The Washington herald., 1920-01-25
have a word with Mrs. Martini

have a word with Mrs. Martini
No. sir"
But my wife Is In need of so
many things. and q baby IL coming.
I'm not asking for myself. II you
won't let me in. you'll tell Mrs Mar
tin for me?"
A buz1er sounded within the
house.
Good day. sir" The butler had
turned to answer the summons
You'll take the messags?' cried
John. The door clicked in his face.
In the little stove town again,
he trod through the fresh snow. The
chimney of his cottage was crested
white. and no smoke was there.
Mary was in her room She had
gone to bed to keep warm. Clus-
tered about her. wrapped in shawls,
were the neighbor women, husktly
commiserating. They turned accus-
ing eyes upon John as he entered.
Somehow they had learned Of his
writing. and he was condemned,
He permitted this poor young
thing. in that condition" TO suffer
want One especially soiled lady had
been coming twice every day to see
IL Mary might not be getting worse.
In truth. Mary was. John knew IL.
He banished the harpies from the
room. Even the patient happiness
in Mary's eyes seemed TO reproach
him. and he went out into the snow,
fearing the gods of the slated skies.
The city poormaster called. and
corn meal followed his visit. There
was no sign from the city mansion.
Winter broke. and even the cold
was no longer a decent white. The
l uynF1A knI-a@-1A1 NJ andAan
John Levington's dreams had with
q cred. and any memory was pain.
The-child in Mary entered upon new
powers of movement, a autter of
tiny limbs. perhaps in a mute Joy.
the echo Of darling hours that had
\ gone before.
For the young mother April was
approach to a new country. gray.
mysterious beyond any words. and
In May its subtle boundary was
! reached.
Dowagiac's city council took a
hand in the matter. having passed
q resolution that luck was against
one John Lexington and his wife,
The dirty woman who had dwelt
next door came oftener. until her
visits left trail through the house.
John could not scrub il away. Mary
went to the hospital, her eyes radi-
ant with heavens fever. and she
never returned.
or the four days that followed her
death. John retained only certain
films of horror. A pink, puckered
man-child. placed in his arms a mo-
ment and then taken away; black
carriages waiting before the house.
coachman chosen from the village
, inebriates: potted geraniums crowd
ed in the living-room TO emphasize
I the hideous casket-these made him
a shade in an unreal world. his home
vanished. He aged. and was silent.
After the blackest of these days, he
kremained through the night on Gem
etery Hill. pacing bareheaded. cross
/ ing and recrossing the sacred earth
= that hid her.
: He saw her as she had come to
him a year before, with springtide
trembling in her touch, soft May-fire
in her eyes. Tonight in the dark
ness, beyond the faded hyacinths Of
older sanctuaries. John Lexington
pressed his cheek to the grass. and
his heart broke. He lived again the
, manner of her love. impetuous and
golden. His hands groped out upon
the sod. He longed for her fragrant
body His prayer for death was un~
answered-and the morning robins
, whistled and Knocked.
September came again to Dowa-
giac. and John Lexington was only a
name there Winter closed in.
frightened. dragged past; May ar
rived to loosen the rheumatism in
the house of the untidy woman who
continued to live next to a vacant
! house. Yet another September came,
and the Lexington baby was becom-
ing an old and tiresome story. The
city council withdrew in favor Of an
orphans home. This would be all
the same to little Con. But before
, they could send him away. his
father appeared in town.
John Lexington had darkened. He
was tanned about the eyes. and his
! former bench-mates found him ST.
lent He was lean. almost gaunt.
and the light in his eyes was dim
and shifty. He had no more thought
of verses The tension at which he
lived did not produce rhymes. He
claimed his son. and they set out
together.
Con was soberly pleased. The
fast and noisy train was a miracle.
Best Of all, he did not need to be
undressed at dark. which was the
! finest part Of the day.
Chicago meant only rain and a
sniff of beer on Dearborn Street
More trains, warm weather. and
sandwiches with mustard.
, In Memphis Con played with the
darky boys. while his father worked
on a truck. The Juvenile blacks
liked the white infant, and tousled
him with friendly fists.
! At the end of the alley was a high
board fence. The older boys were
always climbing over. but this was
/ denied Connie. What was on the
other side? How many worlds of
delicious terror, and what passages
! in the gray forbidden maze OF
Memphis? The small white person
pondered on the alley stones, twist
ed his dress. and sniffed the sky.
He did not cry. because his father
would come soon and give him a
bath, and they would eat supper
together.
with a few dollars saved. John
Lexington went on again in the
spring, and the two-year-old rolled
across the plains in a day-coach.
lulled by its dusty rhythms, en-
chanted with the reaches OF space.
Con discovered the stars, but he was
1 always too sleepy to hold them, so
the discovery was endlessly new.
! In the mountains everything else
was forgotten. Great snowy ranges
printed a wonder-story on the fresh
mind: the monster rocks were fabu-
lous in color and dimension.
A logging-train carried them
around the swelling base OF Shasta,
to a sawmill. John found here a
sharp renewal of his anguish. his
sensibilities quickened in the pres
ence of the mountain. his old RrIe Z