The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-15
Fl smiling at Cranford.

Are you hungr5|
 '.Is everything ready? I'm starvedr' She turned and ran up the dock toward the white patch ia the shadow of the lighthouse.
 The trifing inquisition over the can- op:ed top put out again. heading for Sand, bay.
 Then dsh'I be burnt!' roared Un- cle Billy, shuffling along the dock. "She won't know nuthin' bout turnin' them.''
 When they arrived, however, they found her daintily turning the fish in the pan.
 : Cranford was conscious of a little catch in his breath. The round, brown arms the sleeves turned carelessly to the elbows, the collar loose at the throat, the flesh pearl tinted in the shadow of her chin, the cheeks red un- der the tan-a woman 1.-the and strong and fearless and beautiful, a proper mate for man.
 He did not mean it so, but there was something compelling in his gaze, and her eyes turned toward his.
 Instantly there was d smile, friendly, warm, like an honest hATdclasp, at the same time as bewildering and dazzling as sun glitter On water. He had all he could do to keep from drawing his hand across his eyes, so strong was the illusion that he had momentarily been blinded
 Then the smile broke into sound subtle and a1luring as that which Ulys- ses might have .heard as he struggled at the mast.
 He interpreted the laughter far more readily than the smile.
 It was mischievous. The expression on his face had been that of q yokel no doubt. Worldly wise, versed in fem ininity, he realized that it would never do to give her this advantage.
 Thanks for the smile. But why did you laugh at mel"
 Has no woman ever smiled at you before2'' as she turned the handle of the frying pan into Uncle Billy's horny palm.
 'cNot quite like that'' \
 .aMercy! Was it so dreadfh?"
 'sNo. On the contrary, it was as un- expected as it was beautiful" She looked straight into his eyes as she -Petorted: "Parlor broken. I am greatly disappointed. Can't you men forget those insufferable frostfngs when. you are out in the open?'
 ssBack there," with a nod toward the south, 'tback there I shouldn't have forgotten to smile"
 'sGrub!'' came disenchantingly from Uncle Billy. The girl laughed again. And Cranford laughed, too. and he knew that she knew why. She had won all points in the comedy.
 They sat down. he at one end of the J %E, ate a feast for the gods, who very well knew how to eat-the finest fish in the world, tender green corn. nectareouS coffee, crisp potatoes, luscious melons and the sun and the air for seasoning.
 ''It was very kind of you to share these fish. If you only knew how ] have longed for the taste of one! wonder what it really is that makes food taste so good out of doors ?''- curious to learn what opinion she might advance, for he had had but lit tie contact with women free of the1l fashionable environment and only 1 imagined what they might be outside 1 their fortress Of repression and ob servance of ironbound conventional ties.
 l Attitude of the mind,'' she answer ed as she dug into the green rind o1 1 the melon; -the return to the simpIes the shedding of complexities; early tt I bed and early to rise. and all the sordid ugly things left behind. We wash oul 1 bodies every day, but only when VI got out like this do we wash our souls He became just the least bit afraiC
 that she would prove to be that blue i stocking Minerva, for Diana neve I bothered her head about the care O
 souls. Diana.
 T have curious idea, that perhap