Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-12-13
kK IA ri AHXl N II The sy of Carol Knnnou
ElvlH LIN OlN1Il By Sinclair Lewis

vi PAoAoSS pAI. - ~ Ill ~
he contrives to put in tw%enty-four
hours a day. 1t is this which puzzles
the 'longshoreman about the clerk,
the Londoner about the bushman. 1t
was this which puzzled Carol in re-
gard to the married Vida Carol her.
self had the. baby, a larger house to
care for, all the telephone calls for
kennicott when he was away; ! and
she read everything, while Vida was
satisfied with newspaper headlines.
But after detached brown years in
clearinghouse, Vida was hungry for
homework. Tor the most pottering de-
tail of It, h a NJ maid, nor want
ed one. She cooked, baked, swept,
washed supper-cloths, with the tri-
umph of a chemist in a new labora-
tory. To her the hearth was verbally
the ; altar. When she went shopping
she Rugged the cans OF soup, and
she bought a mop or d side OF bacon
as though she WERE preparing for a
reception. She knelt beside a. bean
sprout and crooned. II raised this
with my own hands brought this
new life into the world"
II love her for being so happy"
Carol brooded. II ought to be that
way. l worship the baby, but the
housework- Oh, L suppose I'm
fortunate; 70 much better off than
farm-women on a new clearing, or
people in a slum." ST..
1t has not yet beer recorded that
any human being has gained a very
large or permanent contentment
from meditation upon the fact that
he is better off than others.
In Carols own tw~enty-four hours
a day she got up. dressed the baby,
had breakfast, talked tt Oscarina
about the days shopping, put the ba-
by on the porch to play, went to the
butchers to choose between steak
and pork chops, bathed the baby
nailed up a shelf, had dinner, put
the baby to bed for a nap, paid the
iceman, read for an hour, took the ba.
by out for a walk, called on Vida, had
supper. put the baby to bed. darned
socks, listened to kennicott's yawn.
ing comment on what a fool DR.. Nc.
Ganum was to try to use that CHEAP
X-ray outfit of his on an epithelioma
repaired q frock, drowsily heard Ken.
nicott stoke the furnace, tried to reat
. a page of Thorstein Veblen-and the
day was gone.
Except when Hugh was vigorously
naughty, or Whitney, or laughing, OF
saying II like my chair" with thrill.
ing maturity, she was always en-.
feebled by loneliness. She no Longer
felt superior about that misfortune
She would gladly have. been convert
ed to Vida's satisfaction in Gopher
Prairies and hopping the floor.
II.
Carol drove through an ASTONISHING
number of books from the public Ii
, brary and from city shops. s Kenni
colt was at first uncomfortable owe,
! her disconcerting habit Of buying
I them. A 10 was a book, and il yo
had several thousand of them RICH
? here in the library, free, why the dick
ems should you spend your good mon
ey? After worrying about it for tw,
or three years, he decided that thi
2 was one Of the Funny Ideas which
! she had caught as a librarian ant
8 from which she would never entirel,
: recover.
: The authors whom she read wer,
most of them frightfully annoyed b,
the Vida Sherwins. They - ver
: young American sociologists, 1younl
English realists. Russian h%orrorists
8 Anatole France, ROLAND, Nexo. Wells
! Shaw, Key. Edgar Lee Masters Theo
8 dore DRESSER, Sherwood Anderson
Henry Mencken, and all the othe
: subverstye philosophers and artist
whom women were consulting every
9 where. in batik-curtained studios ii
New York, In Kansas farmhouses. Sal
uAoW III lOOIIt6t AlaOanll
2 schools for negroes. From them shp
got the same confused desire whicl
the million other ONE felt; til
same determination to be- class-con
scioys without discovering the clas
!. OF which she was to be conscious. &
], CERTAINLY her reading precipitate
9 her observations Of Main Street, q
Gopher Prairie n OF the several I'D
tacent Gopher Prairies which she sha,
9 seen on drives with Kennicott. /
her fluid thought certain conviction
appeared, jaggedly. a fragment OF a
!. impression at a time, while she va
: going to sleep, or manicurihg He
nails, or waiting for Kennicott.
: These convictions che presented I
q Vida Sherwin-vida Wutherspoon-
beside q radiator. over a bowl OF nc
9 very good walnuts and pecans fror
Uncle Whittier's grocery on an eve
ming when both Kennicott and RAY
9 ME had gone out OF town with IN
other officers OF the Ancient Affiliate
7 Order OF Spartans. to inaugurate.
new chapter at Wakamin. Vida ha
come TO the house for the night. sh
helped In putting Hugh to bed. spui
terinx.s the while about his soft Xxi
Then they talked tin midnight.
What Carol sid that evening whs
Z sfs vas passdonate1y thihking, va