Evening star., 1928-12-30

bI16y CUdLO utdlAys WAlCh OOANH
came in. OF course, the twins be
ing only 8, 1t would be some
= time before they could marry anybody
and 1 suppose lots of people would think
it was Just silly of me even to give the
matter a thought.
But there's no harm in thinking anC
I wasn't worrying at all, because real
lied that lot of things might happen
before they were grown up. If this were
the kind of country, though, where par
ents betroth their children in infancy
would certainly be one worried
mother.
1 might manage all right for Jill
but / can't think of baby in Mont
rose that I'd want Jack to marry
Little Dulcie. next door, is very pretty
and blonde. which would be nice, Jack
being dark; but the way Dulcie is
bringing her up lets her out as wife
for Jack. Little Dulcie is spoiled at 16
months and what she'll be at Is years
shudder to contemplate.
Goodness knows, Rosie Merton's
babies aren't spoiled-as Rosie says,
you don't cross-stitch any monograms
on the fourth set-but don't think any
one of her three little girls would quite
do. Betty is too old for Jack and the
two little ones look like Howard.
Corinnes Marcia is very attractive
child, but she's croupy, and I want
Jack to have healthy wife. Ruth's
baby is healthy enough, and rather nice
looking and amazingly well behaved,
but, as Rosie and I have often said, we
sometimes suspect that the only rea-
son she is so good is because she's too
dumb to get into mischief.
OF course, some Of the Harvester
bunch have girl babies, but I'd hate to
To y{nn iy1fN
In fact, the more thought about 1t
the more realized that there wasn't a
girl in all Montrose who was really
suitable.
Naturally, I didn't mention what I
had been thinking about to Dulcie, who
had run in to see If had good recipe
for sour cream cake. It wouldn't have
been very tactful on account of little
Dulcie and / wouldn't have, anyway,
because ever since We made such an
awful bone of trying to marry OF Madge
Edwards, we've all been little ofhsh
on the whole subject of matchmaking.
This morning, however, Dulcie
brought it up herself.
well" she observed, chattily, II see
Louise Curley's got another beau"
"Who?" I exclaimed.
'Mr Pawling"
"Mr. Pawling!" echoed, amazed
'Why, he's old enough to be her
father!'
"Oh, no." said Dulcie, ''he's only A.
And she's 26. Lots of married couples
have that much difference in their
ages"
But he's bald" protested, "And he
gargleS, night and morning. His sister
told me So"
Dulcie shrugged her shoulders.
nn,,st caa xaax,coif rr1y{r40 Y,oaYa
who gargles," she admitted. "Still,
there's no accounting for tastes. Prob
ably Louise figures she'd rather be an
old mans darling than a young mans
slave"
We polished for a few moments in
silence. Then:
"And there aren't so very many young
men left who aren't married, already"
I said.
which, of course, hit the nail right on
the head. We haven't got much of
bachelor class in Montrcse. And all Of
Louise's girl friends were married, with
a baby or two apiece. suppose, to put
it crudely, Louise had reached the point
where she'd rather have Mr.. Pawling
than nobody.
well, maybe Mrs. Curley'n think Mr.
Pawlding is good enough for Louise"
said Dulcie Hes settled right in
MontroSe and his store is doing well"
X X X \
nULCIE was thinking of Denis O'Shea.
~ Louise is awfully sweet and pretty
and had had plenty of beaus, but Denis
was the one that everybody had
thought she would marry. Plenty Of
other girls in Montrose would have
been glad enough to marry Denis, but
Louise was the only girl he ever rushed
hard.
He was the handsomest Irishman you
ever laid eyes on, with crisp, black,
curly hair and blue eyes and flashing
white teeth. The only thing in the
world I ever heard against him was that
he wouldn't settle down in Montrose
He was studying to be a geologiSt and
he said that he wanted to see the world.
That was enough for Mrs. Curley.
She was widow and Louise was her
only child and the idea of Louise get
ting married and leaving her to go on
to some far end of the earth set her
wild She was against Denis from the
start and she finally managed the
breaking up of the affair
Louise never told anybody much
about it. All she ever said was to Bee
Duncan, her best friend She told Bee
that she couldn't break her mothers
heart. So, after having gone with
Louise for four years, Denis went away
alone. We heard that he'd got Won
derful job In Brazil.
That was five years ago. Louise had
had few other beaus since but nothing
had come of any Of them. Nobody
ever knew what was the trouble; there
was never a quarrel or anything you
could put your finger on; they all con.
tinued to say Louise was fine girl
long after they had made fadeout anc
married somebody else. It had been
a year or more now since anybody hao
been going with her at all.
do you know" said Dulcie."
think the trouble with Louise's beau!
Is her mother"
"Oh, don't know" I protested. :"
never heard of Mrs. Curley's objectinl
to any of them, except Denis"
That's all very WE'LL" said Dulcie
But Denis is the only one of then
who wouldn't have had to marry Lou
iSe's mother right along with Louise.
Which I admit seemed reasonable
Mrs. Curley expected, as matter o
course, to go right on living with Louis
in case Louise should get married. And
when it came right down to 1t, an
man who was courting Louise had +
come pretty close to counting he
mother, too. This was on account o
Mrs. Curley'S being chum to he
daughter.
She was always telling us how sh
was just Louise'S chum; that they wer
really more like sisters.
"I was only 18 when she was born,
Mrs. Curley was always saying. ID
Horne used to say to me, Why, Mary
you're only girl yourself, and her
you are with a little girl of your owr
You and this baby will be Just pai
of sistersp"
Mr. Curley died when Louise was
baby, leaving Mrs. Curley with none
enough so she didn't have to worry, an
she had devoted her life ever since
being a sister to Louise.
I remember how it was when "
were all little Mrs. Curley alway
walked to school with Louise and cam
after her, even after the rest of II