OCR Text |
Show f I'titiiwAX timf:s. pxkowan. itaii i i t. fet fIIra la lota MiIi'Iim. Urut, ljul Gordo. Her muibrr, Jolla. It optrl at hrr oaa kotbaad, Iba rt II u hard, ditappraird darlbf ar a ad ab bad kuprd lo apart brr daocbitr Irom brim aa army alia. k a JlU'a ferolbar. Hit, U latoltrd to "P w dltorrra and Jill lotatUfaia Iba Itallrr. Ilir lallt brr ka la oa duty and aaabla to art brr bul abila tba It daarlm a lib Spanf , Ibrr tra Hie and Iba aumaa la 4U Sandra I alttrt, Urjribrr. titdi bandra aa oldrr, bardrard a. Ifelrr tha It arrotlrd b Caplaio Oaa-Id- a Marbay. hnooa al camp at old lla lain brr bt hnrtr brr mother paart ao. lla lookt ttturly Umillar. Jill life i qurt-Uoa- h nitl'TUt VII! She might ns well entch t1 e afternoon bus. but she would have lunch first ond then try calling Spang . gain to say good-byFew people were in the diningroom, a few commercial travelers. even! lonely finking women whom Jill catalogued as officers wives, a child perched in a high chair and being coaxed to drirk mdk by a mother, nrd at a table secluded near a window was the blonde Mrs. Calvert. Jill went straight to her table. she said coolHow do you do Im Jill McFarlane, we met ly. last night. Mind if I sit here? I have a phobia about eating alone. Mrs. CalDelighted, Im sure. vert was cool, too, ond definitely I i wan-lookin- g if t 3 t j l I t r i unenthusiastic. ished. s r I ! VT'KKS Crowded into the 4.000 feet of Roadside America, world's ereat-es- t indoor miniature village, is the panorama of Americansquare (1 Sleepy history: nio pfJneer iVln the "St: !2'S Shri'": church " a "Pifa ' memorial chapel in ihe a7Ps; notePof modern- m ,niZlaTt thi ,rcons rUK,: 4.) ,the rport, laid out like a real field, lends n It- - (T Picturesque Miniature Village Depicts History of America f eatures. at the of a dream did not deter Laurence Gieringer; instead, shattering it embarked him on a hobby which over a span of 44 years has resulted in creation of a picturesque miniature village which has attracted nationwide attention and lured millions of visitors. VTNU - j ) however. Im practically My lunch" had done a naive and childish thing. She' quite jure that Ric is rich womans son and that I'm a meddling sister with my knife out for greed v throats I.ke fiers. Jill told herself. S) e put Ric out of her mind grimly ond thought only of Spang, wondering if she would see him again. Everj thing lovely that she owned she had put on this morning. She had turned a hundred times before the k twice, mirror, changed her worried at her nails, and pinned and repmned her hair into exactly the right sort of halo so that every curl shoulJ shimmer with allure, when at Inst the telephone rang. Hello, Jill. I was Spang said, afraid you might have checked lip-tic- Tennessee named Julia MsFr. lane. That s part of the technic jiii "But it could be true, you'kncw Mother was a belle before se married, and it was war tl en Spang. You couldnt by any clVc.' be jealous?" "Sure, Im Jealous! I dont tn.it Cyanide, for all his bars and mrt. als. Jill giggled delightedly. Vour. so funny. Spang. The po(r 04 man looked entirely harmless me. Just a lonely, unhat py n'ito man." "He's not so old. I dont trust him any, Jill. Stay away from th ft llow." Oh, Ill be going home right away now, on the afternoon bus. You don't I may not go for hours know when youre leaving, Spang?" Will 1 see )ou again, Spang?" "No, I dont know, and even If Sorry," he said sluwly, while I did, I couldnt tell you. J.Il-a- nd Jills heart grew heavier, can you know better than to ask." make it today. Theyre running in "You'll be fighting, wont you?" Sunday classes on me. I'll be tied Gosh, I hope so! Im tired of this academic stuff. up all day. But I had a moment The havent read any books, but Japj look how they fight! "Will you write to me. Spang?" "If I have a chance, I will. Wifl you answer if I write?" "How silly! Of course Ill Pages and pages, all about the pigs. "You can tell me what youre out. Oh, no doing." What would she be doing" Wait-inHung up by the heartstrings, tormented by the inching of the hours! Oh, Spang, please let me have love to keep, a fire to warm myself by when the dark comes too fin- she made a little gesture toward the half consumed salad before her, is usually unimportant. A few vitamins "nd no caloYoure ries?" Jill took a ci.a r. one of the courageous women. I'm a farm gal myself, with an out-- I rageous appetite." "You're very fortunate to be able to indulge it. Few women can and keep the respect of their mirrors. I'll have the jellied soup, stuffed crab, and some coffee, please, Jill told the hovering waitress, then leaned her chin on her palms. You live here, Mrs. Calvert? In the ho- early! But though Lget'W a dozen times, . love. He hung up, " half of y speak wiL ' -- 'me little flick as the salute Re6V6ry e gave when he left her. love breathed, "I you. But the click of the teleSpang. phone being disconnected left the whisper hanging in air, unheard, unanswered. After