Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-07
q and Mary

...,.vance, i've knowed soihe III
.,.hr fine docs, though
a., stared, then remembered abb
,upty that she was schoolmarm' .
' II shall have to invent some sort OF
-,.hment for you," she said. "Iou've
S.sn S talsing for ten minutes
"You hadn't ought to listen to me-
naam." ..s. .,.a
Che colored at his tone. after this,
~ort And I've thought of n punish.
., you must tell me all over again
.h,t . you've just told me and you must
mt It in perfect English
20 Cawd Almighty" calculated @,
,nd spent another five minutes in ab.
,,ct apology for his oath. But he had
a ,ell bis story again, painfully and
,.,fectly, And even the last sentence
I yas remembered and "scrved up cold,'
E O expressed 1t. :.
I'd have KNOWN he had to say,
.sou,e very fine doctors,' and burst out
laughing for the first time in Mary's
0Yperience Of him.
'-R He left her. as usual. flushed and
,,sasantly excited, feeling that the shad-
rv had been lifted from her day. She
hung for a long time over the page OF
His writing lesson, a proverb. written
down neatly in her own strai ght letters
n the top of the page and pa ainfully
repeated in his big hand. Her face as
Il read down the lines was more like
the face of a youthful mother than that
Of n schoolmarm. When she looked
M at the sound of the tiny clock
striking modestly between the globes,
the shadow fell again.
And vet, those days Of Mary's over
which tie shadow lay were tranquil and
erene enough. In the morning she
would prepare the breakfast, coffee
tosst and .marmalade meal, and then
che would go over the tiny house and
make 1t shne-this before the appear
ance Of her pupil. After lessons,
there was lunch to be cooked, which
che brought on tray to her fathers
elbow, where he wrote Mt a desk in a
dim corner of the Grinscoombe Free
Library half block away. In the after
noon, he came home and slept very
quietly and neatly in a chair. He
worked n very little with gentle mir Of
detachment in the vegetable garden.
The workingman's house had a work.
hgman's backyard. And then. Mary
would call him in to supper with that
tender and anxious softening of her
voice which amounted almost to a
brogne. So far, certainly, the day
would have been serene: Mary would
have mended and read and walked and
prepared Q's lesson for to- morrow. At
supper the little father would be
quietly gay and Mary almost fever
ihy so. She would entertain her
father, her father would entertain her;
It was dialogue well worth the listen
Ing to, and not in the least like the
usual family humble clatter, rather
ntketcally unlike it. Even after the
meal, while she was washing up the
dishes. Mary would keep up her talk
until it would suddenly falter into
silence.
In the midst Of her story or his
oophism, the little father would have
uptoed away, slink out. of his house,
and down the street like a quivering
piece Of twilight.
Then Mary. looking thirty years in
Nead OF twenty four, would move about
tne little lonely house, or try to read or
nt with her head in her hands until
late, late hour, when she would stand
up and, holding her head high, would
walk quickly down the side street and
,long the main one. Her fingers would
p cold and her throat tight, but if, by
~ 9nlucky chance, there was any ac-
eQaihtance to be met, Mary would smile
.aa wave her hand pleasantly as though
ue were going for stroll. Soto q
alaln brightly lighted corner where
aloni swinging door stumbled and
wavered helpless little figure, to whom
"ary went straight and took its arm
ad guided its 2gzag course toward
.Ome. Her cheeks burned and her
!es Smarted. but she had still the mir
.n taxing pleasant stroll with her
rapa this for the benefit of that
UssDle belatcd acquaintance who, If
%u with, greeted Mary with lowered
H. ana passed her quickly by. The
ny OF the avertcd looks smote her
PRIDE like a blow.
was one night, not very long after
suat lesson in which Mary had inflicted
PUNISHMENT. when q. II. Kinwydden,
Sihsing his 1.-the hipped stride along
fa'a uu street, bore down upon the pair.
eyes, trained to observation and
WISE in such humanties, read the
SaStay and its hproism at n glance
na he TOO smiled and passed by. But
W,"1 an instant he was back again. He
.,,ed MS hat and took Mr.. Grins-
oombe's arm
40 use You lookin' ut me. ma'am."
M'd very low, very grim, very
Sis Stnoe' I'm agoin' to see you through
,,i1 ne saw them to the porch of the
ue house and up the stems md
ieause nieau Mary here bade him n trem,
UuS NV good night, he did not see them
NJ, larther But he sat on the ton
'P & VI the porch that needed painting
be,St tuIy and, with the ears of a forest
un ,i, H. ne heard the dreadful stumbling
sh Me stairs and Mary's coaxine voice
sha 'ne got her charge into bed md
sta,r"ara, sta,nN her tagging stcp down the
and 's, At the foot She seemed 10 nn,,se
1oSrs ssoon there came the pitifui low
%u E OF her sobbing.
bmE hVe minutes q sat and sworo n
Dot 'et ~, with eloQuence; when bc wos
1tooS Saole to think of n fresh ontb. he
tbrouur up, opened the door, and. seeing
rtrs'nfiaa tvufa the dimness, he took himself
sten M TO Mary huddled on the lowest
TSs,. Sp with her head down on her knees
sids idI h0Sa was no room for him to sit be-
squat,"eJT on the narrow step, so he
On ea tbei. on his heels as COWBOYS SQUAT
foupd.nr nlgh-hceled boots about
hey tbatt hre and put his hand over
'Yom",tr were cold and wet with tears.
ha' am y " got to let me in on this,
ne In I" ut SAID; you've got to let
lnd wi,t ,tt overwhelming darkness within
low" n".thont, .o1, his voice seemed to break
the 6rst rSsotmeething in Mary's heart. For
npon b bsr , ,!me in her life, she let in
Iympaateerr aer trouble the warmth of human
nd her sDrashIie She sobbed her story to @
kon of biu bninsers gers clung to the kind warm
and ba ;a Surh darlng,' she began,
%se dss, him 50, You wouIdn't @ n'sr,"ss. r',ass.
h. she had nlwnvs c,i,oS him