White County record. [volume] (Judsonia, Ark.) 1922-200?, 1922-09-07
,opYR lGHT BY ELEANOR H.PoRTER

L
there was, something. the matter with
them; that they. acted queer and
stopped talking when r came IN. AMI
faded away till there wasn't anybody
but me left.'9 5Eiff5 #zztEssr
Well, It's been getting worse and
wcrse..=.The.- girls. have had parties.
and more and more often the girls
have stopped talking and have looked
queer when l came up. We got up a
secret society and called 1t the ''Tony
Ten" and l was going to be its presi-
dent. Then all of sudden one day
l found there wasn't any Tony Ten
only Carrie Haywood and me. The
other eight had formed another soci-
ETY. and Stella Mayhem was their
PRESIDENT SsE .EIEts<f3 5f
| told Carrie we wouldn't care; that
we'd just. change 1T and call It the
TONY TWO" and that two was a lot
more exclusive thanften, anyway. But
4 did care, and Carrie did 1 knew
she did. And | know It better now
because last nightAslie fold tne. You
see things have been getting Simply
unbearable) these last few days, and
it got So 1t looked as If wasn't even
going to have Carrie left. She began
to act queer and I accused her of 1t,
and told her if she didn't want to be-
long, ,togthe Tony, Two, She needn't.
That didn't 'careI1 that Fd be d secret
society all by myself bBut 1 cried.
couldn't help crying; and she knew
l did-eare. II Then she began to cry
and today, after school, we went to
walk up on the hill to the big rock /;
and there-she told me- And it was
the divorce. >
And it's iii sthat iSttifa Mayhem
the new gin. Her mother found out
| was divorced Il mean Mother was)
and she told Stella not to play with
me, nor speak to me, nor have thing
to do with rle.maAndeIa saidzto Carrie,
all right Who cared? I didn't That
l never had, liked, that Mayhem girl,
anyway. But Carrie said that wasn't
all. She said Stella had got to be
real popular before came. that her
folks had lots of money, and she al
ways had candy and could treat to
ice-cream and auto rides, and every
body with her was sure of good time.
She had parties. 'too-,ots of them I;
and of course, aUethe girls and boys
liked that. ~ ...-
Well, when 1 came everything was
all right till Stella's mother found
out about the divorce, and then-well,
then things were different. First
Stella contented herself with making
fun of me, Carrie said. She laughed
at the serge dresses and big homely
shoes, and then she began on my
name. and said the idea of being
called Mary by Father and Marie by
Mother, and that twas just like Dr.
Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde (That's d story
Carrie says. I'm going to read 1t, it
Fathers got it. If there ever was
another Mary and Marie all in one in
the world want to know what she
did) s But Carrie says the polling fun
at me didn't make much difference
with the girls, so Stella tried some
thing else. She not only wouldn't
speak to me herself, or invite me, or
anything, but she told all the girls
that they couldn't go with her and
me- too. That they might take their
choice. And Carrie said some Of Them
did choose and stayed with me; but
they lost all the good times and ice
cream and parties and rides and ev-
erything; and so one by one they
dropped me and went back to, Stella
andgnows there wasn't anybody1eft'
only her, Carrie. And then shezh
to cry. pe Sgraa%
And when she stopped speaking, and
l knew all, and saw her crying there
before me, and thought of my dear
blessedsmether, l was so angry l
could scarcely speak. I just shook
with righteous indignation. And In
my.Inest. superb, naughty and disdaln-
ful~lnanner J5told Carrie Heywood. to
dry her tears that she needn't trouble
herself any further, nor worry about
losIngsany more ice-cream nor partles'
That / would hereto declare our
friendship null and VOID, and this day
set my hand and seal to ,neyer speak
to her again, If she liked and connssid-
cred that necessary to keeping the ac-
uuaintance of the precious Stella,
But she cried all the more nc that,
and flung herself upon me- ana or
course, I began to cry, too-and YOU
can't stay superb and naughty and
disdainful when you're all the time
trying to hunt up handkerchief TO,
wipe away the tears that are cours-
fhg down your wan cheeks. Ana OF
course aIgdidn't We hadPa real good
cry together, and vowed we loyed
eaehs.other better than ever ana no
body could come between us, not
exen1bringlng chocolate fsIdsem ash
rnallow college Stce-which we both
adore. But / told her that she woaiid'