Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-01-17
obsessed with a passionate longing for
2 service that would mean ~self-sacri-

Diseased with a passionate longing for
flee.
She thought now she had found It!
Two weeks from this very day she
would sail for a far-off village in Si-
Defta to teach the peasant children,
there and bring to the pitiful captivity
OF Russian ignorance the enlightenS
Ement OF American ideals. So big and
wonderful seemed the adventure that,
girl-like. she had paid little heed to
the small details. Nancy and Claire
Wallace worried more than she!
You'll never get enough to eat and
how will YOU eve keep your clothes
Clean" sighed Claire. who loved pretty
frocks.
"And we can't send You things.
either, for they'd never reach you
some of those awful Bolshevists would
be sure to steal them!"
Madame Breshkovsky, the little
Grandmother of the Russian Revolu-
ton. had. made several visits to the
University, and Anne. with the others.
vivid. h~eartrending stories Of the suf-
fer.ng needs of the children Of the
real Russia. It had been after such
an evening that Anne had given her
self to the aus So that, when
Nancy and Claire fretted excitedly
over the h%ardships and dangers Of the
undertaking., she had Npnly looked at
dark eyes: "1Rhatsmatters it Ii per-
haps Anne Levitt does lack"4a few
clothes n food and some silly lux
uries If she is doing a little, little bit
to help her fellowmen?" :
Nancy Leav.tt, like the beloved
Iopsy. had just "growed up" To her
had once described how: Ever since
l can remember there were always
just Dad and l.. When he wanted to
go anywhere he used to pick me up
like a piece Of baggage and off we
went. Half the time I didn't go to the
same school two years in succession.
And he used to teach me. too. oh;
how homesickI was when I came
| here-wtthout him.. We're just like
pals!"s ~.
Nancy's physical well-being had
been watched over by nurses of al
most every race and color. She knew
q little Hindoo and from the old Hin
doc "ayah" she had caught bits Of
Hindoo mysticism. She had romped
and rolled with Japanese babies: she
had lived on a ranch in Mexico until
bandits had driven them away; she
had trudged along behind her father
over miles'of trail in Alaska. And
the only place she had ever called
home" was "a tiny flat in New York,
where her father kept the pretty fur
bought when a bride. Back to this
they would come after long intervals,
for a little respite from their wander
lngs. and for Nancy the Homecoming
was always an excttingly happy one
from the moment h ran down to
Mrs. ~Ffnnegan's door for the key to
the Juggling out again of the two little
| trunks which Yooont n S,,ad1n a.
parture for some distant land.
College had brought a great change
into this gypsy life and a grief at the
separation from her Dad" But as
the weeks had passed her letters to
him read less and less like a wall Of
homesickness. and were filled more
n more with the college happenings
and whole passages devoted to girlish
descriptions OF her new friends. {
= For the last two years her father
had been overseas as senior newspa-
per correspondent with the American
Expeditionary, Force, and it would be
weeks before he could return. That
thought added now to the lonely ache
IN Nancy's heart as h stared. at her
chums n wondered what it. would
seem like to live day after day with
out seeing them!
These three had trod together up
the Paths Of Learning until they were
passing now the Gateway of Life; and
yet, right at that moment, all Of them,
homesick for the shelter Of the Uni
versity they were leaving. az. g
That was why the Ginning of the
Library clock, that had marked the
passage of happy time for more than
n generation of youth, brought a
shadow across each of the three young
faces.
"A little usefulness crept into
Nancy's voice. "Your life's ali cut out
for you, Anne. It's positively thrill
ing! Though I'd make an awful mess
out Of any such undertaking. And
Claire has her family. Y I'll just go to
New York And get the key from
on the Child ! want to finish it be-
fore Dad ONE home. I shall send It.,
then, to Theodore Hoffman himself
I might al well hitch my wagon to
the t~iptoppesti star-or whatever it is
you do! OF course it isn't as grand
as going to Russia. but I'm going to
famous all over the world!"
Little Anne Leavjtt, the great dra-
matist" murmured Big Anne fondiy.
Claire Wallace. confronting nothing
more serious than h squeezing CT her
belongings into the huge was
stirred with envy. Nancy had her
"child"-not a.youngster but a grow
ing pile Of manuscripts, Anne had her
Crusade" among the unfortunate
children OF Siberia-she had nothing
ahead but to join her family at their
summer home, an estate that covered
hundreds of acres on Long Island.
II wish you'd come home with me,
first, Nancy! You heard mother say
and. we will have a beautiful time and
! then Won caN zee RaffyO s-T
Nancy frowned sternly. She, had
several reasons for frowning-she
thought. OF. course she would really
like to go to Merrycliffe with Claire:
she loved to frolic. and the last term
had been q pretty hard grind, but her
ishinE her play and Claire simply
must not coax her! Then the other
reason was Barry. Barry was Claire's
brother recently returned from long
! s~ervice.in France, decorated by each,
Of the allied countries. Toward him
Nancy and Anne, qnite secretly, felt
an unreasonable and growing dislike.
t6n him but, ignoring the injustice,
based their ,antipathy solely on the
| fact that claire talks OF. nothing but
Barry until you feeiiike shutting your
lears!"
Nancy had, more than once, de-
clared that She could lust see him
strutting around with all his medals,
letting everyone make a lion Of him.
and she loathed handsome men, any,
way-they lacked character" and
Anne said her heart went out to
those boys whore every minute in
the trenches had been an unrecogntxed
and ~unrecorded act of heroism."" or,
course they both carefully kept their
real feelings from little Claire. who
was too dear 70 them to ever hurt IN