The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1921-11-19

Il love her for being so happy
Carol broodcd. II ought 20 he that
way. worship the baby. but the
Homework oh. suppose I'm for.
tunate. SO much better Off than farm
women on a new clearing. or people
In a sum-
II has not yet been recorded that
any human being has gained = very
large or permanent contentmcnt
from meditation upon the fact that
he Is better off than others
In Carols own twenty.four hours
day she got up. dressed the baby.
had breakfast. talked TO Osoarina
about the days shopping. put tho
baby on the porch 10 play. went TO
tho butchers to choose between steak
and pork chops. bathed the baby.
nailed up n shelf. had dinner. put
tho baby to bed for a nap. paid tho
icenan. read for an hour. took the
baby out for walk. called ON Vida.
had supper. put the baby 10 bed.
darned socks. listened 90 Kennicosi's
yawnIng comment on what fool
Dr. McGanum was to try 10 use
that cheap x-ray OUTFIT OF his on
an epiiheIioma. repaired q frock.
drowsliy heard Kcnnicott stoke the
furnace. tried to read u page Of
Thorstein vebioO-And the day was
gone.
Except when Hugh was vigorous
~ naughty. or Whitney. or laughing.
or saying 81 like my chair with
thrilling maturity. she was always
enfcebled by loneliness She no long.
er felt superior about that misfor.
tune. She would gladly have been
converted TO Nidss satisfaction IN
Gopher Prairie and mopplng the
floor.
Carol drove thru a. astonishing
number Of hooks from tho public
library and from city shops. Ken
picott was at first uncomfortable
over her disconccrting habit Of buy
ing them. A book Was . hook. and
u you had several thousand Of them
right here In the library. free. why
the dickens should you spend your
good money? After worrying about
u for two or three years. he decided
that this was one Of the Funny
Ideas which she had caught as q
librarian and from which she would
never entirely recover.
The authors whom she read were
most Of them frightfully annoyed by
the Vida Shcrwins. They were
young American sociologists. young
English resiIsts. Russian horroris,s:
Anatoie France. ROLAND. Nexo.
Wells. shaw. Key. Edgar Lee Mas
ters. Theodore Dresser. Sherwood
Henry Mencken. and all
the other subverslvc philosophers
and artists whom women were con-
suitins everywhere. In batik cur
tained studios in New York. In Kan
sas farmhouses. San Francisco
drawing rooms. Alabama schools for
negroes. From them she got the
same confused desire which the mil.
lion other women felt: the same de-
termination to be- class.c conscious
without discovering the Glars OF
which abe was TO be conscious.
Certainly her reading precipItated
her observations OF Main Street. OF
Gopher Prairie and OF the several
adjacent Gopher Prairies which she
had seen on drives with Kennicott.
In her fluid thought certain convic.
lions appeared, jaggedly. frag-
ment OF an impression at a time.
while she was going to sleep. or
her nails. or waiting for
Kennscott.
These convictions she presented to
Vida Sherwin--Vida Wutherspoon---
beside radiator, over n bowl Of not
very good walnuts and pecans from
Uncle Whitticr's grocery. on an
evening when both Kennicott and
Raymie had gone out of town with
the other officers OF the Ancient and
Affiliated order OF Spartans. to in
augurate new chapter nj Waka-
min. Vida had come 20 the house
for the night. She helped In putting
Hugh to bed. sputtering the while
about hts soft skin. Then they
talked til midnight.
What Carol said that evening.
what she was passionately thinking,
was also emerging in the minds Of
women in ten thousand Gopher Prai.
ries. Her Foundations were not pat
solutions. but visions OF tragic
futility. She did not utter them 80
that they can be given In
her words; they were roughencd
with "wcIl. you see" and IF you get
what I mean" and II don't know
that I'm making myself clear But
they were definite enough. and In
enough.
In reading popular stories and
seeing plays, asserted Carol. she had
found only two traditions Of the
American small town. The first ira
dition, repeated In scores of maya
zines every month. Is that the Amer.
lean village remains the one sure
abode OF friendship. honesty. and
clean, sweet. marriagesble girls.
Therefore all men who succeed In
painting In Paris or In finance In
New York at last become weary OF
smart women. return 10 their native
towns, assert that cities are vicious. |
marry their childhood swcethcaru