The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-02-12

TINE citizen who named that little
town Paris had never been in
- France. Paris it was when the
first double row Of shacks struggled
along the dusty high road, and Paris
it remained when the shacks had
given way to frame houses and brick
blocks.
When the Reynoldses moved out
from New Hampshire, Will Reynolds
said to his wife, "This place will
please you. Not q fancy exterior, but
a frivolous name"
And he pinched her cheeks, be-
cause he loved her. She was ~extrava-
CANT, silly, impractical, but he loved
her. He was not aware OF the incOn-
gruity Of her costume-the hustled
skirt, the tight silk bodice, the abb
surd little French hat. She minced at
his side, and all Of Paris turned to
stare. Never had the lanky, sunburn-
ed residents seen the like Of her.
Will purchased a small house in
Main street-nOt the Boulevard
H~aussmann. This was our own Paris,
built upon the rolling prairie be-
meath a white sky. And Reynolds
hung out a neat sign painted black
and bearing, in gold, the announce
ment that William Reynolds, M. DIS
office hours were from twelve to One
and from three to five.
The house was flush with the sidewalk,
but had q garden in the rear, where q
wilted tree gave a little shade and there
was a patch Of grass. Here, her ruffles
and bustles spread upon "A bench, her
slippered feet elevated, Mrs. Reynolds
dreamed she was in a French garden. She
was expecting, but her thoughts had a
habit OF dancing away from this fact.
She could imagine herself wealthy, cOurted,
triumphant, but she could not imagine
herself a prairie mother.
9TH is new country; Maisie," Will
Reynolds would say. Bound to be great
some day. It's dull for you, but 1 prefer
to grow with a new state, a new town.
Pioneers! I dare say, when this place is
civilized, III move on again. l don't like
finished things. There's something sad in
work that is done. Aren't you sorry you
Tarried me2"
This was in the seventies. Paris had no
sidewalks save in the center Of town,
where boards had been laid in haphazard
fashion before the bank, the hotel, and
the store. Two years later, Main street
was paved, and buggies from the country
ratified smartly on asphalt for three miles.
Will Reynolds fOrgave Maisie for not
being q good hOuSekeeDer. He was too
sympathetic and too tolerant to be a physi-
clan, to live at all, as a matter Of fact,
in a world OF pain. He argued to himself
that a woman can't wear ribbons and
bangles, and sweep and cook, can't have
soft hands and wash dishes.
Most of the homework he did himself
"NOw you run up to bed, Maisie. I'll finish
the dishes"
There we're no servants in Paris. A Mrs.
Kenyon, tiny, wrinkled, emotional, came
in once a week and scrubbed everything
except the doctors office. This room
cluttered and dusty, was always left to
the last, and when Mrs. Kenyon appeared
in the door, straining to lift a pail, gray
with fatigue, viii would say, Now, you
run along home, Mrs. Kenyon. III do the
office" But the office was never done. A
l litter of bottles ObScured the shelves. Maps
y Of the anatomy, pink and blue and terrify,
ing, adorned the walls. His desk wa:
placed in front of the window so that h,
p might face his patients, who were allOweC
; the comfort of a worn chair upholstered
+ in hOrsehair.
He was too busy to dream Of the chill,
: that was coming. Whenever he remembered
as he did in moments OF stress and worry
= it was like a warm flood Of feeling from
U his head to his toes. And the nearest b
ever came to Criticizing Maisie was to wis
that she might take the facts of life NOR
seriously. She seemed to skim over tn
surface of things. He wished that, now an,
= then, she would be afraid, that she wOul
cry in his arms, that she would show hin
by needing him, that she was aware @
the life in her keeping.
These were transient thoughts. He love
her. And he told himself that she wa
ImarVelOuSly pIucky.
@ Paris whispered that the new doctor
wife was expecting any day now. An
then, before any one knew anything abOU
IN it, Mrs. Reynolds was seen out for a driv
~ prettier than ever, wearing one of til
n new pointed capes with %ruffles, and carry
" ing her baby wrapped in a pink blanke
- 1t was just like her, people said, to b
secretive about something that is every
- bOdy's business.
It. Maisie named her daughter, Geraldin
or Geraldine lay in the pink blanket, maxim
er those puckery, fleeing grimaces, thO'
s. gum ~rubbings and buildings precious
OF mothers. But Maisie was not intereste,
ly She was afraid that Will might have lOi
his romantic love for her, so she presse
her shoulder against his, smiled up jnt
= his face, Gimpled and blushed for him, an
= let him see her profile. She knew that /
adOred her nose.
nc Geraldine beat her hands and blinked
- the white, clOudless sky and, making
Onesided effort, yawned.
&C. -
WI