Evening star., 1920-11-28
.R u Mt

1 ulIIl, duu-0Hu uc II AASS Wv AAoAS -
| up to me"'
IT'S one drop too much can send
| Steve on, Annie. Two glasses make
| him silly where another can carry six,
| and you know 1t. Steve never got
rough from it in his life; I've seen him
I'D rather he came home beating
| me than-than the silly way he does
| when he's--that way. God. when he
gets silly"
But"
II tell you it's his Stiffness, Liddy.
and the way he gets talking to him
self scares me more than his get
ting rough would! You remember
| that night he took all that cider over
at Joes Halloween. Liddy, and how
railroad tracks when he came home
talking to himself and tryin' to-"
Now, now. Annie. that's all four year
passed and"
Passed. Like flash when I seen
him come through the kitchen door
these last three nights. his eyes all
red: like flash. I tell you. it comes
back to me. With my baby gone. all
l got is hell waiting: for me again.
He'll. Liddy. but not if I know it.
Annie. Annie. it'll come all right. 1
tell you. Wasn't 1 the one predicted
1t was the child being born would get
MIN In temperance. Annie. and didn't
IT! For them three years wasn't his
breath as sweet as hay. and didn't l
them three years. Annie. and-'
Happy! fresh rivulet of tears
flowed scalding over her words. chok-
ing speech. Why. I-why, there
there just wasn't a thing about them
three years. Liddy. IL wouldn't live
dy, all of sudden Steve got like one
himself. When he came home nights
the way he used to come in like
choo-choo, full of play. for the kid
and"
"Annie-Annie"
He was q new man, Liddy. It was
only ten months after he was born and
out of clear sky that they made him
assistant foreman at the works, Liddy.
and amt / told you a thousand times
1t was-was the baby done it. Used to
say just to tease him, was his sonny
give him the raise"
But it was a sin. I kept saying,
Annie, man should"
i didn't care. Liddy. that he didn't
seem to love nothing on Gods green
,keep down in him for him to know it.
ne was loving me. too. with every kiss
he gave the child. Lovin' me for bein'
ats mother. / never cared a bit. Liddy,
when he came home evenings, you
know how big and clean he can
Wasn't it town talk when he was a
boy how May Wellington used to
drive past our house every evening in
ne her , swell phaeton just for glimpse
Her and her long nose! With all
her money Steve couldn't see past
Just the same. you wasn't the only
one GOULD have married above you.
7 never used to care. Liddy. I tell
you. when he used to come home
evening after evening and kiss the
child q dozen times before he even
seen me standing by and waiting for
night after night he walked home big
ana strong and steady. and my baby
could look right down into his daddy's
tSs Eyes hn.te, nKe they was cisterns and see to
WssD:t @ oI''9m 9hic o. EN-. en- AS long as his eye.
stirred up II knew. Liddy. I didn't
nave nothing to be afraid Of"
know that look. Annie When he
nved 1t home I always used to saw
TO think that three weeks ago he
Kitchen floor while was putting nev
collar bands on his daddy's shirts and
.ryin to learn him a new little trick
to his Dopps when he heard him him
coming around the side yard. Giddy-
app. Daddy-gidd-"
annie. Annie"
He never learned It. Liddy. It was
a sudden he quit playing and laid
;! down sick-like next to his blocks. his
little curls-curls-'
His-his little yellow curIs. How
ne did used to holler when his old !
"alo aunt corkscrewed 'em"
God forgive me. I had slapped his |
little hands. soft like, for Krabbine
At my needle when I sewed a snaS
tn the little sailor blouse his nap |
% bought for him; Oh. my God. Liddy:
slapped his-little-hands."
And they wept. these two, crum- |
pied forward In their chairs and the |
strings OF reminiscence plucked and |
With eSi anns nc.hnS You 70 20. eaeS
mother to the child II ever there |
was one. There amt one in town
wasn't surprised how from the hand
soonest. nightiest girl in all Spartan,
with Orrick Lowney hisself after you,
counties. how you turned into the
best man-helping wife, not afraid Of
q broom or z callous. and the best
mother -
He don't think 50. Liddy:- I tell
yS0 S"SN-Sheho WHdL IL poison me |
out Of his house. Last night. Liddy,
after he got home from the works,
and an hour late at that, he sat right !
down In the chair you're sitting in,
Ldddy. while ! was tixin' his supper
and sits and stares when-when-"
EI-know. Annie"
Got to talking to himself, Liddy.
about that time year ago I went |
to st. Louis to visit Lucy Beasley
al AlAA
was threatening to sell out her room
ing house on her" |
Tie himself was the one wanted
you to go-said a body should go to !
her own relations funeral. even IL
m;,, he was 49, 2 ns'er-do-well and seventy
Eyes. yes. that's Just It. But last
night and the night before. Liddy, he
kept mumbling and throwing 1t up
to me that THAT ! was the one
Me: Liddy: I was the one!"
'Yes. like he don't remember how
the child slept that one night I was
gone all tucked up in your he'd. and
self how you couldn't sleep for keep
ing him covered and watching his I
little curls all spread out over the
pillow the way his daddy liked EN-"
You mustn't pay attention to Steve.
away. tell you. just a drop makes
silly out Of him. Just a dropr'
Il tell you. Liddy. it's killing me!
Poisoning me! I can't stand hearin.
it. II won't. It's the same as II
he tore the heart out Of me and the
soul! l can't stand 1t. Liddy. won't"
But. Annie
Il can't! I didn't want to call you.
Liddy. out today in all this weather
and let 1t out to you, but I can't hold !
in no more. Lddy I can't. Can't |
ait here with the rain hea tin all Nav