The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1911-06-25

~ ehhched his fists.
"Paula!" he exclaimed in. shocked
! injury.
Italia for mer' she averred, tossing
the. despised flag back at him indif
iefently You may stay in your
america if you wish. shall not,
Eletfo B1nconte goes back to italy
next month"; she added significantly.
P1etro Binconte!" Giuseppe cried.
stepping close to her and now furious
"Pietro," she repeated with a tan
talizing nod.
And you love Binconte2" he asked
savagely.
She had not the slightest affection
FOR Binconte. She did, however, de-
light in teasing Giuseppe 1t was such
run to make man wild with jealousy
she remained silent, letting him infer
whatever his mad passion might
prompt him to. But her coquetry was
very short lived Too angry to trust
himself to remain longer with her.
Giuseppe abruptly stalked from the
room without 30 much as look in her
direction.
Paula listened to his coarse, heavy
shoes humping down the stairs, and
she leaned far out Of the window and
watched him make his way hastily
along the street. Then she looked
down on her neat white dress, at her
| pink ribbons and at her new American
| hat with tho CtaE-nnfnn +hok
the great American day. the holiday
when everybody was going some
| where, was a blank before her, and the
tiny fiat in which she lived was in
sufferabIy hot and stuffy. How she
wished she had not provoked Giuseppe
and that he would come back!
And now?' Giuseppe asked himself
as he hurried away, he didn't know
or care where to. Nc answer came.
| Yet in his bitterness of spirit the alb
surdity of the incident brought a grim
smile to his lips. The flag, the SYM
Dol of all that which had made 1t pos
sible for him to marry Paula, had
started their quarrel. It was because
Of his becoming a citizen Of the Unit
ed States and displaying something
more than the inanity Of other mem
bers of the gang with which he work
ed that the construction company had
assigned to him some responsibilities.
with d substantial increase In his
wages.
How he had worked and saved! How
lonely he had been since he had left
Paula two years ago in Italyl How
he had studied and endeavored to
grasp the, new language and the Amer
lean ways so he could progress for
Paula's sakeI
And now she had literally flung back
all his efforts at him with scorn.
But maybe it was because the dear
girl was homesick. He had been home
sick, too, when he first came over. Be-
ing homesick was very disturbing; be
should not have left her so hastily.
He turned and hurried back. He
thumped up the three flights of stairs
to the SIENNA fat again and found that
Paula had gone away with Pietro Bin
conte.
/ In ali the eighteen years of~Paula
Senna's life in gay and festival loving
Italy she had never seen anything Ike
the celebration of the American
Fourth. To be SIRE. the real signif1-
canoe of the day was unintelligible to
her, but that didn't matter. From the
time she and Pietro Binconte had gone
aboard the excursion boat until now.
when they found themselves among the
/ dancers on q recreation pier juttfng
far out into the broad river, 1t had
been one continuous series of surprises
and wonders to her. and she was not
vet through with exclaimtng.
! The sky was blue; the rivers and the
| bays were blue. Tile people. the build
ings, everything was in holiday at
fire. But # was when the boat had
swung out from the dock, while the
band played lively tunes, that the
ploriousness of the Fourth and the
vastners OF the city broke on the en-
raptured gaze of the astonished girl
she was sure she was looking on the
entire area of America and that the
whole place was covered with red
white and blue oh, what great
place America was after all
And Giuseppe belonged to It now
He was wearing one Of those red
white and blue flags in his buttonhole
Her pretty face gew hot as she gazed
on the proud star spangled banner In
multiplicity She felt its strength. its
power She was almost afraid for
what she had done. And the more
she looked at 1t the better she liked It
She commenced to hum a tune the
band was playing. Pietro interrupted
her with an exclamation OF disap
proval.
.That's America he said. little
sharply. "Don't learn those United
States songs. There's no music In
them. Come, Paula mia; come over
there with me. and we will sing our
/ own beautiful music"
He found an unoccupied corner on
one side of the boat beside the slant
| 49,. ,.o,4 ~ a bgc wheel and they sang