The Washington times., 1939-01-18

WaShlngton-E lie DrdE 10
had been telling herself tha
she was mounting TO the high
est moment of her life.
With her SuitcaSes filled will
new gowns, the loveliest she hat
ever possessed, and her handbat
bearing the engraved invitation
to Kenton Baird's graduation from
the United States Naval Academy
she faced the world brightly anc
gaily. uplifted by the thrill o.
knowledge that out of all the girl!
he'd ever known Ken had chosen
her for asking to the June Week
exercises.
Through the four years he'c
been at the academy Ellie hac
lived through the alternating
heights and depths that are the
geography Of a girl in love. She'o
known Ken all her lifetime. He'c
lived in the house three doors be
low her own, a house as like the
Drayton's as another pea in
standardized pod.
YEARS OF WAITING
Shed gone to grade school and
to high school with him. Shed
danced with him, and skated with
him, and studied with him, and
picnicked with him. For -four
years she'd been wearing the class
pin he'd given her the night be-
fore he'd gone eastward.
''Tt's a lot of nerve for fellow
who has so many years ahead of
him in Annapolis and in the Navy
to ask a girl like you to wait for
him" he'd told her with tense
young earnestness, put, Ellie, if
you think you could wait for
me"
"Ill wait" she'd promised
breathlessly.
There had been times when
waiting for lad who had four
years of school and other years
of training before he would be al
lowed to marry any one had been
none too easy.
Other boys back home in their
home town had liked Ellie, and
asked her to dances and picnlcs
and skating parties. After while,
though, they had come to realize
that she was giving them nothing
beyond friendly liking, and they'd
started to ask other girls who'd
give them more.
In the times when Ken came
home to visit, she'd known, almost
too plainly, that she cared only
for him. Her mother had told her
she was foolish to limit her inter
ests to a boy who was acquiring
SO many interests of his own in
which she had no part. I'm
not afraid" she had said valiantly.
She hadn't been afraid. Ken'S
letters, young, straightforward &C
counts of his life at the academy,
invariably ended with notes of
wistful loneliness for her. She had
sometimes whiStled in the dark
when he didn't write her as often
as she'd Written him, but she'd
started eastward with the GER
tainty that he'd kept on loving her.
Every mile of the journey, as
far as Washington, had been JOY
GUS anticipation. Only when she
boarded the Annapolis bus at the
Capital terminal did she begin to
feel the possibility of change in
Ken from the time she had last
seen him. For the coach was
crowded with girls on their way to
June Week, and, as far as Ellie
could see, they weren't any of them
girls like herself.
They talked in different accents
and from an altogether different
point of view about what they ex-
pected from their Annapolis visit.
They were smooth, sophisticated,
and what they themselves called
smart. They knew each other,
and they knew the Academy. And
they looked at Ellie from over the
wall of a strange hostility.
She quailed little under their
cool scrutiny, then decided that,
after all, she was coming to see
Ken, not them nor their waiting
midshipmen.
AT THE ACADEMY
Ken met her when the coach
stopped at Carvel Hall and the
crowd plunged out. His greeting to
her was all she had expected, all
she could hope for; but she had
the hurt consciousness that he
hadn't failed to see the girls who
also alighted. Hi. Ken, most of
them called to him, and Hi,
Eleanor, hi, Diana, hi. Betsy" he
called back to them. Nice kids"
he told Ellie You'll like EN-"
but she knew she wouldn't.
She didn't like them any better
as June Week whirled onward.
She adored the Academy, the long
stone walls, the old buildings, the
rose-wreathed walks, the sea wall,
the ships at anchor, the bugle
calls, the hundreds and hundreds
OF young men and boys in the uni
form of the United States Navy.
She wanted to cry with emotion
when Ken showed her old flags
and old guns, told her old tales of
Navy tradition. She loved the sun
sets and the twilights besides the
Chesapeake; and most of all she
loved the dances when she swung
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