Show afta by EDNA FERBER 0 doubleday Doubled ny fage co service SELINA PEAKE well heres a story by edna ferber that settles the quality question probably there Is no lie more popular writer of notion fiction in the whole country As to short stories glories dies the woman 0 henry and as to novels why she has ten or a dozen to her credit and they tire are very much to tier her credit kreoll t anyone who lias has not read buttered side down roast beet beef medium and tanny ranny herself has missed a lot of good reading read lne all her stories and novels are worth while clever in plot well written clean wholesome glimpses of real life edna adna ferber Is 11 called a good scout by both men and women whether among the peaks of the colorado or in the canyons of now new york vork and chicago so big BIB is perhaps the li best st of all her novels anyway it was one of the biggest successes of 1321 1924 possibly the biggest and that sue success was deserved its a real story of real people yo you u would as say how ble big ismy baby selina would demand senselessly how big Is my anant then little dirk dejong standing before his mother would stretch ills his arms wide and squeal so o o o big biff in dutiful solo when he grew to be one of the most correct young men of chi cagos fashionable north shore he returned to ills his apartment one night from visiting his mother and questioned himself ilow how big ills his answer Is the story chapter I 1 I 1 until he was almost ten the name stuck to him ile he had literally to fight his way free of it from so big of fond and infantile derivation it lad had been condenser condensed into cobl gobig and hobig dejong in all its consonantal disharmony lie he had remained until he be was a ten year old schoolboy in that incredibly dutch district southwest of chicago known first as new Ilc holland illand and later as high prairie at ten by dint of fists teeth copper toed boots and temper dirk dejong the nickname had sprung up from the he early and idiotic question invariably put to babies and answered by them with infinite patience through the years of their infancy selina dejong darting expertly about her kitchen from washtub to baking board front from stove to table or it if at work in the fields of the truck farm straightening tile numbed back bach for a moments respite front from the close set rows of carrots turnips spinach or beets over which she was laboring would wipe the sweat beads from nose and forehead with inith a quick duck of tier her head in the crock of her bent arm those great fine dark eyes of hers would regard tile the child perched manent ly on a little heap of empty potato sacks one of which comprised comprise il his costume selina dejong had little III lie time for the expression of affect affection lon tile the work was always hot at tier her heels beets you saw a young woman in a blue calico dress faded and earth grimed between tier her eyes was a driven look as of one who walks always a little ahead of herself in tier her haste tier her dark abundant hair bair was skewered into a utilitarian knob from which soft loops and strands were constantly escaping to be pushed back by that same harried ducking gesture of head and bent arm tier her hands tor for such use were usually too crusted and In ground with fill the soil soft into which she was delving you saw a child of perhaps two lears dirt streaked sunburned and generally otherwise defaced by those bumps bites scratches and contusions that are the common lot of the farm child of a mother harried liar ried by work yet in that moment as 09 tile the woman looked at the child there in the warm moist spring of the illinois prairie irle land or in tile the cluttered kitchen of the farol house there qu quivered lereLl and vibrated between them and all abouna them an aura a glow that imparted to then them und I 1 their heir sat surroundings roun dings a mystery a beauty a radiance how big Is baby selina would ds da mand inand senselessly lessly illow how big Is my nisin the child bit would momentarily cease 0 lo 10 o poke plump lingers fingers into the rich black lourn loam ile he until smile a gummy though slightly weary smile and stretch wide ide lots arms slie she too would mould open tier her tired arnis arius title aide wide then they would say in a duet ills his mouth a puckered pink petal liers hers qui quivering sering with tenderness and a certain amusement so o o o bigl with tile hie voice soaring on nn the prolonged onel lowel and dropping suddenly with the second word part of tile game she would run to film and swoop down upon hire him and bury tier her flushed face in the warm arm mols 1 creases of lit ills nek neck and make tl a though to devour hlin so big but of course lie he na nt lie he A big as that in fact ile he never became as big as tile ali wide stretched arms if her love and imagination would fill have lad had him film you would leave thought she should have been when in litter years lie he was the dirk dejorio lose name you saw cengr engraved at the top op of heavy cream linen paper so sn rich and thick and stiff as to have the bicet effect of being starched and ironed by gome costly american business process whose clothes were made by peter peek the english ti tailor kilor whose ruail road ster ran on a french clias