The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-10-03
No. l-"Diana-Eighteen
Months

And each OF va faces NE only be-
ssuse somewhere a man and ~o-
man dared 20 whisper, 81 love you
To-day, in turning over some old
papers. I came across photograph
Is corners were battered and its
surface scratched From the card
hat was msrred by time and care
ess usage there looked a. me the
Eyes OF a child. great, soft question
nR eyes. on the back 81 ne
photograph was written In my moth
IRIS quantity foreign handi Diana
Al the age Of eighteen months
sat with the battered cardboard
N my hand and stared AZ il So his
gas the one time child Who had
crown 10 be myself There was the
am OF God { had -'riven TO sell ~
he market place There was the
strangely heart shaped face The
sweep Of white forehead aud me sen
atiye pointed chin the warm, soft
baby mouth with jts deiCately
urved upper llp aud full lower line,
llready thrust slightly forward the
syes even then As deep and dark as
The years 10 come This was the lii-
lie child / used 10 Je turned 10 my
mirror and SAN what the years hat
drought And slowly the tear,
gathered and rolled down upon the
nicinre of my baby face l. Who
thought had forgotten hon 10 weep
Words sentences gesture or a
.ook came crowding back ia mn
memory from the long arr. scrnteti
10 hear my fathers rasping Soict,
Firile and triumphant, and LIZ moth
sr's answering laugh. full throa,ed
and low, as haunting as a birc', call
10 her mate heard my father say
"She looks like you, my Rose
our little Diana But she's got my
get up and go. eh Hasn't She
And my mothers answ ering
"She Is beautiful. my great savage
What, then. should she want Of your
get up and go as you call it,"
And I remember too. my mother
soft small hands glittering with
rings. She would smile at me. and
save her fnges tantaIiAngly beyond
nv reach
.NShee how she tries 70 get the
Uesls" she would cry. and laugh
m laugh How she wants them,
- little one How she strives for
- q. See, | hold them just away
t.om her"
She was always beautifully dress
ed In those days, my mother. There
we're always soft, brightly coioreI
stuffs, heavy with sweet perfumes,
for me 10 cuddle against. There
we're always flashing buckles on the
high-heeled slippers for her tiny
dark curls, from which she some
times let me draw the pins that
might play at hairdressing. She had
been a dancer OF some note whoa
my father met her, and loved her,
married her and made her leave the
stage. Straight from barcelona my
mother had come 10 America, "the
land OF gold" with her rounded
breasts and hips. and what men call
ed 'the devil in her eyes
My father was a wealthy contrac-
tor: bullet.headed and square I'm
gered. He had made his pile in
suburban land developments. That
Is. he had sold lots on what is called
the easy payment plan-@...To heaE.-
him describe HIS enterprises one
would have thought him great
As matter Of fact
le took his money cruelty from those
sho were weaker than he For IL
The payments on his lands We're not
made promptly. according 70 The
terms upon which my father did
busine,,. the land reverted 70 hir
again. Thus again and again ne
sold the same properties. But he
rpent his money splondidly upon my
mother. She was his passion his
one mad extravaganza he could
deny her nothing She was a drug
and the breath OF his nosirils 70 him.
And with that strange. LAZY inso-
lcnce Of the land from which she
came. she stretched forth her little
jeweled hands and took and took
end took from him
but II il great privilege FOR
man 20 DC allowed u worship the
body OF a woman NE myself" my
mother would say. and one pay.
for privileges 81 lt not so' Even
here In your free America.