The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1939-06-13

meal in her life or scubbed a floor
Say, Gramp, you and Betsy
Shouldn't barge in when she's en-
tertaining her swell friends"
i Nov, Tally, / don't consider
that none O. your business. ] amt
so dumb ! don't know Josie amt
hankerin' for my comp'ny: but
I'm an old man and ! don't care. !
Hike to talk and I'm goin' to talk
and nobody's goin' to stop mel" He
emphasized his declaration Of in
dependence by spraying a tree
five feet distant with tobacco
juice. you're a good lad, Tally,
and ] got reason to be proud o. you.
but ] never took orders from no.
body. You better get goin' after
that fencin'lp
/ The old man tramped off, mum.
bling to himself about "young-uns
havin' no respect for their elders"
i Tally sighed as he embarrassed
the horses and took them to the
stable. So he was a stubborn young
fool. Maybe Gramp was right. He
could have accepted the five
Thousand dollars Thorndyke had
offered him and taken his family
elsewhere. There actually was no
valid reason why he shouldn't
have. Well, why hadn't he then?
Probably. he told himself, for the
same reason he had stayed on and
on in Texas, hating to admit he was
licked. Once he started something
The finished it or 1t finished him.
Well, he could stick it here as long
as the Russells could. His family
had comfortable place to live;
lots of milk and fresh eggs: lots Of
sunshine. What they had was
worth much more than FIVE thou
sand dollars, and Thorndyke Rus
sell knew it. When he got the
vegetable garden going they
wouldn't have to spend cent for
anything. Except-he frowned-
He had noticed Gretchen's unhap-
lpy eyes every time she caught
sight of Jocelyn in her fine things.
Dissertation
| A FTER all, he considered, Gret-
"A chen was only twenty-five.
Andre had been dead three years.
It was only right and natural that
she should desire Young friends
and pretty clothes; maybe beau.
His frown deepeneL as he remem-
bered her unnatural high color and
iittery excitement when Bob Rus.
sell dropped by. to talk. Bob
seemed all right: he wasn't like the
others; still he was Russell
and he was rich. He just wasn't
Gretchen's kind and it would not
do for her to get silly notions
about him. She might amuse him
| for a while because she was diff
ferent from the society girls he
knew at the club, but he wouldn't
want 70 marry her :. .Of that Tally
felt convinced.
1t was different with q man.
When he went to the university at
Austin and later to law school he
had been invited to society affairs
and had gone quite often with a
girl whose father owned bank.
He had learned C adjust himself
to that crowd and he had been
accepted among them; yet he had
never been able to forget he was
poor and that he had a family to
support. This ever present consid-
Grafton had effectually prevented
him from becoming seriously in
yolved with any girl. He wondered
a little if he would ever fall in love
and marry. It seemed highly inn
probable. He would always have
to take care of Gramp and Mons
even # Gretchen should marry. If
he himself married, his wife
would have to live with his family
and that sort of arrangement sell
dom worked out well.
Better get to work." He brought
himself up sharply
| During the remainder Of the af-
ternoon, until a cool early dusk
made it impossible to see, he and
Gramp worked on the fence.
| We'll paint it white when it's
finished" he told Gramp. "The
Russells will probably yowl their
heads off over the dissertation to
their ancestral estate; yet Pm sure
they will prefer seeing the fence
to seeing usi"
lly."
Maybe ! feel that way"
That amt good for body. Son.
Hatin' people hurts you worse,n
them. You can't blame 'em for not
wantin' Us here. They lived here
all their lives"
And they can't blame us for
being here" Tally retorted. eff It
were only. me it would be differ
ent-Pd put miles between me and
this mausoleum-but Mons and
Gretchen and Betsy
And me" Gramp added. well.
it amt no use to say won't live
long, cause I'll probably live TO q
hundred and some. Ny father did
and he never forgot I ran off and
left him. He willed all his money
to some burned institution and
never let on like ] was alive
were an ornery. stubborn lot
mo. we aren't. Gramp. We're
free men in free land. We have
right to live our lives as we see
MT We don't have to bow our neclks
to anybody!"
Mebbe so-mebbe So" the old
man agreed, his tone abruptly
querulous. "Tm gettin' hungry.
Say, Tally. heard young Bob
sayin' there's good fishin' back IN
them hills of the highway. Some
fish would taste mighty good after
diet o. chicken.
Tally laughed and put his arm
over the old mans stopped Shouts
ders: eOkay. Gramp. I'll ride one
OF the horses up there early To-