| Show i 1 6 is: -- 5alt gake Cfribunt Sunday 3torning A4tigt 31 1911 I Co 0 0 I 004:11T loirm04116 Well Lover started to blush slow like and to get more scared than ever and I says to myself "She's aiming to choose Don or Bill" But all of a sudden she must of gotten scared out 'cause she looked right past them to the back of the room And who did she choose I ask you who did she choose but that lowdown Jade Phelps Jade who got drunk every Saturday night who got hauled up before the police judge once a month and who wasjust pulling through school by the skin of his teeth Some say he's really !awfully bright and that he reads a lot but that he just ain't Interested in school work I don't believe that at all: The only good thing I know about Jade Phelps is that he can play a violin till you cry like a baby or if he waits he can make your feet dance a jig you never thought they know Well anyhow that May fete wasn't any k II010 good-for-nothi- I ing about ti I ' I ' I ng -- 14 Ill - A Now it's just like I was telling my husband Ebe the other night as we was getting ready for bed "Ebe" I says "its just not natural and for Lovoy especially it's not natural Why you'd think she'd buried her ma the way she's acting 'Taint many girls would act that way after they had married a fine upstanding man like Clem" Ebe didn't act very interested but you never can tell about men Ile just pulled off a sock and looked at his big toe the One the horsestepped on last summer "And you know" I says lowering my Voice so little Nell couldn't bear if she was awake "Lovey's in the family way she't expecting around October and she ain't shown any more interest than as if it was her Now if she were our girl—" thirteenth ' Ebe just grunted something about Lovey looking 'after her own affairs and us keeping to our'n but I can tell you that didn't stop me think admit that Clem ain't as hand some as some and he's a mite baldish and he is a sight older than Levey but if she can't get at all excited about him wily did she marry him in the first place? Now I think Clem is a right fine man gentle and considerate and a heart as soft as kitten's fur and there just ain't no call for Lovey to act the way she has since she married him Seems like the girl has lost all her spunk and all her sparkle this last year I met her downtown a few days back and even right Out there on the market corner she Was shoes with wearing old run-ovholes in the toes stockings with runne rs a inch wide and a old dress like the kind Widow Pincher puts In the missionary boxes She looked up at me without even smiling and said "Good morning" so low that I more saw her lips than heard her voice But the thing that gets Me most is her eyes Perhaps them as didn't know her before wouldn 't see it particularly but to me they're the eyes of a dead person still a pretty blue but just kind of blank and starey That ain't the way Itovey Bell used to be Why I cab remember two years back when she was in high school how she used to come racing down the road with those yellow curls flying 'round her face and her eyes dancing as if the knowed all the happy secrets of the world and weren't going to tell a Oh she was a pretty one all soul right and though I always did think our Jane should have won that high school beauty contest—what with 311er dimples and dark hair and beau- Mut eyeiv--- I must admit Lovey run her a close second It wasn't just looks Lovey had either Course I don't think Lovey ever was as much as the rest of the town seemed to think but she was ' and It willing and dependable seemed they never put any job to her but what she got it done all right Why they made her editor of the paper and Rally club presi- dent and sophomore vice president and I couldn't name them all Her teachers too each one of them had a future all mapped out for her They were going to send her to the city and get her educated and then make one of these here career wo- -- out of her She ought to be mighty glad she'd settled down to raising a family and ain't wandering around in the world trying to make a living like those teachers of hers wanted her to ' She was always busy that girl and- - happy as a lark and everyone seemed to think that the spring came and the flowers grew just for Lovey But it ain't like that any more: I can tell you! She doesn't care what happens from one day to the next Why she doesn't even do a ordinary I was good job of housekeeping over to 'Lizabeth's the other day talking about the shower we are going to have for lipvey and she says to me "You Itnow that girl ain't even put in a garden this year or done any canning or even started to quilt up for winter" "Well" I says "youi should see our Jane! She didn't get all the honors Lovey did when she was in high school but Jane can can up a bushel of peaches fast as you can turn around and she can keep a house looking clean as a hospital" 1Lizabeth just started hacking at hard the vegetables in her away salad bowl and says to me "For shower I'm going to get ten yards of birdseye cloth and Lovey can cut it and hem it herself! If she can find time to sit over there and