, 1923-01-11
The Whittakers
Invade Society
BY A
%. 1928. by Meclur. Newspaper Syndicate,

60. 1928. by Mcclure Newspaper syndicate)
The snow, that had piled up in soft.
white heaps on the doorstep, blew In
with a mighty rush of cold wind
powdered the thin, drab carpet in the
hallway when Pa Whitaker opened
the door to admit a tiny scared little
ball of white fur.
"Phew Purity bad night, ma" he
calculated, shutting the door hurried
ly on the piercing night air and peer
ing mildly over his glasses at the
plump, brown-eyed, silvery-haired
woman addressed as ma. Ma, how
ever, showing little interest In the
severe weather, packed away her knit
ting and regarded the clock with
studied boredom.
"An' I'm mighty glad" pa contin-
ued, sitting down contentedly before
the cracking, blazing fire, that we
amt out"
Ma Whitaker sat forward in her
chair and regarded the comfortable
picture of pa and the fire without en-
thuslasm.
Don't worry, Pa Whitaker" II
said scathingly, we're never out. ii
the weather was as mild as midsum-
mer we'd be in-just the same. We're
always in !"
Pa rustled his newspaper to denote
annoyance. Ma knew perfectly well
what that rustling meant, but she did
not swerve from her purpose. She
had had this subject on her mind for
some time and now that an opening
had been made for discussion she was
quite ready.
Now, there's the grange, pa" she
continued, a little less vigorously, in
an attempt to interest rather than
~reproach, barn dances. huskin' bees
and oh, any amount of amusements
Still, we-stick here"
With a strong show of exaspera-
ton pa crumpled the paper and final
ly turned to peer accusingly over the
silver rim of his glasses. He was a
poor listener, and now another lee
ture was to be thrust upon him.
"All right, ma, mebbe so. Well
start tomorrow night and from then
on well be an important factor in
Craysville society,"" and pa returned
to his paper. snickering in apprecia-
ton of his bright remark and salts
fed to submit at me to mas idea
n evade the usual arguing and
suffering that always ended in de-
feat-for pa.
Ma was surprised and delighted to
the extent that she forgot to regret
the fact that pas immediate surren-
der made 1t impossible for her to sub
nit her side of the expected debate,
which would nave passed another
hour of the long, bleak evening.
And so every night the Whittakers
hastened into Sunday apparel in
eager anticipation. 1t was some ten
or twelve nights later that the atti-
tude of the Whittakers. in regard to
"goin' out" became vastly different.
1t was pa that dressed hurriedly-
with a satisfied half smile that turned
up the corners of his mouth. and a
vague, contented look in his eyes. 1t
was ma that groaned YEARLY in prep
aration and hat let her longing
glance stray towards the brilliant
flame in the fireplace, while she
crushed on the little round hat with
the velvet pansies with reluctant,
pudgy hands.
Tonlght-the big dance at Peter
kins. The fifth In two weeks-and pa
was in a hurry to get there. In a
hurry his ready humor and evident
sociabillty had made him an unques-
tionably popular participant in all of
Craysville's affairs. And then, too,
pa contained an adequate amount of
that sprightly %concoction called pep"
No dance, modern or otherwise,
held any terrors for him. Strong.
wiry, eager and boastful-a foxtrot
to the tune of Lonesome Mamma
Blues or n good old-fashioned barn
dance to Turkey in the Straw"-all
delighted. In short. ms young Tim
Willis put it-Pa Whitaker was
there"
And maxwell. ma was plump and
puffy. and did not to any degree at
tain the popularity that pa boosted.
Perhaps, because she had neglected
them so long. the ''sassiety' of Crays-
Vile, as pa called II, seemed to have
formed a strong and w~ell-guarded
circle, and ma. It appeared. was to
stay on the outside of that circle
with only al occasional peek over the
top to satisfy her social tendencies.
And then. unlike pa, Ma Whitaker
could not dance her way into the
hearts Of the t~ownspeople. Even once
down the long Peterkin barn, In the
aI-.- " -.