The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-04-27

tel me-noT WORD And thaeE the
first time / ever saw her give that
quick little look over each shoulder.
She's done it lots Of times since
AS / said, she wouldn't tell me. so
| had 10 ask some one else | wasn't
going TO let 1t go by and not find out
not when Nurse Sarah looked so
scared and when Ii was something
my father and mother were going to
have some day
/ didn't like to ask Mother. Some
way. had a feeling, from the way
Nurse Sarah looked. that IL was soIne-
rnng Mother wasn't going TO like. And
/ thought IL maybe she didn't know
yet she was going to have it, that
certainly didn't want to be the one
to tell her So / didn't ask Mother
what a divorce was.
didn't even think of asking Faith
er, Of course. | never ask Father
questions. Nurse says l did ask him
once why he didn't love me like other
papas loved their little girls. But
was very little then, and don't remem-
Der 1t at all. But Nurse said Father
didn't like 1t very well, and maybe
did remember that part, without real
ly knowing 1t. Anyhow, never think
Of asking Father questions.
/ asked the doctor first l thought
maybe twas some kind Of a disease,
and If he knew 1t was coming, he
could give them some sort of a medi-
cine to keep 1t away-like being vac
cinated SOS not to have smallpox.
you know. And / told him so.
He gave a funny little laugh, that
somehow didn't sound like a laugh at
all. Then he grew very, very sober.
and said:
"Tm sorry, little girl, but I'm afraid
I haven't got any medicine that will
prevent-a divorce. IL / did have,
there'd be no eating or drinking or
sleeping for me, I'm thinking-Fd be
20 busy answering my calls"
Then 1t is a diseased" l cried.
And I can remember just how fright
ened 1 felt. But isn't there any doc
tor anywhere that can stop it,"
He shook his head and gave that
queer little laugh again.
I'm afraid not" he sighed. "As
for it's being disease-there are
people that call 1t a disease, and there
are others who call it a cure; and
there are still others who say it's a
remedy worse than the disease it tries
to cure. But, there, you baby! What
am I saying? Come, come, my dear,
just forget it. It's nothing you should
bother your little head over now. Wait
till you're older"
Till I'm older, indeed! How I hate
to have folks talk to me like that !!
And they do-they do it all the time.
As If l was child now, when I'm
almost standing there where the brook
and river meet
But that was just the kind of talk
I got, everywhere, nearly every time
I asked any one what a divorce was.
Some laughed, and some sighed. Some
looked real worried cause I'd asked
1t, and one got mad. (That was the
dressmaker I found out afterward
that she'd had a divorce already, so
probably she thought asked the ques-
lion on purpose to plague her.) But
nobody would answer me-really an
swer me sensbly, 50 I'd know what it
meant; and most everybody said,
run away, child" or "You shouldn't
talk Of such things" or, "Wait, LILY
dear, till you're older; and all that.
Oh. how I hate such talk when 1
really want to know somethingi How
do they expect US to get our education
IL they won't answer our questions?
I don't know which made me angri-
est mean angrter. Um speaking
Of two things, SO I must, I suppose.
/ hate grammarD To have them talk
like that-not answer me, you know
or have them do as Mr.. Jones, the
storekeeper, did, and the men there
with him
It was one day when was In there
buying some white thread for Nurse
Sarah, and 1t was a little while after
had asked the doctor II a divorce
was a disease. Somebody had said
something that made me think you
could buy divorces, and had suddenly
determined to ask Mr.. Jones IL he had
them for sale. (Of course all this
sounds very silly to me now, for I
| A4xVw 04@S OIFV1GS ~ fCAy SAAApAC
and very common. It's just like q
marriage certificate, only 1t unmar-
ries you instead Of marrying you /;
but didn't know 1t then. And IL I'm
going to tell this story I've got to
tell 1t just as 1t happened, of course.)
Well, asked Mr. Jones IL you could
buy divorces. and II he had them for
sale; and you ought to have heard
those men laugh. There were six Of
them sitting around the stove behind
| me.
"Oh, yes. my little maid" (above all
things I abhor to be called little
maid y one Of them cried. you can
buy them If you've got money enough !;
but 1 don't reckon our friend Jones
here has got them for SALE"
| Then fhpu all 1ou0hod AGAIN and