The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-05-20

81 OR 81 DRY,
Spring Blossoms
cyl. Wright

~ X X + = v Il
Mary Webb had looked through
Il the Sunday supplements carelul-.
4 ". AS she stared out Of the WIN
Z dow toward the sunny south OF
chard where the spring blosso ms
were alreads beginning to sh re-
pink and white she shuddered.
Always the same" she wis
pered to herself. Every sprihs
Y the blossoms. every autumn me
II haystacks. USh!1
She saw Avery Wilson IN ms
orchard on the next place. he
had the horse hitched up 20
spraying machine and was "hlst,.
ling as he made his way AROUND
4 the trees in need of the solution
I'm the machine. He looked To-
ward the Webb place and Mary
drew back from%the window.
1t was Wednesday, anyhow, she
reflected. and she would see him
soon enough. Every "Wednesday
Il evening. right after supper. ne
called on her He always arriE-
ed somewhere between $50 and a
and Mary again shuddered as she
thought of the early hour.
IN the Sunday supplement she
had been reading it spoke OF the
IL
And for dances-those started, 2
the fashionable set, at Q or after
Mary's lips curved UP in a smile
as she thought or Ayery's race
should she suggest starting OUT
tto a dance at 10 o'clock.
The whistle OF the westbound
train aroused her and she put the
4 bread in the oven. Her mind
was on the train as she closed the
oven door. The eastbound for
the city would come through in
forty minutes. The eastbound;
The city! Her cousin Sadi lived
sin the city and was always coax
ing her to come UP for VISIT.
Well. why not?
Mary Webb stopped a little and
regarded her shiny black hair in.
XVI the crinkly little mirror above the
kitchen sink 1t was lying sleek
and wavy With not a hair out OF
place. She could slip into her
blue tricotine and make the train
a in time. How surprised Sadi
would be! Sadi had written that
+ she always had callers on We'd
nesday evenings, and that usually
different ones came.
In the part OF the country
where Mary Webb lived that.
would be considered not quite
5nice-to have several young men
callers. Each girl had one caller
and went everywhere with him
until it came time for them to
marry Mary Webb hurried to
her room and donned the blue
frock. She took her hat from the
bag and bent before the glass to
adjust it.
The thought ran across her
mind that maybe she'd never come
back again to this house, to this
room, to this glass. Perhaps she
would never again see Avery VIII
son or hear him whistle. A pang
of desolation crossed her heart as
the last thought came to her.
Somehow things would not be the
same If she. didn't hear Avery's
swhist1ing. But her mouth again
There would be some one in the
City who would whistle.
She ran to the poultry house
where her mother was feeding the
baby chicks with the skinned
@mtlk and told her about the trip.
.ttItl1 most likely be back in a
few days, but Sadi has been want
ing me to come, you know"
.But why select today. and
%hurrytng cn like this?" exclaim
ed Ter bewildered mother.
4 But Mary Webb, with a gay nod
was gone. snatching her smart
little black fur from the hall
rack as she ran She watched the
familiar towns as the train rush
sed through on its tw o-hour trip
TO town. All along the way STREET
Hched orchards.
Orchards with their seemingly
3neyer-ending blossoms. Pink bios
SONS and white blossoms! White
BLOSSOMS and pink ones! The train
rushed on shrlcking its whistle at
#each mile crossing; each mile
brought more orchards and more
spring blossoms. The trees We're
GROWING smaller now. though. and
the blossoms seemed neither SO
pink or SO white. The train
ground over switching track
and factory doomed into view.
Now they we're on the outskirts
gof the city and tall smokes,acks
sent out their black ribbons OF
soft coal smoke. Every few blocks
city garden with understood
vegetables, or drab-colored flow
ers would loom up. Long rows
sof tenement buildings with very
dirty windows seemed TO be
speeding by the train. Mary
Webb sighed.
She suddenly heard whistle.
I Not the whistle of man but that
Of a factory. 1t was quitting time