Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-28


has his Summer residence.
never interrupt him when he discourses upon
this theme and SO, remaining silent to the end,
listened to a narrative that added not In
considerably to my inward profit.
Summer resort of cottages (Mr Massey
said) is like village, only more so, because
you'd have to imagine village where, in the
first place, nobodys doing any business or
going downtown to the office ever leaving
the women folks to themselves practically.
Just that alone would make a mighty peculiar
village you see, but you also have to allow for
the fact that three -fourths of the time all the
villagers are scattered and leading lives
known to their fellow villagers. What's more,
they don't all come back, but entirely new
mysterious families are found living in some
Of the houses.
You can see right away how natural it is
for everybody to be kind of looking everybody
else practically all the time which is a
thing that pretty often leads to a good DEAL
It's a little like the way Mrs. Massey is when
she and are on train every now and then
after I've been to the smoker, she'll say some
thing like this to me, likely: "She's his wife,
not his granddaughter; he was an old bachelor
from Fall River, Mass, and the reason We
thought he was acting so peculiarly is that
they've just got married" Or else maybe she'll
say "It is her own hair, after ALL" or else
maybe, THE fat mans had too much to drink
again"
ganSville, Ill, Is q place where the inhabitants
pretty much all feel the best good will in the
world toward one another and where they all
work together for the good Of the community;
but, my soul! Just suppose that the whole
population Of Logansville went down to the
Court House Square and sat on the grass there
in little groups and cliques all looking side
ways and buZZ-buzzing about each other for
two hours every single day for three months,
how long do you think there'd be any Logans-
vile at all? Yet that's exactly what we all do
over at the neck, only it's the beach where we
sit and buzz-buzz instead of the Court House
Square. It's wonder the place hasn't blown
up long ago. ..i
\A/EI. If I make myself clear, you can un-
w derstand something of what would hap
pen at the neck before a new family'd have its
status settled-n it ever did. Take the people
that rented the Ballinger cottage, next door to
us, one Summer, for instance. There was
youngish, middle-aged couple and a funny look
ing, pale old man, terribly thin, who spent his
whole time picking worms and bugs of of the
trees and bushes and out Of the grass Mrs.
Dalrymple, who lives in the cottage on the
other side said she watched him out of her
window until o'clock one night and saw him
making snatching motions among the shrub
berries. Hot! Got you that time darling!"
she heard him say, and she spread 1t all over
Marys Neck that he was a maniac
Everybody SAID something oughC 70 be done
about it, and Mrs. Dalrymple wanted me to go
in and tell the middle-aged couple, his atten-
dants they had to keep the old man confined
to the house because she was afraid he might
take notion to injure the Dalrymple chjIasen.
went to the trouble of finding out that the
old man was Prof Albert Thompson, chief
chronological expert Of the Carson Institute,
and the middle-aged couple were his niece and
her husband who kept house for him, but
couldn't really make much Roadway against
Mrs. Dalrymple's theory because she'd got it
too well established and she's still telling people
what terrible time she had the Summer when
there was dangerous lunatic in the Ballinger
cottage next door,
But all this doesn't amount to any more than
Just feeble pale shadow, as you r.sght call it,