| Show If rit ll W lm I I zo 20 e. e DRAGGED BACK Trapped by the turn of events crent Claire Catre poured out her heart henrt to Jane I tot am sick Bick to the tho soul Mul the letter ran for I can sec ace no noway way out M My mother Is really 11 ill this time Angle my ray next younger sister has set Bel tho tim date for her marriage and mother ln in in- It will make her worse woree If Ir they postpone It it Dell Deli m my flapper sister I Is harum harum- rum c. There There- Is no dependability about her She's Sho's In her tier last year Jear of high school and md Its It's out of ot the question ques Ion tion to put her nt at the tho head of th tho household Abla aU 2 is Is a J full fledged trained nurse with case cao No one ono expects Abble Abbie to give Ive up a n anoble anoble noble work like that to come and drudge In Turners Junction So Its It's up to me Dont Don't you OU sec lice ee it t Brownie Brownl Ivo always been the family fam tam tI fly ily goat I suppose I I must play therole therole the tho role rolo to the endI endI end I seo ace a n vision of my future A old maid malel who hn has not even e the consolations of ot city In New York one can cnn be a n bachelor girl with a flat Ont and a latchkey and some men friends and the tho stimulating rou roUe routine tine Uno of or office life lire Here well Here well can cnn you ou see I O me Always Always Al Al- ways behind the tho st styles thin and sniff f fy trying to make mako something out ot of the tho events of ot the tho village Living in tho reflected interests of at other people Taking care of my sisters sister's sis ala ter's children 1 Being Invited out of at pit pity to the house houscH of contented married married mar mar- ried ned couples And at nt night whether night whether It Is the tho evening of ot an actual day or orthe ortho ortho tho the evening of or my life I life I can enter Center tam tain myself as 18 old women do by remembering re re- the tho gayeties 8 of or youth I 1 will tell myself BO RO often oCten that Ivo o had chances t to marry that th by and b by Ill I'll come to believe it It ft and cackle about It to young yeans girls gina who will be bo laughing at me in their sleeves Oh Brownie how bow place drags me mo down I have havo all the drudgery ot of othomo home homo without the tho hominess of possessing posses posses- sing it I dream ot of our adorable flat Have Hn-e you OU remembered to pa pay tho iceman Ice- Ice i i man I owed him for tor five pieces And AndI I theres there's a list In the tho kitchen drawer of I the the- canned goods and staples wo we need need- I cd to stock up with I I If It I had hal never left home I could have stood It better hetter But Dut to have haY I known the other to have scaled halt 1 the cliff clift and then dropped backward Is too discouraging To keep from thinking all nil night I Itry Itry Itry try to tiro tire myself out Of course mother needs a n good deal o of attention attention atten atten- I tion although h she Ia Ms slightly better now And tho the house was in a me mess s. s Ive I've gone over it from attic to cellar I cleaning and rearranging Ive I've fixed myself a room at the tho top of the house so as to be awa away from the clatter clat chit ter of ot the tho boys Thc They say gay nobody has over 1 Invented perpetual motion Well Vell then thoy they have e never come corne In contact with m my two young oung brothers The They are not only perpetual motion but perpetual noise If Ir I should ever marry Id I'd want ant nothing but girls But there thoro Theres There's no danger I I seldom go JO out The Tho only places I visit arc are the drug store and dear dearold dearold old Miss Cowans Miss Prudence Cowan who loaned me tho the money to come to New ew York remember Is a aJoy ajoy ajoy Joy and a n comfort We 0 have talks together She is BO so mad at m my having hav hay lug ing to be bo dragged back as she calls caliA it IL that it makes a n sort of or outlet out outlet let for my own feelings The Tho other day as ns I was walking b home me from Miss Prue's an ancient beau u of ot mine picked me up in his Ford and spun me mo out the tIle road a n apiece apiece piece for Cor some air nIl Ho lie la is about as interesting as a head d of cabba cabbage o But Buthe ho he means well and owns 0 the tho town drug store Hes He's a n widower with Ith ono one child Ho He talks most of the time about I the price of or belladonna and bo borax bet ax But Dut as 8 I said Hiram Biram means well Of or orI I course his hIt n name namo me would bo he Hiram m I Tell me me dear have you ou heard anything anything any any- thing of ot John Reaves since hi h went I abroad 1 Lovingly LO and longingly ly CLAIRE To be bo continued |
