Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-21
shields n faded red, white, and blue
. - --E IT, .s .-F-"+F . II ~

bunting. At the end was>an 'aboftive
stage. The room was large enough
for the community dances which Mrs.
Nat Hicks advocated But Carol vas
after something bigger than dances.
In the afternoon she scampered to
the public library.
h library was open three after
moons and four evenings a week. It
was housed in an old dwelling, suffi-
cient but unattractive. Carol caught
herself %picturing pleasanter reading
rooms, chairs for children, an art COL
lection, a librarian young enough to
experiment.
She. berated herself. .Stop this fever
Of reforming everything! l will be
satisfied with the library! The city
hall is enough for Il beginning. And
it's really an excellent library. It's
it isn'tHso bad. Is It pos
sible that I am to find dishonesties
and stupidity in every human activity
I encounter? In schools and business
and government and everything? Is
there never any ~contentment, never
any rest?"
She shook her head as though she
were shaking off water, and hastened
into h library, a. young, light, anna
, bic presence, modest in unbuttonei
fur coat. blue suit, fresh organdy col
lar, and tan boots roughened from
scuffling snow. Miss Villets stared at
not to see you atNthe Thanatopsis yes
terday. Vida said you might GOMEZ
oh You went TO the Thanatop-
sis. Did you enjoy it." 81
so much. y Such good papers on
the poets" Carol lied resolutely.
But I did think they should have
had you give n Of the apers on
poetry!"
"Well-- OF course I'm not one
time to take and run the club, and If
they prefer to have papers on litera-
ture by other ladies who have no liter
airy training-after all, why should
I complain? What am I but a city.
employer" 4&s4 S
You're not! You're the one per-
son that ~does-that does--oh, yousdo
so much. Tell me, is there, uh--.=-
Who are the people who control the
club?"
Miss Villets emphatically stamped
a date in the front Of Frank on the
Lower Mississippi for a small flaxen
boy, glowered at him as though she
were stamping a warning on his brain,
and sighed:
Il wouldn't put myself forward or
criticize any one for the world, and
Vida is one Of my best friends, and
such a splendid teacher, and there is
no one in town more advanced and
interested in all movements, but I
must say that no matter who the
president or the committees are, Vida
Sherwtn seems to be behind them all
the time, and though she is ALWAYS
telling me about what she is pleased
to call my fine work in the library
!! notice that I'm. not often called on
1 fNN nm nnN0 thN.,~A NR--. - 80
once volunteered and tod me that
she thought my paper on The Cathe-
drals OF England was the most inter.
esting paper We had, the year we took
up English and French travel ana
architecture. But And Of course
Mrs. Mott and Mrs Warren are very
important in the club. as you might
expect OF the wives Of the superin-
tendent OF schools and the congrega-
taonal pastor. and indeed they are
both very cultured, but No. Won
may regard me as entirely unimpor-
y I'm sure what I say doesn't
You're much too modest. and I'm
going to tell Vida 30, and, uh, I won.
der u you can give me just a teeny
DIT OF your time and show me where
the files r kept?"
She had won. She was p~rofuse,v>
escorted to q room like a Rrandmoth.
er's attic, where she discovered ne
Ftodica's devoted to ihouse-decorntion
and town-plannitg, with a dx-vear
file OF the National Geographic. HSies
Vnlets blessedly left her alone. Hum
ming. fluttering pages with delighted
fingers, Carol sat cr0ss-legged on h
floor, the magazines in a aho,,s
her.
She found, pictures Of New ENGLAND
i streets: the dignity M. M nno,,th ~