Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1933-11-16
Wanted-An
Uncle
By VIRGINIA GAY
@. By Mcclure Newspaper syndicate.
wNU Service

wNU Service
CN-YEAR-OLD Peggy dug her bare
- brown toes into the cool green
dampness Of the grass where the dew
was beginning to gather. "Auntie 10.
whyn't you get you a husbandT she
asked Of the woman who was reading
on the porch above her. IF you did
] could have a really truly uncle like
the rest of the girls and boys In our
crowd. Didn't you ever know any
body that wanted to be your husbandi
Didn't you ever think about getting
married?"
Josephine Lawlor came down to
where her niece was playing In the
grass, to stem the tide of eager ques-
lions.
"Peggy, of course there are men
would like to marry. Don't you worry
about getting an uncle. Maybe some
| day I'll surprise you. And now there
are some good cookies in the big stone
jar in the Kitchen" she said. don't
you want someT' The handful Of
cookies succeeded In diverting the
thoughts Of Peggy with regard to her
aunt's amorous adventures. and when
she returned with the cookies, she
curled up In the porch hammock and
soon was OF to sleep. But she had
started the train Of forbidden men,
cries for her aunt
In the lot at one side of the house
a baseball game was in progress; but
as darkness fell 1t resolved into blind
mans bun. crack the whip and a gen.
eral melee. Lights appeared In the
windows Of the other houses on the
street and In the little church across
from Miss Lawlor's home, the choir
had met for practice for the Sunday
services.
Josephine could hear the voices sing
ing familiar hymn-''My Redeemer
and My Lord" Through the open
windows Of the church came the IA
miliar strains and she listened rev.
erently as she took her small niece
In her arms Then the spell was brok-
en- by q voice from across the street.
Peggy's mother called for her daugh-
ter
Josephine's voice was carefully
pitched as she answered her sisters
call-'Let her stay with me tonight.
She's asleep now" She held the warm
little body close and gave herself up
completely to the memories that some
times would not be denied. Swiftly
before her eyes was unfolded that
pageant Of long-gone dreams. Once
she had thought about a husband and
about marrying. About holding her
own child as she now held her niece
No wonder Peggy had asked. For
Peggy had never known that gay lad
whose gray eyes laughed into Aunt
JOS darker ones. Peggy had never
heard that deep and tender voice that
had sounded as none other In Joseph
Inc Lawlor's ears Peggy did not know
what 1t meant to find ones hearts de-
sire-only to lose It.
Over and over again the choir sang
the familiar lines Of the anthem.
Vaguely Miss Lawlor noted the con-
slant repetition, but she did not know
that the song was being repeated at
the request of stranger who had
dropped into the rehearsal with the
choir director and professed a special
pleasure in that particular song.
Through years Of waiting in the In
evitable shiftings Of the sands Of time.
Through change Of scene and loss and
gain in friends and family, Josephine
Lawlor had stayed-waiting. Not she
to forget, to find solace in a lesser love
even II the best were gone forever.
Though the long-ago sweetheart knew
not where to find her now. she still
waited for him. And kept her light
burning in the window. Even six-year-
old Peggy knew the oddly Of Aunt
JOS lamp that was always the nrst
to fash through the twilight of eve
ming.
; The choir voices rose to a last Gre
scendo-"With my lamp well trimmed
and burning!" The organ rumbled
out the final chord The lights flick
cred out as the choir members slipped
through the vestry and out to the
porch and walk.
The stranger strolled into the street
and stood looking about. A CLEAN Of
orange light slanted from the house
next door and struck across his face.
"Who lives therer he idly asked his
host.
"Queer sort Of DAME" was the reply.
"Sorta cracked. most everybody thinks.
Came here to live near her brother
several years ago; just after the war, I
guess. / don't remember just when, az
It's been some years back and wasn't
home at the time. She has q funny
habit Of lighting her lamp every night
sooner than anyone In the neighbor-
hood. Harmless, she Ia at that May
be l shouldn't have called her that.
Jim Hargraves. her brother-in-law,
would break every bone in my body
II he heard me-"
"Hargravesl "-the stranger leaped
the hedge at a bound, and sped across
the grass, now wet and sparkling In
the moonlight with the heavy dew. to
where a woman sat in the radiance Of
the yellow lampshade, a half-avake
child sliding from her lap