The Tupelo journal., 1918-02-01

$50 Tod WimpleS beer draIteu luIo
the army"
"Not drafted. He enlisted" cor
rected the news carrier. Mrs. Seth
Bashfeld was usually the first re-
| ceiver of news in her home town. ana
| she lost no time in it's early distribu-
ton. This time the gathering of which
she was the vital center was small but
important for it represented several
branches of the Wimple family; a am
lily which, by keeping close together
and working comparatively, had man.
aged to build quite an imposing struc-
ture of comparative prosperity and dis
tinction.
The black sheep Of the family-not
SO black, after all, since his faults had
been those Of omission rather than
commission-had been Gary Wimple;
and it was his widow and son who
were nov under discussion.
SNOW, 1 call that a very selfish thing
for Tod to do" pronounced Mrs. Abb
diah Greene, pursuing her full lips and
rolling her full blue eyes around the
circle of interested faces. with a
mother dependent on him-but she
probably expects to come back here"
Then she shook her head solemnly.
"Now, I, for one, have got my hands
full, what with the relief committee
and the Housewives league"
"My house is too small now. And
Mr.. Bushfield coming for a visit"
quickly interposed Mrs. Bashfield. BE
sides we helped Grace start her MILL
merry store IL Newkirk and
"She paid you back, Aunt Maria,
when she sold her stock" n cool,
quiet voice came from a little tenure
woman in the corner; young but with
the spinster look already upon her;
prim, keen-eyed and straight shout
dered. You would have guessed school
teacher as Elinor Wimple's profession,
and you would have been correct.
Mrs. Bashfeld faced the speaker ag-
gressively. "Well, Elinor Wimple! We
didn't lend that money to her to sell
her stock and pay us back-and no
interest. We lent it to her to succeed
with :"
The school teacher smiled tolerantly.
at wasn't Aunt Grace's fault her
health broke down. And l think it's
very noble of her not to interfere with
Tod if he feels it is his duty to serve
his country. And we ought to be proud
of Tod"
Mrs. Greene eyed her younger rela-
tive ruminatingly. "Elinor, you always
did seem to hold the idea that because
Gary Wimple eloped with Grace Tod
hunter, and her own family cast her
off, it became the duty of the Wimple
family to take care of her and her son.
Goodness knows we have all done
enough for Gary!"
"But not much for Grace or Tod"
reminded Elinor calmly. "Tve always
DCtl Solls " oiS iooS A'oA>
than she gained by marriage"
"Many women do" Mrs. Bashfield
gathered up her knitting implements.
Anyway, I can't take Grace In now.
Perhaps the others" .
But the others promptly advanced
reasons for their own inability to as
sist Gary Wimple's widow at that time.
Perhaps q little later
Elinor Wffnple went home alone,
soberly thinking matters over. She
! had three coy rooms in a plain little
house near the school where she
taught. She prepared her lonely sup
per, got out her bank book, jotted
down some figures on paper and wrote
a letter that night to Mrs. Gary VIM
pie.
Mrs. Bashfield was the first to learn
that Tod's mother was coming to live
with Elinor for a while. There was
another c~onclave-this time without
ElinOr.
eff Elinor's done this to drive us
into taking care of Grace she'll find out
her mistake" Mrs. Bashfield spoke
tartly, hiding her discontinue behind
an air Of injury. "She's sent for her,
now let her keep her."
"But, of course, we want things
pleasant. We can't start a family quar-
REL" advanced Mrs. Greene, whose
cheeks were more fiorid than usual.
well just make it plain t. Grace
diplomatically-that we are not to be
looked to-er-at this time"
Mrs. Grace Wimple had scarcely ar
rived at the school teachers home
when her husbands relatives came to
greet her. Bland and smiling, they