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Show THE andillbeli JsOiPQ, tPirccvto-THE 8T0RT THUS FAS; Allclt lUrU rumor that thert "it tomethlni mlthtj peculiar" about Mri. Fallool ilcknesi. It la discussed la the neighborhood and Megan heart It. She learnt that a ''Mitt Martha, a titter ol Mrt. Fallon, llvet with the principal and hit wile. Mesas lelt sorry (or Tom Fallon, and the thought a treat deal about the gossip about him and hit ulfe when the started to her favorite resting place on the top ol a low hill beyond the meadow. Tom Fallon wat sitting on the rock the used at a bench when the arrived. When the Inquired about hit wlfet health, When ht replied; She It mentally 111. Meg went to a quilting party at Mrs. Stuarts, Alicia pricks her about Tom. CHAPTER III I dunno as any of us think the she said An1 I dunnos any of us curtly. think Pleasant Grove Is such a hick place, come to think of It. Some folks seem to like It. If they didn't I reckin they could go somewhereg 'feasors exactly hidin, else." and Alicia colored darkly hrugged. "Im sorry I even mentioned the fact that I saw you," she said ungraciously. "But after all, the Ridge Is public property. Its not posted or anything. I had as much right to be there as you and Mr. Fallon! I was merely gathering a few Autumn leaves and some bittersweet berries to put in the blue pottery bowl in my front window." Megan was trembling a little, though she knew she was being silly. The little scene with Tom Fallon had been so absurdly innocent; yet there was something in the sly, furtive marmer of Alicias mentioning It that had made is seem evil and scheming. Megan, still furious with Alicia and her nasty tongue, got away from the quilting party as early as she decently could. At least Mrs. Stuart understood, when, at the door she drew Megan aside and said Now look here, forthrightly, dont pay no attention to that woman. Someone ought to take a gun to her and blow her to Kingdom Come, and thats a fact!" Halfway down the road, she heard a cheerful voice and turned as a pretty girl of seventeen, her arms laden with Bchoolbooks, came running towards her. "HI, Meggie," said the girl, flushed and smiling, and very pretty In a childish, round-facebright-eye- d way. "Hello, Susie youre late getting home from school! said Megan lightly. Had to stay after school and write a composition. Like a fool, I thought I could get away with not doing one according to the law of averages, I shouldn't have been called on today, but the darned law let me down. Miss Pound's a holy terror seems to look at you and know without asking a question whether you've done your homework," answered Susie bitterly. They walked together In companionable silence down the wide, unpaved road, until suddenly Susie aid bitterly, "I hear the Alicia dame dug her little stiletto into you and Professor Fallon todayl That makes you a member, In good itanding, of my own club." Megan caught her breath and topped still. "How on earth did you hear he began in amazement Susies little chuckle was dry and quite without mirth. Ob its all over the place," she aid. "By supper time, there won't be a man, woman or child within a mile of the place that wont know you've been meeting the professor secretly in the woods" "Susie. Megan wailed. That's not true" "Of course not but dyou think for a minute thats going to stop the story? Don't be a twerp, Meggie you know it won'tl said Susie. "It wasnt true that I was sneaking oil to meet Bill Esmond either but youd have a hard time convincing anybody in this town that it Isnt! Just because one afternoon I happened to run into him at the county seat and bad a soda with him. My mother hit the roof, on account of because Bill' folks are not well, not quite as high hat as mother thinks we ought to Her young voice trembled a little and she blinked hard to clear her yes of threatened tears. Megan asked curiously. Is that all there is to that story, Susie?" Susie flushed and her eye were stormy. Up to then," she "Absolutelyf added. "Oh, sure, I liked Bill we all did! He was an honor student, and the kids were crazy about him and he played football like nobody's business but Id never had a date How could with him in my life L when dad and mother practically lock me up nights? But that afternoon, mother was sick with a headache, and she wanted some stuff from the county seat that Burns didn't have, and I took the car and And I ran into Bill. drove over He'd Just had his physical and was all but ready to be taken into the Cadet Air Corps, and we celebrated by having a soda. Susie drew a deep breath and said quietly, "Bill's quite a She laughed and said, Maybe I ought to be grateful to the Stevenson wench if the hadn't SEWING CIRCLE PATTERNS Kathleen Norris Says: They walked on in silence and at the gate to the MacTavish place, they stopped and Susie said suddenly, "Mc&gle, is there any truth in what Stevenson says about Mary Rogers?" Mary Rogers? Megan repeated puzzled. You know she got expelled la3t month and she's