Evening star., 1923-11-18
Fortune Is Long Delayed When
a Young Couple Seek Success
Among the Prospectors for Oil.


~ of those gray days that come
u as often in March as In NO
vember. And there was, besides the
mud red mud, the mud of the oil coun-
try. 1t had been raining for a week
now, and the roads were almost impas-
sable. Close to the house the earth was
red. In the middle distance 1t was
brown. On the horizon it changed
somehow to gray. The sky was gray
Life was gray. Althea was doing the
breakfast dishes.
Jimmy-she wished somehow she
hadn't learned to call him Jimmy
Jimmy had somehow seemed so nice
and familiar a name when she mao
known him only a few weeks. But
now that she had been married five
years, she wished she had learned to
call him Jim. The name Jim mad
more dignity, more character. more
force. Jimmy was playing with Alice
and Bobby in the next room Alice
was two and Bobby four. And Jimmy
might be-well, siX-instead of a
grown man, somebody you could de-
pend on.
Althea stole look at her husband
and her two children through the
open door of the kitchen.
Jimmy was actually sitting cross
legged on the floor between them
building with their blocks. He was
building tower, the tallest tower
that would stand. Alice and Bobby
watched breathlessly while the tower
trembled. 1t recovered itself 1t
stood. Jimmy selected another wooden
cube and delicately set it in place on
top Of the others. The tower trem-
bled, swayed. fell. Some of the
blocks shot half way across the room.
And all three Of them laughed aloud
as If something quite splendid had
happened.
Althea turned back to her dishpan.
1t was nice-his liking the children.
But he was only a child himself; that
was why he did. He would never
really do anything. They would al
ways live in this house, on this farm,
at the edge Of town. And what a
town! Lodi! Why there wasn't per-
son. not even Old Man Tolland, who
had started it, whose one ambition
wasn't to get away from it, to go
somewhere else But she would
never get anywhere else. Jimmy was
too slow, too cautious.
Althea had believed in him VIII
she married him. He had inherited
some money ..-om his father and the
real estate Off, Q and this farm. 1t
had seemed great start-Jimmy had
been quietly boastf,;i about what he
was going to do WIN such a start.
He was going to make money in
land.
Why he had said. in FIVE years
I'll be worth 100000. Maybe forty
thousand. Well move to Kansas City.
We might've might even go to
Chicago.
why not? Althea had cried.
Anything can happen In the oil
country" Jimmy had said slowly.
"Of course" he had added cautiously.
''it will take time. 1t will take Ave
years"
Althea had laughed at that. What
was FIVE years to her-when she had
Jimmyi 1t had been five years now.
And they were just where they were
was older. She was twenty-ei ight
now. Her youth was slipping away
from her-her chance.
4 LTHEA wiped the dishes mechan-
"A ically. and a fancy began to
grow In her mind, a day dream. She
fancied herself rescued from this ex
lie in the oil country, rescued by a
dashing stranger. She smiled de-
fensively when the phrase "dashing
stranger came into her mind. She
would not have said it to any one in
the world. But she would think of
it. She couldn't help thinking it.
And she began to picture the kind of
man he would be: masterful man,
a man to whom you couldn't say no;
a man who got what he wanted and
gave you what you wanted.
She heard the telephone bell faint
ly, as II 1t were far off, instead Of
only In the next room. It rang one
long and two short-their ring. But
Jimmy would answer 1t. He was an
swering 1t. She heard his soft,
drawling speech.
The man who would rescue her
would speak quickly, decisively. as
if he expected to be obeyed. Althea
listened to Jimmy's speech as he
talked into the telephone without
being conscious of the words the
spoke. How could any one think
twice about a man who. talked like
that-as if he didn't care whether he
had his own way or not? He always
thought he was going to put over a
deal. But he never did--unless it
was a little one. Lately there had
been a whisper that they had struck
oil over toward Clinton, on the edge
of the county. Jimmy had talked
about It for week. He had even
gone over to Clinton to look around
But he hadn't done anything about it.
Other men would go in there and
make money.
Jimmy put up the receiver and
came out into the kitchen. He took
down his coat and hat so quickly that
Althea regarded him with a faint
surprise. 1t was not like him. to
move SO quickly.
well, Allie" he said, guess I'll
have to crank up the fivver. Got to
go over to Sharon"
Sharon was the county seat: 1t
was ordinarily an hours drive. but
in this mud it might take half day.
1t might be impossible to get there
at all.
"Why don't you ride the mare?"
Althea asked.
Jimmy had bought the mare; for
$500 when she was a two-year-old.
She was of Morgan blood. Jimmy said,
il. defense of his astounding extrava-
rance The mare was his pet: he