Show WAS THE OLD STORY 3 HAROLD CARTER said tho the farmers wife gently coming up to where he sat and placing tier her arm round tits his neck what are you going to do about ilessie and her little girl the old man looked up angrily do lie he repeated lit in a dull mcchan mechanical way what do you suppose I 1 am going to do nothing but we cant lot tier her starve dear 11 she would have lot let me starve an aworey william ives staring into tile tho fire if there been min minerals erald on that piece of land I 1 owned and soll mary where v r cald we WB b be e now in III tua lie poorhouse i rave gave my best years yeara to her and now no let hor enri tw hr own living hut but the board wont appoint ap a married woman as a teacher when she has a child even it 11 her husband la is dead willlam william said bald tile the anxious mother wont you help her no said eald tier her husband finally Elve everyone in locust know knew the story commonplace enough it was yet os one that finds its yearly equivalent in a thousand siimes li imes william ives and his wire wife lind had scraped for feare impoverishing their scanty scarcity resources resource td to put their child through college when she had secured an ail appointment its aa teacher she eho was to rep repay ay them thein by h helping support thorn them five years had passed since ll lies essies graduation and tor for a tow few months sho aho had contributed to t 0 the family income then sho she had bad given up her position to marry a poor writer john turner was waa consumptive when she khe married him and soon the Us its ease had him in its full grasp ile ha took his wife and baby west and died there hero nessle bessie had come back to locust i to secure a position us its teacher kut but the new board had passed stringent rules born out of tile the oversupply over supply of teli chers and under tinder those these bessie was unequivocally de barred she had not gone home sho she was waa staying with an old time friend who had taken inken pity on tier her and tho the little girl and given them temporary shelter it as it if I 1 had wanted to send hor her to college muttered the tha old man 1 I aint hard I 1 meant to treat the girl well avell and when title nhe pleaded ali ool ol 01 you speak like a big bear grampa 1 l I 1 and pleaded I 1 resist her but what gratitude did she show me dear it was to be expected said his wife every girl thinks of mar ilage flage college or no college I 1 lot let her starve answered the farmer shortly but he slept lit little tia that night and sighed next morning as lie ha went out to his fields the mother had seen the aughter lugh ter she had visited her without telling tier her husband william ives ivea labored hard under his grievance ile he was cult to turn the mothers heart was bleeding but she could do nothing if only he be could see little minnie a ho he might feel differently she ahe mused kissing hissing the child where do 00 oo live gramma gr animal in faired minnie clutching at the old Wo comans womans maits skirts in the big white house over yonder answered the old woman sadly 14 then me an mamma corn com to see you said little minnie gravely and the farmers wife turned her face away days passed she had not dared renew the discussion with her husband all the village was waa talking about the situation most blamed tho tha father but a few thought hu he was acting rightly this was the conservative element the older folks who were still to the higher education of women jt it was about a week after tier her conversation verea tion with her husband that mary alary ives heard him film calling angrily from the front porch on which lie sat after his supper to smoke and read she hurried out of the house to see the old man glaring at the child 00 oo ocl you speak just like a big bear grampa raped lisped binalo take rake her away shouted ives in exasperation you cant fool me by auk any such trick as that mary alary what do you mean faltered 1 ills 13 wife isyou you know what I 1 mean you hatched this scheme with that girl that trued to be mine thought you would could gotten the abo old mans mana heart by ap patching up ili a clumsy worn out like that you he ene anc erod veil I 1 tell you it wont work see aco oo mocked the child speak like a bear again gram grampa nr ampa pal she stood in front of him gazing up into his face with wita childish rapture evidently she mistook tile tho old farm ors cra angry tones for playful growls ani and was mightily amused thereby como come herel here said bald tho the old man looking nt at her feronto ferociously 1 ly who told you to com allier e t to i ine e ilo ale told me said little minnie gramma said bald 00 oo ave in the big white house me ate come tile the man smiled bitterly so your grandmother put you up to this trick did she alic he asked do you know who I 1 am Es 00 oo grampa said bald the child nestling confidently against hla his knee william ives was waa bovil bewildered derod in spite of hla his hardness liard nesa and of his resolution a now new tenderness was waa creeping into hla his heart the little creature was singularly like his daughter as she had been at that age lie ho could picture perfectly lit in his minds eye whon when she eha was waa tour four lie ho used to sit out there on the same bamo porch smoking his pipe and listening to tier her childish prattle but how different had bad been his thoughts theril how high his hopes had been bessio was its his first born there had boon been it a boy but hu he tied had died and all hla his pride had centered in the girl after hla his sons death what are arc you going to bo be when you grow up cupl tho the old man asked tho the child lie ile spoke in a mechanical way hardly knowing what he said because he was fighting hard to td keep back the flood of tenderness that brimmed over within wathla him me ile go to college lisped minute minnie at mo 0 go to mammas college william ives let lct hla his pipe fall from his hand and his eyes became suddenly dim dial so it was ivan the old story all over again and tho younger generation was dreaming the same dreams and hoping the same earn hopes when hla his old life was broken william WIlli arnt I 1 said hla his wife appealingly send her home then but dont be angry with her poor little mite you hear that asked the old man of the child you go homo home now and and tell your mother suppers waiting ing for her do you understand my dear he continued taking her in his bis arms and kissing her in a shamefaced manner the child toddled away happily iut but the old man sat very silently upon tile the porch 1 I guess ivateen ive been wrong mother lie ho said at length lengal huskily weve had our day and wo we expect the younger people to think about us I 1 guess I 1 guess we can afford another college course whether wo we live to set it through or not ell eh mother copyright 1414 19 by W 0 chapman ChaPM Rn |