OCR Text |
Show 1fmmPM Ethel Hitesion NW'AV n f'lS Illustrations bij mU! Myers ill. CopH-rbriUUi. Mcm-UI Co w.m.u. sFavicg. STORY FROM THE START In 1h UHUully quiet hom Ol Rev. Mr. Tullivrr of Kvit ThtUh Iowa, lilrt moth dim tlnUKhl trr Ilrlrti, Mlt luin and Kl len "(Jin-lier "(Jin-lier Eia" ore tutiy 'niooinlntf' lllt'lr BtBlrr Mitljory for parllci-paiion parllci-paiion In the "hcuuty ptiKfni" that evvninu W lih KM v J on, n rosin.-1 nu vouiitf tn rtnt t hrr escori, M.irjoiv lrvi- roi tho aiitlt'iphictl triumph jvr-work jvr-work has u rTri-l Mr I olli vr yec lo th pohtl ol tliinilnuil I blindiifKB (.iintsfr hn in-d In ninny wayi lo mid 10 ih fiimiiv slender liicom. but ahe Ir tu t dlccourunr.l Marjory hih ih beauty prite, io uo rih icivt-a the nioncv lo hr fiithri u par! of the expenne nerBnry ri tha treat turn ( ol his eyea by Chtruito apeclnltsia Mr. Inllivrr l-ava for ChicaKO with Mlriarn. t;tcir meet a Alexander Murdock. Mr Tolliver returna. tha dortora niv-Ing niv-Ing him lit 1 1 hops CHAPTER IV Continued "And everybody who buys oue. will sell four more " "And It all started from one. One. Single, solitary, little one." The girls talked on and on. I! tit Ginger drew hernelf hwuy troin them. Bat enwrapped In impenetrable .bought She remembered the old chain loiters. loi-ters. They had come with some frequency fre-quency a few yearn ago, (tra.vers tot almost everything, fw the sick for foreign missions, for prohibit Ion. for fundamentalism, for the second cun Ing of the Lord, for ihe reonse of anarchistic prisoners condemned to death "And everybody send" It on to so many more, and every one of them sends It to so many more, and tbey send It " Ulnser got up suddenly and went out of the room. Sbe wulkc-d dl.zlly She went upstairs, km the -itiort lad der from t tie linen closet, and balanced bal-anced It Bgalnst the wall under the trapdoor. She Di'tleed that Her hands trembled, liul she climbed carefully the ladder was old pushed up the trapdoor, and pulled herself through the opening. From force of habit, for she was not then thinking of trapdoors, trap-doors, ghe locked It behind her, and made her way carefully over the beams to her san--ruary under the dormer window. There she sat down heavily, to think. She thought, and thought, and thought, until aer bright eyes were so wide, so bright, so blue, that of a suddeo they seemed to hurt ber, and she shut ihem hard. Her two Bmnll bands were gripped so tightly, with fingers Interlaced so closely, that suddenly she knew they were throbbing throb-bing with pain, .half paralyzed, so that she had to work them apart, slowly, a finger at a time. I'ut she did not stop thinking. "(,'boln letter on and on all over the world thousands and thousands and Dobody dares to slop because nobody no-body wonld dare to break the chain for the blind a home for the blind od and on and on." Sudenly Ginger burst Into low Dervoua launhier. and laughed and cried and twisted her little hands, and rocked back and forth on the stool Id an ecstasy. "Oh, oh, how heavenly, how perfectly perfect-ly heavenly! 1 never could have thought of snob a brilliant thing. Oh. as father says, I see the hand of the Lord In this I" She pulled the stool to the low table which she used as a desk, and seated herselt witb a professional briskness Indicative ot the oneness ot purpose which prompted her. Selecting three pencils from a large number In the drawer, she sharpened them briskly. Then she drew ber pad of paper toward her, and opened It. Then she studied intently, chewing ber pencil. She wrote a nasty line, and quickly scratched it oul Again she wrote, again she frowningly dis carded 1L Several times she repealed re-pealed this painful process, nut at last, as so often happens, persistent effort brought Inspiration, and she wrote fluently, without a pause for thought "Our parsonage home for the blind Is sadly In need of funds to carry on Its noble work. Will you not contribute con-tribute Ten Cents to this very worthy cause? And complete the chain ot good vibrations by sendiug copies of this letter to three ot y.iur friends In whom you have confidence' In this way, this valuable Institution will enlarge en-large Its circle of friends and will be enabled to continue Its care of the unfortunate un-fortunate and needy blind. "We depend ou you. "Do not break the