The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1901-04-19

snow II didn't last"
u course not. Neither would you
had you kept il up. The next thing
when you came back for your sophie.
more year. was art"
"hnsic, you mean" corrected Mar
garet, hastily.
ART In "a sense, lebes kind. You
girls are compact of martyr stur,
surely. Nothing else would have en-.
cured -four hours daily piano prac.
tice heaped upon your regular lessons
And the and rccitals and
symphonies, and the musical litera-
tnre you ~devoured! You seemed 10
think there was no limit "a your ca
paci'y for work during that period"
WELT"
I'm coming 10 the next. They are
all easily remembered. About the
time your teachers were beginning to
counsel sending you home for a ne
mester's rest you shifted your tents
TO the engineering building, and began
~sketching impossible pieces Of ma
chinery in incredible positions. You
went around with a measured calcn-
lation in your very tread. From that
II was only a step 10 Holland canal
scenes, and piles of lemons done on
water-color paper. And you tool TO
those meal-sacky clothes about then,
too" he went on. relentlessly.
"You must have observed me as II ]
were a bug under a microscope about
them said Margaret, casting about
for some pebble to put in her sling.
II did," said he, unconscious of her
intended missile. Most interesting
specimen | ever got under my glass.
And the last year-what hasn't il been
the last year? Socialism. theosophy.
amateur theatricals-did | saw four
gadfies? must have meant 40"
What's the use of living if you're
lust as good as dead?" interrupted
Margaret, with a show of anger.
The Mathematics Man looked of in
to the blue distance and smiled.
LA vie est v%aine," he began.
SAY that again and III tell the
executive board what pessimistic
ideas you're putting before our sus-
ceptible minds,' cried Margaret,
%menacing him gaily with a stalk of
goldenrod. Then a sudden shadow
crossed her face. But this is not
joking. There's some wretched moral
lurking behind your resurrection of
my past. l know I've had fads and
follies-more than the other girls.
and | know that ] was so tired they
wouldn't let me finish my work by
graduation-time, so I'm finishing il
now. That is all clearly before me;
now your moral, if you will"
The Mathematics Man took her ha.
and began sticking daisies around the
crown. He pushed them into the rib
bon band with the utmost care, using
a hat-pin to prod them into place.
"Well?" queried Margaret, after a
pause.
THAT sunset makes me think Of
n ! saw when / was in Lucerne last
summer" said he. softly. THE same
masses of violet cloud piled against
the horizon till they weighed il down
its utmost purple rim the
S"AssS eosuSu iiknt"
Another time; make your moral
first. and tell your story afterward."
Margaret. sweetly. Its
really less work in the end"
First tell me about the story you've
written" said he. laying down the hat
unrufled. Maybe ! can deduce a
moral from that"
(which one?"
(Which one? Have you then such
a collection?"
i've just scrubbed them off," said
hastily. yes: I've written
Eight in the last three weeks. They
weren't problematical, nor ethical. nor
anything: just bits out OF my own ex-
perience."
"Deja?" queried the Mathematics
Man.
Margaret drew angrily away from
him, the blood flaming to the tips of
her ears apd tingeing the ivory OF her
neck as she grasped lis meaning. He
at her in silence, a great un-
kindness in his eyes.
You can't escape my moral he said
at last. Dear child. why will you in
upon crowding SO many lives into
one? Why must you do so many kinds
OF work poorly instead of doing one
kind well?"
I'm going to do this kind well. even
II they do send il back" blazed Mar
II have il in me to write and
to succeed. ! know i'll"
"And you have IL in you to paint.
and to play, and to run a salon. and
q soup kitchcn-but not all on the
cIock-stroke." he returned. we
are put here to gain as much as we
may on our one or on our ten talents,
as the case may be, not to"
Not to imagine talents which we do
not possess" she supplied.
Just give me one minute. Not to
to develop all Of them at
once. SO that they will be a distorted
Of possibilities when we have an
shed. Give yourself time. Margaret.
Try the stories. IL you will. a year, or
two years. or longer. perhaps. Then
Z your courage gives out, of IL You