The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-03-04
Said Lydia
to Roy
g
By FANNIE HURST
&c by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.)
(WNU Service)

" Tue SpiCuuOT ptTltCl SpTIuS
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. Pres
emily, very presently, they would
burst into incredible blossom and
world crammed already to its perfec-
ton with beauties of one sort or an
other, would accomplish the impossi-
bic, and become more beautiful
At least, that was the way Helen,
eighteen, and with the love of youth
in her heart, felt as she viewed it
from the rear of her fathers fruit
farm, that was known as Farnham's.
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 eighteen, the quieter, more
adult world which contained her ia
ther, Adam Farnham, and her mother,
Cora, should seem, by comparison,
lusterless.
You wondered, when you were
eighteen and so in love with life that
the ground under your feet seemed
to culver, when it was only you your
self quivering from love of it, just
what there was left for forty and for
ty-five; Cora and Adam.
1t 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
car from his fathers farm, not twen-
t.. miles distant, and with ring in his
pocket which now sparkled on her left
hand. They were to be married and
live in white house with green shut
tiers on the Beck farm, the promised
gift of the senior Beck to his son, and
the blessings of all four parents had
descended on the youngsters as the
apple blossoms would presently de-
scend and whiten the scene for 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 anticlimax to the
ecstasy of this; the ecstasy of the
betrothal kisses that still lay singing
against her lips; the strange sweet
tingling of the flesh; the dream of
tomorrow that could not be quick
enough in coming.
"You are young and too eager for
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, seat
ed 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
mending or sewing frocks. How sap
less. What was there left for Cora?
Father, of course, but they had had
everything together. Adam was as re-
Taxed now as Cora was, and there
were deep braces ground in perpen-
dicular 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 sometimes on Cora's lap, if she
sat at the head of the sofa. And lit
tie to say. Scarcely ever any of the
tender, lovely things to say. except
il Cora happened to be ailing, and
then he could be tender.
But 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 pale old lady with hair of
a gray pallor? Helen did, of course
Helen wanted to bestow tenderness up
on 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 still re-
manned high In her heart. How dared
once face the down side of life. after
the ecstasy Of present like hers?
Cora and Adam must have had that
youth, too, and now look. Oh. one
must 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 re-
turned from four months honeymoon
the last slap of green and white paint
was on the cottage on the Beck place
and four aged. tired. amiable and
retrospective parents were there to
wish them endless blessings.
There were blessings. Health, chill
dren and a farm that widened and
prospered. Blair succeeded well and
the children of Helen were the fine.
ripe children of health. and the sor-
rows that came were the inevitable
ones of passing life and death.