chain. "E. Tolliver, treasurer, "Red Thrush, lowu." Ginger was greatly pleased with the formal tone of this letter. She knew very well that If she received such an appeal, she would contribute gladly If she bad the niunej. She read It ovei and over, adding a word, omitting omit-ting a word, jmhslll ut lug a word until Ihe tlmil version seemed Impossible ol linproNcinciit. The (piesilon lo whom Ihe leitei should be sent vua subjected to deep thought. Indeed, It wiirt more r tin n thought, so deep It was Men. she knew, were more iMjveptlhle iban women to persnlilll appeal parlleu larly when ihe personal appeiilH rume from not uniitl rnetl e girls- Hut wuin en were more supers! P lous find woulil be more relurtaiii to bring npnnihem selves ihe Implied cuiKe that wmld result fnim a breaking of Ihe chain Women, then As for locnttun, she was not par tle'jlar, except II. Ml II would be besi to slarl ul Home distance from lied Thrush Methodlsi Interests are closely close-ly allied In neighboring lowus. Hnd she realized the Imporlance of pro tufting the family inline Now (linger herself was deeply enamored of the chain letter Idea, to net II smacked absolutely of Ihe tinno of Provbletiee llui one could never know Just hnw fin hers and older sisters would react to tilings. Iieiice she realized It would he the pari of disr-reiinti to avubl questions whose answers could not be evaded. (finger's unfailing resource In Hn etnergenev wan (be dally press She got the lust Issue of Ihe Curling ton llawkeye ami studied l!j col umns. Now. theororlcnlly. a chain should start from single link bui she was nol willing to trust the foundation id tier fortunes to one small dime which might not be forth coming She decided upou tnree as a fair start. "Three links are better than one." she said thoughtfully. "And If It starts three chains, so mur-h the better." When ever she came to the name ot a woman mentioned prominently, ehe put her finger on the place, closed her eyes, and tried to get a vibration about IL Finally the three letters were written, enelosee In envelopes, addressed, and Ginger took them at nti'-e to the corner mall box. and put them In "Ah." she breathd ecstatically as she turned hack toward the parsonage. Iler heart was as light as the wings of a butterfly, it seemed to inrry her borne. Already the old houe looked a new place to tier, a rosy place, bright with flowers, freb paint, new furniture. furni-ture. Thousands upon ' thousands. Helen herself bad snld It. Thousands upon thousands "Ob. I wish I had asked .or quarters." quar-ters." she thought. "Such a very good cause, nobody could begrudge It" Mad It not been for the pleasurable excitement attendant upon Helen's wedding, Glncei felt she could not possibly have endured fhp strain of the days that followed. Her confidence confi-dence In the outcome of ber chain letter let-ter bome-for-the-hllnd was absolute. Winters might come, with their con sequent coal and coat bills, daughters daugh-ters might go. with their petty love affairs, hut Ginger Klla and the chain letter would go on for ever. Plans for the wedding took precedence prece-dence over everything else, for Helen, yielding tn the argument that for her In this case the way ot genuine sacri tice lay In gracious acquiescence to plans already made, proceeded calmly with her arrangements She knew In her heart that she would have preferred pre-ferred 8 more apparent display of her nnseltlshness. She would have enjoyed a real martyrdom. She would have been proud to stand gloriourily forth, to her father, her sisters, and Red Thrush, giving np ber marriage for a year, for ten years, for ever, If need be. But she was honest enough to renllze that the course of true denial followed another channel Mental rest, the doctors had prescribed, pre-scribed, nnd that could never be had in the sacrifice of his daughter's plans. The wedding was to he held in the church, with the girls of Helen's Sun day school class, the Rutheans, serving serv-ing a buffet luncheon In the Sunday Hi-hnol Bicicmbly room, the room that was unci) for church cIIioioih, him-IiiIm ll 1 1 1 Ibii lllii-. 