Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-10-18
ADAMS GA DEN
"A NOVEL
By NINA WILCOX PUTNAM

ttlt-a1 I'D rLL ftErE'aNE
| irresponsible Pearl, to accomplish the
real transformation. And yet she was
what the world called a wicked wom-
an. 4 man was saved. He was
worth It, as everyone was, ana She
who was to save her?
The simple codes Of Adams child
hood teachings fell utterly to pieces
IN the race Of the revelation that right
and wrong are not as simple to dis.
t,nguish a. black and white. What
should ne SAy to her? BY what d.
vine superiority was he entitled to
preach at,Nor even correct her! What
soul had he ever saved? Gould he
save hers? And how? That all this
had come to Woolcraft through love,
only made the facts more wonderful.
That one who was admittedly a trans
9ressor could inspire a love Of such
refining influence, was in itself an as
Itontshing miracle, and a tribute to
some hidden virtue in the one who In
spired It.
And what a responsibility would de-
volve upon the person who undertook
to chasten heri A wrong look, an ILL.,
chosen phrase, and i~ncalculable dam
age might be done! And from this
notion sprang q suspicion that correc7
ton in general was no such simple
matter as the puritanism of his ia
theirs a supposed. A wonder came
to him about Judges In the courts Of
law. A wide, dim vista Of social prob
lens opened up to Adam at this
thought, and he felt again how little
he knew about the world and its life,
the rights and wrongs Of it's people,
Its problems and it, STRINGS. It took
q concrete, personal problem like this
matter OF Pearl, to awaken him sven
to the bare fact Of the existence of
such things. Some day he must ex-
anime n them further. He must try
to get at the roo Of the condition
which produced such people as Pearl
must try to find out what it was that
made the laws n gaves sanction for
the passing Of. Judgments. and made
people value possessions and give up
freedom for them, and gain freedom
from them. And he must question,
too, what it was that decided the right
n wrong Of things and the nature
Of virtue!
The horizon-line OF Adams vision
a o back once more, as it al
ready had done SO many times since
that fateful interview with his
guardian on hat winter morning
which now seemed SO very Ion ago.
The world was disclosing itself to him
IN aAsuccesston Of revelations which
scarcely gave him time to- finish one
course before the next was served. 1t
was tremendously exciting. It seemed
n a the more one lived, the more one
could; the more one ate lof the feast
OF life, the greater ones hunger be.
cause, and the more bountifuL the
feast became!
He longed to talk this all over with
V to discover II she knew this, too,
ana II she felt as he did and shared
MS munger Had she thought on all
these questions, and had she found
the answer to any OF them? Would
she not bring him others still, could
she not open his eyes to interests and
strivings n beliefs as yet undream-
ed OF by him? He might do the same
Tor her, and surely, some day, they
might. work it all out-together!
A frenzy OF enthusiasm took hold Of
him. and he paced the garden with
torrid haste. frightening the cat out
o, MS way and sending the fat, COM
placent pigeons to cover, like fright
ened politicians before a reformer's
raid. The world was wonderful, It
was terrible, It a beautiful, and
more thar all, It was pliable: it was
changeable. and men ana women Of
nigh purpose could change what men
had built! 1890
oulierlng CATS" thought Adam,
aloud. ut must be bully to be one
OF those fetormer chaps! They have
IN outlet for all this boiling up Of
cats!" $500
And then with a single stroke Pearl
brought him back to earth ana her
W unsolved problem, with a sum.
mons to the evening meal, uttered
Wltnsstrained gafety and reinforced by
a futtering white handkerchief
through the dusk.
supper was a dismal affair. being
an armed truce, a It we're. There
was very little talk. ana Woolcraft,s
neavy silence was oppressive. Moth
ing went right. The lamp smoked
and the bread was stale, and Adam
found himself without cigarettes al
n Of he repast. He was xlad
enough OF this lack, however, for it
gave MIN the opportunity Of leaving
the stufty Don with its strained at.
mosphere.N When he returned Pearl
words had passed between the eian,
n her. he could not determine.
Woolcraft was. il anything, more de-
pressed than before, and after Adam
appeared, arose from his perch on the
porch rail, and carefully locked the
gate behind him, pocketing the key.
Then the two exchanged a look Of UNI
derstanding, and settled down silent
" for q final smoke. They sat there
fora long while, each absorbed in his
dreams. The giant with his sorrow
ffu1 love. and Adam with great visions
of achievement and glory and success
which was to come about because, on
the day after the morrow. +. all kinds
Of things....! Distressed as he was
by Pearls apparent lack of faith, he
could not dwell upon it long, and the
dreams he took to his bed were OF an
other woman. She who was like q
shy, wild bird grown suddenly tame
and friendly.
In the morning Pearl was red-eyed,
but subdued, and quiet. The assur-
ance which She had exhibited at her
Homecoming had quite disappeared.
ahd she eemed to be awaiting the On
coming storm. Adam glanced at her
hopefully. once or twice, when she
started to speak. but she ignored
every Opening, and he went to work
with a of loss and disappoint-
ment.
But in the garden such mood
AIDDI ANCc. n & AVA