The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-06-17
BY
WILLIAM
CORCORAN

great gaunt shops. The dry dock
| was working, there were two
! ships in the wet dock. but the
/ ship ways, 10 OF them, loomed
empty and silent.
there was no building, and Joe
vas lucky and knew it. How long
lucky. he couldn't tell. Men OF a
hundred trades stood about the
4lrates mornings when ne came TO
work. haunting the closed employ
nent Office. He worked and drew
good money and sent large por-
non of il back 10 Terry every
week. They must save what they
could: the future was unknown
! able
Now when you go to new
place. far from home, this is what
/ happens: there is at first a lift OF
| spirits. the glamor of adventure
and novelty and the excitement
/ II Possibilities whose limits are
! .ec unknown. That lasts while,
and that wanes finally, for the
| disabilities are soon limited
| yIain}v. and then comes the rather
stark realization that this place
has no nourishment for you, for
your roots are not into it, draw
| ing sustenance. There Is nothing
there for You. and the old places
are calling strong, and YOU are
J bitter lonesome. Then IN time,
| If YOU stay, when the lonesome
/ ness : most bitter. there comes
change; YOU do not recognize II
, when II comes. but IL arrives.
TOu are drawing nourlshment
I from this place. You are rooted,
belonging. And if you go away
again. YOU will remember that
place always. and il will call 20
YOU among the echoes of all the
I places and things and people for
ever calling 70 you out OF the
. past.
The noyeltv of Port Lansing
was small 20 Joe. and the POSSIBLE
/ tiles held never any glamor-
Women were shut off 10 him. not
only by his simple code but by all
his inclination. And a man needs
women, especially man like Joe,
because that is the pattern OF life,
which has beauty and harmony
and symmetry only when there is
that balance: one and then an
other one, a man and a woman.
complementing and Offsetting
each other in everything.
Joe was alone: he lived in
boarding house on a mean street,
the cheapest could be found,
where his fellows were q raffiSh.
uncouth lot who would have
made him one Of them if they
could, but they could not, for Joe
in his turn could not meet them
in their chosen ground, which
was drinking and women and
then more drinking, SO long as
there was money for it. He walk
ell, and he went TO motion pic
lures, and ne read, and sat think
ing. And he was alone.
Terry wrote to him often,
sometimes day after day. She
had one refrain: she missed him,
missed him. She worked steadily.
and that was nice. but when she
came home alone at night, that
was terrible. Yet she was care
ful not TO complain. She kept as
busy as she could. She called on
his family, she went home with
the girls from the mill, she even
called a few times at her own
home. She had found a city
school where adults could attend
at night and she was enrolled.
She was learning English litera-
ture and French. Not, she said.
that she had any use for French
or expected To become a book
worm or could hope 70 De wiser
than he Joe, but you never could
tell, some day maybe when their
babies were growing up she could
help them had she ever told
him. they were going to 20 10 COL
lege?
Joe read these things. and his
heart was empty, and ne wrote
matter-Of-fact replies about the
Shlpyard and the town and COM
mended her for her industry and
suggested things for her 70 do
and told her 10 stick it out, she'd
come right side IN. And he wrote
[ down at the end always that ne
loved her and missed her and
they'd make out somehow. Where
upon ne put down his ben in a
KIND OF empty bitterness.
Then came a letter from her
iuil OF courage and appalled,. in
which she told him of the Iayoff
at the mill. She had lost her Job
Some OF the oldest girls remained,
put most Of the mill was out. She
4 did not throw herself on him In
panic but discussed immediately
per adjustments and plans. She
could find something if she looked
hard; she didn't need much
money, and girls were still hired
around because they were cheao.
IN fact a girl could get a lob
MOST anywhere She had listened
20 CheHl, and she knew.
She could even, cnuIdn't shs
get a JOB IN Port Lansing and
| thew could be c0gether2
That was not ike her; she
would. ordinarily. have incorti-
nently come But she was afraid
Of him, of that grimness, of that
change.
!. Joe wrote an immediate reply
IN which he said no, impossible,
Then he tore up the letter and
did not write another for two
days, But when he wrote. he stin
said no, it couldn't be done, il was
TO ninEM Too Co.. s.. w.