Show mother mississippi D n issi ws ipp i s voice V oice it waa was nicee inconsiderate ot of mrs mra downs to die just as he be was about to cloeo close that N it R at merger argued henry yates but with duo due respect for hie his sister he lie turned his back on his now york office boarded the 20 hour train tor for chicago and of a sudden found himself living in the past lie he wakened to a reali realization that scars had bad passed since his gentle shrinking wife had closed her tier eyes to eight might of him standing ed and wide eyed with a wee baby girl in his arms ho lie had been so busy fighting for fir a foothold in financial world that he had failed to note his ills wira falling health and even in the hor of her death ho he had not realized that 6 eho the had died literally of of longing for tho the companionship and anti the protecting love but not the dollars of the man she had married of one thing he waa was sure ho lie had loed her in his passive way and had meant to make a great lady of her when ho he had won his financial fight lie hated the child who robbed him of hia his wife so the babe had been thrust into the willing arms of his widowed elster sister and ho he had plunged back into the business w tel helstrom strom and now of course with mrs we downs death com something ething must be done doubtless its slater sister had had intimate friend friends anong her own aex sex tho the problem would be solved somehow and it was but not just as ho he had expected edith settled it I 1 for herself when f ebe she came to greet him big eyed slender illy lily like and sorrowful the daughter waa was her mother of their boney honeymoon moon day yates reached out his arma arms with a preat great cry tho the paternal instinct awoke with a rush that robbed him of speech but the girl understood she was the sort who could read men aright from that hour caltis happiness and social success were of more vital interest Inte reet to henry yates than the ac qui rement of stock and bonds the latter wore were useful only in furthering her tier interest interests A of depleted fortune but irreproachably social connections came and nd saw but did not conquer yates said the price was too high and his daughter curled up in his never falling arms thanked him between sobs of joy but all this did not help matters when allea allen houston appeared on the horizon and so far aa as edith was con corned filled it completely young houston had a mall small patrimony a tremendous fund of ambition and anti the profile of a poet henry yates said no edith remembered the lonely years her father r i k 1 wig eyed lender slender and Ill like had spent tolbee ti aked pathetic pathetically all yet not wavering of duty and houton flung filing himself into the wild wilds of the vest A edith faith did not grieve openly hut but the the I 1 laying eyes wre were not to be hd I 1 ir balca k rost costless less and Wh r ir SW anxious and so they decided that new york was unbearable and the eight of new now orleans during the mardi gras would do them both good mr yates planned the trip without consulting edith they would go to Al memphis emphIs by rail and there board one at of the old fashioned stern wheel river boats for now orleans they reached memphis at night but ho he insisted upon a glimpse of the majestic jestic sheet of swirling yellow water it was like meeting at BL old friend he declared tho next morning they went oa A board the valley queen yates walked ir 11 owl you may ask her if she he till still bel levim that briskly to the little window on tea tho sa loon deck and exclaimed mr clerk I 1 want two of your best beit rooms to new orleans A blue coated figure came close to tho the window a strong masculine hand held out some keys and a voice which made mr air yates start ati answered the best two on board mr yates and I 1 hope you will find your trip with us pleasant and comfortable mr yates glanced wildly toward the shore it was wits slipping away from them they vere in mid stream and the man mail at the window was alien allen houston Ile retreat treat was impossible Orace graceful ful capitulation was inevitable yate yates put out his hand thereafter ho he divided hia his uwe between the deck which he paced with hie his daughter telling her lively yarna yarns of his awn days as a river be bc it clerk and the office where he shared shar cd hous flous tons pre with hia his duties sometimes watching his daughters face he wavered dut but no it was imp ills ilia own case had been ex all boat clerks could not bo be millionaires and houston was merely of good upstate up state family without social standi standing rg in the world where Nf mammon amnion ruled but could not buy himself and edith an entrance but in time ho he would win and edith wab wak so lovely she must she could not fall to make tho the desired match yet mr batea I 1 ates found aund himself watching oung houston curiously ho ile half bait bad this college bred youth who could dispatch office du ties with case placate patrons who fretted at the plow method of travel and in an emergency could tell the tc h hands more things about their ancestry than yates had dreamed of in his own river life 0 0 they had quit the bluffs and cotton had given way ay to cane and rico rice in a few hours they would touch at new now orleans the deck hands had all been paid off save for the dollar which insured their aid in tying the boat to the deck the tle clerks duties were over his a pers vers in shape and tho the last landing ampie mr nir yates met him ou the sa tin loon deck and remarked lets go below and witch atch those darkles lose all their money the old life had him in its clutches down below they went away in the stern the engines pounded toward the tha bow the furnaca fur furn noes glowed between tween AA A 11 th two roustabouts had gathered to their earnings some ot of that th were already p other era were flushed and excited by their cans yata watched the tor for fia hour laughing at tho the apt remarks ot of the gamblers gamb lera wall street was for gotten social ambitions ambit lone died within hi bin he ile was again IQ in aliens allens place a clerk without a future without great hope hopes suddenly he turned man alan they are happier than I 1 have dared to be since I 1 stood where you stand to lay I 1 am wondering von dering whether it ts Is worth while the struggle the knockout blows one must give and take mother mississippi has beon been talking to me houston scolding me ine in her own way edith told me once that money was not all and I 1 she Is right at any rate you ma 1 ask her it she still believes that thal it if she does I 1 wont stand between you an hour later the boat slipped around the crescent past tue lie coal docks dacks and the fruit docks to tae levee rna rush of the water and the rudely melodious voices of the negroes singing at their work mingled with a strange harmony in the bow of the valley queen edith yates stood with her hand clasped in her lovers her expectant glance fixed on the quaint old nid city in the stern looking backward upon the river whose voice he had heeded henry yues Y ues stood with folded arms he wag was wondering whether he be should tj er go back to the mad struggle and the social walls he had striven so hard to climb for her eake colln S col ins in boston globe |