Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1923-12-17

lie went dlfect from the once
that evening to Mrs Qglethorpe's
house in Gramercy Packs DnruG
the morning he had reserved Tie
following note from her. and he
had puzzled over it at intervals
ever since:
Dear Lee:
"Will you dine alone with an Old
woman tonight--a Father bewildcr
ed and upset Old woman? / sur
pose to the young nothing is too
new and strange for realjustment.
but have hardly known where
am these last few days You are
the only friend | care TO talk to
on the subject, for you always un-
derstand am probably older
than your mother and | look old
enough to be your grandmother
but YOU are the only person living
with whom ever feel inclined TO
lay aside all reserve Old men are
fossils and young men regard me
as an ancient wreck preserved by
family traditions. As for women
hate them and always did Do
come and dine with lonely puz
zled old woman unless you have
an engagement Impossible to
break Don't bother 10 dross."
Your affectioGate old end.
Jane Oglethorpe
"WhaJ'e up" Clavcring had
thought as he finished It IIary
or janet"
II was an extraordinary letter TO
receive from Mrs Oglethorpe the
most fearsoHp old woman In New
York To Clavering she had al
ways shown the softer side of he
nature and he knew her perhaps
better or AZ all evarts more init
matelv than any Of her old friends,
for she had not treated him as a
neglig BILE Junior even when he ar
rived in New York at the tender
age Of tweDty-two His ineenuous
precocity had amused her and she
had discovered a keen interest in
the newspaper word Of whose ex.
istence she had hardly been aware;
no interviewer had ever dared APP
preach her; and as he grew older,
developing rapidly more and more
unlike her sons and her sons
friends they had fallen I'M an
easy pallish intimacy, were flank
to rudeness, quarrelleG furiOu v.
hut fed each others wisdom md
were deeply attached During the
war she had knitted him enough
socks and sweaters to supply half
his regiment; and when he had left
the hospital after a serious attack
of Influenza it had been for the
house in Gramercy Park, where he
could have remained indefinitely
had he wished
But in all the years of their in
timacy never before had she
"brok en-" given a hint that she felt
the long generation between them.
He found her more interesting in
talk than any girl, except when he
was briefly in love, and her alb
sence Of vanity, her contempt for
sentiment in any of its forms, filled
him with a blessed sense of securi-
ty as he spent hours stretched out
on the sofa in her upstairs sitting
room. smoking and discussing the
universe. She was not an intellec-
tual woman, but she was sharp and
shrewd. a monument of common
sense and worldly wisdom. 1t
would be as easy to hoodwink her
as the disembodied Minerva. and
It was doubtful if any one made
even a tentative attempt Claver-
ing wondered which Of those inner
secret personalities was to be re-
vealed tonight.
AS he stood in the drawing room
waiting for her to come down he
examined for the first time in many
years the full-length picture of her
painted shortly before her mar
riage TO James Oglethorpe She
was even taller than Mary Zattiany
and in the portrait her waist was
round and disconcertingly small to
the modern therapeutic eye. But
the whole effect of the figure was
superb and = dashing, the poise OF
the head was almost defiant. and
the hands were long, slender, and
very white against the crimson sat.
in of her gown.
GT9 Be Continued( F