The Penn's Grove record., 1920-08-27
Daddy, Alias
Carrots
~
By Jane Osborn
By Jane Osb0rn

per 6yGtutCdlCsI
Bah was sitting darning socks in the
mellow glow of the %living-room table
light when Babbette appeared at the
door. Bah in a gray frock with a
white fichu, hair parted in the middle
and %spectacles on her little nose was
demure. Babbette was re~splendent,
captivating. She made N breathe fast
Just to look at her, standing there with
round, bare arms and round young
body. Steve. reading his paper and sit
ting opposite to Bah at the table, swal-
lowed hard and blinked.
whats the matter, dear" Bah
asked, taking off her glasses and look
ing at him a%nxiously. Doesn't Bah
[ bette's dress look pretty? / copied it
sitter one in a shop window on the ave-
nue.. We didn't think it looked home
madey.'
.Oh. that's all right-it's immense"
Steve hurried. 'That's not the trou-
he. 1 was trying to grasp the idea
that, that-that girl there is my daugh-
ter
Steve Novel; rose with his hands in
his pockets and paced the room medi-
tatively for a minute, while Bal busted
herself fastening the buttons of Bah
cites gloves, tucking in a lock of hair
here and %loosening a few there. Steve
paused when he arrived before the mir
TOR over the mantlepiece, peered in
and then, striking a match which he
took from his smoking-coat pocket,
lighted one of Bab's candles-for orna-
ment only-that stood in brass sticks
on the mantlepiece shelf. He held this
MP to the side of his face and peered
in. No, there was not a gray hair in
AAe bushy shock of auburn. scarcely a
wrinkle, unless one could call those
few crows feet-the sort that gather,
Steve assured himself, ever on the
faces of young men who are accus-
toned to smiling with their eyes.
He blew out the candle and clenched
his right-hand fingers into a fist and,
with his left hand on his right biceps,
felt his muscle. Then he Strengthened
himself up to his full six feet, stood on
the balls Of his feet and inhaled as if
to test his lung capacity.
'It can't be-" he told himself. I'm
not ready to be that girls father-I'm
too young. I'm only a boy-and before
wnany years I'll be a grandfather? He
ylooked at Bah sitting SO ~contentedly by
the lamp. She had resumed her darn
ing and Babbette was standing reading
Steve's paper. Yes, Steve reflected,
Bah was content to take a back seat.
WI ~ - L4u 4L4L I'D noro Lo1
been forced upon them and that for all
their days and nights to come they
must sit there reading papers and
darning socks or, if they did go out, be
mere spectators at a play or opera?
"What on earth's the matter with
you dadT queried the eighteen-year-
old daughter, glancing up from the pa
per, and then, not waiting for him to
4 answer, ST wonder where Goggles "a
be? 1 was sure I'd be late and here he
is keeping me waiting" she went on.
Goggles, who's Goggles?" queried
Steve.
Bah and Babbette looked up in sur
prise. "Why Goggles is Babbette's
new friend with the e~ight-cylinder. 1t
hdhC IL ~ AlCC IOl otlDCllC.
"Which-Goggles or the eight-cylin-
der?" queried Steve.
"Don't be silly, dad" said the re-
splendent young thing, as she folded
her warm arms about Steve and kissed
him on the chin in a thoroughly daugh-
terly fashion. "I'm not a bit interested
in Goggles-but anyone would dote on
his motor"
Steve caught the faint perfume-in-
toxicating exotic-that chung to his
daughters evening frock. When he
had courted Bah, he recalled, girls used
some simple scent-viOlet or lily-of-
t~he-valley. Those were simple days.
What a thing 1t must be to be young,
Steve thought, young when girls used
perfume like that-redolent of strange
Eastern romance, Persian gardens in
the moonlight, Indian temples and
tropical islands. Steve's impression
was not distinct but it was none the
less vivid. And Goggles, just because
he had an eight-cylinder, could share
the society of a goddess like Babette.
Steve rubbed his eyes as if to wipe
II6 I'LL VI lWCAIy yCdAo VI no
life from them. What a thing to be
young again! he thought. Why, he
was young. People often told him he
didn't look thirty, and if it weren't for
that lovely creature there calling him
dad he might sometimes forget that
he was nearer to the half century
mark.
Bah had run off to the telephone
bell, and came back with the color of
her pink and white cheeks heightened
with rage.
'Isn't it perfectly horrid?' she
stormed. "It was Goggles and he's at
Nellie Drew's and %telephoned to say
they'd stop for me. He says he was
at Nellie's for dinner and Shorty Tuck
er, who was going to take Nellie tele-
phoned he had been detained and
couldn't bring Nellie, so said he would