Evening star., 1922-09-03

what We do next. How you gonna
tell?"
That's the trouble, Inez." says L.
You can't tell. l was thinking along
that very line only yesterday and l
got to the point where 1 simply gave
il up- Who is there that can say for
certain just what he'll do next year
or next month, or even tomorrow.
OF course, we can plot out our little
schemes, or make our big plans.
Sometimes they're vague. and then
again they're as clear and definite as
the blueprints of a new schoolhouse.
Often we get away with the whole
program, or almost the whole Of it.
But just as often along comes Fate
and throws a monkey wrench in the
gears and bugs everything"
y \ X
JNEZ stares at me puzzled. You
L Just talkin' words. or WHAT" says
she. "Ain't you made up your mind
what you gonna do this winter
Absolutely not" says ]. i've
tried doping out the future. Inez, and
I've decided that as seer I'm good
Judge of pancakes. That poet chap
who Dragged about how he was cap
tain of his soul might have made
good for all I know, but il he did he
was a teeth gritter. AS for me. l
don't believe l could qualify even as
second mate. How about you. Inez:
are you steering where you want to
go. or just drifting along with the
tide?"
Huh says Inez "I amt no stray
sawlog'
well, let's see whether you are or
not" says /. Just what course did
YOU have charted out when we first
ran across each other way up at
Tamarack Junction three years or so
ago?"
Me-" says she. Il was goin' up on
the range to work in boardin' house.
] did. too; by Coleraine."
Admitted" says l. But was there
anything in your plans about shifting
to Duluth. and then making broad
Jump to New York. and finding Uncle
Nels and all the rest? Not that / ever
heard you murmur about. Those
things just happened to you, the same
as a floating log butts into a bank
here. hangs up on a rock there. and
later gets bumped off into midstream
again. The same with me. The MORN
ing I met you I'd started out to pick
raspberries and expected to be back
home at Dodse's Clearing in time to
cook dinner for an assorted lot of
step-brothers and half-sisters. But
Invent with you instead, and the only
scheme I had in my head was to get
away from a step-mother didn't
care for and family that didn't fully
APPRECIATE me. Look what that led
to, o,,though-Druot's ice cream parlor
in~,Duluth, an. orangeade booth on
broadway, a chicken dinner joint in
Greenwich Village. the star part In
Barry Platt's play, an East Side
studio, and then here on New
Hampshire farm that was wished on
me by an aunt I'd hardly heard or.
Was that steering or drifting? Some
body might have been rolling the
wheel. but I'll say 4 wasn't me. So
what's the use getting all stirred up
over what may come next on the
event card:"
\
DUT there's no changing that one
II way mind of hers. Foolish" says
Inez. IF you don't start somewhere
you don't get any place"
'oh. I'm on my way all right" says
]: but it's a crooked road that most
of us travel. Inez, and few of US
know. what's around the corner.
Here's Barry, though. Let's see what
ideas he has mapped out"
Barry. however. was in no mood
10 debate generalities. He came down
stairs Juggling something bulky and
seemed rather excited.
Look, Trilby May he called out.
"See what dug out from under the
caves in the far end of tina attic"
what is itT' says I. "A wooden
.Ghutter!''