The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1922-06-22
now, and it's no wonder
ting l am Mary.
ONE WEEK LATER

ting l am Mary.
ONE WEEK LATER
Things are awfully funny here this
time. l wonder if it's all Cousin Grace
that makes it so. Anyhow, she's just
as different as different can be from
Aunt Jane. And things are different,
| everywhere.
Why, I forget half the time that I'm
Mary. Honestly, 1 do. 1 try to be
Mary. 1 try to move quietly, speak
gently, and laugh softly, just as Moth
er told me to. But before know 1t
I'm acting natural again-just like
Marie, you know.
And I believe it is Cousin Grace.
She never looks at you in Aunt James
Im-amazed-at-you way. And she laughs
herself lot, and sings and plays, too
real pretty lively things; not just
hymn tunes. And the house is differ
ent. There are four geraniums in the
dining room window, and the parlor is
open every day. The wax flowers are
there, but the hair wreath and the
coffin plate are gone. Cousin Grace
doesn't dress like Aunt Jane, either.
She wears pretty white and blue
dresses, and ner hair is curly and
fluffy.
I think all this is why I keep for
getting to be Mary. But, OF course
I understand that Father expects me
to be Mary, and so try to remember.
TWO WEEKS LATER
understand it all now-everything:
why the house is different, and Fa-
ther, and everything. And it Is Cousin
Grace, and it is love story.
Father is in love with her.
Now guess I shall have something
for this book!
It seems funny now that didn't
think of it at first. But didn't-not
until I heard Nellie and her beau talk
ing about it. Nellie said she wasn't
the only one in the house that was
going to get married. And when he
asked her what she meant, she said it
was DIR. Anderson and Mrs. Whitney.
That anybody could see it that wasn't
as blind as bat.
NV, but wasn't l excited? just
guesss I was. And, of course, saw
that I had been bli nd as bat. But
I began to open my eyes after that,
and watch-not ,disagreeably, you
know, but just glad and interested
and on account Of the book.
And I saw:
That Father stayed in the house a
lot more than he used to.
That he smiled more.
That he actually asked Cousin Grace
and me to play for him several times.
That he went with us to the Sunday
school picnic. Il never saw Father at
a picnic before, and don't believe he
ever saw himself at one.)
That-oh, don't know, but whole
lot of little things that can't remem-
ber; but they were all unmistakaDle'
very unmistakable. And wondered,
when I saw it all, that had been as
blind as a bat before.
When wrote Mother told her
all about 1.-THE signs and symptoms,
mean, and how different and thawed-
out Father was; and I asked If she
didn't think it was So, too. But she
didn't answer that part. She didn't
write much, anyway. 1t was an aW-
fully snippy letter; but she said
she had a headache and didn't feel
at all we'll. So that was the rea-
son, probably, why she didn't say
more-about Fathers love affair, l
mean. She only said she was glad,
she was sure, If Father had found an
estimabie woman to make home for
him, and she hoped they'd be happy.
Then she went on talking about some
thing else. And she didn't write much
more anyway, about anything.
AUGUST
Well, of all the topsy-turvy worlds,
this is the topsy-turviest, I am sure.
What do they want me to do, and
which do they want me to be? Oh, l
wish 1 was just plain Susie or Bes-
sic. and not a cross current and con-
tradiction, with father that wants
me to be one thing and mother that
wants me to be another! 1t was bad
enough before, when Father wanted
me to be Mary, and Mother wanted
me to be Marie. But now
Well, to begin at the beginning.
It's all over-the love story, mean,
and know now why it's been so hard
for me to remember to be Mary and
why everything is different, and all.
They don't want me to be Mary.
- 0rSn