The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-01-25

his mother found him in the attic, be
meath the gable window In the roof,
through witch the sun stfeamed
warmly and made. upon the dusty
floor a golden patch not unlike the
hmelight upon a stage.
He sat in a pile Of pink and yellow
and red scraps Of paper, from which
he had cut, with unusual cu0ning, a
dozen gayly angular figures OF mon
and women. Thesc Carter had IN
dueed, by means OF q basic arrange
nient Of pins, 10 stand upright upon
the floor; 10 q aing-song voice he was
dronlng ont Il crude, fantastic nara
tive OF childish imagining TO which,
with swift deIt hands, he suited the
movements Of his puppets
''The prince" he cried. has come
to slay The wicked fairy -for-er-er
more And the scarlet p%rIncellna
fell nightly upon the orumbling yell
how fairy.
Carter's mother paused Oh the
threshold; there was Il sick, scared
feeling at her heart.
"oh, he's got II. too she thought,
bitterly. Her lips frightened with de-
cision.
Jimmie she said, sharply. what
AFRO you playing there~-with those pa
per-thlngB?"
Carter hung his head ghyly. II
don't know he falterod
He some way hated to tell his
mother that no called the game by
q name OF his own The Make-Bc'
iieve People, Carter had observed In
his Young life that his mother did not
often understand what he meant by a
great many 'dif'runt' things.
ITS not a nice game for little boys
To play. You mustn't ever do II again
do YOU hear mother? Never again!
Youi We me those paper thlngal'
Car j chin %quiyeredi he did not
cry. .Ffo wanted 10 save the red prince
terribly. His mother crushed them all
sternly IN her hands, and led him
Vut W WIS ALllc1 1 .-
Garter's mother was III on his eley.
enth birthday. Perhaps II should be
said here that the lads father had
died~--and he had iyed~-drenming. long
before Carter could frame an image
Of him on his baby brain. The boys
birthday was on a Saturday, In the
afternoon his mother called him TO
her bedroom and kissed hlsa, slipping
a shining dollar into his hand.
"You may take old Hannah and go
down town to buy whatever you Hike,
provided Il IL not something foolish"
she said, kindly, In the precise tones
she always used to children and sery.
ants.
AL the corner. pasted on the fence
around Slmpkln's livery stable, they
found Il villianous, h%lood-curdling
SCENE Ia n road, done with ~splendor
OF coloring and q scorn OF 0nyen
tion. that filled Carter and Hannah
with admiration and iorboding. They
gasped.
"What is It.. %llannah?" whispered
Carter, wideeyed
"A play picture Hannah explained
ITS going to be at the town hall TO.
day. It's a make,belleve,"
WAS it~-splendid, Hannah"
1T was just grand
"A make believe" The words fas.
Carter. They reminded him
the scarlet prince,
"fanneh, we're going &c g." he add.
cd. conclusiyely.
The old servant demurrcd nervous.
ly. But IN the end Carter stood
, i've got y dollar-and we're go.
he repeated, quietly, Were go
Ing to sec t."
Presently they watched brcnthless
~ the curtain rise on the most won.
lerful thing In the world, 80 the lad
For days afterwnrd he had
to shut his eyes and no saw the
beautiful LADY who wore day and
night, through all her dreadful trou-
bic, a pale, blue silk gown; In his
flowed the p~laintIve cadenees OF
some song she sang,
1t made little difference to Carter
That he was kept In his room for two
whole days. after the play. and was
not allowed to speak TO anyone for a
wcek-he was 80 sorry that Hannah
had 10 be sent away,
Carter grew up amazingly fast.
When he was II he entered college.
He had never seen another play
those he fashioned for himeelf in
his dreams--for he had promised his
mother that he would not so to tho
heater until he was 20. Carter loved
his mother.
Somehow he got through the four.
year course neither he o the fac.
llty was quite suro how he did It.
He studied little enough, heaven
but he spent endless hours
the college library over Shakespeare
and Marlowe. Dumas and lbsen. And
he saw n few good plays during his
year.
1t was all over soon-all but the
And Carter went back to