Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-12-09

look grand aud empty? Look at It FIRST
and then come on I'm and I'll tell you
about it
The white papered walls OF the two
rooms were bare OF pictures: the floor
had been sparingly laid with rugs. The
walnut sofa and chairs. the table for
the lamp and the long shelves Of her
grandfather'S books-these were all
that the room held \ white arch di-
vided the two chambers. like benign
brow whose face had long been dim
med away. 1t was all exquisitely clean
and icy cold. \ little snow drifted in
through the muslin curtains. The
breath OF the two women showed.
What on earth you done that for?"
Jenny demanded.
Mary Chavah stood in the empty
archway, the satisfaction on her face
not yelling its pure austerity. She was
not much past thirty-three. but she
looked older. for she was Gaunt. Her
flesh had lost its firmness. her dress
making had stopped her. her strong
frame moved as II IL hnbitually Shout
dered its way. In her broad forehead
and deep eyes and somewhat in her
silent mouth you read the woman-the
rest Of her was obscured in her gentle
reticence. She had Il gray shawl. blue
bordered. folded tightly about her head
and pinned under her chin. and II
wrapped her TO her feet.
al feel Ike a thing in a new she'll"
she said. Come on in where it's
warm"
Instead of moving her dining room
table to her kitchen, as most of Old
Trail Town did in winter. Mary had
moved her cooking stove into the din
ing room, had improvised n calico cur
tanned cupboard for the utensils, and
there she lived and sewed. The win
dows were bare.
III let the parlor have curtains if it
wants to- she had said. but in the
room I live in l want every strip of
the sun can get
There We're no plants. though every
house in Old Trail Town had Il window
of green. and slips without number
were offered.
You can have flowers all you want
she said once; II like 'em too well to
box 'em up in the house.
And there were no books.
II don't read" she admitted; Il amt
ever read n book In my life but Pill
grim's Progress and the first four
chapters of 'Ben-Hur.' What's the
use of pretending. when books is such
a nuisance to dust: Grandfather's
books in the parlor-oh. they amt
books: they're furniture
But she had little bookcase whose
shelves were filed with her patterns
in her dressmaking she never used a
fashion plate.
II like TO make 'em up and cut 'em
out she sometimes told her friends.
II don't care nothing whatever about
the dresses when they get done-more
fool the women for ornamenting them
selves up like lamp shades, ! always
think. But just do love to fuss with
the paper and make ii do like 1 say.
Land. I've got my cupboard full of
more patterns than I'd ever get orders
for If lived 10 be born again.
She sat down before the cooking
stove and drew off her wooden mittens.
She folded n hand on her cheek. fore
ing the cheek out of dra wing by her
hands pressure. There was always
about her gestures curious nakedness
indeed. about her face and hands.
They We're naive. perfectly likely to
reveal themselves in their current
awkwardness and ugliness OF momen-
tary expression which. by its very
frankness. made a new law rs it broke
an old one.
Don't you tell folks I've been house
cleaning she warned Jenny. The
town would think / was crazy, with
the thermometer acting up zero so.
Anyway. i amt been house cleaning.
1 Just simply got so sick to death of
all the truck piled up in this house
that / had to get away from IL. And
this morning il looked so clean and
white and smooth outdoors that l felt
so cluttered up j couldn't sew. l be-
gun on this room. and then l kept on
with the parlor. I've took out the
Iambrequins and 'leven pictures and
the whatnot and four moth catching
rugs and four sofa pillows. and I've
packed the whole of EN- into the attic. !
I've done the same to my bedroom. |
I've emptied my house out of all the
stuff the folks and the folks folks and /
their folks-clear back TO Grandmother F,
HacEett-had in here. mean the 1
truck part. not the good. And l guess ,
now I've got some room to live in
Jenny looked ut her admirinGiy and ,
asked: How did you ever do it: l !
can't bear 10 throw things away; l .
can't bear TO move things from where
they've been"
Il didn't use To want to-" said Mary.
but lately--I do. The winters so
hA