Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-17
EVENING EDITION.
No. That wouldn't be /
must come Of themselves.
Perhaps they would.

F Perhaps ICney fSWO0IO. y As
Why not? a
she'd have tea ready, anyway. II
they came-splendid. If not-what
did she care. She wasn't going to
yie.d to the village and. let down; she
was going to keep up a. belief, in the
rite of tea, to which she had always
looked forward as the symbol Of a
leisurely fine existence. And it8would
be just as much fun, even II 1t was
SO babyish, to have tea by herself aAed
pretend hat she was entertaining
clever men. 1t would 4H
She turned the shining thought in
to action. She hustled to the kitchen,
! stocked the wood-range, sang ,,Schu-
mann while she boiled the kettle,
warmed up raisin cookies on a news
paper spread on the rack in the oven.
She scampered upstairs toy bring
down her filmiest .tea-cloth. She ar
/ ranged a 81 yer tray. She proudly car
ried 1t into the living4room and sat
1t on the long ~cherrywood ta.bls,
pushing aside a hoop of embroidery,
u volume of Conrad from the library,
COPIES of the Saturday Evening Post,
the Literary Digest, II Kennicott's
National Geographical Magazine.
h moved the tray back and forth
and regarded the eff She shook
her head. She busily unfoldei the
sewing-table, set it in the bay-window,
patted the tea-clotht to smoothness,
moved the. tray. Some time I'll
happily.
She had brought in two cups, tvp
plates. For herself, a straight chair.
but for the guest the big w~lng-chair:
which h painting tugged to the
table.
She had finished all the prepara-
tions she could think of. She sat and
waited. Sh listened for.the door-bell,
the telephone. Her Eeagerness was
stilled. Her hands dropped.
Surely Vida Sherwin would hear
the summons.
She glanced through the 'bay-win-
dow. Snow was sitting over the ridge
Of the Rowland house like sprays of
water from a hose. The wide yards
across the street were gray with NOV
ing eddies. The black trees shivered.
The roadway was gashed with ruts
Of ice.
She looked at the extra cup and
pate. She looked at the ~wing-chalr.
1t was so empty.
The tea was cold in the pot. With
YEARLY dipping finger-tip she tested
it. Yes. Quite cold She couldn't,
wait any longer.
The cup across from her was iciky
clean, ~glisteningly empty.
Simply absurd to wait. She poured
her own cup of tea. She sat and
going to do now? Oh yes; how
'idiotic; take a lump OF sugar.
She didn't want the beastly tea.
She was %springins UP. She was on
the couch, sobbing. .
She was thinking more sharply
than she had for weeks.
She reverted to her resolution to
change the town-awaken it. prod
it, reform" it. What if they wcrb
wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat
her all the ooner if she was meek
to them. Fight or be eaten. 1t was
easier to change the town completely
than to conciliate it.! She could not
take their point of view; it was a neg
alive thing; an intellectual ~squalor;
a swamp Of prejudices and fears. She
would have to make them take hers.
govern and mold a people. What Of
that? The tiniest change in their
d%istrust Of beauty would be the be-
ginning Of the end; a seed to; sprout
and some day with thickening roots
to crack their wall of ~mediocrity. II
she could not, as she desired, do a
great, thing nob'y and with laughter,
village n~othingness. She would plant
} one seed in the blank wall.
WAS she just? Was it merely a
blank wall, this town which to. three
thousand and More people was the
center of the universe ? Hadn't she,
returning from Lac-qui-Meurt, felt
the heartiness of their greetings? No.
The ten thousand Gopher Prairics
had no monopoly of greetings and
friendly hands. Sam Clark was no
; more loyal than girl librarians she
knew in St. Paul, the people she had
: met in Chicago. And those others
had SO much hat Gopher Prairie
~complacently lacked-the world Of
Eatety and adventure, of music and
the integrity of bronze. of remember
ed mists from troplc isles n Paris
nights and the walls Of Bagdad, of
industrial justice and a Cod who
spake not in doggerel hymns.
: One seed. Which seed it was did
2 not matter. All knowledge and; free
= dom were one. But she had DELAYED
t so long in finding that seed. Could
she dc something with this Thapa-
topeis club? Or should she make
= her house so charming that 1t would
be an influence? Shed make Kenni-
: colt like poetry. This was 1t. for a
t beginning! She conceived so clear
!, a picture of their bending over large
, fair pages by the fire Tin a. non-exis-
tent freplace) that the spectral pres
ences slipped away. Doors no longer
moved; curtains were not c~reepinc
shadows but lovely dark masses in
the dusk; and when Bea came home
Carol was singing at the piano which
she had not touched for many days.
;. Continued Tomorrow Evening.