The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-04-11

s"': :" ne corrected the gram
''"" punctuation ana gave some.
"''''''"n I" The nrthoyraphy. but with
sim SilIIc refrninrh from changing
~. S'"'t itself. Then he printed II
'"''"ls attention cditorially to the now
S'''r III 'h" literary tirmom.n,
! 'hnf settled I, All. Edna f,,, that
| ~ WIS II genius lha, there was no
| NV" '"r her In That dcSolatc pl,cc
''''' or f"it" Ezra tried h!,r.,crjuyly
:" sh"" her the beauty of her sur
| '""tid'ilS>. where nature h,s hc.,,
more lavish Of gracious Gifts t,,,n In
| "'H ''''"r land, but in nll that wonder
Hn' ~" n"thiiI" worthy the attention
81 IN" great writer she was
~ -" lacked WIS the a,,nnsphcr,,
VI :" :rrat city. New York wns the
"'f''r There she wished Ia go and
alone Sm. did not wish ,n ,,.rucs. ,,.r
genius I" such Il plain. irn,r rant com
l'ahi"n as Ezra No: she mus, 10. alone
ana whcn she had achieved success
ana realized her ambition she would
return for Il visit.
Dreams of hrnrrs 10 be sh,vcrr,,
upon her ny the great ONES of earth
h'lrd her head. In this lonely place
Sh" WIS last. cntombcd with her gen
nus. She did not say talent, bu, genius
'=ra had heard all her complaints
"h'1i he knew them by heart. nimly
nc '"l' mat she was throwing away
tile substance for the shadow. but no
had u" words to voice his thoughts.
With all The "bs,inac, ~ weak and
foolish woman Edna clur. to her idea.
repeating ii always In the same words
and In the same monnt onous tone.
with her weak chin uplif,cd. un,il now
uhavai'ingly. when Ezra had said
VERY we'll"
Then she went I" her room aud be-
gan tn pack
Ezra went NJ I" his comforting. ma
dr"na tree ard threw himself down
with his gaze fastened unun the Cold
On Gate and the li!tlc fee, If ships
that We're sailing in Iii, friends, the
stars. cam" on! Will" the %ilvcr mncn
hung low above the horizon and sank
slowly out Of SIGHT He half sni,ud
Poor little thing! | don't blame her
She is too bright and clever and gifted
fhr me anyway. ! never had no chance
4" learn. If she will he happier why
! ought In be too Poor little mother
less thing-'
Then ivy" big tears suddenly Sprnn%
from Ills eyes. and u heart wrun, sob
was In his throat as he pictured So
himself what the ranch would h" with
out Edna.
When he went in she had finished
packing and was sitting before the
glass putting her front hair in crimrs
1t was sucl, soft. pretty hair. Ezra
thought. He bent clumsily and took
n wisp OF it into his broad palm and
lifted it softly to his lips. She consid-
drew her head away. while Ezra said
slowly
Edna. want to say this-l'ii stay
here on the ranch. andand II you
ever want me you have only I" send
rue word
For answer she tossed her head. lie
continued:
To-day ] drawed all the money
had bankcd-a thousand dollars. Here
It IL. II you need more III send II
when the crops are Sold
II shall not need any more. And
will return this out Of the profits on
my Little VIII o the 'Wisp' only
borrow It,"
Maybe there won't be no profits"
hazarticd Ezra.
'Oh. wish you could learn to
speak English properly" she replied.
angcrcd by his doubt. She had no
doubts.
and" she continued. II may 90 To
Europe. have read that The Bread
winner made hundred thousand dol
lars for the author. And II such n
silly book could do 30 we'll mine ought
to do much better. Why. all the peo-
pie In that book are just ordinary
folks and don't do anything grand Or
heroic, and-well. know mine Is much
better"
Exra sighed, but said no more Edna
took the money.
Neither slept much that night.
A week later Edna stood In New
York. She began her search for
publisher She wrote letters to the
most prominent publishers. limiting Of
the great work she was ready to read
them, for she determined not to let
her precious manuscript out Of her
hands. She dressed well. arranged her
roOms-rOOms then--and waited for the
publishers to come. She hoped they
would not fight each other. No one
even replied to her letters. Kut why
tell tn detail the story Of her long wait
ing. her cruel disapl,olntments. the
cold refrlsals-later and worse. the re-
turn Of her books without comment
or regret. She had learned TINT she
mist trust to the publishers. after all.
She learned many hard lesson dur
ing the next few years. but with the
supcrlative obetinacy Of her nature she
persisted in her belief Of her own
genius. She wrote hopeful letters to