News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1922-12-27

I t0Tu M0t1ef mat she (COusiI
Grace) was quite old but not so ole
! as Aunt Jane. And she is pretty, an(
| everybody loves her. ] think ever
| Father likes to have her around better
than he did his own sister Jane, for he
sometimes stays around quite loi
ow--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.
l 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 a little bit of 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, l do. | try to be
Mary. | try to move quietly, speak
gently and laugh softly, just as Moth
er told me to. But before l know it
I'm acting natural again-just like
Marie, you know.
And / believe it is Cousin Grace.
She never looks at you in Aunt James
Pm-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 parlor 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 her hair is curly and
fluffy.
l think all this Is why keep for
getting to be Mary. But, of course,
1 understand that Father expects me
to be Mary, and so try to remember.
TWO WEEKS LATER
understand 1t all now-everything:
why the house is different and Fa-
Their, and everything. And it is Cousin
Grace, and it is a love story.
Father is in love with her.
Now 1 guess shall have something
FOR this book!
1t seems funny now that l didn't
.hink of it at first. But l didn't-nOt
Until heard Nellie and her beau talk
ng about 1t. Nellie said she wasn't
he only one in the house that was
going to get married. And when he
asked her what she meant, she said it
vas DR.. Anderson and Mrs. Whitney.
That anybody could see it that wasn't
Is blind as a bat.
My, but wasn't | excited? / just
,uesss l was. And, of course, l saw
hat l had been blind as a bat. But
began to open my eyes after that,
nd watch-not disagreeably, you
now, but just glad and interested,
nd on account of the book.
And l saw:
That Father stayed in the house a
OF more than he used to.
That he smiled more.
That he actually asked Cousin Grace
nd me to play for him several times.
That he went with US to the Sunday
chool picnic. Il never saw Father at
picnic before, and don't believe he
yer saw himself at one.)
That-ob, l don't know, but whole
)t of little things that / can't remem-
err; but they were all unmistakable,
cry unmistakable. And | wondered,
hen l saw 1t all, that l had been as
lind as q bat before.
When l wrote Mother l told her
Il about 1.-THE signs and symptoms,
mean, and how different and thawed
ut Father was; and l asked If she
idn't think II was so, too. But she
ldn't answer that part. She didn't
rite much, anyway. 1t was an aw-
lily snippy letter; but she said
le had a headache and didn't feel
t all well. So that was the rea-
IN, probably, why she didn't say
lore-about Fathers love affair,
can. She only said she was glad,
he was sure, If Father had found an
woman to make a home for
i'm, and she hoped they'd be happy.
hen she went on talking about some
ling else. And she didn't write much
ore, anyway, about anything.
UeUsT
Well, of all the topsy-turvy worlds,
lis is the topsy-turviest, l am sure.
hat do they want me to do, and
hich do they want me to be? Oh, |
ish l was just a plain Susie or Bes-
e, and not a cross-current and con-
with a father that wants
e to be one thing and mother that
ants me to be anotherl 1t was bad