The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1937-10-22

hOulN nave OCOAA AAAS"AA NS NA@S
vapors," which meant spiritual
dBquietude liable to lead to al
most any kind of an emotional
explosion. She was reading a
circus advertisement in a Balti-
more newspaper.
Billy and Audrey, her 7-year-old
son, and 4-year-old daughter,
watched her as she read, con-
WINGED that she was the most
booful lady in all the world" She
wasn't, of course.
rs that your picture, Mummy"
Billy asked, peering over her
shoulder at a lady in most abb
breviated skirt and tights stand
ing on the back OF an ambl1ng
white horse.
lie me see, too," Audrey in
sisted.
mo, darling" Nancy said.
Mother doesn't ride that way
any more.
., CIRCUS RIDER
eyes you do, Mummy" Billy
contradicted. Member? You
ride on her back and ride her
around the pasture" He looked
at the picture critically.
You don't wear those teeny
dresses. You wear your regular
dresses. Don't you, Mummy. But
you rid like that. You rid better
than that. Remember, Mummy"
:. LIE me see, too" Audrey said
a little shrilly and pushed Billy
aside and climbed in Nancy'S lap.
Whats she doing, Mummy"
Billy asked.
.. She's riding in circus, Sugar, !"
Nancy told him in soft drawl.
"Out here" she pointed to the
sides of the picture, where you
cant see them are hundreds Of
people watching her.
"She can smell the elephants
and the lions and the tigers. She
can see the gray walls of the big
. top Tapping in and out against
the tiers of seats" Her eyes were
Dreamy, fixed on the picture Of
the equeStrienne, yet looking
beyond her, smelling, feeling, list
ening.
Nancy! Stop that dreaming!"
Her eyes snapped out Of their
-dreaminess, and she looked up and
saw Zeke Blair, her husband,
Standing in the doorway. He was
tall and loosely built in his riding
-~breeches and putteeS and his
heavy gray flannel shirt.
His blue eyes were full Of an
- noyance and something like jeal.
Gus fear. Damn it, girl, you're
incurable. One look at a circus
picture drives you crazy as loon
How about Supper?"
Supper, Nancy said. "I'm just
: in the midst of it. I was getting
it ready. I just sat down for a
moment"
~, Daddy" Billy said, can we go
to the circus and see the lady ride
q horse standing up like Mummy
rides Sally? Can we, Daddy"
- We'll see," zeke promised,
:gruffly. "Come on, now. Climb
down off your mother and let her
get supper"
Nancy got up from her chair
and went into the kitchen of the
little farmhouse, her eyes still full
of faraway look.
DEADLY DRUG
CircuSes had always been a
deadly drug to Nancy Blair, who
had been Nancy Creston until she
married Zeke. That was because
she had been born on a circus
train and brought up on a circus
lot.
At Is she had met and mar
ried zeke Blair, young Maryland
farmer, after a whirlwind court
ship that had carried them over
twenty States. Zeke had followed
her and the show.
That was ten years ago. Ten
years ago she had forSaken the
Big Top and had buried herself in
the seasonal monotony of farm
life.
And she was as successful in
that role as she had been in the
circus. She adored Billy and AL
drey. She loved tall and taciturn
Zeke.
She loved to work through the
seasons, but spring was an unrest
full time for her. because the circus
emerged from winter quarters and
hit the road.
Then she was full of a nostalgia.
She longed to be uprooted and to
follow the caravan and to be part
OF it. She longed to hear the grift-
ers chanting and the Spielers pull
ing in the suckers to everything
from hootch show to a fake
-jewelry rattle.
= She wanted to smell the animals
and hear the bands and feel the
7lmdulating back of a trained cir
Gus horse under her silk-clad feet.
That feeling must be like the
one a drunkard feels before he
takes drink, she thought, as she
went about the preparations for
supper.
First, 1t made her moody and
then hopeful and then unknoWing
of anything about her. 1t was a
desire so strong that it took her
out of herself.
FORGETS DESIRE
Well, there was no sense of Civ.
ing in to it, she told herself
sternly and set herself to forget
it. She did very well, too. She