Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-12-08
EVENING EDITION.

him was a suggestion of masked faces '
MT the window, reVOlvers, cords Bind
him to q chair, his struggle Ito
crawl to the key before hesfainted.
During billiards. everything about
the railroad was melodramatic. There
were days when the town was COM
plctely shut Off. when they had no
mail, no express, no fresh meatSsno
newspapers, At last the rotary snow
plow came through, sbuckingf the
drifts, sending up y geyser,' andtthe
way to the Outside was open again,
The brakeman, in mufflers n fur 7"
caps, running along the tops Of Ice
coated freight-cars; the engineers
scratching frost from the cab WIN
lows and looking out, inscrutable.
self-contained, pilots @tof the prairie
sea-they were heroism, they were to
Carol the daring OF the quest in a
word of groceries and sermons
a familiar playground. They climbed
the iron ladders or the sides Of the
box-cars; built fires behind piles Of
old ties; waved to favorite brake-.
men. But to Carol it was magic \
She was motoring with Kennicett,
the car Jumping through darkness.
the lights showing mud-luddles and
coming! A rapid chuck-a-chuck.
chuck-a-chuck, chuck-a-chuck. L
was hurting past-the Pacific FLYER.
an arrow of golden flame. Light
from the fire-box sPlashed the under
side Of the trailing smoke. Instantly
the vision was gone; Carol was back
in the long darkness; n Kennicott
and wonder: mo. 10: Must be.'bout
ten minutes late"
In town. she listened from bed ia
the express whistling in the cut a
mile north. Uuuuuuu!-faint, ner-
vous, distract, horn Of the free night
riders journeying to the tall towns
where were laughter and banners and
the sound Of bells-Uuuuu! Uuuuu!-
the world going by Uuuuuuu!-fain-
; ter. more wistful, gone.
Down here there were no trains
The stiffness was very great: The
prairie encircled the lake, lay roundA
her, raw, dusty, thick. Only the
train could cut it. Some day She
would take a train; and that would
be a great thing.
She turned to the Chautauqua an
she had turned to the dramatic as
ISOLATION, to the library-board. ,frr
Besides the permanent Mother
C~hautauqua, in New York, there are,
all over these states. co1lmercial
Chautauqua companies which -rsend
out to every smallest town troupes OF,
lecturers n entertainers to give q
week of culture under canvas. Living
in Minneapolis, Carol had never en-
countered h ambulant Chautalqua.
and the announcement of its coming
to Gopher Prairie gave her hope that
others might be doing the vague
things which she had attempted. She
pictured a condensed university course
brought to the people. Mornings
when she came in from the lake
with Kennicott she saw placards in
every shop-window, and strung on a
cord across Main Street, a-,hne Of
pennants alternately worded THE
Boland Chautauqua COMING!" and
"A solid week of inspiration and en-
joyment!' But she was disappoint-
ed when h saw the program 1t
! did not seem to be a tabloid univer-
sity; it did not seem to be any kind
of a university; it seemed to be a
combination of vaudeville Perform
ance. Y. M. c. A. lecture. and the
graduation exercises of an elocution
class.
She took her doubt to Kennicott.
He insisted, well, maybe it won't
be so awful darn intellectual, the way
you and I might like it, but it's a
Sherwin added, "They have some
splendid speakers. II the people
don't carry off so much actual infor-
nation, they do get a lot of new ideas
m that's what counts"
During the Chautauqua Carol at
tended three evening meetings, two
afternoon meetings, and one in the
morning. She was Impressed by the
audience: the sal ow women in skirts
and blouses, eager to be made to
hin h mel in vests and shirt
sleeves, eager to be allowed to laugh.
and the wriggling children, eager to
sneak away. She liked the plain.
benches, the portable stage under its
red marquee, the great tent over all.
shadowy above strings of incandes-
cent bulbs at night and by day cast
!, ing an amber radiance on the patient
crowd. h scent of dust and tram
r pied grass and sun-baked wood gave
her an illusion of Syrian caravans:
. she forgot the speakers while she
listened to noises outside the tent: two
farmers talking hoarsely, a wagon
, creaking down Main Street, the crow
!, OF a rooster. She was content But
! it was h contentment Of the lost
hunter stopping to rest.
: For from the C~hautauoua itself she
i got nothing but wind and chan and
, heavy laughter, the laughter of yo-
, kels at old jokes. a mirthless and
, primitive sound like the cries of
beasts on a farm.
q These were the several instructors
In the condensed university's seven-
= day course:
Continued Tomorrow Evening.