Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-04-03
NOT
A DRAB
STORY
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By Fannie Hurst
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GO by Mcclure Newspaper syndicate1

NNJ ny AdCOiuTo NeWSpdpoE oJhuichtesI
THIS may seem a drab story.
Certainly 1t Is not a gilded
romance Of life lived In the
gayer moods Of things-as-they
ought-to-be. But since the heart Is
the source from which life drains Its
happiness and the heart of Ella was
in its own way to find its own fulfill
ment, what may seem drab to the out
slider was not that to this slim, some
times grim girl.
There is no doubt that she was one
Of those persons born to carry more
than her share Of the worlds responsi.
bility. At seventeen, she was earning
half the upkeep and expense Of her
home which consisted of a five-rOom
fiat in a two-family house on a pre-
sentable street. This she shared with
her mother, a gay, rather childish wO-
man who had never caught up with
building contractor. who was, even
then, beginning to lose his sight.
From the point of view of many of
her friends, Elias mother was trial
sufficient to tax her endurance beyond
limit. She was an airy person Of
rather good Eastern family connec-
lions who had never become recon-
ciled to what she regarded as the
cruder aspects Of Middle-West life.
The city in which she lived bored her.
There was an air Of patronage about
the little lady.
Her habit was to lie abed mornings,
leaving her daughter and husband,
both of whom she adored. to scuttle
about the kitchen for breakfast before
they hurried away to work. More than
often she waited for them to prepare
the evening meal when they came
from their work. She was the sort
of woman who willfully creates within
herself inefiiciency. thereby at the
same time forcing those about her to
acquire skill at chores which would
naturally be outside their realm.
There was no reason why Ella and
her father should have been carrying
on their business lives and at the
same time carrying on their shoulders
the responsibilities of the home. But
that was the case. 1t had been, ever
since Mrs. Lee was married to her
husband and ever since Ella was tall
enough to stand shoulder-high to Q
kitchen sink
John Lee, long ago reconciled to this
unequal balance Of power in his home,
and devoted in spite Of himself to this
airy little woman, his wife, carried on
stodgily, relentless in his routine, even
when the grim fear of impending
blindness began to descend upon him.
At seventeen, Ella Lee, too old for
her years. was assistant in dentists
office. She was quiet girl, far too
slender, with a mouse-like face, taupe-
cOlored hair which in a bobbed-hair
age she wore In two mats against her
ears. In Mrs. Lees eyes, Ella, in her
thin, pallid way, bore the imprints Of
the aristOcracy Of the world back
East" a semi-mythical world by now,
which Mrs Lees Imagination had en-
broi,iered as the years marched on.
She was fond Of yisualizing grandeurs
of her girlhOod back East that had
never existed. In all sincerity, she
cherished the belief that she had made
the supreme social sacrifice in marry
ing John Lee and migrating to this
MiddleWestern city.
Meanwhile, endowed with the some
times surprising vitality Of the slender
In body, Ella began to assume more
and more the affairs of that house
hold Inevitably, there came the day
when her father, blind, parsimoniously
pensiOned by the corporation that had
employed him for the forty middle
years of his life, was obliged to sur
render his activities. 1t meant
severe kind Of pinching for the house
hold. Only the facts that Ella, through
stroke of incredible good fortune.
obtained a better-paying position In
the office of a nose and-throat special
ist, and that newspaper advertise
ment had brought in a ledger for the
best room in the fiat. were the Lees
able to make both ends meet.
1t was hard rutty shedding for q
while, and it looked as IL Elias frall
shoulders could scarcely bear the load.
First. her father, along with the COZ
lapse of his eyesight, suffered
nervous breakdown. Then, for one
reason or another, the lodger they had
been able to obtain left almost with
out warning for reasons that had no
bearing upon satisfaction or dIssatIs-
faction at the Lees.
Mrs. Lee, Intellectual as ever, tried
to put her shoulder to the wheel tried
her hand at making fancy candles for
the Womans Exchange and even at.
tempted to do n bit Of sewing for the
neighbors. But It was no use; she
was a futile, spoiled woman. And
much OF this condition was due TO
Ella herself She babied her mother,
catered to her lneiliciencles and will.
ingly assumed load that might have
Her father. feeble in strength
nervOusly gone In resistance. and
tormented by the first years OF learn
ing his lesson Of reconciliation to
blindness. came slowly and uncOnscl
Ously to demand more and more Of
Ella. The fact that she was carrying
load that not orly obscured her
youth but jeopnrdlzed her health,
failed to make lts impression on him.
He only knew ilai he loved her and
needed hes; i'Hl she was indIs