The Ordway new era., 1916-10-27

ITS pretty DoautiIuI tos ee
Bibbs, with a deep breath. you"
never know what II was to hear your
lnucb in the darkness-and then to-
to see you standing therel oh. u was
ute-lt wns like How can tell you
what II was Mkef" They had passed
beyond the crowd now. and . crossine
lamp shone upon them. which revealed
the fact that she was without her furs.
Here was a puzzle. However. allow
ing II to stand, his solicitude for her
took another turn. IL think you ought
TO have car" he said. "especinlly
when you want to be out after DARK.
You need one In winter. anyhow. Have
you ever asked your father for omar
NO" said Mary. II don't think Ia
care for one particularly"
"But my mother tried to insist on
sending one over here every after
noon for me. wouldn't let her. be
cause ! like to walk. but . girl"
"A girl likes to walk. too" said
Mary. LET me tell you where I've
been this afternoon and how ] nap
peued to be near enough to make you
take me home. I've been to see little
old man who makes pictures OF the
smoke. He has a sort Of warehouse
| for a studio, and he lives there with
his mother and his wife and their
seven children, and he's gloriously
happy. I'd seen one Of his pictures at
an exhibition. and ! wanted to see
more of them, so he showed them to
me. he has almost everything he ever
painted; don't suppose he's sold
more than four or five pictures In hia
life. He gives drawing lessons to keep
alive
How do you mean he paints the
smoker Bihbs asked.
Literally. He paints from his stu
dio window and from the street-any
where. He just paints what's around
Lim-and it's beautiful"
1.-The smoker
"wonderful! He sees the sky through
It. somehow. He does the ugly roofs
OF cheap houses through haze Of
smoke. and he does smoky sunsets and
smoky sunriscs. and he has other
things with the heavy. solid. slow col
umns of smoke going far out and grow.
| ing more ethereal and mixing with the
hazy light in the distance: and he has
others with the broken sky line o.
downtown. all misted with the smoke
| and with puffs and Jets OF vapor that
have colors like an orchard In mid
| April. I'm going to take you there
some Sunday afternoon. Bibbs."
| You're showing me the town." he
said 81 didn't know what was In II
Mt all"
There are workers In beauty here. y
she told him. gently. "There are other
painters more prosperous than my
friend. There are all sorts of things
81 didn't know"
NO. Since the town began growing
so great that 1t called itself greater.
one could live here all ones life and
know only. the side OF It that shows
THE beauty workers seem buried
very deep" said Bibbs. "And ] imag'
inc that your friend who mah es the
smoke beautiful must be buried deep
est Of all. My father loves the smoke
but l can't imagine his buying one OF
your friends pictures. He'd buy the
Bay of Naples but he wouldn't get
one of those. He'd think smoke In q
picture was horrible-unless he could
use 1t for an advertisement"
Yes" she said. thoughtfully. "And
really he's the town. They are buried
pretty deep, 1t seems. sometimes
Bibbs."
"And yet it's all wonderful" he said
ITS wonderful to me-"
"You mean the town is wonderful
to your -.
Yes. because everything is, since
you called me your friend. The city
Is only rumble OH the horizon for mo
1t cant come any closer than the hori
zon so long as you let me see YOU
standing by my old zinc eater all day
long. helping me. Mary" He stopped
with gasp. That's the first time
I've called you 'Maryr"
Yes" She laughed, q little trem
ulously. Though wanted you tor
II said it without thinking. It mus
be because you came there to wall
home with me. That must be it,
women like to have things said.
Mary Informed him, her tremuloui
laughter continuing. "Were you glat
l came for your"
"No-not glad felt as II I wsrt
being carried straight up and up and
up-over the clouds feel like tina
still. think I'm that way most ol
the time. ! wonder what I was Mks
before knew you. The person wal
then seems to have been somebody
else, not Bibbs Sheridan at all. Il
seems long. long ago. was gloomy
and sickly-somebody else-somebody
, don't understand now. Q coward
AFRAID Of shadows-afraid Of thing,
mat didn't exist-afraid Of my ole
> zinc eater! And now I'm only afrait