White County record. [volume] (Judsonia, Ark.) 1922-200?, 1922-08-31

ioaiid looking for something to do
Mahled to play 0n the piano but
u'ui care to-~not with all those
uead-hair and wax-hower folks in tbe
pafior watching me- anG the chance of
runners coming in as he did before
l was standing in the window star-
.Ilg out at nothing-it wasn't unite
dark yet-when again had that ouaor
leeilhg that somebody was looking Mt
me. turned-and there was Father
ne had come in and was sitting in the
pls chalr by the table. But this time
ne dldht look right away as usual and
give me chance to slip quietly out
oil the room, as l always had before
Instead he said:
Nhat are you doing there, Mary?"
Just Hooking out the window"
Come here. l want to talk to you."
eyes, Father"
went, of course. at once. and sat
down in the chair near him. lie
hitehed again in his seat.
why don't you do something-read
sew, knitf' he demanded. "Why do 7
always find you moping around, doing
nothing?"
Just like that he said 1t; and when
he had just told me
why, Father!" l cried and | know
that l showed how surprised was
L thought you just said 1 couldn't do
Nottingham nobody COULD"
Eth? What Tut, tut!" He seemed
very angry at first; then suddenly he
looked sharply into my face. Next, if
you'll believe 1t, he laughed-the
queer little chuckle under his breath
that I've heard him give two or three
times when there was something he
thought was funny. "Humphr he
grunted. Then he gave me another
sharp look out of his eyes, and said:
Il don't think you meant that to be
quite so impertinent as it sounded.
Mary, so We'll let it pass-ths time.
I'll put my question this way: Don't
you ever knit or read or sew"
Il do sew every day in Aunt June's
room, ten minutes hemming, ten min
utes scanning, and ten minutes Blasting
patchwork squares together. l don't
know how TO knit"
GLOW about reading? Don't You
care for readingW
why of course I do. love 1t !"
cried, "And do read lots-at
home"
"At-homeY
I knew, then. of course that Ia
made another awful break. There
wasn't any smile around Fathers eyes
now, and his lips came together hard
and thin over that last word.
"At-at my home,' stammered. 81
| mean, my other home"
"Humph!" grunted Father. Then,
| after minute: But why, pray, cant
you read here? I'm sure there ara
| books enough" He hourished his
| hands toward the bookcases all
around the room.
"Oh, l do-a little; but, you see,
I'm so afraid III leave some of them
out when Pm through" l explained.
"Well, what of it? What if you do?'
he demanded.
why, Fatherr' l tried to show by
the way | said it that he knew-of
course he knew. But he made me tell
him right out that Aunt Jane wouldn't
like it, and that the books always had
to be kept exactly where they be-
longed.
"WeI, why not? Why shouldn't
they? Aren't books down therein
Boston-kept where they belong,
pray?"
1t was the first time since I'd come
that he'd ever mentioned Boston; and
| almost jumped out of my chair when
/ heard him. But l soon saw it wasn't
going to be the last, for right then
and there he began to question me,
even worse than Aunt Jane had.
He'd been up on his feet, tramping
M and down the room all the time
I'd been talking; and now, all of
sudden, he wheels around and stops
shert
How is-your mother, Mary?' he
asks. And it was just as II ned
opened the door to another room, he
had such a whole lot of questions 10
ask after that. And when he'd lin
ished he knew everything: what time
we got up and went to bed, and what
we did all day, and the parties and
dinners and auto rides, and the folks
that came such a lot to see Mother.
Then all of a sudden he stopped
asking questions, l mean. lie stopped
lust as suddenly as he'd begun. why,
| | was right in the middle of telling
about q concert for charity we got UP
lust before l came away, and now
Mother had practiced for days and
DAYS with the young man who played
the violin. when all of a sudden Fa-
tber ierked his watch from his pocket
and said:
oThere, there, Mary, it's getting
late. You've talked enough-too
much. Now go to bed. Good night
Talked too much, indeed! ana
,.bo,d haen making me do all the