chassis sig whose wants wore were served by a japanese houseman whose life in short was that of a successful citizen 0 of the republic but she wr not only was nas she dissatisfied she was at once remorseful and indignant as though slie she selina dejong the vegetable podler had been partly to blame for this success of his and partly cheated by it when selina dejong lad been selina peake slie she had blied flied in chicago with tier her father they had lived in runny many other cities as well in denver during the rampant SOs in new york nhen I 1 selina was twelve lu in milwaukee briefly there was even a san francisco interlude which was always a little littie sketchy in gelinas Se linas mind find and had ended in a departure so hurried as to bewilder even selina who had learned to accept sudden comings and abrupt goings without question bust business tier father alez always ays said little deal she never knew until the day of ills his death liow how literally the ord deal was applicable to ills his business transactions simeon teake peake traveling the coun try A till ills little daughter daus lter was a gambler bler by profession temperament and natural talents when in luck they lived royally stopping at the best hotels eating strange succulent sea viand going to the play driving in hired rigs always with two horses if simeon renke reake lind had not enough money for a two horse equipage lie he walked when fortune lild ald tier her face they lived in boarding houses ate boardinghouse boarding house meals wore the clothes bought when fortunes breath was balmy during all this time selina attended tended rit schools good bad private public with surprising regularity considering tier her nomadic existence slie had a beautiful time Us milt for three ears to recall which was to tier lier like entering a sombre icy room on leaving a warm and glowing one tier her life was free interesting varied she made decisions usually devolving upon the adult mind she selected clothes site she ruled tier her father she read absorbedly books found in boardinghouse boarding house parlors n hotels in such public libraries as tile the times a afforded she was alone for hours a day daly dally frequently her father fearful of loneliness for tier lier brought tier her an armful of books and she lad an orgy dipping and swooping about abelt among them in a sort of gourmands ecstasy of indecision in in this way at fifteen she knew tile the writings of isy by ron jane austen dickens charlotte bronte felicia II emans ifer her three dark years frons from nine to twelve were spent with i fill her ber tn to 0 malden maiden aunts the Ti misses lisses sarah and abble peake in the dain prim vermont peake house bouso front which tier her father the black sheep haj run ai alfay ay when a boy after tier mothers death simeon peake had sent his little daughter nick hack east cast in a fit of remorse and temporary helplessness on ills his part and a spurt of forgiveness and sin churchly tt 1 I V A T I 1 ny x A I 1 e I 1 ff 8 she read absorbedly books found in boarding house parlors charity on tile lie part of ills his two sisters the two to were incredibly drawn dran in the pattern of tile the new englund spinster of fiction mitts pre preserves erel bible hilly best room solemn and eat cat order little girls then smelled of apples of ul withered that lac banc rotted at the core something tiling of this slie site joust hi alil eo meed in tier lier di desperation it to tier lier father lit in tin an uncensored letter alth fill iut ut warning lie had come coine fur tier lier lad lit at sight of him slie she had bud been guilty of the only tit fit of that son soniker ikei tier lier lift before or after tile the episode ep iode so then from telie to uIn nineteen eteen site was happy they had come to chicago in 1885 alieu ben slie aas N as sixteen chere they remained selina attended elbs Fi aisters select school for young ladles when tier her father brought lier her there tic lie had raised quite a flutter in the fister breast so sort soft spoken was lie so gentle so sad so winning us as to smile in the investment business lie he explained stocks and aai tint that kind 0 of thing A ul dower miss fister said yes she understood simeon peake had 1 ad had nothing of the look of the professional gambler of the day the wide slouch hat the flowing in moustache the glittering ebe 03 the too bright hoots the gny gay cravat all were missing in simeon peakes makeup true he lid did sport a singularly clear white diamond pin in ills his shirt front and his hat lie he wore just a little on one side eat but then these both were mere in the male mode and quite commonly seen for the rest lie he seemed a mild and suave man slim a trifle diffident speaking seldom and then with a new england drawl by which lie had come honestly enough Verni vermont ont peake beake that lie he was chicago was ills his meat it was booming prosperous lie ile played in good luck lack arril bad b ad but blit lie managed somehow to see to it that there was always the money to pay for the fister schooling selina was happy slie site inea only such your young people girls as she met it at alli s aisters Fl Fi school ifer her churn was julle julie giempel II empel daughter of august giempel II Il empel empol the llie dark clark street