Show connected with long distance by ANNA ROBESON BURR U 0 by doubleday rc page t CO alu aie children had kept me up billy wile was fretful poor little chapt as aa ho he had been every night light since that day when the house was filled with white flowers find people in black the older ones too were veto resl leea and hard to satisfy their world had been upset somehow they seem to understand the absence of that person who ft ho had never ile before willingly left them and who it if she shedid did always alway Is came nin ning up the nursery stair her voice calling eagerly attend ahead 0 of her to ask it all were well there no wonder bonder they were troublesome and I 1 was long in soothing thIng them and longer still after wards quieting myself ni self tj till 11 I 1 tell fell into info a grief stricken sleep it woe was the telephone struggling to ring that roused me I 1 sat up in bed with an awful dread of some fresh misfortune catching at my benit heart the ale bell seem to ring and the thing just stood there fighting to tell me something but horribly horrible unable inarticulate clicking and buzzing 1 I pushed the hair out of my iny sticky eyes and seized it called into it I 1 the night was unusually still oo no wind mind moved the he trees on the floor fidor lay bars of briget moonlight j I 1 looked at them as I 1 waggled the lioom up and flown down and tried to win some answer out but of the eliciting arid and buzzing fot for a few minutes there was a hopeless i chaos of df find fend then the disturbance seemed to clear up and dle die awny away giving place fill all at once to that tense vibrating lium hum singing over the wires vires which always means a long distance call who could be calling rn me in thi the middle of 0 the night from such a long ing distance now feverishly awake and frightened benedi I 1 called again but only that soft song bf the wires answered roe me my afy imagination as always seemed fofol to follow those wires where they hummed in the night wind or shone in the moonlight across towns and fields fielda and prairie over mountains and rivers from far so far away beyond the world beyond space and from the stars 1 hello 7 ehos calling who Is there I 1 begged then thin and faint anduar and faifar far as the stars themselves came the voice A voice I 1 knew and oh marvel of heaven I 1 a voice I 1 expected to bear hear ddn nan oh nan Is it youl you ah nan are you there so faint so for far so thing III ing that voice the horrible heavy heady beating 0 of my heart leaped to recognize it yes degi I 1 am here it if Is 3 L speak to td mel fael oil ob god what miracle nil racie Is this my aly children how are my children not nan can you hear tell ine mo about my children I 1 so anguished so faint so marthat far that voice 1 my children tell roe me about quick quick how are my children I 1 pulled myself together I 1 wasted no more time somehow Some howl I 1 seemed to know that only a moment would be vouchsafed to us find and that I 1 must make haste so I 1 spoke into the telephone one as steadily as I 1 could the children ore are all well dear I 1 am doing the best I 1 con cani billy lifts lias been a little fretful with his teeth but floras cold Is better helen went back to school today she wore her sweater Neater si and warm cap I 1 talk to them about you ou every bedtime bed time I 1 think I 1 hope they will get used to it soon they are ard so young I 1 I 1 shall not let them forget I 1 am ni doing the best it I can and all Is well with them be comforted eda dead deihr do you hear me are you comforted no sound save that thrilling of the wires far far beyond rayond what I 1 hungered policar to hear licar and I 1 called again and again ahe the children are am well well dearest 1 tell ino file you hear cant you ou speak sneak to me I 1 xo no answer r save the soft humming hilm ming song from infinite space and ali then en ahat number plenge please that thai vo voice recalled rec 1111 meto lne to the madness of my walting waiting and to my tears for awhile they kept me f fram rom then I 1 looked look ed out upon the bars of clear moonlight and andi I 1 was suddenly quieted find awed hello If eliol I 1 arc you still connected with long distance hello alic ta e operator was ivas persistently trying t to speak to me so go before I 1 hung bung up I 1 answered tho the telephone thank you houi saw 1 I was connected with long ong stance I 1 believe but its eldad |