'I his luni'heoli was lo talin the pho-i; of a home re.epilon The details of the ecteiiiony bad been carefully practiced. Horace l.iniglev, with l-Md.v Jackson ii r, bis best man. wiim to wall In Hie miiall room nl ih left Hide of Hn- pulpit. The brides mnldx were In gather In Ihe primary room, Just Inside Ihe main enlriuice. Helen decided that when nil Ihe Invited Kuews sal silently walling wllliln the church, she, wllh ber father, fa-ther, would walk qulclly ucrni-s the Intervening splice from parsonage to church Hiicb a ery Utile way j rid while Kllen took l 1 in on around to the pulpit mom on the right of r lie altar, Hhe would Join ber allendanlit In the primary department. For fully a week, although but lea days had elapsed since the forging or the first link that was to grow Into iio endless chain of sliver dimes. Ginger Gin-ger hail dogged the steps of the postman. post-man. "Letter for me' There's not? That's funny." Hut on Ihe very day before the wedding, as though to lill ber cup to utter overflowing, the postman dellv-ered dellv-ered three Idlers addressed lo E-Tolliver, E-Tolliver, ull In sirange handwriting. "Well, thai s runny." tammeicd Ginger, und held out a trembling riand. and wllh rhe guilty consciousness of Ihe evildoer sine ihe very postman must be suspicions of such a sudden liuisr id correspondence, she added. "Hunch of uds I suppose." She was so excited that she fell oft 'he ladder three times before she finally got herself her-self and the three letters Into the attic studio under Ihe dormer-window. She was trembling nervously Her clillly lingers tore uselessly at the stlfT paper, she bad It open ai last, a dime rolled out upon the floor. She seized anil kissed It. "You're my nest egg." she whls pered. "you're my lin ky piec. you're what some dumb fanner would call pay dirt." She opened the other letters, three dimes resulting. A son of sMllnes came over her. She sat. huddled Into a small hunch or the old stool and read the letters pleasant letters. sympnthetlc. "II Is a Joy in help In such good work." "God bless the cause," "Pleasure to add my mite." "The darlings." snld Ginger. "The dear, sweet generous. Christian souls."' Glnget had a significant habit of Judging ones Christianity, not by his tlioiiglns. but by hp contributions. Three dimes to her tepresented three devout Christians. Very still she sat on the old stool, very quiet, enveloped In a sweet and grateful gladness. Her mind leaped swiftly cn. to expensive curative treatments for her father, new rich furniture to replace their threadbare shnbhlness. coal and steak and chickens Sho kissed the loners, one after the other, and crumpled them in her hand, to be hurned. "Little white angels.' she called tenderly. ten-derly. Then she cast about for a proper re-ceptahle re-ceptahle for this Incipient fortune. Three dimes, of themselves did not require much treasuring, but the highly Imaginative eyes of Ellen Tolliver Tolli-ver looked already upon the thousands and thousands. In neat Utile stacks, that were to come. In another part of the attic she ferreted out an old doll's trunk, very dusty, very shabby, but stout well made, with a strongly hinged top, and best of all. with the old lock still Intact and the key dangling from a siring. Within It, side by side, she laid the three dimes, nnd turned the bey It the rusty old lock. Then she moved everything else off her desk, and directly In the middle of It she placed the trunk, royally alone. The key she thrusi unconcernedly un-concernedly Into the table drawer. She was not afraid of thieves. Her sigh was a great and glad one. "At Inst fortune 6miles npon the parsonage, par-sonage, and all the TolIIvers In It," she whispered Joyously. "Perhaps not much of a smile so far just a little giggle, but a nice little giggle. The poor little church mice are going to surprise folks one of these days" She wished greatly to tell her sisters sis-ters of this sudden turn In the tide of the family fortune, but that little inner monitor, which Ginget most un-scrlpturally un-scrlpturally called a hunch, warned her against this confidence, and she buried herself and ber seething emotions emo-tions as well as she could In plans for the following day. Long before the high hour of noon on Helen's wedding day. she was daintily arrayed In her blue organdie, pirouetting up and down the hall from room to room, hurrying everybody, criticizing the general appearance of her sisters, ofiering endless pert suggestions, sug-gestions, and always Inciting them to greater haste. (TO BE CONTINUED) |