, 1923-05-20

AT Buffalo Int at Cleveland she
paused to come before huge audiences
and prattle her little piece. When
h reached Chicago she found await
ing her a long letter from the man
ager of the movins,-picture house in
Calveriy. He implored her to visit
her old home town and make an ap
pearance at his theater. He promised
that everybody would be there.
This was success indeed To ap-
pear in New York was triumph. but
to appear in her native village was
almost a divine vengeance.
She had resolved to leave her moth
err at Calverly. in any case. Mrs.
Steddon was wearying OF adventure
and her heart had endured too long
an absence from her husband and the
other children. The younger sister,
Gladys had lone her best to take her
mothers place but Mrs. Steddon's real
career was her family Int Mem know
h a h was aching to get back to It.
And SO one morning they crossed
the Mississippi again. AT Burlington
they must leave the train. wait two
hours. and then ride south to Cal
verify.
As Mem and her mother stepped
down from their car in Iowa, both
gasped and clutched.
The Reverend Doctor Steddon was
a few yards away from them. study
Ing the off-getting passengers.
Let's see IL he knows u.s." snick-
cred Mrs. Steddon, with u relapse to
girlishness.
"Lets!' said Mem.
They knew him instantly, of course.
He wore the same suit they had left
him in, and the only change they
could descry was a little more white
in a little less hair.
But he did not know them at all.
1t amused them to pass him by and
note his casua glance at the smart
hat and the polite travelling suit of
his wife. He had expected n change
in his daughter, but he was probably
braced for something loud and gaudy.
Mem looked really younger than when
she left him. She had then been a
premature old maid, dowdy and re-
pressed. Now. for all her g~irlishness,
she was a 1.-the siren. her eyes know
ing. her too expressive body carried
~learnedly in clothes that boosted of
what they hid. boasted subtly but all
the more effectively. In spite of the
emphatic modesty of her clothes, Mem
had lived so long among butterflies
and orchids and had striven SO desper-
ately for expression. that she did not
realize how emphatic she was.
So her father passed her by. When
Mrs. Steddon turned and hailed him
in a voice that was gladder and more
tender than she knew. he whirled
with his heart bounding.
Then he paused and stared. befud-
died. at the tailorsmade model running
toward him.
He knew all about the other world
and how to get there. but he was lost
in the cities of the earth. When his
wife rushed into the arms he had
flung open to her voice. he was al.
most afraid to close them about her.
He felt a bit like Joseph with the
captains wife clinging TO him.
When he stared across her trim
shoulders and took in the sumptuous
Delilah floating toward him with his
daughters countersign, "Poppai' he
was aghast at her beauty. She was
ungodly beautiful.
Long ago. when she had sung in
the choir. he had noted with alarm
an almost indecent fervor in her
hymning. Now she had learned to
release all the fragrances and allure
ments of her being like a Pandora's
box broken open.
And now he felt that he ought to
avert his gaze from her too lovely. too
luscious charm. He shut his eyes, in
stead and drew her into his bosom
with n long arm, and his wife with
the other. And they heard his hungry
beating heart groaning:
I thank Thee. o God Now lettest
Thou Thy servant depart in peace"
But neither the Lord nor His fam
ny granted that prayer. His two chill
dren chartered at once. Both seemed
| children to him. His wife had turned
time far back; she looked fairer than
he had ever known her; and her trav-
cling hat hid her gray.white hair. Poor
thingi She had never known till this
year the rapture of being fashionable;
how. to look her best
Hiding under his high chin, Mem
begged his forgiveness for all the
heartaches she had caused him. She
wept on his white bow tie, twisting a
button on his coat and pouring out
her regret for dragging his wife away
from him and causing them to quar-.
rel over her.
These tears. these gestures Of
pathos were ~endcaring her to the
nsuitltudes. who saw her half the
time through the radiant dimness of
their own tears. Poor Doctor Steo-