gone to stay with her sister and learn to be a war worker a riveter or something Susie explained, and after a moment blurted out, "The Stevenson er witch says Mary is going to have a baby, and has dropped a hint that Bill may have some part in the matter" Megan said explosively, disgust In her voice, "Goodness, Susie what a foul story I" Susie nodded wretchedly. perkiness. "Oh, well " said Susie at last, and heaving a sigh. "If I dont get on home, mother will have connipt- the window the dickens of it is that most folks agree that the Stevenson's not a liar but that she just has an unholy capacity for scattering damaging truth about where it can do the most harm!" she admitted. It Just that well, Id hate to think hed be mixed up in anything like that- -" Megan said forcefully, Well, from my own personal experience, Id say Alicia Stevenson has a fatal ability to pick one tiny shred ofI and embroider it to an incredible deI went for a walk on the gree! Ridge, with my usual three-rin- g circus, and quite by accident, Mr. Fallon was also there and we exBut this changed a few words. afternoon, Alicia let drop the information that since he and Id spent hours together on the Ridge I must know him pretty well!" Susie nodded meaningfully. "Sure that's why I said you were now a member in good standing of my club! she answered. What Megan laughed a little. club is that she wanted to know. "The Club of Why the devil doesnt somebody do something to shut Alicia Stevenson up?' " answered Susie. "Its composed of practically every man, woman and child within a radius of ten mile of Pleasant Grove. Personally, Td like to see her with her throat cut from ear to ear! "Susiel gasped Megan, between shock and pity for the girl whose bloodthirsty words were at such comical variance with her Dresden china prettiness, her young, smooth flesh and shining blue eyes and golden hair. Oh, it wont happen, of course, ' said Susie ruefully. "People like that live to a ripe old age and then turn into hens teeth! They never die or have accidents! Megan put an arm about the slim shoulders and gave Susie a little "Well, don't let her get you hug. After all, everybody down, Susie. knows what shes like. "Sure and when she sticks that barbed tongue of hers into their own affairs, they say, But of But when course, thats not true. she' stabbing somebody else they " Susie say, "Now, I wonder pointed out with such truth that Megan could only agree with her soberly. ion fits and upset dad so that his dyspepsia will be worse than ever and I would like to go to the school dance the Saturday after Thanksgiving." She said good night and went on along the road. A quarter of a farther on, ahe would come to the red brick substantial, house that was Pleasant Groves finest home. Susie was the only child of Lawyer Bartlett and his wife, Maysie. The Bartletts were, next to the Burns, Pleasant Groves most substantial citizens, and Mrs. Bartlett was not one to let the town forget that for a moment. There were times when Megan felt extremely sorry for Susie and tonight was one of those times. She sighed a little and went into the house, where Annie had supper almost ready to serve. Her father was waiting for her, very comfortable In his smoking Jacket and slippers, provided with a new book (which had cost three dollars and a half, and which Megan could have borrowed for him from the small, but good local library) so he was inclined to oe For which small favor, geniaL Megan told herself wearily, she was warily. Megan turned, startled, and felt her face grow hot, even as ahe greeted him casually and matter-of-factl- y. He waited for her to come to the fence before he said anxiously, Tve been a little worried and deeply puzzled. Ive tried my darnedest to think what I could have done to upset you Megan laughed and hated herself because the laugh sounded artlficlaL "What nonsense. Professor! "But you have avoided me, and I thought possibly something I said or did he began anxiously. Megan looked up at him and aaid quietly and frankly, "I aee you havent heard the news. Mr. Fallon Puzzled, noting her use of the formal prefix rather than the careless that was alfriendly "Professor most a nickname, he said quickly, "News? No, I am afraid I havent " "1 feel very silly to be relaying It to you but I know Pleasant Grove 1 so well the attitude toward teachers, especially towards the principal of the school She floundered miserably and was silent. Tom said quietly, "I think you had better tell me straight. Miss MacTavish Thera seems to be a rumor about that you and I have been meeting secretly on the Ridge She let him u,ve It almost In a single breath. Tom stared at her as though he thought she had lost her mind. And then his face hardened and his eyes blazed and he said through his teeth, "Where in blazes- whod try to start a He like that? Megan made a weary little gesture. Its too silly and too cheap to she pointed out to him. notice, "Except that alnce you are new here and this Is your first year oh, I feel an