The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1936-12-24

ward ways and direct forms G
speech that many women miss. ~
for the same reason the very fosn-
| dalton Of her life was nned n q
loving sympathy that found m hse
companionship IT'S nrst necessity.
Among an the men whom ~
knew, Vance alone had found Dc
straight path to her woman-love. ~
this time he had an unusual q.
tractive shyness, q keen interest
and faith in life and the woman'S
part in that seemed 10 new ara
wonderful to the country-bred boy.
that it appealed to the primitive and
direct side Of Eleanor, who had an
enthusiastic nature, and a vein Of
home worship, unspoiled by her life
in many hotels and the shift Of
travel.
When vance's "chance'' had come
suddenly, it was after the old Colo
mel had passed away, leaving much
influence and many friends, but, 1t
proved, very little money. So it
happened that, luck coming when
it did, a wide high barrier was
thrown between the old life and the
new, while the new success to which
Vance bent his will was to make
a fortune.
With money Eleanor could be fret
from every responsibility and care
the children educated and started
at the very beginning on a highe,
plane than his own had been. When
money enough to put them all be.
yond dream Of need had been Sc.
cured and put away, then, Vance
argued to himself, for he had nc
iconidants who might have con.
vinced him of his blindness, he
would take time to live. Then, Il
that far-off day, he and Eleanor
would be companions once more
travel and sometime, perhaps
when they were comfortably old bur
not decrepit, have a home far ava.
among those pine-topped hills thai
overlooked the Glen where he was
born.
OF a sudden all these thought,
engulfed him this December da.
like turbulent waters breaking loose
His head rang with the insistence
Of his mothers appeal, that repeat
ed itself insistently like a chant
What n%onsensel He was a little
tired, that raj all; yes, more than
a little weary. He would spend
that n evening at home and really
rest. Eleanor's voice had been
strangely keyed; it was not like her
moderation to shut off the telephone
with a petulant sounding snap. Tn.
der other circumstances it would
really be a welcome break to 60 to
Westover for Christmas, - but that
annual meeting! II there should
be a real demand for the separa-
ton Of the Offices of president and
manager. which Of the men in line.
he pondered, would be the most
suitable? This. from his viewpoint,
meant the most 81 iervient.
Thus the pendulum had swung
Vance back toward himself by the
time that he closed his desk, picked
up his smoothly brushed hat, and
told The Stranger that he was ready
to take him home.
Down in the street, the din Of
the traffic of late afternoon in the
holiday season was in full force,
to be followed an hour or so later
by a haunting silence, so absolutely
stilled is New York's financial heart
after business hours. On the side
streets c~onverging at Broadway,
peddlers were selling glittering or
naments and candles for Christmas
trees to the commuters hurrying to
subway and ferries. Newsboys
alternated the calling Of their pa
pers with jingling little coin-boxes
at their custoI .ers, appealing fo-
Christmas dinners, while at the Wal.
street corner, in a line with Trinity
steeple. a Salvation Army Santa
Claus was beating loudly with an
iron spoon upon a pot, into which
the passers-by were urged to throw
their coin to feed a hungry horde.
"The spirit of Christmas sur
rounds us everywhere said The
Stranger, with a sweeping gesture
lin the air, in the streets. on the
tongues of the people. What diff,
ference is it whether a man makes a
reverent pilgrimage to Bethlehem
or sets a candle in a scrub pins
in his lonely shack on the Westcrx.
plains, they are both one in spirit"
TO BE CON7lNuED} III