Smyrna times., 1932-12-28
WEEKLY STORY
AROUND TABLE
Reading to While Away Time
Under the Evening Lamp
When Days Work is Done
INTERESTING READING
ROCKING CHAIR"
BY Jane Osborn

EVERY June the ten-year gradu-
II ates of Brockton college make
a special effort to be back at com
mencement time Last June it WAS
1925 turn to come back and the
usual arrangements were made to
provide for their entertainment dur
ing the gala week. Cynthia Burton
was making preparations for the
Sunday tea party which her IA
ther. Professor Burton, always gave
for the men who returned.
Saturday morning Cynthia was
beating the batter for variety of
sugar cookies for which the Burton
tea parties had long been famous.
Stella Alden. her cousin, sat be
side her cracking nuts that were
later to be chopped and used with
cream cheese and other things for
the filing of the sandwiches next
day. She had stopped on her way
to Cynthia's at the railroad station
on a pretext of getting a time table
and there she had seen some of the
boys Of 1922"
If the gang isn't all here" she
said, iii is almost all here. You've
no idea how some of them have
changed | was talking to Harry
Wallace-'member Harry? Well.
he's quite gray, but terribly good
looking. And Fred's coming-go-
ing to put up at the inn because he's
brought his wife Tim Bruce and
Granger Yates and Piggy Brown
are all back. Carrot Jones and
Spinach Smith are coming
someone said they had heard in
a roundabout way that Rocking
Chair was coming. Member Rocking
Chair?'
Cynthia looked up with a suspi-
cion of a smile .'Yes-I do. But |
don't believe he'd come. He's been
in South America ever since he
graduated"
Queer fish, wasn't he?" from
Stella. piggy Brown said he
hadn't heard anything about him
couldn't even remember why they
called him Rocking Chair. Nobody
could"
Cynthia knew we'll enough but
she didn't say 50. In the days when
the 1922 men were still undergrad
yates Professor Burton had held
open house for students every Sun
day afternoon and there were al
ways fifteen or twenty who ayailed
themselves of his hospitality. Gym
thia's mother poured the tea in the
old drawing room while Cynthia. q
rather shy girl under twenty, had
brought the tea things and the
sandwiches and cookies from the
kitchen. And almost every Sunday
for two or three years a long, rath-
er awkward boy had sat at one
side Of the drawing room in the old
time rocking chair drinking tea,
which he could not endure for the
sake Of the cookies and other NOR
On the campus, in the dormitory
all about the college town-the
tall, awkward student who was
working his way through college
was known as Rocking Chair. And
Rocking Chair he had remained in
the memory of classmates. Most of
them could not even recall that his
real name was Ben Owen.
Since then, of course, rocking
chairs had gone very much out OF
fashion.
Having cracked and shelled the
nuts Stella made excuses. She
wanted to dress for the ball game
that afternoon. She thought from
something that Piggy said that per-
haps he might call her up.
So Cynthia went on alone with
the preparations for the next days
spread
Sunday morning Cynthia went up
into the attic and in a dingy corner
found the old rocker so covered
with dust that it needed a thorough
soap and water scrubbing before
she called her father to help her
carry it down to the old drawing
room. There were tears in Gym
thia's eyes because the sight of the
old chair recalled so wildly her
mothers understanding smile as an
awkward boy had looked wistfully
at her so many years ago.
Fifty returned graduates crowd
ed joyously into the spacious old
drawing room the next day and
those who could not find seats sat
on cushions on the floor. A tall dis
tinguished man of thirty odd sat at
one side of the room in a shabby
old rocking chair. A group of men
had gathered around him while with
brief, tense responses he told
them of the railroads he had helped
to build in South America. They
had not even known that he was
in charge of the gigantic undertake
ing of which they had heard so
much. Stella edging up to Cynthia
as they brought in the plates of
cookies and sandwiches whispered
II