that she cried. Long and wretchedly, all alone, with the hot afternoon passing. The yellow leaves began falling from the apple trees and the sumac burned red against the fences. Jill crossed her booted leg over the saddle. The mare, Daves new saddle mare, was warm and saltily moist and lazy. I hate September Jill said abruptly. Its a stupid month, that doesnt mean anything. It isnt summer, and it isnt fall. It just, sulks through thirty days. All the flowers are tired, but they wont die, and the whole world looks shabby. People look shabby, too, in fady summer clothes or fall things that show dust and are smothery. If ever I do something completely mad and unforgivable it will be because its September and I cant bear it. Dave did not look at her. Julia was worried about Jill, her growing irritation, her restlessness, her impatience with everything. "That isnt the answer, Dave," Julia had said. "Not trumped-ujobs that she sees through instantly and does with that air of awful patience and thinly concealed coutp-Sh- tel?" Mrs. Calvert was studying her eyebrows in a little mirror, discid plining the curves with a forefinger. Im a camp follower, she said I followed my husband here my former husband. Then he was transferred back to the Islands, and I decided that I couldnt endure being married to him any more. So Im staying because when youre entirely alone places don't matter. And with all the boys at the field so near there's less chance to be lonely, of course? Mrs. Calverts eyes sharpened a little, but her voice kept its cool smoothness. Theyre such nice boys, all of them. I was an officers wife, badly cramped by a lot of taboos and military procedure, but now that Im free I enjoy being with these boys of my own age. My husband was years older, she added, and definitely a home tyrant. I shouldnt talk about him, poor Win, he may be in some ghastly jungle now in horrible danger! Nice, safe danger, after being married to you! Jill was thinking with the crude brutality of youth. Aloud she said, Nice of you to give so much time to Richard. Ric has always been more or less of a family problem. My mother was terribly worried about him until he enlisted. "Rickeys getting on well. Im aure. Though, of course, military long-naile- creating stained glass. As visitors mill about the village, the lights are dimmed and fro mthe open door of the church pours religious music from a tiny organ. Outside the church a ragged tramp leans lazily against With the passionate covetousness a white fence, a dog at his heels. of a child, the Laurence millions of visitors every year. When the organ strains fade, 'Im quite delirious about used to sit nightly in the window a different type of music issues Delving into their venture with enarmy hadnt you heard? of his home in a Pennsylvania thusiasm, the boys scoured the lifrom a large barn, in which an valley and gaze longingly at a house brary for books on American arand I thought Id spend it with you. barn dance is proon the mountainside a toy house, it chitecture from the Nice of Mr. Alexander Graham Bell pioneer days gressing. Nearby planes seem seemed to him, as its lights blinked to modern times. A kindly art teach about to take off from an airto have fixed that for us, isnt it? enticingly in the distance. He want- er gave them drawing lessons at while a few feet away peoport Well put up a plaque for him ed that tiny house, wanted to pick three cents for plain sketching, five ple are packed into a grandJill answered, making somewhere, It up in his hands and bring it home. cents for pastel stand watching a baseball game. work, the fees her voice light, not letting disapWhen his repeated pleas to set out covering only the cost of material. Animation marks the exhibits. pointment creep into it. "Sorry I In quest of his house were ignored, difficulties soon induced There are youngsters Early have to go without seeing you. on the little boy finally became des- Laurence to walking adopt an arbitrary scale narrow curbstones, a boy whose feet Spang. perate and, stuffing a banana and of s of an inch to a foot, are tangled in an electric Som I. Though I didnt know a few crackers into his pockets, a scale he has wire, dogs all sniffing at fire hydrants, women employed whether you could stand another trudged off up the mountainside the intervening years. through hanging out their washing or gosdose of the army. in search for the little house. SearchPictures and of stories siping over back fences, trolleys the were out all night and at ing parties I'm quite delirious about the and tram in operation, water wheels way the early settlers in Amer6 oclock in the hadnt you heard? Dont you army morning the frantic ica had lived induced Gieringer mills. turning grist know that all women run dizzily parents finally discovered the grimy to build history into his miniabut undaunted boy Receive Wide Acclaim. after uniforms, especially if theyre the tures. His models, he decided, all decorated up