read and stare oft into tiptiCe I'm sure I won't be saving het much doing a little dirt like that now and then" Course Lovey Won' hand over fist —the count was 138 to 3 I think— and everyone congratulated her and told her how fine it was And then of all the crazy things! Instead of telling them how glad she was and how she would try to do her duty and all the regular stuff she just ups and cries like a baby Now I don't $ee no call for that She's high strung and flighty and when she's happy I suppose she cries but she must of knowed all along that she would get it That's just one of those queer things you never cIT figure out about Lovey At any rate no one thought it Was very smart for Lovey to nominate Jade for that office A person generally puts up someone they think a lot of and someone they are sure is decent and trustworthy Well she Was president and a fine one too People set a great store by Lovey all- through school days But then that next summer it was Just a week after she got' out of bed from being sick that she married Clem and we all of a sudden found out that the old Lovey' we knew had changed completely into-- dull listless sort of a person I've often-- thought—and I've said so to Ebe—that it must have been that sickness that changed her It was right after she had graduated on one of these hot June nights like we have around here and Phelpses were having a party Now though Jade is a wild young one who spends his time loafing and his money drinking his ma and pa are right fine people yes right fine people Everyone likes Mr and Mrs So of course the whole Phelps town was at their house that night I temember especially how Jade played his violin that night—all soft low sad music kind of dreamy like It was better than I'd ever heard him play before Somehow people just kind of held their breath and It seemed like even the evening breeze stopped clattering the leaves while he played Well I happened to look over it Lovey There she on the very edge was just of her chair looking like she could never get her fill of that music Somehow as I looked at her I thought of my pink rose at home and how the dew clings to it of a morningFinally Mr Phelps said "That'll be enough son" And we all started to move around but Mr Phelps gets up onto a chair and says "Just a minute folks I got a sort of a announcement to make "Now I don't know" he says "just what society folks would say about the way we're doting this but we ain't society folks40 w just do it the way we want We just wanted to tell all our good friends and neighbors that our son Jade here is getting engaged to Suzan Hunt of Suzy couldn't be here toBixby night but will you stand up son?" 'You could have knocked us down with a feather No one knew that Jade and Suzy were even going to- -- - pss i ' (4 : 1 wa 1 lot c'd Iti : - Everything was y 4 ) er 0 1‘ when she got ready to choose a part 'ter to help her lead ( vill1 si it gr 'Ill ) : i to eV r t t r: - I ' P 1 4 -3 L' 1 n i - - I - - N I 7 ! as quiet i I just a ' 01 tI Ona ? 411 -- ( 4s I'WV 74s 4 :rozvr1 t! ' ft l V 1 &ft' t !7) 1it:' t :Al ! ''' 'r t: —7:11 tz ) t to' ci b A :e IL 1 i 0 flab 4016 lt) 1:' I 1) i "4 ' - 1 I !1111 1 4: t :i i i 1 ' a" ' t - - ' 1 'i ii 1 0 t ' s tine 4 i 10?"9411 s P4116 - WFUlillinom by hemming her diapers for her" Now 'Lizabeth is a Very tolerant woman and when she says some- thing like thatyou can see that the people ain't feeling so kindly toward Levey any more You can't blame them either We're a bunch of bpeople and we don't look with favor on those as sits and lets : things slide But somehoW I just can't help wondering what's made all the difference in the girl I really don't believe it's altogether Clem If she'd wanted to marry someone more like herself you'd a thought she'd done something about it in high school There was plenty of boys in her class that would have beenjust fine for her but she wouldn't raise an eyelash at them She klidn't go out Much when she was in high school I don't know what was wrong Our Jane says she leldom talked about the boys Just once though she said something kind et funny to Jane She said "Some day I'll marry a man who will be a great musician and we'll travel all over the country" Course that was just one of her day dreams but sometimes I wonder if she didn't half believe it Anyhow she sure threw away plenty of chances to get in good witAt the boys around here Why I remember the night she was May queen and was supposed to lead the promenade for the dance Every thing was just as quiet when she got ready to choose a partner to help her lead And there she stood all smiling and thy and trembling a little looking over the people And there on her right was Bill the foot-th- at ball captain a big strong friendly chap and on her left was Don so handsome and Psmooth" our Jane calls him And everywhere you could look werenice bright-lookin- g boys hard-worki- - place to show s3rmpathy to a scoundrel like Ude and Lovey had no right to throw away chances to make a hit with good boys like Bill and Don while she gave favors to no-go- od nts ng That was like Lovey though In spite