The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-24
cHAPTER
The Load


 ALL love is gas. and it takes M either loneliness, strength of
 "A character or religion to nquefy
 it into condition bO be ladled out of us, one to another There is certAln dangerously volatile state of it, and occasionally people, especially of opposite sexes, try tO administer it to each other in that fernl with asptlyx- 1atioS resulting to both hearts And I'm willing to confess tbat it is gen ern1ly Homan's faust when such an accident occurs That is, i4 is mis- take of her nattre, not orc Of mtenL But she is learning.
 Also when a woman is created, tfze winds have wooed star dust, rose dew, peach down and a few flint slaaF1ngs into whzrIHind Of deviftry, and the world at large looks on in wonder and sore amazeEuent, as well as breafEs1ess interest know, becausesI am one, and have just been walked up by the gyxA4acns of the cyclone, and I'm deep 1y ccakounded I don't Ike. it, and wish I could have slept. longer, but wise At least Jane decread, and Fate secnas so far helpless to controveTt the decree
 might have known that when this jolly, easy going old Fate of mine. which l inherited from lot of fn- dolenf, pleasure loving HaTpeth valley Tennesseans, let me pack up my gradu- atfng thesis, my B. s., and some de 1ic1otls frocks, and go oN to Paris for a degree from the Beaax Arts in Arcfii- lecture. we would be caught up with by some kind of Nemesis or other, and put fll our place in the biological and ekhnc1ogfcal scheme of existence. Yes, Fate and are placed. and Jane did it.
 Also, I am glad, now that know what is going to happen to ne, that ! had last week on shiDtoard, with Richard Hall bonbarding my eardf1e regions wffh his honest eyes and boom ing voice discreetly. mufled to accord with the moonlight and the quiet places around the deck. I may never get was so well done that it will help me to administer the same to others when the awfu occasion arrives.
 A woman is the spark that lights the flame on the altar of the inner man, dear, and you'll have to sparkle when your time comes,' he warned me as huRried what might have been a very tender parting the last night at sea.
 Spark coHfagFation by this new plan of JaHe's, but I'n glad he didn't know about it then. He may have to suffer from it yet. It is. best for him to be as happy as he can as long as he can.
 tfEvelina, dear, said Jane, as she and Mary Elizabeth Connors and I sat in the suit of apartments in which our proud Alma Mater had lodged us old grads, returned for ouf second degrees, 'tyour success has been remarkable. and am certain that I have chosen the right person for the glorious mis- sion I am about to offer you.''
 "Oh, no, Janeyf exclaimed from q sort of instinct for trouble to come. I know that devoted. twenty cen tury look in Jane's intense. nearsight- ed eyes and I always fend from 1t. She became captain of my freshman soul at the same time she captured the captaincy of the boat crew, on which pulled stroke. and Pm still hit ting the water when she gives the word though it now looks as if we are both adrift ca t11e high and Hn- charted seas or sitting oR the lid of a finder box juggling lighted torches.
 You see, dear she went on to say slowly, flor these two years while you have been growing and developing along all your natural lines in a coun- try which was not your ownx in a little pool should call it, out of even sight and sound of the current of events, we have been here in. yollr own land engaged ill the great work of the organization and reorganiza ton which is nlpldinS the destigsieS of the women of OUT times aud those that