The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-01-23
KEY WEST:
LAND THAT | LOVE"
BY PALMER ADAMS
PART /

BY PALMER ADAMS

their departure for Nassau. Her
aunt had said good-by to the
| Navy Commandment and his wife,
They were to heave anchor at
nine in the morning and at eight
thirty. when her uncle had made
his last purchases in the town and
ne and Priscilla were on the dock
preparatory TO taking the dinghy
for the 'Sprite'. she broke the
news. She brushed her honey
colored hair from her violet eyes,
The trade winds We're soft and
caresSlng.
''f'll see you on your return, !"
she told her uncle bluntly. quiet
,ly. He had SenSed her lack of
haste in their departure.
! She had had her luggage car
ried ashore by one of the younger
crew earlier, and now her uncle
saw her monogrammed suitcases
lined UP on the nearly empty
dock She glanced quickly al his
face. now surprised and confus
ed; then she told herself she was
, free. white and twenty-one; and
took courage.
I'm not going with you" she
said before he could reply I'm
staying in Key West. this time. l
told YOU sometime ago I wanted
10 De on my own, and now that
I've signed a lease on small
house with option TO. buy
III stay here =. and see YOU
and Aunt Jessamlne when YOU
return IN ths- spring
But. Priscilla, this Is mad
ness Her uncle was expert az
holding his temper He had .
reputation for being aole 10 deal
with al kinds OF r1en and CON
GitonS and he knew how % be
calm and ua-4file6, kindly aud
tolerant Surely, Prs. v0a can :
mean
IL Ing distance hs saw us wife
watching -aem. waiting lrca-
t-en.Zv fer r1e.r return So -1av
could GET started for 1-e Be-
harna,. They @e-s already -ses
He could already near her acryrrl-
oalouS words of cens1-e He
knew she felt ne had always been
/. TOO Lenent with Ms brother :
child He turned TO Priscilla.
You're not serious. my dear? -
Never more 50 in my whole
life. darling, she tock his two
strong arms II her sturdy sun
burned hands. You know I've
got TO be on my own sometime
and that sometime might as well
be now
But what viii your aunt say?
What viii you do? You don't
know anyone here. This isn't the
sort of place for a young girl to
be alone. This place, of all places
where we have ever been q.
Why, if it had been Bar Harbor,
OF 'Sconset. or Southampton
But here Why, half the peo-
! pie here don't even speak the
English language. Priscilla"
That's why | like it, Unc.
That's what makes it interesting
different fascinating. 1t
will be good for my Spanish And
IN learn independence And self
sufficiency I'll at least be able
to stand on my own feet"
There are ProvincetoWn peo-
pie here. And l met a Navy wife
at the Commandments house the
other day who is from Edgar
town. There's a little theater
group, an art gallery. a Woman's
Club, Junior Chamber of Com
merce for both men and and
women, Public Library every
thing the small New England
towns have. And yet it's really
a city of $4,000. It has the best
climate IN the country has
never known frost is COR
geouS with its tropical trees and
flowers and shrubs. l oh, l
love it, Uncle Tom, It's America
I. and something else beside.
It's the most democratic, the most
friendly place I've ever been"
To Be Continued