Sioux County pioneer., 1922-11-09
The pR0DIGAL
DAUGHTER
WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

:a%...-..s-s-..-s-s-...B BY y....-.-s.s-."s-s-s-s:
|=i WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE u
=@...-.............-.. !:
Copyright, 1922. by the Macmillan Co.
Folks like to pamper the prodigal son
| Maybe no more than they'd orter-
But no one as yet has been able to get
| Any veal for his prodigal daughter.
From "The Rhymed Reflections OF Eli
der Twiggs.''
A FEW years ago the Beasly girl
| ~ worked in the overall factory.
She was pretty girl then, and
naturally the neighbors talked about
her, for the people who live along
Jersey Creek are really no better than
they who live on Independence ave-
nue., in spite of the theories that pow
erty and charity go together. So when
she left the factory the women of the
Jersey Creek neighborhood hinted
that the foreman had been too polite
to her. But If she had remained at
the factory they would have given the
same reason for her staying. After
that, she went to the theater with
young men who turned up their coat
collars and wore their hands in their
pockets in the fall and spring, in lieu
of dvercoats. During the summer fol-
lowing her discharge from the over
all factory she became a park fiend.
When she gave up her counter In
the cheap dry-goods store, she re-
ivox nk prO nvfI k0aDynO
house for her father. He worked In
'the shops" somewhere over in "the
bottoms" and came home tired and
grlmy at night, and went to bed early.
He slept in the room off the kitchen,
and his daughter slept in the front
room. He did not know when she
came in at night, and he did not think
of caring to know. Her father paid
no attention to the little brother and
sister who teased the daughter at
table about the young men who fire.
quented the house. If the other men,
bers of the family had been plagulng
the ten-year-old girl who led In the
raillery, the father would have been
equally needless Of their chatter. The
eldest daughter made him very happy
by simple tenderness, though, of
course, he did not understand that
his warmth for her and the longing
which he felt all day to get home for
supper, was happiness.
But, unconsclously, his daughter
grew very necessary to him. He was
not Of the world that analyses its emo
tions, yet he could not fail to see her
beauty, nor to be proud Of her for 1t
and when she was dressed to 60 out
and she went out early and often
his pride blinded him to the gaudiness
of her clothes, her frowzy hair, and
the shocking makeup on her pretty
face. Probably his discernment was
not keen enough to see these faults
even had he not been so fond Of her.
But other fathers who had daughters
saw these things. and mothers of the
neighborhood who had sons did not
mention the Beasly girl in the family
circle. 1t was only after Miss Beasly
had Joined comedy company, or
ganized to play the "White Slave" and
"Only q Farmers Daughter" through
the West. that her name was men
toned at all freely by Jersey Creeks
aristocracy, and then 1t was as II
she were dead. And Mrs. Hinkley
who took care of the children and
looked after the lonely old man, otter
said to inq9iring women Of the
neighborhood, 1T would break youl
heart to see Mr.. Beasly a-grievin' an
a-grievin' for that hussy; an whinivel
he gets letter from her he reads i
Mt the supper table before them chill
dren wild that flourish you'd think
tch, tch, tch, do wonder If h
knows" And after some discussion
she would sigh, "Well. it's not for mi
to tell him."
What wonderful thing is absence
It is like the dark in its power t.
transform people and situations AM
the relations Of things. Though sh
had grown up under his eyes. the oil
man and his daughter had scarcel
spoken a serious word to each Other
The father had never inquired wha
| HIS uuuSul0I was OI Wd6 uOl. oil
was only her. in his thought. The
were strangers, but when he bega
to forget her presence, he found hin
self continually thinking Of things h
would like to say to her. "Her" dis
appeared, and dreams altogether di
ferent from his former conception Q
her, took her place. He longed 70
her, and yearned to tell her the grea
love in his heart. Among the nois
wheels, he mumbled to himself
speeches that he wanted to make
her, and in the scrawled letter h
: sent her occasionally, he wrote som
Of these tender things"
One day she wrote that she we
coming home for a vacation, and b
= heart was very glad. He read and n
read the letter, and droned it off {
the supper table to Mrs. Hinkley an
the children As he read 1t, neitht
the hearers nor the reader realize
hoxr vorch foo1}nO tho ur{tor had n,