Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1931-09-10

IdHpy muir tiuD, oH her UPcllnfHB 10
become member pleading lack OF
time and press OF work (as well she
night made her an honorary mem
Der, resolved to have her influential
name on their club roster. somehow.
They were paying unconscious tribute
TO 0klahoma's first feminist. She still
ran the paper single handed, with the
aid of Jesse Hickey. the most expert
printer In the Southwest fwhen soberl.
and as good as the average when
drunk.
There still was very little actual
money in the territory. People
traded this for that. Sabra often
translated subscriptions to the Okla
homa Wlgwam-and even advertising
space-iDto terms Of fresh vegetables.
berries, wild turkeys. quail. prairie
chickens, dress lengths and shoes and
stockings for the children.
Sol Levy's store, grown to respect
able proportions now, provided Sabra
with countless necessities In return for
the advertisements which were sent
through the country via the Oklahoma
Wigwam. In quiet. dreamy way Sol
Levy had managed to buy surprIs-
ing amount OF Usage real estate by
now. He owned the lot on which his
store stood, the one Just south OF It.
and. among other pieces, the building
and lot which COMPRISED the site of the
WigWam and the Cravats' house. In
the year following Yanceys departure
Sabra's economic survival was made
possible only through the almost
shamefaced generosity OF this quiet,
sad-eyed man.
I've got 1t all down in my books"
sabra would say, proudly. You know
that 1t will all be paid back some day..
He began in the Oklahoma Wigwam
campaign of advertising out Of all
proportions to his needs, and Sabra's
debt to him begnn to shrink to the
vanishing point. She got into the
habit OF talking to him about her
business problems. and he advised her
shrewdly. When she was utterly dis
eouraged he would say. not tri-
umphantlv. but as one who states an
irrefntable and not particularly happy
fact.
Some day. Mrs Cravat. you and
will look back on this and we will
laugh-bnt not very loud"
How do you mean-langh.
oh will be very rich. and you
will be very famous. And Yancey--n
"Yanceyr The word was wrenched
from her like cry.
They will tell stories about yam
cey until he will grow into a legend.
He will be part of the history OF the
Southwest. They will remember him
and write about him when all these
mealy-faced governors are dead and
gone and forgotten. They will tell the
little children about him, and they
will dispute about him-he did this,
he did that; he was like this, he was
like that. You will see"
Sabra thought Of her own children,
who knew so little OF their father.
Donna. thin secretive child OF al
most seven now. with dark, straight
black hair and sallow skin like Yam
cey's: Gin. almost thirteen, moody,
charming, imaginative. Donna was
more like her grandmother Felice Ven
able than her own mother Gin re-
sembled Yancey so strongly In mood,
manner, and emotions as to have al
most no trace OF Sabra She won
dered, with nang, II she had failed
TO Impress herself on them because OF
her absorption in the town, In the
newspaper. in the resolve to succeed.
She got out photograph OF Yancey
that she had hidden away because to
see 1t was to feel stab Of pain, and
had II framed. and hung 1t on the
wall where the children could see II
daily.
Your father" Sabra would begin,
courageousy. resolved to make him
live again In the minds OF the chill
dren. Donna was not especially inter-
ested. Gin said. Il know It," and
capped her story with tale Of HIS
own In which Yancey's feat OF der
ring-do outrivaled any swashbuckling
escanade OF DArtagnan.
"Oh. but Gin, that's not true! You
mustn't believe stories like that about
your father"
1T Is true. Isaiah told me. | guess
he, ought to know" And then the
question she dreaded. when are
Isaiah and father coming back?'
She could answer, somehow, evasive-
ly, about Yancey. for her instinct con-
corning him was sure and strong. But
at the fate that had overtaken the
negro boy she covered. afraid even
to face the thought Of 1t. For the
thing that had happened to the black
boy was so dreadful, so remorseless
that when the truth of II came to
Sabra she felt all this little world OF
OF middle-class Middle West
convention that she had built up about
her turning to ashes under the sudden
faring f1re Of hidden savagery. She
tried never to think Of II, but some
times, At night. the hdeous thing took