Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-01-11

With the congreSSnan,S secretary
n the teacher Carol leased a small
flat Here she found home, her own
place and her own people. She had,
an excellent nurse for Hugh. She her
self put him to bed and played with
him on holidays. There were walks
with him, there were mouonless eve
nings of reading, but chiefly Washing
ton was associated with people, scores
Of them, sitting about the flat, talk
ing, talking, talking, not always wise
~ but always excitedly. It vas not at
all the ARTISTS studio Of which, be-
cause Of its persistence in fiction, she
had dreamed. Most of them were in
offices all day. and thought more in
card-catalogues or statistics thu in
mass and color. But they played,
very simply, and they saw no reason
why anything which exists cannot also
be acknowledged - 49,
5 She was sometimes shocked quite
as she had shocked Gopher Prairie
by these girls with their cigarettes
and elfish knowledge. When they
were o eager about soviets or can
oeing, she listened, longed to have
some special learning which would
distinguish her, and sighed that her
adventure had come 80 late. Kennicott
and Main Street had drained her self
reliance; The presence Of Hugh made
her feel temporary. Some day-oh,
she'd have to take him to open fields
n the right to climb about hay-lofts.
/. But the fact that she could never
be eminent among these scoffing en-
thustasts did not keep her from be-
ing proud Of them. from defending
them In imaginary conversations witt,
kennicott, who grunted (she could
hear his voice., They're simply a
bunch Of wild impractical theorists
sittln' round chewing the rag" and
Il haven't got the time to chase after
a lot of them fool fads; I'm too busy
putting aside a stake for our old age"
o of the men who caftle to the
flat, whether they were army officers
or radicals who hated the army, had
the easy g~entleness, the acceptance Of
women without embarrassed banter,
for which she had longeds in Gopher
Prairie. Yet they seemed to be as
efficient as the Sam Clarks. She con-
ciuded that it was because they were
OF secure reputation. not hemmed in
bv the fire Of provincial jealousies.
Kennicott had asserted that the vii
layers lack of courtesy is due to His
poverty. We're no millionaire
dudes" he boosted. Yet these army
and navy men, these bureau experts,
NNAu y 0tAL~l "a VI a L"lulLltuUlnOUG
| leagues. were cheerful on three or
four thousand q year, while Kennicott
had, outside Of his land speculations.
six thousand or more, and Sam had
eight. -.
Nor could she upon inquiry learn
that many Of this reckless race died
in the poorhouse. That institution is
reserved for men like Kennicott who.
after devoting fifty years to. putting
aside q stake" incontinent1y invest
the stake in spurious oil stocks.
Nv.
She was encouraged to believe thai
n had not been abnormal in viewine
Gopher Prairie as unduly tedious and
slatternly. She found the same faith
not only in girls escaped from domes-
tiffty but also in demure. old ladies'
who, traeically deprived of esteemed
husbands n huge old houses vet
managed to make a very comfortable
thing OF. it by living In small flats n
having time to read.
But she also learned that by com
parison Gopher Prairie was a model
OF daring color. clever planning. and
~frenzied intellectually. From hnr
teacher-housemate she had a sardonic
description of a Middlewestern rail
ad<dtvision town, Of the same size
as Gopher Prairie but devoid of lawns
and trees. a town where the tracts
sprawled along the cinder-scabbed
Main Street, and the railroad shons
dripping SCOT from caves and door
way. rolled out smoke in greasy cniis
Other towns she came TO know Nv
anecdote: = prairie village where the
wind blew all dayNong, and the md
was two feet thick in spring. and in
summer the flying sand SCARED mr..
painted houses and dust covered the
few flowers set out in. pots. New
England mill-towns with the hands
living In rows Of cottages ike bIocks
Of lava. A rich farming.cenfer ~
New Jersey, of the railroad. f%urinu.in
ut'ns rrlad bv old men. rnbeiieva
bly, ignorant old men, sitting about
the grocery talking ofss James q
Blaine: a Southern town, full az
magn0ltas and white columns wh;nS
Carol haA accepted as PROOF ~ ~
mances bit hating the negroes. oh.e-
quious t 9 the Old Families. W.
ern mining -settiement Ike q t,mor
a booming se1ni-city with : ana
clever &rchttecta. visited by ,fannn,,.
pianiste and unctuous lecturer -.
Irritable from 4 struggle between IN
Ion labor and the MANUFACTURER, 80
lctatdonsssscgtst Uneven ths saysst a
IFF4EfAll N +hrlILffraL -fF Observation-Disclosures