The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1932-02-19


myself If 1 don't have to feel that I
had my fling partly at your expense.
That isn't the view of it I'd want you
to take, though. I'd want you to do
it for yourself, not for me. think
I can see how you feel about your
school friends. But IL you finch
little at the thought of going back to
them, isn't now the best time to get
over it? You don't want to be cut
off from them permanently. After all,
they're your neighbors and for the
most part they'll probably continue to
be. And then, to look at 1t practical
ly, If you want to be business wom-
an and have a job you ought to go to
college. There's one in Boston that
makes a speciality Of training girls to
be secretaries. The first step toward
that would be to graduate from Miss
Arthur's. You're pretty young to be-
gin answering advertisements looking
for job"
She gave her father hug. 1"All
right, dad" she said. "I'll go back.
Only, do have to do it all for my
self? Do you mind if do just
little for your"
II don't mind" he told her with a
laugh. "Im not as sensitive about
sacrifices as used to be-"
She kissed him. you're peach,
dad" she said. Il didn't use to know
that you were like this"
Il didn't, either" he told her. do
you remember the day we rode out
from town in the taxicab after the
matinee? Your birthday, it was. You
told me there must be things besides
mistakes that person could make If
he got the chance, like the man in the
play who never knew he was clever
and adventurous till after he had that
dream. Well, my dream had many Of
the qualities of a first-class night
mare, but I'm glad 1 had it, just the
the same"
Going back to school was more of
an ordeal than she had anticipated. A
new sport suit which she had bought
out Of the savings Of her salary was,
she felt, all that held her together the
first day. It wasn't that she was not
made cordially welcome. Indeed, the
effusiveness of it struck her as over
done; the glad outcries at sight Of
her, the hugs, the helpfulness-show-
ing her where things were that were
just where they'd always been, finding
her place in textbooks, sharpening her
pencils AS If she'd just had terri
BILE illness, or lost her mind or some
thing. They must have done an awful
lot Of talking about her while she was
out to make them so anxious to make
up for 1t.
She was very serious about her
studies. 1t would be frightful dis
appointment to dad If, after he'd spent
all that money to put her back in
school, she should fail to graduate!
But she was glad she had lot of
back work to make up. 1t gave her
an excuse for going straight home, to
study, as soon as formal lessons were
over.
There were no plays or teams or
committees, now, to round out her
days. Her place in the fabric of the
school had closed up behind her when
she left and there wasn't time to get
1t back. She didn't feel like fooling
around with the old gang any more.
A lot Of their talk went over her head
and some Of it, she almost suspected,
behind her back. Anyhow, they had a
whole new set of standing jokes which
she wasn't going to ask to have ex-
planned. She was on perfectly friend
ly terms with them all, Of course, but
it was with disheartening difference.
She had endless imaginary CONVERSE
lions with Roger about 1t, on her
walks to and from school and while