Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-07-29

had anticipated biliously that something
had gone"
The rugs come. Our new $4,000
oriental" It was difficult to determine
whether the daughters voice held sar-
casm.
"Oh What's it look like?" Not that
the father particularly cared to know.
Not till they had gone down in the
elevator, however, and were waiting on
the corner of Eighth and Broadway for
an Adams square trolley did the girl
report what it looked like. Pa" she
confided. Its the hottest thing that
ever came into our shack"
Holy" The father stared at his
child, Not since she had attained to
years of indiscretion had he heard such
a tone in Annabelle's voice. The girl
turned her face away.
You'll get 1t when you see it, was
all she explained.
where's your-how's your--mo-m-
mother?"
"Oh, never mind ma We all know
her and Clara is nuts"
They stood up in the trolley. crowded
with home-going workers-no further
chance for converse till Adams street
was reached. Up the hill they climbed
in the spicy Autumn dusk. Gideon
thought Of other nights when he had
climbed that hill on aching feet, vaguely
budgeting that fortune that aSsuredly
must be his some dag. planning-always
and forever planning how it would be
THE odor of liver and frying onions
met them as they enetered by the
porch. Joe was busy in the kitchen
Npo fnts tnY
but one meaning. The lad washed
and combed for supper, preparing the
evening meal himself The son nodded
toward the sitting room door
Go in ana see what we got" he
o:cerad.
[ econ WIZ.
II was large and barnlike. that sit
ting room: the reading table with the
lamp. the sewing machine, several rock
ers piled with women's stuff. as though
sc me one had been packing. The SCROLL
backed sofa of horsehair, with one
spring poking through The contents of
all that domicile would not have brought
$50 at an auction.
But these homely furnishings were
now against the walls. The room was
upset. II had sort of party effect
Dancing space Ma Bushnell was
across this cleared area in street clothes.
hat on, several valises visible through
the opened door to the barren hall.
Clara, similarly robed. stood in the door
TO the dining room Neither woman
took note of the father On the floor
was the rug. An expressman mad
brought it,
The rug!
Thick as a muzhik's ulster 1t was,
with the sheen of warm copper across
plant richness--rnaroons citrines, sui
phurs, verdines, miraculously woven in
one deep spread of Splendor. From the
other side of the earth. from a civiliza-
ton and culture faced with senility
when the Aryan was STRIPPING, 1t
brought the flavor of oriental NEGRO
nancy into that tawdry apartment, with
its hideously Powered walls and dun
colored fiooring-not unlike bejeweled
and purple-robed potentate forced to
give audience In cowshed
A tapestry from Cathay, a fabric more
potent in witchery than an evening
with Scheherazade, mat for manda-
rim or caliph; to be spread in a palace
cooled by willow-flower waters scented
with musk, frankincense and aloewood :
beautified by carved ebonies, lacquers,
couches Of alabaster. Its colors seemed
to throb, to ebb and flow. to tighten and
SoA ANh INCl1 DO hlASy cbdiCut Az CAQuCu
faint scent of spices
Heavens!" exclaimed Gideon
Something stirred in his breast. He
felt queer perturbation. unexplainable,
Observation-Disclosures call to perfection,
which is the essence of divinity.
He trod on the rug TO sense the depth
of its nap. And Clara Bushnell shrieked
1t made her father Jump. What's the
matter?" he stammered.
You're walking on it,
But it's made to be walked on. amt
it?"
mot with shoes such as those!"
For the first time Gideon looked al
his shoes. becoming aware that they
were ugly, unpolished--the boots Of
peasant on this fabric of fantasy.
Ma Bushnell found a seat. Ever
since the expressman had confronted
her when she had opened the front
door expecting taxi for herself and
Clara, she had been going first to one
corner and then another. picking mag
mary lint. getting the colors from all
points of the compass.
1T makes everything else We got
look cheapl" This from Annabelle,
standing beside her father Joe loomed