utter fool about the whole thing. But I thought It would De better If we well, weve done nothing to start gossip, so It seems a little difficult to know how to atop - It Tom said sternly, "Who started this talk "Mrs. Stevenson, answered Megan frankly. "She happened to ba on the Ridge the afternoon we met by accident, and chose to believe that we were meeting there regularly and as secretly as possible But thats nonsense she could not possibly believe anything so-- so darned silly! Tom exploded. I dont think she really believes For a little while they stood In It. but she seems to get quite lot silence, both of them looking uneasof pleasure out of dropping little ily across the road and to the snab-b- y little old cottage where light d significant remarks. Puzzled, Tom said. Who la this windows proved that Alicia vas nt I suppose she has home. The cottage set well ock Mrs Stevenson? a child In school, but I dont seem from the road and there were a fev? trees surrounding lb It was a to recall the name, though Its not unusual, of course square, boxlike house, never painted, so that its walls wer a rough. WNU Features. trim and the For the next two or three days, although she told herself she was being a fool, Megan deliberately avoided seeing Tom Fallon at all. He had been In the habit of stopping on his way home from school late in the afternoon to get milk, butter, and eggs which he bought from her. She had always been the one to give them to him, but for the next two or three days, she saw to it that she was somewhere else when he stopped by, and Annie, puzzled and watchful, waited on him. But on Saturday, she was in the chicken yard checking up on a setting hen who was due to hatch her brood in a few days, when Tom came to the back fence and spoke to her. "Good morning, he said, almost "I know Bell Syndicate. corners of the house a rich deep green; there were green window boxes at the windows, and the place bad taken on a rather surprised glad! Megan asked curiously, "Is that all there Is to that story, Susie?" and Fourth of July Peace S dark gray of weathered drabnesa. But since Alicia had come, ahe had painted jbaij lime Sroch in oCarqer Sizes Wale billed Widriff for Summer n a row about my having a soda with him. and behaving as though shed seen me coming out of some foul dive with him Id never have noticed what a grand guy he is! Oh, well " raised such Megan, be" RELEASE W.N.U. v SALIN A SUN, S ALIN A, UTAH (TO BE CONTINUED) Unfortunately it hat become the fashion to belittle ourseltes, just uhy it it hard to lay." By KATHLEEN NORRIS other day at a club I heard a famous man talking about the war we have so glorious- ly won, and the world crisis that is following the war. THE ' t Three hundred women looked at him respectfully while he told them how mis-- I taken America has been in her postwar policies, how pitifully she has failed in her postwar obligations, how deeply she is despised by the great countries overseas for whose liberty she has spent young blood, money and arms so prodigiously. lie repeated every depressing rubber-stam- p generality that all his of speakers use, and type wound up with the disheartening statement that we had not seized the advantage that our victories gave us, and were hence the laughing stock of Europe and even the Ori- ent. When anyone talks this way and coming back from China and Europe and everywhere else and telling us these things I see red, and I think the Fourth of July, in this first year of peace, is a good time to say so. This man, and all the others like him, who are flocking to platforms and the radio and into print, hasnt evidently done any thinking on his own, about Americas share in the men are always disaster world-wid- e of the second great war. He has taken the criticisms of other men as Ignorant or biased as himself, and because life abroad is barely sufferable, and life home not too comfortable, he blames It all on America, and grows eloquent in knocking his own coun- at try. Foreigners Jealous of L's. has unfortunately grown to be the fashion to belittle ourselves; just why it is hard to say, except that as each country of the whole globe awakens from the nightmare of six years of horror, it realizes It jealously that there is a country in the Western hemisphere that was not invaded, that is rich, that is almost and that generous, ludicrously there are clothes and wheat and medicines and money still existent in large quantities in that country end so why not try for a share of them? Countries that did nothing to pre- pare for the war, that saw it coming and shut their eyes and went on prospering and growing fat, bitter in their criticism of the magnificent country that Isnt belligerent, that doesnt want to extend her borders or run over any little neighbor, that Is wealthy because of her principles of applied democracy, that has proved her way to be the way to the greatest highest level of human living ever known In the world. They dare to criticise the country that has given given given of