Show 10 Declaring Her Independence A a ROM the time she was FIrn five years old Gloria West lad linen Imbued Ii UJIW 9 I with patriotic feeling 1 and a reverence fort It for-t the constitution of her a I C country Her father had been a soldier and her grandfather before him and when she was so little as to bo tillable to get up Into a chair without with-out being lifted she had to sit solemnly solemn-ly by tho side of her sisters and brothers and listen to tales of heroism hero-Ism told by her father On every Fourth of July as regularly regu-larly as that date rolled around Gloria and all the members of her family had been forced to nit patiently and respectfully re-spectfully In a circle about the old dining room while their father read Impressivelyso she had believed every word of the declaration of independence in-dependence No firecrackers no torpedo no cele bratlon of any sort took place in the West family until after this patriotic duty had been done And then the old flag was drawn high on its pole and the various members of the family were allowed to celebrate In their own ways Gloria was nineteen now and I though her father had long since passed on to tho resting place of brave soldier the old custom of reading the declaration on the mornIng morn-Ing of every Fourth of July still prevailed pre-vailed In the family And there were many candidates for tho place at Glorias side The young men In the pretty western town would gladly have joined the circle even though it meant absolute submission to the will of the beautiful beauti-ful Gloria I wouldnt be married and submit masculine per to the wishes of a mere son she said to her sister one evening eve-ning when the latter young woman was preparing to go to make a distasteful j I husband tasteful duty call for her And what would you do asked tho sister Indulgently Independence and Id assert my And have war instead of peace In Interrupted the wiser your family sister sisterNot at all protested Gloria laugh to have n constitu were going ing she added with tlon In our family undue stress on the progressive pronouns itt And he shall abide by nouns i cicinr lii surprise asked ner s isifi Ho decided which one It Then have you shall bo noncommittal At was Gloria doesnt know It I have he least If policy to dls said It IB poor she of war you close the maneuvers linen war at all bound to hao Youre parting com sisters events was her I Slowing Gloria had asked a fancy Following constant admirers to blx of Her most Declaration at tho tin reading of tho morning of her old homestead on the Fourth of July nineteenth Independ e I shall dechlro Ill she own said n John that day on enc 01 ou bOS and overy ono IIl1nll1On Wont It be sign It shall she added roguishlY 1101 tno constitution And may I draw up union a Gloria 1 10 insure a perfect asked half la jest the young man halt In earnest wits Called ber quick Eveu Glorias for a moment There wero so many ways to take that Yes she said with a gleam 01 daring In her eyes as she looked squarely at him draw up a constitu lion and well have it put before the whole house In the merry Jest of tho morning when Gloria hud laughingly presented to her professed admirers a document wherein she had set forth her acts 01 independence each had felt an underlying un-derlying strain of seriousness and I Vcf l ov iZh1 2 di I 1 Gloria Turned and Saw Him I each wanted to talk with her Jokingly Joking-ly they had signed It thereby making themselves slaves to her whims henceforth hence-forth then and forever all but John II11 in in on Even In view of Its being the veriest Jest he refused laughlngl though It was to add his name to the list under Glorias perpendicular scrawl Gloria had been accordingly pinned and though she smiled 1 and danced and made merry still she wondered won-dered why ho had refused so trifling a fancy on her part At last they were all gone and Gloria wns standing on the threshold listening to their footsteps die away on the old brick walk Presently she heard one pair of steps coming back Someone had forgotten something Gloria said till deep voice 01 John Hammon Just one moment bo fore you go Gloria turned and saw him In the moonlight Yes she acquiesced It I such a strange little voice that slit hardly recognized It Ithnt Is 1 have dravn up tin constitution ho said his hand ot his pocket Hut you didnt sign the declara tlon Gloria reminded him a little pout on her lips Ill sign anything If you say thl Is all right read It ho broke or suddenly thrusting a folded pope Into her hand Look at It and tel mo If you think It will Insure us t perfect union deir And In tho moonlight Gloria unfolded unfold-ed the paper to find lying tied wlthli Its folds n ring She did not speak Dear give me your hand and le our constitution he mo draw up said Will you She did and It fitted so wallwill fitting as Gloria put It some lout JO minutes afterwardthat Aho decide to accept It |