The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-05-16

L told Mother that she (CouSin
Grace was quite old, but not so old
as Aunt Jane And she is pretty, and
everybody loves he-. / think even
Father likes TO have her around better
than he did his own sister Jane, for he
sometimes stays around quite a lot
now-after meals, and in the evening,
mean And that's what ] told Moth
er. OF course, he still likes his stars
the best Of anything, but not quite as
well as he used to, maybe-not to give
all his time to them
I forgot to say that Father Is going
to let me go back to school again this
year ahead Of his time, just as he did
last year. So you see, really, I'm here
only q little bit Of a while, as it Is
now, and it's no wonder keep forget
ting am Mary.
ONE WEEK LATER
Things are awfully funny here this
time. wonder if it's all Cousin Grace
that makes it so. Anyhow, she's just
as different as different can be from
: Aunt Jane. And things are different,
everywhere.
Why, forget half the time that I'm
Mary. Honestly, do. I try to be
Mary. 1 try to move quietly, speak
gently, and laugh softly, just as Moth
er told me to. But before know 1T
I'm acting natural again-just like
Marie, you know.
And I believe it is Cousin Grace.
She never looks at you in Aunt James
Tm-amazed-at-you way. And she laughs
herself a lot, and sings and plays, too
real pretty lively things; not just
hymn tunes. And the house is differ
ent. There are four geraniums in the
dining room window, and the parior is
open every day. The wax flowers are
there, but the hair wreath and the
coffin plate are gone. Cousin Grace
doesn't dress like Aunt Jane, either.
She wears pretty white and blue
dresses. and ner hair is curly and
fluffy.
I think all this is why 1 keep for
getting to be Mary. But, Of course,
I understand that Father expects me
to be Mary, and so try to remember.
TWO WEEKS LATER
understand it all now-everything
why the house is different, and Fa-
Their, and everything. And it is Cousin
Grace, and it is love story.
Father Is in love with her.
Now guess shall have something
for this book!
1t seems funny now that I didn't
think of it at first. But I didn't-not
until heard Nellie and her beau talk
ing about it. Nellie said she wasn't
the only one in the house that was
going to get married. And when he
asked her what she meant, she said it
was DR.. Anderson and Mrs. Whitney.
That anybody could see it that wasn't
as blind as bat.
My, but wasn't l excited? I just
guesss I was. And, Of course, 1 saw
that I had been blind as a bat. But
1 began to open my eyes after that
and watch-not disagreeably, you
know, but just glad and interested
and on account of the book.
And I saw:
That Father stayed in the house q
lot more than he used to.
That he smiled more.
That he actually asked Cousin Grace
and me to play for him several times
That he went with US to the Sunday
school picnic. Il never saw Father al
a picnic before, and don't believe he
ever saw himself at one.)
That-oh, don't know, but whole
lot of little things that can't remem
Der; but they were all unnistakable
very unmistakable. And / wondered
when I saw it all, that I had been a.
blind as a bat before.
When I wrote Mother 1 told hel
! all about 1.-THE signs and symptoms
mean, and how different and thawed
out Father was; and 1 asked If slit
| didn't think it was so, too. But sh'
| didn't answer that part. She didn'
write much, anyway. 1t was AN aw
| fully snippy letter; but she sait
she had a headache and didn't fee
at all well. So that was the rea
son, probably, why she didn't sa!
more-about Fathers love affair,
| mean. She only said she was glad
| she was sure, If Father had found al
! estimable woman to make a home TO
him, and she hoped they'd be happy
Then she went on talking about some
| thing else. And she didn't write mucl
more, anyway, about anything.
AUGUST
Well, Of all the topsy-turvy worlds
this is the topsy -turviest, am sure
What do they want me to do, AM
which do they want me to be? Oh,
wish was just plain Susie or Bes
sic, and not a cross-current and con
tradietion, with a father that want
me to be one thing and mother tina
wants me to be anotheri 1t was ba
enough before, when Father wante
me to be Mary, and Mother wante