of all her abilities in this and that there were plenty of times that I just didn't think she used good sense Why the other day 'Lizabeth was reminding me about the school There never had been a election Put up for student body presigirl dent before but everyone knew that Lovey would be president her senior year I guess that was the reason that after they nominated Lovey for the job no one seemed to want to put up anybody else They all just set there and waited for someThe quiet body to say something got a Mite embarrassing I suppose and there are some as says that it was just to make a break in the awful stillness did what she did She stood right up there In the assembly hall and clenched the back of the seat in front of her so that the White showed out on her knuckles our Jane said and says "Mr Chairman I nominate Jade Phelps for student body president" Well as I said I guess ' some thought it was to break the quiet and there were some as said it was just like that sweet Lovey to think or some poor and try to give him a lift But me I know more about human nature and I know Levey is a human and I says to my husband Ebe—though he didn't listen to me—"That girl did it Just to set herself off She just wanted everyone to see what diffeeenee there ix tw1vveen her and J!'0 She's a nfre yovillt one and all that but no one's above that-Love- good-for-nothi- y ng gether be-co- again Anyhow what the teller is saying Again we say a real man's job For instance the girl in this story Is first built up for us as a good industrious reliable girl and after her disappointment in love and the resultant compensating marriage she is shown in direct reversal of this character This is not true to life A direct reversal of a fixed habit will occur temporarily and may against stories told in the colloquil first person The reason why we never do and why We do not noiv do so Is that when this type of telling is properly done it is one of the most effective ways that there is for telling 3tor4s with a strong ment of el!- r 4 t jn them In We even now adt4 ' : vise that all of fir S' authors who have!a i strong desire So r 1I - subsist for a considerable period following a period of great emotional stress but in the long run the old elements the habituated reactions will again begin to creep in until the character will in part sometimes a very great part return to what was once normal Our author t can not blame this untrue handling this too great inconsistency in conduct on the telier for she did not sfzi manage the telling by this gossipy old woman that we were able to see that the latter was falsifying the facts in order to tell a more senOne must alwayi sational story keep a strict rein on his teller If 'he doci not thcn the Warne is his lie must make us know ai all times when the teller is falsifying and when he is stating fact ' There is Mill another item sugtested by this story which should be very helpful Every good writer because he is a true artist is at all times working on the feelings and emotions of his readers eithermaking them feel kindly or unkindly toward a given character This emotional management is done in order that the suspense shall be increased and that the climax when it comes with its fulfillment (comedy) or its disappointment (tragedy) shall be ot great intensity That is the way to make a good storysay what you Your teacher knows well Will enough the cold Indifference of Maupassant and too loving or hating attitude of Stevenson both of whom are great authors both of whom are roundly criticized for their very opposite faults by men of very high literary training and your teacher knows that these two became great in spite of this flaw in an otherwise great authorship One must build up or build down his leading character In order that he may have more suspense and greater emotional intensity But this building up or down must always be under control and must not be carried one iota beyond what Is necessary for the effect upon the readers: otherwise the story will drop into sensationalism emotionalism or sentimentalism The correct limit to which a writer may build his character up or down varies for each story which he writes But In any of these stories woe to him who builds too little or too much it is Just as bad one way as it is the other Build too little and you have a flat emotionalless story buildtoo much and you lose To your readei by overdrawing strike just exactly the right line every time is a matter of judgment and here your teacher quits for judgment is learned only by trial and error it cannot be taught but must be acquired The greatest story teller does not have a perfect score in this matter in fact if one can get just the right building up or down just the right emotional intensity 50 per cent of the time he will be a great author This perhaps is the true test of fictional writing 4- or write character tl a d local color stori s begin to expert -- men t with this 4 forrn of telling for there Is no other that will bring mitt : the flavor and mi sa nor elements of the L A Quivey character and color as will this ' But what a