Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-13
ANew Story, but
the Characters Are
as old as the Very
Hills Themselves.
Fannie Hurst
Writes ofPeople
You Know, and
This Fact Brings
Her Stories Closer
TO YourHeart.

HE sun lay blanching the hills to the
splendor Of perfect Spring and as far
as the eye could reach, from the little
swelling of the land where Helen
stood, slanting orchards, with young
trees eager to bear, reached to the horizon
Presently very presently, they would burst into
incredible blossom and q world crammed al
ready to its perfection with beauties OF one sort
or another would accomplish the Impossible
and become more beautiful
Al least that was the way Helen, 49, and
with the love Of o youth in her heart, felt as
she viewed it from the rear of her fathers fruit
farm. that was known as FarnhamS
with that kind of youth In her heart, and
added to it love, and one-hour -old betrothal,
it was natural that to Helen at 10, the quieter,
more adult world which contained her father,
Adam Farnham, and her mother, Cora, should
SEEM by comparison, husteriess.
you wondered when you were Is, and so in
love with life that the ground under your
feet seemed to CULVER. when it was only you
yourself uuivering from love Of it, just what
there was left for 20 and 45-Cora and Adam.
It mattered only to have been kissed, as she,
Helen, had Just been kissed by the youth named
Blair Beck who had just ridden over in his
brand-new f1ivver from his fathers farm, not
20 miles distant, with ring in his pocket
which now sparkled on her left hand Tney
with green shutters ON the Beck Farm, the
promised gift of the senior Beck to his son, and
the blessings of all four parents mad oeScenoeu
on the youngsters as the apple blossoms would
presently descend and whiten the scene Tor
miles around.
The only deterrent, it seemed to Helen, was
to have reached the peak Of life so soon. From
now on, what could there be but anti-climax
to the ecstasy of this; the ecstasy OF the be-
trothal kisses that still lay singing against her
30 kkA Hnck1
the dream of tomorrow that could not be quick
enough In coming.
"You are young and too eager Tor life, my
Lamb" her mother told her, trying to calm her
excitements "Let everything come in its turn.
There are compensations for every age"
How old the mother OF Helen seemed to her
when she said this. seated beside her lamp
in her perpetually gray gown, with her gray
hair drawn in low portieres over her ears, and
her hands so tranquil at their tasks of mendtng
or sewing frocks. How sapless. What was
there left for Cora? Father, Of course, but
they had had everything together. Adam was
as relaxed now as Cora was, and there were
deep braces ground in perpendicular lines on
the sides of his mouth, and they seldom kissed,
he and Cora, and it was nothing for him to
come in dog-tired Of an evening kick out OF
his boots and just lounge with his head some
times on Cora's lap, IL she sat at the head OF
the sofa And little to say Scarcely ever any
of the tender, lovely things to say, except
If Cora happened to be ailing. and then he
could be tender.
8
RUT who wanted tenderness only when one
was ailing? Who wanted tenderness from
a tired gray man in his stockinged feet; Who
in turn. and the private question to herself
shocked Helen, who wanted to bestow tender
ness upon a pale old lady with hair OF q gray
paIlor? Helen did, Of course. Helen wanted to
bestow tenderness upon both Cora and Adam,
because of the passionate love she felt for
them. The love Of daughter for parents. But
that was different. The question stil remained
high in her heart. How dared one face the
down side of life, after the ecstasy Of o present
like hers? Cora and Adam must have had
that youth, too. and now look! Oh. one mlst
live one must live In youth-to store up against
the bankruptcy of age!
They were married Helen and Blair, when
the ground was white with the apple blossoms,
and the day they returned from o four-month
honeymoon the last slap Of green and white
paint was on the cottage ON the Beck place and
four aged, tired, amiabIe and retrospective
parents were there to wish them endless bless
ings -
!. There were blessings.s Health, clildrm and