Holbrook argus., 1912-02-20
DRESSING UP
By Elizabeth Armstrong

N-'fOA |. JllCy dIldySO LnCIuOSlNOS "NNH great glee. i
 :-:cDh..- but aren't we fne7" cried Mamie. sLet's go down and show father" <
 ii"Father might. make us take em of" re1oined practical Grace; Ines feeling sad anyway"
 T. 'spose the house bothers him cause. it's so kind of mussy since z Mrs. Mott left. but I tried to scrub that kitchen just last Saturday, and father washes the dishes himself whenever we leave 'em long enough" And Mamie sighed over a house. keepers trials
 ' Poor Jim Bomar was used to cold smeals and a general lack of cheer. Even before his wife's death, the house had borne a down-at-the-heels :, aspect. and Jim had been wont to escape to the harness room in the barn. where he could find order and peace.
 As a refuge the harness room was exceptional. Besides being clean. it was warmed in winter by a small wood stove. and made airy in sum- mer by two enormous windows. The west window had the advantage of looking toward the homestead where Mary Andrews had lived alone since ~ the death of her mother. Mary's younger sister Jennie was Jim's wife. E. He had never understood just how it happened that she had supplanted Mary. if not in his heart, still to all fntents and purposes in his life. He and Mary had been sweethearts for years. and at last he had written asking her to tell him where he might see her for a most particular talk. He knew that Mary would un- derstand. and he had laughed. when he gave her the note, at his little suhterfuge. when he might so easily have told Mary he loved her then and there. But Mary craved TO- nance: and Jim was doing his hum- ble best in arranging this dark plot for her entertainment.
 Mary ran up the steps with his ,,netes in her hand. waved her hand at him in goodby-and he had not seen : her again in months. She did not answer the note, and gave Jim no chance to ask an explanation of her , strange conduct. Deeply hurt, he learned the next day that she had ,s gone for a long visit to her aunt in ~ the city.
 Jim took his dismissal hard. and ..Jenniexwas full of sympathy when he came. night after night, for news of Mary She did not tell him outright, but hinted delicately that Mary had been counting only in fun and had taken this way of letting him down easy. And after a time Jennie's sweetness won Jim to believe that her heart was pure gold. and it was his fault if he could not appreciate her as he should. So on the night she told him that Mary was to wed man In the city whom she had known for several years. Jim asked Jennie if she would care for what was left of his life, and Jennie ad- mitted that she would.
 Mary did not return for Jennie's wedding. nor did she make any prep arations for her own; and when she had lived quietly with her mother for a number of months doubts as sailed Jim concerning the truth of his wife's story of her engagement
 During the ten years of Jims mar ried life Mary went in and out of his home and his children took their griefs to her more readily than to their mother But Jim had seldom seen her. and for several years he had not crossed the threshold of the Andrews home.
 AS he looked over the fields green with sprouting grain and saw the ap- pie orchard at the homestead in bloom. he imagined that he could see Mary herself walking among the trees in the sun that had just come out and was coaxing the earth to bloom and laughter. He knew that her brown head would be barred fin the breeze and her eyes filled with love for all growing and blooming things He recalled the last time he had walked along the orchard path. when. after Mother Andrews's death. he had gone to Mary in an impulse of sympathy. but had unfortunately managed to convey some expression of his long repressed love. Then did Marys brown eyes flash and her gentle mouth stiffen to rebuke.
 Jim Bomar. never let me hear such words from you. There can be nothing between you and me after what has passed. And l cannot bear the sight of your deceitful face"
 Jim. sorely wounded. was reused to reply in anger. "Very well. Mary. ] will never enter your door until you send for me-
 While Jim was dreaming in the harness room. Mamie and Grace, dis porting in their attic finery, had grown tired of admiring themselves alone
 Let's go over to Aunt Mary's." Mamie was adventurous. Let's wear 'em over"