Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-09-23
published BY special Arrangement with T.
Chicago Tribune 6yndicste)
IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO
THE o so FAR

THE STORY so FAR
Mary McAlpin, q New York dressmaker.
supports two children, Maise, a daughter
OF, nineteen, and Neil. who is yet in high
companies a woman to Florida as compan-
ion. While she is gone Nell becomes III OF
Sutherland Of Fifth avenue, who has a very
large practice and is a wealthy man. The
ida. She declares her intention to vamp
the doctor. DR.. Sutherland. has sent Mrs;
However, she sees that Maisle is intent upon
having the doctor herself and Mrs. McAlpin
can not bear to have her daughter as a
rival. When the doctor appears the roses
are not in evidence.
Finally she rose and, grave, colorless,
clad in her most incorporating black
gown, went in to greet DR.. Sutherland
She had not yet conquered the storm
raging within her, but she had had nc
doubt from the beginning as to what she
should do. The ~hideousness Of rivalry
with her own daughter could not be con-
templated for a moment, and she knew
only too we'll that MaisIe was not one
to relinquish what she wanted without a
struggle. Mary was withdrawing proudly
from an untenable position, but she
could not yet achieve the gladness will
which. in her code, Maisie's mother
should nave Withdrawn.
DR.. Sutherland lar viewed her entrance
with an indignant start.
ut was very sweet Of you to acquiesce
SO gracefully in my suggestions" he re-
marked grimly to her in the dining room,
where he had followed her. II infer that
my humble roses did not find favor in
your eyes"
ut was very kind of you to send them,'
Mary returned evenly. But, Of course,
l could not wear them. l am too old for
blue waists and red roses, DR.. Suther-
land"
Its easy to believe that tonight" the
doctor struck home with brutality. But
there have been days when you've"
He o a step towards her as he had the
night before in the hall.
She made no move to evade him, but
her quietness. the remoteness he had
challenged, checked him more effectually
han any cutlery could have done.
you're an extraordinary woman" he
old her, glowering down at her with
evident discontinue. "A queer anach-
ronism In the twentieth century. But
all right, all right. Stay in your damned
little Victorian corner If you want to,
knitting by the fire with a cap on your
head before you're forty. You'll regret
1t when it's too late"
She was still standing motionless where
he had left her when he reappeared in
the doorway. He began again, still curt.
still explosive, but with a kinder, more
expostulatory note in his voice.
Don't you know, Mrs. Sprinx, you're
a half century behind the times-acting
like this? Nobody believes any more in
this sacrifice business. That altar you're
w%orshiping was abandoned decades ago.
Where've you ever gotten wearing your
self out for those children of yours-and
for your husband before them, probably
and your father and mother before
him, I'll bet my hat. Catch up with The
twentieth century and get something out
Of life for yourself"
II couldn't get any pleasure out of
any thing" she replied, more to these
new, tormenting desires than to her COM
panion, IF 1t hurt my children"
would it hurt them" he demonded
practically, IF you wore a blue waist
and my roses-and tried to cheer up q
lonely old codger who hasn't any fireside
of his OWN"
1t was very hard to resist that unex-
pected appeal-in the face, too. of what
he had done for her boy. But she stood
firm.
"Maisie can cheer you up much better
han T. h returned coldly. Il am too
busy, i am afraid"
Maisie, 1t was fully evident from the
first evening, was more than willing to
assume that task. 1t was even harder
than Mary had expected to remain in
her corner as she watched her daughter
descend gaily to the doctors Limousine
Christmas afternoon en- route to the
matinee.
Once Mary would nave welcomed the
quiet afternoon before her as a rare
chance to attack unfinished odds and
ends, or a still rarer chance to read and
to reflect. To-day found her too restless
even for work, her lifetime ally. She
flung on her hat and coat in despera-
ton and set forth to wrest peace If she
might from the outdoor world, bleak as
1t was.
All the Christmas cheer was bottled
securely behind holly-hung windows; not
a hint of it in the lowering sky, the IN
kind wind. She was glad it was unkind;
it suited her mood. The gay, reckless,
cynical, pleasure mad twentieth century
which she had thought barred out Of her
quiet life, had her out of it's corner at
last ,tormenting her with a sense Of frus-
t~ration. mocking those obsolete slogans
of Duty and Self-Sacrifce to which she
had paid such honorable allegiance
shouting into her Mortified ears its tri-
umphant battle cry of in~dividualism and
of her right to live. Her one chance
against Maisie's many, she kept saying
to herself. She had lone wrong not tc
SCiLC IL, olit 6llOuld Lave CAH1dlllCo W
Maisie that very first minute. 1t was
not yet too late. There had been a toe
ostentatious indifference behind the doc
tors smile today; she was not yet 9
| cipher in his life. She could strike agair
that spark which had famed for one mo-
mentous instant in the hall. Maisie was
not wholly without her fine moments
she could be trusted to understand, Mary
commended vehemently against her sicl
gertrude that Maisie could not.
The children had all their lives before
them; she had never yet begun to live
What did n gain by sacrifice on sacri'
fee on sacrifice? Surely she herself wa
a warning OF the futility Of struggle an
abnegation. What had she to show TO-
1t all? Only vain withered offerings Oh
an altar abandoned and forgotten.
Yet If she were to turn away from it
she had a sudden sick vision of herself
like Maisie, clutching, fighting for hap
piness at any cost; of a world Of men ant
women trampling each other down, eacl
for himself. No, no, they might deridI
her altar as they would-surely 1t wa
better than that. Maisie's generation
might refuse to light its sacred fires; he
own generation might foreswear them
but for those few who still believed Their
RnUI nEn NnT SpnlnEE