The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1940-11-22
THE
CROSSROADS
g
Bv JANE M'ALLISTER
Mcclure syndic ate-WNU Service >
Mcclure syndica,e-WNU Service
THE dusty day coach vino ~
blurred her mother S fast re-
cedlng face, that looked like q


small white plate back on III.
stanon platform Myra's face Wa
a larger pinkish plate with tear
rEnning across IT, A sharp curve
I'D the dingy country station and
ire two blurred faces from sight and
Alice settled back in her green plush
seat. The elation she had expected
10 feel this morning was not in her
rCart; instead. there was this dull
aChe that urged her back even
though she knew she could not and
would not heed il
She had awakened early with a
Keen sense of excitement. The air
that came through her narrow
paned window was sweet and heavy
with the good earthly smells OF fall;
ripe apples, tire dry leaves that lay
Ylndrows along the walk, and
re pungent Odor Of yellow pump
klns in the garden behind the house.
Her drOwsy ear could hear the rat
lie Of tin pals. the $50 bOssy," and
over there, now" of her father
md the boys milking in the barn.
That sense of something thrilling
ahead stayed with her until she was
wide awake Then she remembered
She was leaving on the nine
o'clock train for Boston and her first
teaching position.
She dressed underneath for the
lay and slipped cotton hOusedress
over her pink silk undertakings.
Faint, delicious smells of perking
coffee and scrambled eggs came
floating up the back stairway. Alice
reflected that she would have plenty
If time TO help with the dishes and
strain the milk before they started
to the train in the old fivver
Ma smiled and Myra said good
morning over her shoulder as Alice
same INTO the kitchen.
Il bet you're all excited. said
MIRA, her pretty face flushed from
toastine bread over the stove
My turn next"
InstinCtivcly Alice glanced at Ma
Any reference TO Myra's leaving
Gomc always dcepcncd the lines in
Mas face and drew her thin, stopped
shoulders even closer together Her
big hands. large knucklcd and red b,
fumbled a little as she wiped out a
bowl: but she said nothing.
Suddenly all the glamour of going
to Boston to teach left Alice She
wanted to lay her head in Mas lap
and cry She had missed Ma ter
ribly at normal school. but there
she had been near enough to spend
her week-endS at home Boston was
too far away for that: there would
be only vacations at home. Months
at a stretch away from the pleasant
warmth of breakfasts in the kitchen,
wood fires in the rough old-faSh-
Toned fireplace nights. with her
father nodding over yesterdays pa
per and Myras pretty face eager
over a book.
Breakfast was a silent meal One
moment Alice thrilled with antici-
patton and in the next breath she
was wishing she had taken the
school down in the Hollow, where,
even if the pay was small and
there was no future, she could live
at home and 60 back and forth in
the old car. She caught the boys
glancing at her covertly, as though
she were already denizen of an
other world. Ma kept her eyes reso-
lutely on her plate. Myra watched
her with bright eyes of frank envy.
Eat a good breakfast every
morning. Alice" said Ma through
stiff lips, as they settled her in the
green plush seat on the train. "And
don't go around with wet feet. Keep
a pair of rubbers at home and at
school" Poor Ma, talking about
rubbers with her thin stiff lips, Myra
openly crying.
She was on her way at last.
Eagerly her eyes searched the
coach. A dark woman sColded two
children furiously in a foreign
tongue. A fat young man with pink
jowls Mas reading a paper Half
dozen nondescript people were all
looking bored and dusty and re-
signed. Alice leaned back, vaguely
disappointed
She closed her eyes and gave her
self up 10 thoughts of the city New
people Crowds The glitter of shop
windows. Football in the fall.
Theaters and concerts in the winter.
She thrilled to the vision and Boston
seemed the great adventure once
more Then another picture thrust
itself unbidden before her: the
farm. white and cleaning after a
snowstorm, the black tortuous limbs
of the apple trees, soft furred. The
fire, red and cracking on her
hearth, and her mothers thin fg-
ure patiently weaving from table
10 stove.
Alice changed at Woodsville. The
train branched west, leaving a trail
of black smoke behind it, The train
from Boston came in while she wait
ed and several passengers alighted.
The only one who attracted her at.
tention was an old man whose ruddy
cheeks and white hair made him
look like a benign Santa Claus. He
carried brown paper bundle. held
together with a worn leather strap.
He sat down beside Alice and his