The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-05-12
READ IN THE
FLAMES
%. BY Mary Wood
Copyright. rso.. by MeCliuss Newspaper
Syndicate

higher education for women. or. as
they told each other. I'VE will give
Katie the chances we didn't have"
Katie was a wild. awkward slip OF n
girl who wept salt tears when her dcs-
tiny was unfolded- She never. never
would go or TO that eastern college
She would die Of homesickness. Mrs.
Bergen quite melted at the picture. but
her husband was firm. Ii was best
for her to go. and go she did.
But the energy that had made her
childhood n perilous one flowed read
lily into the new channels. The first
month found her contented. the second
enthusiastic. The letters which told
of quizzes. exams and profs grew more
and more unintelligible to the two old
people. She was living in n world in
to which they could not en,er. Even
as they thrilled with pride In her at
tainments they felt a strange pang. as
IL their firstborn were being gradually
stolen and a changeling left I'm her
place.
What with the weary length of the
four winters. the brevity of the sum-
mer vacations and their inevitable alb
sorption in visits to college chums they
felt that the week after commence
ment brought her back to them almost
a stranger.
She was certainly no longer the little
Katie who had gone away in tears.
Miss Katharyn Bergen was a tall. self
possessed young woman who wore eye
glasses and clothes of n masculine cut.
Mr.. Bergen was secretly aggrieved
at sight Of the eyeglasses when she
had the maxim of such a pretty girl"
he said mournfully to himself. AN
mother an I havin' such good sight at
our age" He felt that it was a high
price to pay for learning.
Mrs. Bergen was shocked by her
daughters taste in clothes. Her stif
collars and hideous vests. the scanti-
ness and brevity OF her skirts and her
pronounced fancy for shoes OF the
most broad toed and thick soled varie-
ty were all thorns in the motherly
bosom She was. however. n woman
of discretion She recognized In her
daughter much OF a certain obstinacy
which long familiarity with Mr.. Ber-
gen had taught her to respect. So she
made no comment on the distressing
changes
What she did not say Scotville did.
Katharyn was more than a nine days
| wonder; she was a perpetual volcano.
She had lost none OF her original ener-
| gy; rather II had increased by prac-
tice. The town needed to be uplifted.
Il bn 10 III H. 10
So Scotville was introduced to that
| new creation. a woman with a pur-
pose. and was not overpleased. Her
| old girl friends detected an undercur-
rent OF patronizing In all her advances
and refused to enthuse over her.
The men who had been boon compan.
ions in her tomboy days declared that
a jolly good fellow had been changed
into a prig and voted her schemes fol-
elevation as all tommyrot- She scan.
dalized the old minister who had bap
tized her when a baby by her oper
avowal OF agnostic beliefs
Jack Selwyn tried in vain to stem
the rising tide OF antagonism. but theI
every one knew il was only because ht
| was too loyal to desert his old sweet
heart. Jack had not been able TO go tc
college. There were the young broth
ers and sisters to whom he had to play
fathers part So he had turned Il
work as an antidote for longing for tn,
unattainable and was now Mr.. Ber
gems right hand man. Ii was ever
whispered that his employer would
have been glad to welcome a nearer re
lationship.
1t seemed. however. that KatharyI
had no memory Of the promises whis
pered by a certain Katie. To be sure
there had been a look in her face whel
he greeted her on her day of home
coming that had sent his heart up int
his throat Perhaps it was not as b
had feared; she had not grown beyon'
his reach. But the succeeding day
had brought only disillusionment. TIL
girl. smarting under the almost uni
versal rebuffs of her well meant ef
forts. classed him ruthlessly anon
the ranks of her opponents.
II she missed their old time conf
dences. their happy talks on men an
books. she gave no sign. Instead sh
withdrew more closely into herself.
! Her rooms were on the ground fioo
Of the Bergen homestead There sh
sat and read or unused bitterly lon
after she had said Good night" FroI
J her windows the lawn sloped dow
gently to the river. Often when he
head grew weary she would slip OF
quietly to breathe the freshness OF tn
night.
|I One evening the moonlight had lure
her from her books. The strains of
violin came. softened by distance. A
ScotviIle was at a dance-all but sh
and she had refused Her paltry e,
cuse had been that she and her mothe
} had promised to spend the night at a
old aunt's in the country during b,
fathers absence on a business tri
2 but sudden indisposition had keI
1 them frouS going. and now Kathary
J hurried down the river path. as If
I escape the witching sound.
She had wandered farther than 81
knew when a cry broke the stillnes
"Firei Fire. She turned and ra
; back dizzily. Swift intuition told b,
that the column of smoke and fan
rose from her own home. Scotvil
thought all the family were ava
n There would be no one to waken al
II save her mother.
As she painted up the lawn she sa
confrsedly string OF people. Th'
were passing buckets These girls