with brass and ntempt." way up the mountainside. Bitter at The Gieringer exhibits have been could show the development of She knew so well that there was being overhauled, the boy was comstuff? widely heralded as the worlds American home and business no answer to the problem of Jill. forted only when his parents agreed I miniature did greatest hear a rumor, but I thought life as exemplified in the strucvillage and the of love, fruity and glowto take him to the end of the road. most unique and detailed masterit might be propaganda. Morale The bloom ture of homes and business ing, was upon Jill now, she was Dream Shattered. ever evolved. piece the stuff, keep boys happy, keep em buildings. with it, gilded with it, and evA staunch Disillusionment Lauclouded singing while theyre marching off ripe As a result, there now are three exponent of hobbies nerve and vein were vibrant ery to war with blisters on their heels rences eyes when he beheld just anas a means of preventing juvewith readiness, and she had not sections, one depicting the and shoulders. other ordinary sized house with no separate nile life of the early settlers, another delinquency, Gieringer inbeen chosen. Her loneliness was sists that hobbies keep children lights at all in the bright morning, that of Pennsylvania at the made brackish turn of the bitter distillalife is difficult by for men with his A Warninz no enchantment, no magic lure. off the street, the century and a third showing a adding that if tion of disappointment, and tears Men whove been ac-- 1 . background. But youngsters hands are busy, Laurence modern setting. Gieringer plans a too fiercely contained canker into Gieringers customed to freedom and having the Against Mackey they dont get into mischief. dream was not ended; in fact, it fourth eventually his version of the acid and weaken the strongest spirof course. But best, they adjust She said, Spang, I ate lunch with His dream is to see establishhad only begun. Today, at 54, he it. village of tomorrow. themselves Wre have beautifully. Mrs. that ment of a national hobby cenCalvert today. I simply owns countless lighted houses Julia to admire their spirit. Built From Scraps. ter where exhibits of all kinds crashed in, and I know now that I had'Take her places, Dave," anythat he can pick up in his hands I do cannot pleaded. I hope Ric decides to stay on in was awfully stupid about it. I told can be shown to inspire other Scraps of wood, discarded tin along with churches, barns the army. Jill salted the vapid her that Ric hadnt any money, and thing for her. To a woman in Jill's cans, wire, pieces of metal, pipe hobbyists. bridges, highways, railroads state of mind other women are upoked at rubbery lumps in it. she looked at me with those cynical cleaners, paper and numerous other the years both Mr. and soup, lakes, fields, grist mills, fac Throughout obnoxious, even women they tterly He hates our farm, and he hasnt eyes of hers and didnt believe a odds and ends have been utilized as Mrs. tories and scores of other min Gieringer have worked with 6hown love. for of word it. It worries me, and yet any aptitude construction materials for Giering-er- s countless anything iature models depicting the archi children from nearby else. And, of course, he hasnt any I hate to tell Mother. intricate models. tectural and industrial panoschools and orphanages. Tries Her An idea of the scope of the exhibit rama of the America of the last "If Ric gets himself into a mess Jill , AHhough Gieringer allows boys told me about your farm. It let him wiggle out of it, counseled Hand at may be gained by noting some of training in his workshop to use mefew hundred years. Cupid must be a lovely the materials which have gone into chanical quite a Spang. Might be good for him. So Dave and Jill rode the hills equipment, all of Roadside show place, he said. place Collectively they are known as its I inwas so Maybe hes depended on other peo- on this first Sunday in September Roadside America, which is situat- of making. They include 9,520 feet America has been built completely terested in board lumber, 4,000 feet of build- by hand and with hearing about it. ple too much already." ed four miles west of Hamburg, Pa and when Jill had spoken her tirade ordinary carpenIts a pig farm." Jill was blunt. But it might break my mothers against the between Harrisburg and Allentown! ing paper, 1,728 feet of railroad and ter tools. weather she Ric must have let his imagination heart. I have to think of trolley track, 11,080 feet of electric Originally set up as a Christmas kicked toe her into the stirback Roadside America had its begin- wire, that, 513 light bulbs, 12,000 pounds display m the once he got away th. be of Fet And home she has for Spang. head up had and Gieringer the mares four rup jerked ning enough years after Laurences of plaster, 4,000 miniature figures, showing to neighbors and visitors from K Whe" he 0161,6 he loathes heartbreak for one lifetime. and said in a sharp and harsh voice, abortive attempt to bring home the 10,000 miniature trees and shrubs. the miniatures about it. We have to later were exhibited I hadnt thought of that, Dave, why dont you marry my lighted house from the mountaintop. 