Evening star., 1927-11-10
THE EVENING STORY

used language vigorous and strong
yet ne knew that later, meekly, mild
ly. he would give in!
| MIR. Crawford reviewed the events
| of the last month while looking mourn
fnlly toward the back of his suburban
| lot. Until five months ago his life
! had been simple and uncomplicated,
The o'clock car had to be caught
the days work done. Then there were
left long hours to putter in his garden
amid his flowers and sweet peas.
And then. complicating things, G.
| Harmon had appeared. First. indeed
Mr.. Crawford had welcomed his com
! ing. 1t had been visible proof of his
own wisdom in buying and building
at the Maple Grove subdivision. 1t
meant that a development was taking
place. But-Mr. Crawford himself
could not understand it--soon he Sc
cretly found himself wishing Mr.. Ham
mon had never come. Secretly
openly he would not have dared to
state the fact. Mr.. Hammon. with his
bold semi-jovial ways, who knew and
talked freely about his friends. his
influential friends! MIR. Crawford
wished he knew some influential peo-
pie. He would have liked their advice
now. OF course, there was Alice, his
wife, But. then--Mr. Crawford men
tally squirmed-he hated to alarm
her. and
Things had come to climax
through the sweet-pea bed in the rear
of the lot Mr.. Harmon had scoffed-
friendly, bantering tone-about the
peas. 1t seemed he did not like them.
Dahlias, now--they were the flowers
for the rear of lot! James knew
the tone. He had heard it before when
he wanted to paint the garage white,
and Mr.. Hammon, quoting big men, S
estates, argued for yellow. The ga
rage was painted yellow. So. nervous
ly Mr.. Crawford agreed that there
were lots to be said for dahlias-lots.
Sure" Mr. Hammon's tone doomed
| out. "And, Crawford, I'll just tell you
of course, we would not fight over
| it-but peas are d nuisance
| near a line. a nuisance! They fall
over on the other fellows land-you
See?"
Mr.. Crawford nodded. The sweet
pea along the back. with its mass of
delicate blossoms, was his pride. Yet
he nodded-judiciously.
"You see?" A pause. II knew you
would Mr.. Harmon patted him
jovially. II knew you would! Now
I'd yank them up. A row Of dahlias
nowi Senator Norris-I lived next to
him"
Mr.. Crawford did not pay much at
tention to the story regarding Senator
Norris. He was sick! He had agreed
somehow-'twas not clear how it had
happened-to devastate his bed of
peas-to plant dahlias! How or why
he had done it he could not make
out. But he had.
Then 1t was to bolster up his self
respect, to prove what a man he was.
he had dropped the information re-
garding the line.
"My deed only calls" he had said
grandly, Ito here. But I've got" he
bed, ito here
Twas true. Buying when Maple
Grove was a mere field, it had so hap
pened-his land overran his deed.
Mr.. Harmon nodded. He still was
extolling dahlias-talking of friends of
his that raised them-gorgeous dah-
las.
Mr.. Crawford was a little peeved.
He wished that Mr.. Harmon had been
impressed. Somehow it would have
taken away a little from the sting of
his giving in regarding the sweet-pea
bed.
But now-he sat dejectedly on the
back porch-now, he cursed himself
for a fool.
The bomb had exploded.
1t had come about asweek later.
II guess" MIR. Harmon had strutted
over to the line one evening. Il guess.
Crawford, we had better fix up the
line between u.s." Prompously, Lines
can cause trouble and you and l don't
| want trouble"'
At first Mr.. Crawford had not un.