Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1922-04-15

| the QFy OrcnarQS, beside the dry road,
| dropped circles of hot shadow on the
clodded. rough earth. Farms dozed
under shimmering lines of dazzling air
and in the village, from ten o'clock
until the afternoon began to wane,
there was no stir. Flies buzzed and
settled on screen doors, the creek
shrunk away between crumbling rocky
banks, the butcher closed his shop and
milk sOured in the bottles.
The Turner's and some other fami-
lies always camped together in the
mountains during this season, and they
were off when school closed. in an
enviable state of ecstasy and anticipa-
ton. Cherry had planned to join them,
/ but an experimental weekend was
enough. The camp was in the cool
woods truly, but it was dsorderly,
SWarming with children, the tents were
small and hot. the whole settlement
! laughed and rioted and surged to and
fro in manenr utterly foreign to her
| She returned, to tell Martin that it
was horribly common" and weather
the rest Of the summer in Red Greek.
Martin sympathized He had never
cared particularly for the Turner's !:
was perfectly willing TO keep the
friendship within bounds.
! He sympathized as little with an
! other friendship she made, some
| months later, with the wife of young
engineer who had recently come to the
mine. Pauline Runyon was a few
years older than her husband, a hand
some, thin, intense woman, who did
/ everything In an entirely individual
way. She took one of the new little
! bungalows that were being erected in
| Red Creek Park" and furnished it
| richly and inappropriately, and estab-
/ lished tea table and a samovar be-
side the open fireplace. Cherry began
! to like better than anything else in the
world the hours spent with Pauline.
Pauline read Browning, Francis
! Thompson and Pater. and introduced
Cherry to new worlds of thought. She
| talked to Cherry of New York, which
she loved, and of the men and women
she had met there. She sometimes
sighed and pushed the bright hair bach
from Cherry's young and innocent and
discontinued little face, and said ten
derby: ION the stage, my dear-any-
where, anywhere, you would be a
! furorei"
And thinking, in the quiet evenings
for Martins work kept him later
and later at the mine-Cherry came
to see that her marriage had been Il
great mistake. She had not been ready
| for marriage. She would sit on the
| back steps, as the evenings grew cool
err, and watch the exquisite twilight
fade, and the sorrow and beauty of
| life would wiring her heart.
A dream of ease and alteration and
beauty came to her She did not visu-
alize any special place, any special
/ gown or hour or person. But she saw
her beauty fttingly environed; she saw
| cool rooms, darkened against this blaz-
ing midsummer glare; heard ice cllnk-
/ ing against glass; the footsteps of at
| tentlve maids the sound of cultivated
voices, of music and laughter. She
! had had these dreams before. but they
were becoming habitual now. She was
so tired-so sick-so bored with her
real life; it was becoming increasingly
harder and harder for her to live with
! Martin. She was always in n sup
! pressed state Of wanting to break out.
to shout at him bTazenly: Il don't
care If your coffee Is weak I Ike it
weak | don't care If you don't like
my hiatt dol Stop talking about
yourself!"
Various little mannerisms Of his be
gan seriously to annoy her: a rather
grave symptom, had Cherry but known
it. He danced his big fingers on the
handle Of the sugar spoon at break
FAST Sitting the sugar over his cereal;
she had to turn her eyes resolutely
away from the sight He blew his
nose. folded his handkerchief. and then
| brushed his nose with 1t firmly left and
right; she hated the little performance
| that was never altered. He had
certain mental slowness; would blink
at her politely and patiently when she
flashed plans or hopes at him: 81
don't follow you, my dearr This
made her frantic.
She was twenty, undiSciplined and
exacting. She had no reserves within
herself to which she could turn. Bad
things were hopelessly bad with Cher
ry; her despalrs were the dark and
fearful despairs Of girlhood, prema-
| turely transferred to graver matters.
Martin was quite right In some of
his contentious; girllike, she was
| spasmodic and unsystematic in her
| housekeeping; she had times Of being
| discontinued and seIhsh. She hated
economy and the need for careful man
aging.
In October Allx CHANGED to write
her a long and unusually gosslDy let
te+. Alix had a new gown of black
grenadine, and she had sung at an
afternoon tea, and had evidently sue
ceeded IN her first venture. Also thew
had had a mountain climb and en-.
closed were snapshots Peter had taken
on the trip.
Cherry picked IN the IftIa l,odol.