The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1916-09-22

Of eight blocks away. ara i was DARK
wbsa I 0Ds s91 saA ~ have had to
~ home alons-and I prsferred going
home with you"
"lts pretty beautiful for me-" aid
Bibbe. with q dseD brsath. "rooM
never know what Il - - heat ysuf
laugh IN the daxtnsss-s1d Aea 49,
to - you standing tbso! O., / wss
like-k was like Now mn ! tDQ yea
what 4 wa hboY' They had passed
beyond the crowd nov. ana q crossing
lamp shonc upon them, which revealed
the met that she val without her furs.
Hses vas a puzzle. However, sllow-
ing n 70 stand, his solicituds tor her
took another turn. II think yo0 ought
to have a oss." - said. especially
when yoa want to b. out after dark.
You need one In winter. anyhow. Have
you 6vsr asked your father for oner
me" said Mary. II don't tAink "a
care for one particularly"
But my mother tried b Insist on
sending one eve here every after-
noon for me. I voxldS't ~ her. be-
cause l like 10 vnlk. but . gfl-"
"A girl lik0 to walk, too" said
Mary. LET me tell you where I've
been this afterUnon and how | hap
pened to be near enough to make yOu
take me home. I've been to see a littls
old man who makes pictures Of the
smoke. He has q sort Of warehouse
for a studio, and he lives there with
his mother and his wife and their
seven children, and he's gloriousl-
happy. I'd seen one OF his pictures a.
an exhibition. and I wanted to seo
more of them, so he showed them 70
me. He has almost everything he eyer
painted; ! don't suppose he's sold
more than four or five pictures IN bis
life. lie gives drawing lessons to keep
alive"
How do you mean hs paints the
smoker" Bibbs asked.
Literally. He paints from his Sta
where. He just paints what's around
him-and it's beautiful"
1.-The smoker"
"Wonderful! He sees the sky through
Il. somehow. He does the ugly roofs
OF cheap houses through a haze Of
smoke, and he does smoky sunsets and
smoky sunrises, and be has other
things with the heavy. solid. slow col
umns ct smoke going far out and grow
ing more ethereal and mixing with the
hagy light in the distance; ard be has
others with the broken skyline OF
downtown, all nistcd with the smoke
and with puffs as1 jets Of vsp1r that
have colors like an orchard In mid
April. I'm going to take ynu there
some Sunday afternoon. Blbbs."
You're showing me the town." he
said. Il didn't know whit wal In II
at all"
There are workers in t,eanty here"
she told him, gently. "Tfere ere other
painters more prosperous tltan my
friend. There are all soets of Thugs
II didn't know"
mo. Since the town tsegan groa ina
SO great that it called i.self greater
one could live here all ones life ord
know only the side OF It. tho. shoye."
The beauty workers setm bur;al
very deep said Bihbs. "Aad ineg.
inc that your friend woo makes tits
smoke beautiful must ba rhried daep
est Of all. Ny father lo~es the smoke.
but | can't Imagine his buying one OF
your friends pictures. Hsd buy tho
Bay Of Naples but he 'Souldn't get
one OF those. He'd think smoke ~ .
picture was horrib!e-m. 7ss he coald
1lSA If for an advert iGn.h cat
Yes" she said. thorgh- fully. And
really he's the town. They are buried
pretty deep, 1t seetuM sometimes
Bibbs."
And yet it's all WONDERFUL" he said
Its wonderful to me-.
to your"
Eyes. because every thing is. sinc<
you called mi your friend. The city
is only q rumble on the horizon for me,
1t can't come any closer than the hOri-
zon so long az Jon let me see yoH
standing by my old zinc eater all day
long, helping me. Mary" He stopped
with a gasp. That's the first ums
I've called you Nary"
Yes" She laughed. q little tremr
ulously. Though wanted you to-"
Il said 1t without thinking. It must
be because you came there to walk
home with me. That must be It."
"Women like % have things said,s
Mary informed him. her tremulous
laughter continues. sNere you glad
! came for your
"No-not glad I ftit as II I were
being carried stnieAt Up and up and
up-over the clouds. I feel like that
still. 1 think I'm that way most Of
the time. / wonder what I war like
before I knew you. The person l waa
then seems to have teen somebody
else, not Bibbs eAssicAn at all. II
seems long. long ago. ! was gloomy
and sickly-aoUebody Wse-someb0dy
l don't underHtand tow, a coward
afraid Of shadov0eAfyaid of things
that didn't exist-RrAN of my old
zinc eater! And now I'm only afraid
Of what might change knything."