horrible mess it can pro duce if it is badly done The prelent story is passably but not wen done as the reader will discover f ha applies the following thelry to I : One must know the teller of this kind of story exactly as well as he does his principal character nio matter how little participation this teller has in the plot This arises out of the fact that the amount of truth and falsity in the telling depends very largely on what kind of When person is doing the telling one uses this form he should first of course get his principal charac ter and his story but immediately afterward he must 'choose and get fully acquainted with- the narrat4 He must decide- - what are the likes and prejudices of this person and when he has so done he must tell the story through the mind and mouth of this party in such a manner that the reader will see what these likes and prejudices are and will be able to discern just where how and how much they affect the truth of the story so that when he has finished reading be will know exactly what the true story is and just why the teller falsified some parts of it That's a very diffi cult assignment but it is the JO‘ anyone has if he is going to do thiS kind of telling correctly for it is simply true to life that any person colors any story which he has tO tell to agree with his likes and prejui dices If one does not do this in this sort of story he hasn't told t true story IThere is however one thing that tihe author cannot allow this teller to do: Ile cannot allow him to tam per with the plot After all the own buildin plot is of thein author's real life to the thin1 and is like which has actually happened an which the teller is supposed to be telling just as it occurred Any variations that shall be 011owed the plot as the author has it must- be only to show the frol and prejudices of the teller ing upon the life story as the has first created it and every such variation must be so told that the reader will discern clearly that the teller has taken the bit in his teet and run away with the author I other words the reader must se clearly the story as the author firs concelqd it as it is hidden behind liAlle ei'' - - -- - - Then' when I saw Jade gct up it kind of gave me a start He didn't look at a11 happy He just 'stood there and stared Off toward the back of the room But all of a sudden his eyes seemed to most bug right out of his head and his violin slid out of his arms and "crashed onto the floor I turned around quick to see ivbat he was looking at and there was Lovey fallen to the floor her eyes closed and her face all white and twisted Then Jade was pushing past me to gets to her and he was muttering "Oh my God oh my God!" It's funny how scared men get of a woman's faintin' I guess it really was a bit more serious than fainting though The doctor said something about shock It put Lovey to bed for several weeks As I said it was a week after she got out of bed that she ups and mar ries Clem who had been working on her father's place for some time It certainly weren't what the folks had been expecting sineelqe is much older than Lovey and II sort of fatherly type of person But w hat we least of all expected was that :Lover should all of a sudden the shiftless spiritless woman she is now I've nearik stopped trying to figure it all oilt Anyway it's just like I was telling our Jane you never can tell what having the baby will do to It may eh ce hcr all back Lovvy ( By Professor L A COlvey There are times When we fe 1 that we mist warn our write s - ':' Person Story Fil'rst Can Be Effective but Must Be Expertly Done 1 LAed 9VC (131)cpc' Colloquial oldslo t woi! slilatlitasto 1011061"111 - friLleP - N once to Writers al Editor's Note: All manusertitts submitted in The Tribune's contest for writers must be accompanied by ille signed certificate below The Tribune ' will reject any manuscript not aeCompanled by such certificate : CERTIlt ICATE AL11101e t State City I Street Number Date I ' hereby certify that the short story Inclosed titled submitted to The Salt Lake Tribune is an original compositinn that ho part of the same has been taken or copied any other story Or ptiblication and that the entire composition has bevcr been printed or published before in any other publication or in nil !ortn I further agree that any prize Money I may receive from The halt Lake Tribane in the eveni that this btpry is' accepted for publication will be accepted by me as evidence of gond faith that this is an original compo- sition as Stated above Names used in this story are purely fictitious They have not been taken I rom Life and any resemblance to those of any person locality or organized body is purely coincidental as none such has been in my mind or intentions Li - ' fni i higned If sufficient postage is not inclosed the manuscript will neither be read nor returned Neither will The Tribune enter into any ie orrespondL concerning disposal of such ltianusCript Criticism is niede Of cach mantzsccipt read anti this is returned to tire ts eller along ulth the 'manuscript Ilf the etory is found not acceptable it'g mighty strange 4t ' |
