The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-11-16
The Writing
Lady

By ELLA SAUNDERS
t@. isia. western Newspaper Union,

te. iszs. western Newspaper union.)
UMIss MARTIN. we're powerful
AsA glad to see you here again. .
said kindly Mrs. Pringie.
Doris Martin descended at the door
OF the farm house happily. She was
always happy to get back to queer,
simple, isolated Pleasant Valley,
among these delightful, primitive peo-
( pie.
Doris Martin was an author, and
quite famous one. 1.-THE writing
lady" they called her In the little set
uement. She had spent the summer
before In the valley and had embodied
her experiences In. novel that had
run into fifty thousand.
Queer. lovable people she had made
them. There was old Silas Grigg, the
deacon. an inimitable character who
had really been the success Of the
book. There were half the young men
and young women Of the valley. And
above all there was Mrs. Pringle.
Elizabeth Pringle, the kindly, mid
die-aged woman who was now welcom-
Ing her 80 Hospitality. so ignorant of
the fact that she, with the deacon,
formed one Of the central characters
Of the novel. Everything that was
Elizabeth Pringle had gone into Doris
book. her queer ways, her homely
speech. her simplicity.
Yes, Mrs. Pringle had been a find In
deed. There were few Mrs. Pringles
anywhere but In Pleasant Valley.
For a few moments, as Doris en-
tered the pleasant, homely little sitting
room. as they called 1t locally, her
heart misgave her. She felt that she
had been guilty of n sort of treachery
10 her kind hostess to embody her In
the novel-no, not to embody her, but
to make gentle ridicule of her In the
way she had done.
Still, IL was for the sake of art That
fact consoled her. 1t was legitimate
to use all material that came ones
way. q
And then Ii was not as IL Mrs.
Pringle would ever know. Books never
came into Pleasant Valley-at least,
Doris Martin had never seen any, ex-
cept the Bible and hymn books If
Mrs. Pringle did ever learn-Doris
shuddered TO think how she would feel.
+. Very badly, undoubtedly. But there
was no chance Of that.
Urs. Pringle was kinder than ever
and treated her more respectfully
than ever. And II was really quite
like scene out of her own book when
Deacon Grigg came in after supper
and sat with them In the little low
cefiinged room, talking of the crops
and the flocks, and detailing the local
news.
And then the real secret came out.
Eyes, Marin, Mrs. Pringle and me aims
to git married next month after the
corn's been stacked. We've been kind
Of courting"-he glanced shyly at Mrs.
Pringle-"off and on these three years
past and we allow we're old enough
to know our own minds"
II congratulate you very sincerely"
said Doris; and she thought she sim
ply must get this scene into her next
novel
Deacon Grigg's next words left
Doris cold and quivering.
1--WE was reading that there book
you wrote, Miss, Happy Valley" he
said. "Mrs. Pringle and Inc used to set
here a-readlng 1t over the stove night
after night last winter. And laugh
say, we laughed fit to split ourselves.
seeing all the queer characters you got
into it--old Hank, the liveryman,, and
Miss Jane, the school teacher. And
we had to let 'em all read it after we
got through"
Doris sat like stone, overcome with
horror. She had never dreamed that
these people would discover her novel.
Its good and true, Miss" said Dea-
con Grigg, "and / guess you amt got
such long way to go now before you
git to the top Of the tree In this here
writing business. Lord, how we
laughed when you brought In them
funny sayings of mine and Mrs. Prin-
gle here. That's what calls real
book. Miss Martin, book that makes
folks feel and think and reckernize
themselves, not this sort Of trash that
SO many authors writes"
Mrs. Pringle nodded and whispered,
and the Deacon changed the subject
A little later Doris rose to go to bed.
But she sat In her room long time,
half-stunned still to think that they
had read her book, and had taken It
all SO kindly.
MY next novel of Pleasant Valley
will be real one" Doris said.
For she felt that ut last she had |
come to understand the valley as she
had not done before.