Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1919-12-04

or rather, with his lack OF emotion;
and the anxious sympathy of his grand
father and his uncle made him feel
hypocritical. He was not grief-stricR-
en-: but he felt that he ought to be,
and. with a secret shame, concealed
his callousness beneath an affectation
of solemnity.
But when he was taken into the
room where lay what was left of Will
bur Minafer, George had no longer to
pretend: his grief was sufficient. 1t
needed only tie sight Of that forever
inert semblance of the quiet man who
had been always so quiet part OF his
sons life-so quiet part that George
had seldom been consciously aware
that his father was indeed a part OF
his life. AS the figure lay there, It's
very quietness was what was most ilte-
like; and suddenly it struck George
hard. And in that unexpected, racking
grief of his son, Wilbur Minafer be-
came more wildly Georges father
than he had ever been in life.
When George left the room, his arm
was about his black-robed mother, his
shoulders were still shaken with sobs.
He leaned upon his mother; she gently
comforted him; and presently he re-
covered his composure and became
self-conscious enough to wonder If he
had not been making an unmanly dis
play of himself. I'm all right again,
mother" he said awkwardly. "Don't
worry about me: you'd better go lie
down, or something; you look pretty
pale"
Isabel did look pretty pale, but not
CHASTITY pale, Fanny did. Fanny's
grief was overwhelming she stayed in
her room, and George did not see her
until the next day, few minutes be-
fore the funeral, when her haggard
face appalled, him.
The annoyance gave way before
recollection of the sweet mournfulness
of his mothers face, as she had said
good-by to him at the station, and OF
how lovely she looked in her mourning.
He thought Of Lucy, whom he had seen
only twice, and he could not help feel
ing that in these quiet interviews ne
had appeared to her as tinged with
heroisrn-she had shown, rather than
said, how brave she thought him.
When he went back to college, what
came most wildly to Georges mind,
during retrospections, was the despair
ing face of his Aunt Fanny. Again and
again he thought of it; he could not
avoid its haunting. Her grief had been
so silent, yet it had so amazed him.
George felt more ana more compass
sion for this ancient antagonist of his,
and he wrote to his mother about her
I'm afraid poor Aunt Fanny might
think now fathers gone we won't want
her to live with us any longer and be-
cause I always leased her so much she
might think I'd be for turning her out
don't know where on earth she'd GO
! or what she could live on if we did DC
something like this, and Of course we
never would do such a thing, but Tn
pretty sure she had something OF the
kind on her mind. She didn't say any
! thing. but the way she looked IS what
!. makes me think so. Honestly, to me
she looked Just scared sick. You tel
her there isn't any danger in the world
of my treating her like that. Tell hel
everything is to go on just as 1t al
> ways has. Tell her to cheer upP
: Isabel did more for Fanny than tell
> ing her to cheer up. Everything tina
Fanny inherited from her father, OH
Aleck Minafer, had been invested II
Wilbur's business; and Wilbur's bust
ness, after a period of illness CORE
s. spending in dates to the illness OF WI
bur's body, had died just before WI
bur did. George Anderson and Fam
IS were both "wiped out to a miracle
precision" as Anderson said. The
d "owned not a penny and owed not
penny" he continued, explaining III
Re phrase. "It's like the moment just b'
% fore drowning: you're not under waite
and you're not out Of 1t. All you kno7
le is that you're not dead yet"
le He spoke philosophically, having b
ID ssprospects" from his father to ia
lie back upon; but Fanny had neithe
r prospects" nor philosophy. Howeve
he a legal survey of Wilbur's estate r
II vealed the fact that his life insurant
ID was left clear of the wreck; and Is
bel, with the cheerful consent of n
son, promptly turned this salvage ov'
TO her sister-in-law. Invested, it wou
Weld something better than nine hui
bred dollars a year, and thus she WI
assured Of becoming neither paup'
! nor dependent, but proved to be,
4 Anderson said, adding his efforts
n the cheering up of Fanny, IAN heires
after all, in spite of rolling mills al
s the devil"
a The collegian did not return to b
d home for the holidays. Instead, Is
j bel Joined him, and they went Sou
p for the two weeks. She was proud
n her stalwart, good-looking son at t
4 hotel where they stayed, and it W
| meat and drink to her when she SO
1 how people stared at him in the lob
and on the big erandas-indeed, n
vanity in him was so dominant tn
she was unaware of their staring