Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-10-21

CNapTSr AAV
IT DO not see how sisters could
ever be better friends than
u Betty and Ihave always been,


~ DO not see how sisters could
ever be better friends than
- Betty and have always been,
a.ee possibly because we are as
HWIlierent as possible" the nurse told
a,ora am independent, and even
and gentle, like my mother.
lost my mother the year I was
graduated from high school. she
IIdue my graduating dress and all of
Ihe dainty things 1 wore that night.
L nave never worn them since, but
sometimes L take them out and look
at them, already a little yellowed
with age, and then I can see her, nv
mother, just as she looked when She
sat at our dining room table in the,
evenings, whipping on lace and run
ming in ribbons
She sewed in the evenings to keep
me company while 1 studied. she al
ways said, but 1 knew the reason her
needle dared not stop. [ was STUDY
ing for the final school tests, and we
Planned together, as we sat there, for
the time when I should be a trained
could stop sewing for other people
altogether. f0p-e
Il believe I would have given I'D
completely and gone after mamma
when she died if it had not been for
getty, whom she charged me to care
N4d ILLS the Jay she died.
ana think that the very first thing
TINS promise bound me to, the neces-
slty OF living on without nv mother
was the hardest test to which 1 have
ever been put.
cannot explain why I was so
desperate at losing my mother, be-
cause L cannot explain the kind of
mother she was
MY father died when Betty and I
were pab1es. Then mamma did dress
making to support us. The hardest
part to stand, it seemed to me at the
tlme, was that she should have been
taken just when I could at last lift
the burden and begin to care for her
L Will not try to say anything
more about this part except that six
years afterward, on the night that I
decided to marry Ben Morgan, I
thought about those things my moth
er mad made for me and that I would
wear them on my wedding day. 7
told Ben about it, just before we said
good night. I think that this shows
how much loved him.
Betty was eighteen when she mar
rled the first time, several years after
we were left alone in the world. She
lost her mind through, shock when
her husband, Will Morgan, Ben's old
er brother, was killed. Will was kill
ed right before my sisters eyes, four
weeks before frankie, their baby. was
born. We were all living together at
the time, for Will was kindness itself
and he said that Betty and I should
not be separated. 1 was kept busy
nursing and Betty kept house.
viii sacrificed his life to save
Betty.. He snatched her from under
| the wheels of an automobile one eve
ming at dusk when they were taking
little walk along the roadway near
our home in the suburbs. Betty, who
always had childish ways, had run
back across the road to get some wild
asters growing there. Will tried TO
hold her, but she broke away, laugh
| ing. When she realized her danger
she was transflXed with fright and
ne rushed between her and the ma
chine. throwing Betty to one side.
will was killed instantly, but Bet
ty was unframed physically.
NO one really knew what had hap
pened to Betty's mind until about five
weeks later when Ben Morgan came.
He had gone to California to ranch
when Will and Betty were married.
''Ben had wanted me to marry him
at that time but my heart was still
too full of grief over mother to be
able to feel anything else like that.
Yet just as soon as he was gone
longed for him to come back, just be-
cause of my grief and lonesomeness.
1t often happens that way, I think.
Betty had left me too, you see. AL
| though neither of us would admit it,
things were not the same between us
there was bound to be a difference.
She had loved Will, at first with
childish tenderness and later with the
fully awakened love of a happily
married woman. His tragic death
completely stunned her and she lay
in that condition for weeks, never
speaking, and eating only when
urged.
1--WE awaited the crisis, believing
that it must bring a change and fear
ing, yet hoping for what that change
would be. But what we hoped for did
not ha ppen.