her stores of both wealth and possessions in a river of help that would deplete any other ration to bankruptcy point. They dictate how much she must give. They ask us to raise the price of our products for our own people, so that their inferior factories and slower production may compete and we do it. They forget the convoys, the planes, the arms, the money that supported them in the fight for the democracy for which, now, they have no use. Pride in Ourselves. I don't often write of any but domestic matters, but this is the are now LETS RESPECT OCRS ELVES It is a strange thing, comments Miss Norris after hearing a speech, hotv tee Americans like to run ourselves Joun. After tvinning a great u ar, to which we contributed more than any other nation, we are expected to take care of all the hungry and homeless people all over the world. If'e are endeavoring to do this, and are trying to I at ion ourselves so that there will be more for starving Europeans and Asiatics. This is a most noble and Christian effort. Ife are glad to do our share, and much more than our share. Rut u hen we are constantly being criticized by foreigners for not taking care of everyone, without expecting recompense, we feel hurt and angry. No other nation is giving anything like the amount of food and clothing and tnediral supplies. 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Pattern No. Nam- R043 comes In sizes 32. 34, 3fi, 38, 40, 42, 44 and 40. Size 34, 4 yards ol 35 or 33 inch labile. Pattern No - Size " e- Address- - A XL To remove scratches on woodOn any small apron sew numerous pockets. Into these slip your work and floors, rub with a little toilet articles. Fold the apron and lard, then rub off with a clean d put it in your suitcase. Then when cloth. you need a freshening up, toilet In order to get much Vitamin eigners, but when native articles are where you need them. American spokesmen berate C, turnips should be eaten raw. Use the cuffs from dads worn-ou- t Turnip sticks or slivers really are us for not giving everything shirts for making shoulder delicious in the relish dish or salhave an ay, including our we pads. Theyre firm and generally ad bowl. defense secrets, u'e precious all the padding you need. you give get mad. It is time. Miss NorWhen the edges joined in a seam ris reminds us, to think of our-seh'In patching underwear, use small are cut on the bias, it is helpful to and our virtues, as well cross stitches around the edge of baste a piece of paper in with the as our shortcomings. the patch, say the experts. This two edges of fabric. After the seam is' stitched tear away the makes for elasticity. The Fourth of July is a paper. This little trick keeps the time out our for pufjing good Heres a way to hang your criss- bias edges from stretching. chests. cross curtains so you w'ont have A broom that is sprinkled with to use a double rod. Takes a little week of Fourth of July, and every sewung on your part, but in the kerosene occasionally will gather drop of American blood In my veins end none of the rod will show. dust more easily. a is apt to get hot when I consider Simply baste the top curtain to the Fut some cologne on cotton and the magnificence of our war effort, lower one over the curtains top our unparalleled generosity in both row of stitching. Run the curtain tuck it into your clothing for a depeace and war, and the calm as- rod through the heading on the lightful scent. sumption by all the rest of the under curtain. Top one gathers world that we are created and exist- with it. ent to fight their wars, pay their debts, feed their hungry, bind up Short Existence their wounds. These are beautiful Christian ke things things to do Although some May flic1 ri quire to do but we are human, too, and three years to develop in the larm feel we own our hearts a unless val stage, experience the certain pride in ourselves, nobody shortest adultthey existence of any livelse is going to feci it. ing creature. Upon fully So whatever the foreign press matured from the emerging film encasing of and however ridiculous it, says them, they mate, lay their eggs their claims and their reflections and TRY ALL 6 FLAVORS1 usually die within 12 hours. upon us are, don't you be one of the Americans who lament our stupidity, our meanness, our international ignorance. Think twice before you quote the glib speakers all about us, those men who that America must not be left behind in the rebuilding of the new must do her world, America share! Her sharel Ask them some time what the other nations propose to do, what their share is? No other nation has as yet told us anything , if of action in helping and ! rebuilding. They all want help, lots of it, but each one wants it exclusively for Itself. If you have heard of any European nation . , . or even any other nation in the (itJ1 v- - v id western hemisphere whose people 1 V are plaining to help any other peo'S V 1 I would be to be notified ple, glad of it, for I have not. 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