Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-12-08
MAINS STREET B. By ST. s;. {: s;;' i ;:;;;;'

moor OF sheep and fitting cool sun
Light. A changing dock where steel
cranes unIoaded steamers from
Euenes Ayres and Tsingtao. A MI
nich concert hall, AMI a famous cell
.s1 piayins-playins to her.
r. scene had a persistent witch
cry:
She stood on a :errace overlooking
j Boulevard by the warm sea. She
waS certain though she had no rea-
scc tor Il that the place was Men
-oGe- Along the drive below her
zEePC bsrouches, with a mechanical
..oc-ttoc- Ilot-.lot, tlot tlot, and great
ezs With polished black hoods and
-zG.a=s quiet as the sigh of an old
--- In them were women erect,
a@l=is-- eaarleied, and ex~pressionless
e I-zrIone,res. their small hands up
ca psrssois, their unchanging eyes
a2~zys forward. ignoring the men be-
See them tall men with gray hair
DIRE vEre painted sea and painted
sa1A- n blue and yellow pavilions.
Ao-aiag moved except the gliding car
Czss- and the people were small
an wooden, spots in a picture
c.eochd with gold and hard bright
BITES Their was no sound of sea or
winds; no softness of whispers nor Of
Ealing petals: nothing but yellow and
nons1t and caring light, and the new
e~--casoglng ilo;-tlot, tlot-tlot-
sss EsCled. She whimpered. 1t
Hst The rapid ticking OF the clock
which h=s hypnotized her into hear
ing the sezdy hoofs. No aching col
w ~ -he sss and pride Of supercilious
peopls. oUs inc reality Of a round
petaec nickel alarm-clock on a shelf
against a fuzzy unplaned pine wall
Win q Sill era xash-rag hanging
aoofs il and q kerosene stove stand
ing be1cw. :;
E thousand dreams governed by the
hcaon she had read, drawn from
Inc pictures she had envied, absorbed
hsF oTowsr lake afternoons, but al
ways IN h midst Of them Kennicott
came Out from town drew on khaki
LroaseF which were plastered with
dry ~fsh-szies, arked, "Enioyinr
YOURSELF" ana did not listen to her
answer.
ANA nothing was changed. and there
was no reason 10 believe that there
eye. would be change.
VI: .
Trains. "
A. h lake cottage she missed thu
passing 81 the trains. She realized
that IN town she had depended upor
Them Q assurance that there re.
manned a world beyond.
Inc fa3iSoat was more than a mean.
81 transportation 10 Gopher Prairie
X was a new god; a monster of siee
iiinos. OAK ribs. flesh OF gravel, IN
q stnpendous hunger for freight: a de-
ny created by RAN that he nigh
as elsewhere ne had elevated an,
served as tribal gods the mines. cot
ton-mus, matDr-factories, colleges
army. ~
The East remembered generation
when there had been no railroad an,
had no awe OF It; but here the rail
roads had been before time was. tn,
towns had been staked out on barre,
prairie Az convenient points for fu
lure rafn-halts: and back in 196,
ana INV there hal been much profit
Inucn opportunity 10 found ar'.e>
cratic families, In the posscssion q
advance knowledge ar u ~u.,. !,
towns would arise.
II a town waE in disfayor. IN
railroad could ignore II. cut e a,
from commerce, slay II. To COME
Prairie the tracks were eternal veri
Ties, and boards of railroad director
an omnipotence. The smallest bo
or the most secluded grandam couI,
tSli you WHctnef NO. 81 had a hot
box last Tuesday, whether No. 7 Wa
going to put Of an extra day-coach
and the name OF the president OF tn
read was familiar to every breaKfas
table.
Even In this new era OF motors tn
citizens went down to the station I
zee. the trains go through. It wa
their romance: their only mystery he
sides mass at the Catholic Church
n from the trains came lords q
the outer Notwithstanding salesme
with piping on their waigtcoats an,
visiting cousins from Milwaukee,.
Gopher Prairie had once been
"diyiaton point" The roundhous
and repair-shops were gone. but tw
conductors still retained residenct
and they were persons Of d%is,inctior
men who Travelled and talked I
strangers. who wore uniforms VIII
brass buttons. ana knew ali abou
these crooked games or con-meT
They were a special caste. neithe
above o below the eiIaydocks All,
apart, artists and adventures.
The night telegraph operator 4
the railroad station was the mo
melodramatic figure Ia town: awak
at three IN the morning. alone n
room hectic with clafter Of the telc
graph key. All night he TAXED" I
operators twenty. fifty, n hundre
y vNf1na oryo., eIkF.-.. ..JE