Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-07-28
MY OWN PLAN


The amount of gossip I began to
hear astonished and hurt me. l re-
member sitting n watching Ella,
who told most of it to me, with my
mouth almost falling open from sur
prise.
We spent a lot Of time on the
porch in those days, while the warm
sun came through the vines-I had
planted quick growing vines for
temporary shade, and had brought
Over the wicker porch furniture 1
had bought for my old house two
years back.
Ella sat in one of the wicker arm
chairs sewing. She was making fine
linen handkerchiefs TO- Christmas
presents. and though this was only
June. she was working busily at
hem. She had been engaged, and
something had gone wrong. The
engagement was broken off. l dared
not ask about 1t, but / suspected
that was the reason why Ella was
growing bitter.
She was SO much like she vas be-
fore-and so different. Strong, irreg-
ular, not unpleasant features; intel
ligent eyes with light, stubby lashes;
and a naturally good skin-these
proved the limit of her possibilities.
She could have been good looking
but h had let her skin grow coarse:
her eyebrows were allowed an I'M
kempt appearances; she took no care
of herself in any way.
h was growing round shoulder
ed from a careless method of stand
Ing. her walk was awkward because
she carried herself badly. She wore
ugly shoes that emphasized her
large feet, and clothes that punched
where they should have been smooth
and that pulled where she needed
fullness. She was broad ~shouldered,
fat chested, broad hipped. She
could even yet make herself attrac-
tive-if she wanted.
Today she was unusually laxative.
Martha and her husband ought
to separate" she said, busily hem
stitching. They never get within
five feet of each other without nag
ging and rowing. It's awful, all the
neighbors hear them. And little
Johnnie gets so nervous he runs out
of the house and hides at Sally's and
cries, until or the other comes |
to fetch him."
Hes a nervous little child. rather
sensitive" l said, thinking of the
very charming four-year-old son.
What a pity-they'H ruin his
health with such an atmosphere"
hN4oA 1iio 'SiSNos <hho Vioh
tha's hat jealous. ever since she
found out about her husband and
that girl in the office at the pumping
Station"
"Oh. dear. what a shame! Poor
Martial"
Yves, it was too bad" A lot of
details followed, too sordid to repeat.
There had been a scandal, Martha
had returned Unexpectedly from a
trip out of the town. to find the girl
in her house. There was a quarrel.
Everyone knew of it. The girl was
fairly driven from the town, serves
her right" Ella added.
"But-but Martha went right on
living with him." 1 said. genuinely
shocked.
"Well, but she was married to
him." To Ella, this seemed to set
tie any question.
"Of course, he isn't the only one,"
Ella confided, holding the dainty lit
tie handkerchief off and inspecting
her work on it. "She got awfully
won't say his name as you might
know him-and they say" and
more details followed. They were
mostly assumptions and deductions.
based on the fact that Martha had
gone on a visit supposedly to her
mother, for a week, and the other
man had also been out of town that
week. On this slender thread of cir
cumstantial evidence. Wellsville had
hung a very weighty aploun of gos-
sip.
"Of course, I say they should sep
arate," Ella concluded. But people
think they'd better stay together for
the child's sake"
1T seems to me that by staying
together they are running the child's
health, so for his sake they'd be bet
ter apart"
This seemed only common sense
when I said it, but Ella stiffened.