The Nevada County picayune., 1920-06-03
The Girl Who Counted the Years
By "MA" SUNDAY 1Wife of the Famous Evangelist)
(Copyright, 1918. by The Bell Syndicate, Incl

TNHIS IS the story ol i'n"
 Morton-her tragedy. TO-
 j. nance and heroism. It has a ,restion. too-a question I'll leave vou to answer for yourself. for 1t ,s me of those kind which every cir, must answer in her own way, and from her own standards of life. Would you have done as Martha did -or would you have seized your banpiness while you had the chance?
 There are those who say that bappiness-the happiness o: love ,s feeting thing. I lave never believed 1t. myself but Martha udnt know. she realized only that her duty lay In one way-her dptv as she saw 1t, and that the man sss loved and the dreams she had dreamed were in squarely the nnpbsite direction, and that 1t was up to her to choose between them. And of course, the world didn't understand. It Is seldom that the world does understand woman's heart.
 Martha Morton and Ed Whit. taker were almost an institution in their little town-one of those typ ical drowsy, agricultural county seats of the Middle West. Martha was stenographer of nineteen dow in old Judge Purdy's law office and Ed was a clerk of twenty five over In the Gents Suit" de partr1ent of the Racket Store when they were first engaged. Martha was living at home with her pa rent3-John and Salie Morton fin l.tle white cottage with green blip :. over on South Centre Street.
 Jchn Morton had a little coal and feed store, a silent. rather shy sort .fa man, whose life gravitated be- .weon two points-the little store and ,he cottage His wife was of dirett'v opposite type. In her girl hood Sa9e Morton had had ambi- tions. Sle was rather pretty In a pale 'londs way-althou5h she was just '.2 ,sipd of girl whose super fcia, beausy was certain to fade befo.e she was thirty. And, some how. neither she nor John ever seemed to understand each other, even after the child came. Sallie, l guess. never got over her rebel lion at the lot, which made her the wife of q small business man in small town, with her own housework to do, instead of having chance to realize the impossible dreams she had found In the old Bertha M. Clay and Laure Jean Libbey novels. And she never both- cred to hide the fact Her "tan. trums," what the neighbors called them, grew more and more ire Quent Her own relatives broke With her after one such spell, and only her husband and Martha seemed to have the patience neces. sary to bear with her hectoring, and constant complaining.
 And then Martha became en. gagged, At once Sallie found a new grlevance-in the person of her scheduled son,in.law, and Ed final. ly refused to come to the house. About this time, John Morton, at the age of fifty.fve, but a tired. Worn-out old man. didn't respond to the call for breakfast one morning. He had died in his sleep. Every one expected now that Martha and bd would be married at once-but they weren't Martha kept on at the little cottage. looking after her mother. and attending to the old judges correspondence during the day and Ed remained behind the counter at the Racket Store.
 But there was no wedding an. ~uncement. and the years passed