250 pounds of nails, 42 Spang mother? gallons of in a Reading fire house and in a work awfully hard to keep it going. said. With his younger brother, Paul, he two works mother of barrels all My in overlocal paint, green sawdust, day park, all earnings going to alls Dave let his reins fall slack and had climbed another mountain near six You couldnt do anything about tons of stone, 8,000 pounds of and a mans shirt. I got this The present Roadside the horse reached instantly, unreReading. Far below them Reading sand, 145 miniature railroad cars chanty. him moved to another post, getting She exhibitAmerica was established in 1941, a blister hoeing beans. looked like a city inhabited by doll and 1,700 feet of tracks for proved, for a sassafras bough. ed her palm. Our farm help have could you, Spang? trains and portion of the proceeds still men. Fascinated by the sight, Laugoing Because he said slowly she ff t0 No, I couldnt, Jill. Im only a to charity. Although wartime gaso- - g0n,e, army, and even my rence said eagerly: Paul, wouldnt trolleys. believes that shes still married to the miniatures line rationing shattered officer technical among Highlight to has grandfather and here, 61h.tyy6?r'ld those It be swell to build little houses the is a attendance, work, father. so if Ric has been embroideryour church with beautiare handled a record number of visitors things by personnel viewed same size they look from here? Jill clicked her teeth. You know fully e windows, a task the displays last season and still ing tales to you about green lawns boards with a lot of inThus was born the idea which was that handpainted that hope is fantastic, Dave. and pedigreed horses and stuff, just volved. Mackeys on that months of exacting la- larger crowds are required board, to grow into a project enchanting bor as expected this write them off as a homesick "Yes, Jill, I know. e Gieringer sought means of summer. boys and he keeps the tightened she I never saw my father, wishful thinking. up plenty stiff. I cant even talk went on. He was in France when Mrs. Calverts eyes were masked to Ric, he wouldnt listen. I was born. Mother doesnt even behind carefully trained eyelids. Jill said, By the way, I saw that know 954 To for sure that he ever knew She put away her lipstick and the Captain Mackey last night after you that I was born. She wrote letters KANSAS CITY, MO. little She Traveling inary here. On Friday he hops a opening of classes mirror. reached for her left me. Spang. He came up and but never had Tuesday morn- check and nearly a thousand miles every week- train for his pastorate at Locust ing The round any answers. The picked up her purse with introduced himself. He thought that is 94 miles A trip end to preach to his congregation, Grove, Tex. letters come didnt back, nothing he once knew my mother. Leaving Kansas City railroad pass is a big lift fo- - Mr fingers that clutched a little. to think back. came the Rev. E. V. Johnson, Its at 9 p. m Friday, he has a grisly Johnsons weekly trip. Spang did not speak for a breath there over former army chaplain, ranks as the train trip before about Grandfather going Locust Grove is a small commureaching Canadian, Spang Calls to Then he said, soberly, That's an and modern version of the them open graves but watching cirTex., where his wife and two chilwhere church old line, Jill. All the old services are held SflV Good-in war things like that happen. cuit rider. A tram, however, sup- dren, Sharon, 8, and Mary Vesta, 4, nity in a but the young minit when they get their eyes spring Yes, they happen." plants the horse as his mode of trans- are waiting to take him the 16 miles ister schooLhouse, "Nice to have seen you again. on a pretty young is spearheading a movement Then we went to Washington girl. Fatherly to Locust Grove by car. Good-by- , portation. she remarked, rising. to build a church. Knock em off their and Mother and Grandfather spent approach. On the return trip, Mr. Johnson Every week from Tuesday through She Before walked away briskly, without guard. entering the army as a Friday, Mr. Johnson attends classes leaves Locust Grove on Monday to days investigating records but But he didnt appear to be inat Central Baptist Theological sem catch a train back m time for chaplain, Mr. Johnson was pastor of looking back. Jill, watching her there wasnt anything. And yet she the Boswell, Okla , Baptist church. receding shoulders, felt a terested in me at all. He merely gofs on waiting. sense of failure, a feehng thatheavy she said that he knew a girl once in Childhood disillusionment three-eighth- two-thir- I p I , sun-drun- k eveg high-spire- d red-tap- red-tap- Circuit Rider Travels old-tim- Miles Weekly Reach Parish e B s good-b- (TO BE CONTINUED) |