain as this, but L
4 going to. Don't you deceive yourse
4 with the idea that you are going
I that university for my sake. You
4 going because you want to get ava
Il You're restless and dissatisfied Wi
4 your life. I've been through it, and
4 know. There have been times that l
4 have given anything to run on an
where, and never come back agail
Il But 1 had to stay, and by and by
A wore Off When you talk about goll
1 for my sake, you forget the years
A be here without you, without anyoI
while you are enjoying yourself STUD
/ ing. You forget the comfort II
1 money of yours could bring me, IL y
Il were really and truly thinking Oh
A instead of yourself. could Keel
4 glrl to do the work. The money
\ barely pay your expenses for four ye'
4 and it would make the whole last p
a Of my life easier. There, now! l 81
A pose you think I'm selfish womi
4 Well, maybe I'm grown selfish fr'
4 never having any one to look out
me-"
A She stopped speaking and sat
though waiting for a reply. NC
came and sha oot mn and went II