The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-12-03
The Greater Inclination
By LANNIE HAYNES MARTIN

lacking In detailed descriptions,
photographs and Bertillon thumb
tracks
The woman walked hurriedly from
the police headquarters and turned
into Broadway. The many gayly
dressed women fitting to and fro
there, butterflies lowering before the
flower-like beauty Of the gorgeous
shop windows, were Unseen by her.
Neither did the splendor and SHIN
mering color Of the windows them
selves attract her. She walked on
and on with the vision of her boys
face and eyes and hair binding her
to all else.
As she turned a corner far to the
south on Broadway. a CLEAN of
something in a window caught her
eye. 1t was the curving cheek and
the arching brow Of a white plaster
cast. She stopped before the win
dow, where an art display showed
some Of the smaller models Of a
well-known sculptor, giving the same
detail work first in the clay. then
the plaster, and finally in the
bronze. This sort Of thing had al
ways interested her, and into her
hands came a vibrant. vital Jingle,
.as If they too had eyes. Unconscious
ly they gestured, as II rounding the
curve Of the shoulder there and
building up the swell Of the forearm.
That little plaster Pan had not a
more beautiful body than her own
boys firm white flesh.
What ecstacy, she thought, 1t must
be to make these things! What a
thrill, she remembered, 1t had given
her years ago. when they used to 60
to the beach and she had found that
she could fashion lions and bears
and faces out Of the wet sand for
Billy's amusement. How glad she
was that she had always made the
gingerbread boy for him each Sat
urday night in some new, fanciful
shape to give him a surprise! The
vivid memory Of the gingerbread boy
as 1t came out Of the oven, and
Billy's eager, expectant face, blind
ed her a moment with sudden tears.
He could always tell. the very mo-
ment he saw it, whom she had tried
to make 1t resemble. What II her
fingers never again would be re-
quired to fashion those grotesque lit
tie images that had given them both
so much delight? With the thought
there came such an ache, such an
agony for expression, for the outlet
Of love which had expressed itself In
those crude symbols. that her hands
crumpled themselves together In a
writing Of untitled destiny and de-
sire. And then came a sudden thrill
Of power and plan and purpose. She
could do 1t. She knew she could!
Drying her eyes, she walked hur-
riedly hAto the store, where, after
making many inquiries, she found
the manager, who gave her the ad-
dress of the sculptor. The dime in
her pocketbook, which was to have
provided her with a frugal lunch,
went for the %round-trip a fare, and
all the way there she was wonder
ing how she should ever find words
to tell the great man, the great
sculptor, what she had come for.
| When she reached the street and
number given her at the store her
courage almost failed her, and she
lifted the knocker on the door timid-
ly and let 1t fall almost without a
sound.
Someone stirred within, and In a
moment the door vas opened by a
tall woman, who stood in graceful
pose with a calm like a Greek statue,
and whose gray Irish eyes had the
look of an ancient seer. 1t was the
sweetness OF the smiling lips that
gave the woman courage to speak.
a" came" she said, Ito find the
sculptor who made the statutes In
the window on Broadway"
"You liked them?" There was
pleasure and eagerness in the tone.
II made those things"
Those things! She said 1t as sim
ply as il they had been crochet mats
or gingerbread boys!
sCVNouId Won lilo IN caa uhara T