Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1917-08-26

- maze by oIlu pHotobi"PAi'
and cool off,
with detail: the hospital, which
been a part OF her unconscious lile'
looked ptrange and new to her.
Joan had room in nurses board
Ing house a few minutes walk away.
The nurses building had been burned
down two yoars' previously ana the
funds Of the institution had not
enabled n to complete the reconsIruc-
ton OF the ediflce.
She walked mechanically home
ward hardly even yet realizing the
magnitude OF the blow which Na1 be
fallen her. The events Of the morn
ing were already becoming blurred
and unreal. Monmouth lay a!mo''
deserted I'm the noontide glare. The
suffered houses. gay with sirin'h
awnings. looked down on the whlte'
dusty streets. The little park that
contained the confederate monument
was bright with geranlums, but the
grass was parched and withered, ana
the feeble efforts OF an automatic
sprinkler seemed almost Instantly ab-
sorbed by the thirsty ground.
Joan made her way toward an
overhanging tree. brushed away Il
prlckly caterpillar from seat be-
ntAln II, anu Ndl lON IL ''A' ''N'f
across the park at the red blotch made
by the hospital against the water oaks.
She was trying To estimate the mag
nituGe of the catastrophe that had
happened To her to free herself from
the stupcfied wonder and passionate
resentment that held her. Two hours
before life had seemed reasonably
bright; now its entire course was
changed For she did not doubt that
the woman superintendent had been
trying to soften the news of her dis
missal.
Her mind ran back to the begin
ming of all things for her-her fath-
cr's death. That had happened ten
years before. and the mortgage on the
estate. ruined after the war, had
grown like spreading sore, eating
away field after field, until ii swal-
lowed everything except 5000. After
the enforced sale. Mrs. Wentworth
and her. daughter had gone to Avon
mouth FOR the sole reason that the
mother remembered wealthy god
mother there, distantly related, whose
activities she hoped To enlist on be-
half of hr daughter. 1t was charac'
teristic OF her that she should mol
have known the woman had died si>
years previously.
Stil, Avonmouth was the neares
large town in which girl flung OIL
the world unframed, might hope t'
support two people. Joan had ions
before wanted to be nurse. She de
cided to attempt to enter hospital
but now her mothers slow. mortal i'll
ness kept her nursing her at home
Six months after their arrival Mrs
Wentworth died. What remained o
their 5000 after the doctors and fun
cal expenses had been paid would suf
flee for Joan's merest needs until sh'
graduated from the Southern hospital
But the physician who attended Mrs
wentworth in her last illness had Sc
cured the girl her position as pro
baeioner and Joan was rs happy =
she could expect to be. Since tina
date he had moved away. and Joai
was altogether alone.
At home they had known hardl
anyone, for the whole region was Il
that condition OF resettlement tina
began In the seventies and Is stil
proceeding Their friends had scat
tered to the north and west; thei
letters had long since ceased. Pros
perity. stalking thru the nation, ha
left little ridge OF poverty betwee
the swaths of its progress thru tn
Avonmouth Mrs. Wentworth's Hines:
; and afterward the hospital work. ha
kept the girl both from maxim
friends and from the realization q
her reed OF them. Her whole min
was set upon obtaining that diplomi
which would mean an assured livini
and before her eyes was ever tn
spectacle OF such poverty as she ha
known at home among others an
had been approaching her mothe
After she graduated, perhaps. III
might begin to unfold before her eye
But even this she realized only vague
, ly; she lived altogether in her me
: ment.
In the town OF 10000 inhabitan'
Joan was as isolated as she had bee
In the latter years at home. Her III
was rs unsophisticated and as slmpl
, and she was so unacquainted with I'll
, conditions and circumstances OF g,
! istcnce that her dismissal seemed ,
d. her an irreparable disaster.
=, She had won good opinions, she ha
, been praised. and II seemed nor
, strous thai her faintness at cri
! ical moment should have ruined h,
whole life prospects. What made III
. tragedy the less tolerahle was the az
- mixture OF the farcial There was
simple and absurd explanation: Mr.
@ Webb's colored cook Amanda, ha
[ quarrelcd with her mistress tn;
e morning, and Joan had had to go
= the hospital without her breakfas
4 To BE Continued.
- Copyright. 1915. by W. q. Chapman
. Notice In Relatives.
:, Photographs OF all the members
n lApnl "a m h,f n and N no .
IL companies may he secured Mt the
Gueldre studio. 20 West Fourth stree
q ADV.