Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-11-13
@shucksr" said Simeon.
.Soldls said Ebenezer.


why, | don't know" said Abel. 81
kind of like to see 1t through the glass.
1t looks like it was u bigger light than
we give 1t credit for"
Its a big enough light" said Ebe-
nezer testify. 1t was his plant at
the factory that made possible the
towns three arc lights. and these ha6
been continued BY him at the factory's
closing.
mo use making fun of your friends
eyesight because you're all of twenty
minutes younger than them" Simeon
grumbled- Come on, Abel. 1t must
be gettin' round the clock"
Abel fingered.
"a man owns the hull thing with a
glass o. this stamp he said. How
much does one like that cost?" be In
quired.
III sell you this one began Eb-
enezer; wait a week or two and
may sell you this onel' he said. 81
amt really looked through 1t myself
yet"
Not much after this the two went
away and left Ebenezer in the dark
yard.
He stood in the middle of his little
grass plot and looked through his glass
again. That night there was. so to say.
nothing remote about the sky save its
distance. 1t had none of the reticence
of clouds. 1t made you think of a bed
of golden bells. each invisible stalk
trying on its own account to help for
ward some spring. As he had said, he
did not know one star from another.
nor a planet for a planet with a name.
1t had been years since he had seen
the heavens so near. He moved about.
looking, and passed the wall of leafiess
lilacs and mulberries. Stars hung In
his boughs like fruit for the p~lucking.
They patterned patches of sky. He
looked away and back. and it was as
If the stars repeated themselves, like
the chorus of everything.
You beggars.' Ebenezer said. .aw
full dressed up. amt you? It must be
for something up there-it amt for
anything down here. let me tell you"
He went up to his dark back door
HtOn NiliiOIl lhClC liz tOdld hSttl
Kate Kerr. his general servant. who
had sufficient personality to compel the
term .'housekeeper." setting sponge for
bread with a slapping. hollow sound
and a force that implied a frown for
every down stroke of the iron spoon
He knew how she would turn toward
the door as he entered, with her way
of arching eyebrows. In the manner
of one about to recite the symptoms
of a change for the worse-or at best
to say "about the same to everything
in the universe. And when Kate Kerr
spoke she always whispered or the
faintest provocation.
A sudden distaste for the entire in
side of his house seized Ebenezer. He
turned and wandered back down the
little dark yard. looking up at the high
field of the stars with only his dim
eyes.
'sThere must be quite a little to know
about them" he thought, IF anybody
was enough interested"
Then he remembered Simeon and
Abel and laughed again in his way.
Il done the town a good turn for
once. didn't I?' he thought; 1--WE fixed
folks SOS they can't spend their money
fool!'
Two steps from Ebenezer's front
gate Simeon and Abel overlook a wom-
an. She had a long shawl over her
head and she was humming some
faint air of her own making.
"Coming to the meeting. Mary ?" Sim
con asked as they passed her.
NO." said Mary Chayah, Il started
for it. But it's such a nice night I'm
going to walk around"
'Things are going to go your way
to that meeting. l guess" said Simeon.
"Ain't you always found fault with
ChristmasY"
"They's a lot o. nonsense about it."
Mary assented. 81 don't ever bother
myself much with it. Why?"
81 dunno but we'll all come round
to your way of thinking tonight" said
Simeon.
"For just this Year, Abel Ames call
ed back as they went on.
'Yon can't do much else, | guess"
said Mary. Everybody dips Christ
mas up out of their pocketbooks. and
If there amt nothing there. they can't
Dip"
The men laughed with her and went
on down the long street toward the
town. Mary followed slowly under the
following elms that made great golden
shades for the dim post lamps. And
high at the far end Of the street down
which they went hung the blue arc
light before the town hall. center to
the constellation of the home lights
and the shop lights and the street
lights. all near neighbors TO the stream
and sweep of the stars hanging a little
higher and shining as by n sun
N;s@sNss ssSg