Evening star., 1923-03-25

| settled into accustomed lines OF re-
| straint.
TT had been a typical scene Only
L the subject had been unusual.
When Margaret married David Con-
nell, twenty-five years before, 1t had
been the nine days wonder of the
neighborhood OF New Salem. Mar
garet herself. feeling a strange new
stirring in the virginia. recesses OF
! her heart had wondered deeply:
! and David, awkward, shy. untutored
| farmer. already past his first youth.
| had wondered most of all
| The first month had been miracu-
lousy happy The self-complacent
primness Of Margarets schoolma'a am
| days disappeared IN a gentle gayety.
| just as her thin body. in the fresh air
and freedom Of her new life, took
! on soft, rounded curves. David was
beginning to open to her the depths
Of his timid. sensitive, adoring heart.
to reach cIumsiIy after something
finer than he had ever known, when
the first riffs came.
Trtfes. all. when viewed in the
| perspective OF a lifetime; a quick bit
| of temper from David; a crude
glimpse Of the rough man. life in
which he had lived before; a small
| Misunderstanding, to be laughed
away at the time and explained
later: an unexpected but perfectly
natural clash between natures whose
only points Of similarity were their
pride and their Independence; trifies, all.
But Margarets serious nature did
not laugh away even triffes. Her
Puritan upbringing by two maiden
stand David. Under the cold tudR-
ment OF her attitude her tenderness
lay hidden. An outburst Of temper.
especially IL accompanied by pro-
family. was to her a dark sin to be
neither forgiven nor forgotten
| lightly.
So she had met all that she dfsap-
proved OF or misunderstood in David
| with the only weapon which, cruelty
enough, he could neither meet nor
endure-silence
The first time Margaret had set her
lips in their straight line and gone her
way without speaking, David had been
frightened, then irritated, then eoaded
to greater anger. II she had given any
expression to her dispIeasure he would
have turned, eagerly repentant.
But this wall Of silence, this shutting
herself away from him in cold con-
demnation, this was the thing against
which he beat with more anger and
bitter protest, and, as time went on.
| xx,it i, "a,
| ed mon-inspired-only to find that
the wall had grown more and more
| impregnable.
Even when he longed to beg forgive
ness he did not know how-his hn-
guage had no woris-and Margaret, on
her lonely pinnacle of virtue as the
wronged one, would make no sign to
help him.
WITH the coming of the baby there
" had been a long truce Margaret
was wrapped in the tender mysteries
Of maternity; David was filed with a
proud awe and an overwhelming sense
that all would now be well. To him
had been sent an ally, an interpreter.
His mind pictured the years in which
he, not Margaret. would understand the
boys waywardness, his pranks, his
small sins He and the boy!
But the years had proved otherwise.
Little by little he had been forced to
see that the child was the son Of his
mother Not only had he inherited her
tall. welcomed body, but he had her
strong, even cast Of mind. A normal
boy physically, and yet fonder Of books
than OF play, with only a mild interest
in the outdoors which was David's life,
but with a passion for study that pos
sessed him almost from babyhood.
And that was the world which Mar
garet could share with him, in which
she could lead him, inspire him, and
from which David was shut out. AS
the years passed he felt increasingly
that he was a stranger to his own
household. and, subtly and surely, as
great changes often come. he became
"old Dave Connell' to the community
before he was fifty; stopped. wrinkled,
careless Of his appearance, more caus-
tic Of speech, a scoffer at all the tradi-
tions which Margaret, along with the
rest Of New Salem, held sacred, cover
|
a sarcastic querulousness.
BY the skill Of her dairying and her
gardening Margaret had become al
most economically Independent Of him
And it was well enough. The impelling
force that had made it easy once for
him to drive the plow and harvest the
grain on the stony hills was gone
When he knew at last that Abe would
never be farmer there had seemed
little reason for work. The old fields
looked tired Of 1t all, as he was. Sc
things had been running slack There
were no debts: but that was the best
that could be said.
1t was a matter Of finance that was
uppermost in Margarets mind now as
she entered the kitchen. Her lips re.
laxed as she glanced again at Abe's
letter. Enough joy In that to counter.
balance the scene she had DUST beer
through. She checked off on the cal.
endar the weeks until Commencement
There were just eight. She figured
carefully on the back of an envelope
From the butter and eggs she coulo
count on at least eight dollars a week
In eight weeks she should have almost
seventy dollars. From that twenty.
five dollars would have to be deducted
for carfare before she would be free
to spend any for clothes.
One thing she set her infiexible will
upon: If she went at all she would
60 in such a way that she would no,
be put to shame before the othel
mothers. She would look worthy OF
her son.
| When David came in to dinner