The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-18

req naQ IDe same eHeCI Oh Fdppy
as it has on bull.
He turned the pages and came
smack upon full-page picture of
another girl who had little or moth
ing on. Spelling out the caption
with difficulty, he learned that she
was a blond international heroine
of the movies and that she was
playing a dance hall girl in story
of San Francisco in the days of
forty-nine.
Pappy kept turning the pages, and
as he turned them, his indignation
rose. Nevertheless, it didn't hurry
him. Never, since he had gotten
himself into a burlicue house down
in Lenoxville, the big coal town IS
miles away, had he ever seen such
hussies.
WHY, he thought, there wasn't
w enough coverin on 20 vim
men in that magazine to cover "a
young SQUIRREL Having determined
which, he allowed his wrath to boil
up and spill over Lessinda, his
wife.
He opened this act by flinging
the magazine into a corner of the
cabin. 1t flew over a pallet on the
floor, which he and Lessinda occu-
pied at night, and 1t banged
against bare log walls. 1t brought
four tow-heads, ranging in age
from 4 to II, to a startled and
expectant attention. Three of these,
the younger three, were boys. The
fourth, the 1l-year -old, was a girl.
The heads popped up like a row
of dewy daisies because the book
whirling through the air had
wakened them.
"A nice thing fer gal to be
alookin att" Pappy said, disgust
edly, and sent stream of tobacco
in the very middle of the crude
fireplace. missing Lessinda by about
two inches.
II ESSIE, I won't have you adm
IL and abbetin' Mile in this
we're wickedness. What kind of
thoughts is them pictures goin' to
raise IN the mind of young girl.
Now, you hear me! If ever
ketch another SIGH an instrument
of the devil in this yere bouse, I'm
a goin' to whup Mile and I'm a
goin' to whup you! You near me?"
Lessinda didn't answer. She was
a frail wisp of woman, a typical
mountaineer's wife. She was
-shouldered and sad-faced
and unutterably weary from a life
time of work and of bearing five
children. Her round shoulders got
rounder now as she bent over the
stove. She did not look at Pappy.
She was tired of lookin' at Pappy,
especially when he was in one of
his tantrums. He'd be all right
when he'd had touch of con but,
meanwhile"
"You hear me, Lessinda?" he re-
peated. You answer mel"
Lessinda turned slowly and
looked at him. She saw tall, thin,
slouching man with three days
hair on his face, a hickory shirt
and a pair of pants so short that
they hit him four inches ahc-e the
ankle. His hair. turning gray, was
tcusled. He was pale. His eyes
were red-rimmed. His nose was
hooked and his lips were a straight
line to make hard, cruel mouth.
He was 40. He looked So. worn
with lifetime of doing nothing.
IT HEARN We" She admitted.
Il Mile don't mean no harm.
There can't be no harm in them
magazines, They sell them all over
town down in Spingairn."
They're an abomination!" Pappy
Numbered. "Whered you put that
cornp"
It's thar under the table-where
you put it last night" She told
him. And there was scorn in her
voice.
Don't you take that tone to me,
woman" He threatened. You,
Bootch, hustle out and git some
kindlin. You, Sarah, go see about
the COW. She's q mooin to be
MIXED. Whar's Miller"
She's up and gone to work-this
two hours" Lessinda told him sui
lenly; And Sarah's too young to
milk. Why'n't you milk this mawn-
in'P"
I'm a goin' to town." He told
her. Got business"
HER sniff was soft but fairly
l. i audible and he glared at the
back which was again turned
angularly toward him. He dressed
with exceeding care-for him. run
ming his dirty hands through his
hair until he had whippeasit into a
semblance of tidinesS. Nducked
over pail of water ana lllowed
some of it to come upon his face.
Then he vigorously removed it with
a towel which had seen much serv-
ice. He sat himself down and ate
some corn pone, after taking lusty
swig of the corn whisky he had dis
titled himself. He fingered not over
his breakfast and, when he had
finished 1t, he donned a ragged coat,
a pair of scuffed shoes. dilapidated
hat and new. chaw of tobacco and
left the cabin without word
The cabin rested upon hillside
and from its front and only door
he could look down upon Spin
gairn, the midtown about mile
below him. He looked at the mill
and saw smoke ascending from it.
He could see people moving briskly
about the mill yard. And the sight
Of that activity with the plaintive
mooing of the COW, begging to be
Inilked, annoyed him.
q
THINGS weren't like they used
l. to be. Why, only 10 years ago,
he could look down into the valley
and see nothing but a struggling
starving village on which the wood
4