butcher you yon probably now own some soine giempel stock it if youre lucky and eat bacon anil rid hams cured in the hickory for in chicago the distance from butcher of issa to packer of was only a five bear ear leap being so much alone developed in tier her a gift for the ninke belleve believe in a comfortable well dressed way she was a sort of mixture of dick Snivel lers marchioness and sarah crewe kven in tier lier childhood she extracted from life the double enjoyment that comes come usually only to the creative mind now im doing this dils now im doing that she told herself while she was doing it looking on while title she participated perhaps tier her theatergoing theater going had bad something to do with this at an age when nhen most little girls were not only unheard but practically unseen she occupied a grownup grown up seat at the play her rapt face with fill its dark serious eyes glo globing ing in a sort of luminous pallor as she sat proudly next tier her father in this way bellna halt half hidden in the depths of an orchestra se seat qt wriggled in ecstatic anticipation when the curtain ascended on the grotesque rows of IIa Ila verlys minstrels she wit hesed that startling innovation a jewish play called sami of posen she saw fannie daenport in pique simeon even tool took tier her to it a performance of that shocking and delightful folia of nf new entertainment the lie extravaganza the thin thing I 1 like ahdout plays arid and books Is that an anthina tiling thing can happen anything 1 you tou never know selina said no different from life simeon peake assured tier lier youve no idea the things that happen to you it if sou just relax and take them as they come curiously enough simeon said tills this not through ignorance but deliberately libera tely and N ith reason in ills his NN way fly and lay day lie he was a very modem bodein father 1 I ii want ant you to see all kinds lie would say to her 1 I want you to realize that this whole thing Is just a grand adventure A fine show the trick Is to play in it and look at it nt at the same time what whole tiling thing liking Lii ing all mixed up the more kinds of people you see and the more things sou nou do and the more thins that happen to you the richer you artlen it if not pleasant things living remember no 10 matter what happens 3 good or bad its just so much lie he used the gamblers term unconsciously just so touch velvet cut but selina bellna ro somehow mellow understood you mean illean that auy things better than being aunt sarah and aun ann abbie well I 1 es there are only two kinds of people in tile the world orld thit that really count one kinds wheat and the other kinds emeralds fanny davenporte davenports Daven ports no an everaid eme raid said selina quickly and rather surprised to find herself it yes it and and julle julie father lies wheat by golly helel shou shoumei sli teI simeon peake youre a shrewd little tyke 1 I julle julie hempel and selina both finished products or of miss Fi listers school wore cre of sin an aw 1111 nineteen eteen selina on this september day biad tin been spending tile the with julie and now adjusting tier her hat preparatory to leaving slie site clapped tier her hands over tier bior barg to to shut out the sounds ot of julles that site she stay htay to supper certainly Certai nl the prospect of ili the usual monday evening meal to in mrs boarding house did not present e excuse us for gelinas yel Se lius linas refusal indeed the hie licul pel supper its as sketched dish for dish by tile the urgent julle julie brought little reedy greedy groans 3 from selina its prairie chickens three of them that hat a farmer west of oc town brought father Lr mother ll ollier fixes them with stuffing and there s entrant jell creamed unions onions and baked eti eb arid and for dessert apple roll selina snapped the elastic holding tier her bl high crowned hat under tinder herchig her chig non of hair in the hack buck site she uttered a abnal and quavering groan on monday nights we have cold mutton nod and cabbage at mrs this Is monday llon day well then silly why not etayl father comes home at six it if tm rm not there lies hes disappointed julle julie plump blonde placid forsook tier her soft white banishments banish ments and tried steel against the steel of gelinas Se linas decision ue he leaves you right after supper and youre alone every night until welve twelve and after 1 I ilont dont see what nhat that has fins to to do with it selina galil stiffly it if im not there hes disappointed and fit eliat at terrible mrs T bill makes eyes at him film ile he hates ji if there then I 1 dont see why you stay I 1 never could hee ce youre been there four months now no and I 1 think its horrid an and bluffy nn an il oilcloth on the stairs father haq had some temporary business setbacks tulle julle fond though defeated kissed lier her friend goodby good by selina walked quickly the short distance front from tile the house houge to on Deir dearborn borm avenue up in her second room slie site took oil off tier her hat bat and catlett called to tier her father but lie he had lit N N i A t AGNEW thud shuffle thud shuffle up the narrow stairway not yet come in she was glad lad of 0 that slie she had been tearful fearful of being late she regarded her hat vath some |