Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-11-14
DREAMS
BY, LOUIS RAYBoLD
gssaoeodeee soOososos


Mary Louise had hated her environ
ment; hated the goneto-seed street
she lived on; hated the dlngy, paint
peeled house where her aunt took
bOarderG; hated the dining room where
three times a day she served scant
portions to the joshlng young men who
formed her apnts clientele. aa
But most of all she hated the kitch-
en-. whe2e for hours on end she stood
at the sink and lahored at greasy
dishes stacked intermlnably high.
1t was to mitigate all this that Mary
Louise had invented her gameLhOt
Pollyanna gaine, whereby she con.
soied herself by thinking how much
worse off she could have been. To be
frank, ahe didn't believe she could
have been worse off. . : s..
Her game was one Of imagination,
and distance. She played she was else
where. That was all. To her aunt, she
appeared to be standing, drab, un-
tidy figure, above a steaming dishpan.
But to herself, to Mary Louise, she
was sitting at little round tnble be-
side a blue, blue sea, ordering water
cress salad or peach Ice cream. Or
else she was on hilltop capped with
daisies, dancing with arms out
stretched to the four winds of heaven.
Mary could play this game with In.
finite variations. for every spare mo-
ment she could grasp, she read--read
the newspapers, stray books left
around by the boardeys. And as a re-
suit, she could exult over her drudgery
and sing, "Tm not. here /, at all. I'm
away, away, away" ..
Yet 1t was this very saving expedi-
ent which nearly cost her her. life and
happiness. =. ,... s-,.. ~,
To begin with, there came one day
to the house an applicant for a room
who was different from the usual run
of boarders on the stFet-a young,
cIear-eyed man who said he. was q
doctor in training and wanted. tenn
porary accommodation near the hos,
pital, .,.r
His first glimpse Of Mary Louise
occurred under circumstances that
were equlvocal. Young DR.. Stewart.
passed through the, hall, Just in time
to hear her refuse. to, go to the NOV
ing pictures. with Sandy Briggs, a
persistent tormentor of the girl, whom.
she could not stand.
"No, thanks" said Mary Louise to
his solicitation, a, ..., O., .s,,. D..
SHOULD think you'd jump at the
chance" And Sandy's tone was a
sneer. Never going anywhere?
'"Would your" said Mary Louise
lightly. "Well, don't worry about me.
While you're at a stuffy movie II
shall be dancing to heavenly music on
pavilion by the sea In the arms of
"a prince"
The doctor had only overheard the
words, had not seen the whimsical
face of the girl. Soberly he reflected
that a dancing pavilion and the arms
of the sort of man she would doubt
less designate as a prince were no
place for his landlady's niece. II won.
der her aunt allows it," he ruminated,
and then forgot Mary Louise entirely.
The summer days arrived heat-laden.
One morning over the steaming suds
Mary tainted. One day, two days,
three days in bed brought no improve.
ment. Wan and still she lay and re-
fused to eat, her eyes always on the
window. Aunt Jennie, suddenly bereft
of the faithful service Of years, IN
something like panic thought Of
young DIR. Stewart in her second floor
front and summoned him. q
And so Mary Louise was DR.. Stew
arts very first case outside the hos
pltal. Brain fever he called her III
ness. .> ....
The young doctor, becoming des-
perate, realized that not only was 1t
because she was his first real patient
that he could not lose her, but because
she had come b mean the whole world
to him, and more.
"Mary Louise! Mary Louise" he
whispered brokenly one day when.
Aunt Jennie had left the room on some
errand. "Stay with me, dear~
And Mary Louise, lifting thin-Yeined
lids from her wonderful eyes, had re-.
sponded in sheer amazement. And had
stayed.
Some weeks later. dining in hotel
veranda at Waikiki. outside Honolulu,
where pr. Stewart had gone to take
over part of fellow physicians prac-
tice grown too large for ona man. he
surprised a faraway look in his. young
wife's blue eyes. u
"Mary Louise" he demanded stern
ly, and grasped her two hands. Where
are you now?"
Mary Louise smiled tenderly into his
eyes. II was thinking what long,
long way l had come to be here, fig
uratively, mean. AS for where / am
I'm at q little round, round table,
by. blue. blue sea, eating peach Ice
cream" Then she sobered and held