| Show r r CIMARRON By Edna tea Ferber by Edna Ferbert Ferber Service I I TH THE r STORY I Yancey Cravat Just returned from the tho newly opened Indian I f territory relates his experiences to a a. largo gathering of or the Veni Ven- Ven i ablo family faintly Yancey Tancey Is married I to Sabra Venable Is a criminal I lof layer lawyer and editor of or the Wichita Wigwam When the tho Run started I Yancey had raced his pony against the tho thoroughbred mount I of or a a. girl The girls girl's horse was wasI I Injured and when Yancey stopped to shoot It she grabbed his pony and got tho the land Yancey wanted I Yancey announces ho he Is going back to the tho Oklahoma country I with Sabra and their year four old eon on on Cimarron They make the Journey In two covered wag wagons ns They arrive at Osage where Yancey intends to start a II newspaper Yancey Is determined to and out who killed Editor Peg- Peg ler 0 of the New Day Preparations for tor the publication of or the Oklahoma Okla Okla- homa hoUI Wigwam are completed Yancey consents to conduct di divine divine divine di- di vine worship on Sunday During the services Yancey announces he has learned who killed Peg- Peg ler lor He stoops In time to escape a bullet fired by Still stooping Yancey shoots and kills Then he announces that killed CHAPTER V Continued V-Continued Continued 9 Here then was the monstrous society so so- society clety In which Sabra Cravat now found herself For her and the Ule other respectable women of ot the town there was nothing but their ho housework work their children their memories of ot the homes they Md bid left lett And so the woman who was after all an the tb most Intelligent among them set about abut creating some sort of social I order for tor the good wives of the com com- Grimly Sabra and In time the tho other virtuous women of the community com com- set about making this new frontier town like the old as speedily as a. possible Yancey Yance almost single handed banded tried to make the new as unlike the old as possible He fought a losing light fight from the first He with his bl unformed dreams much dreams much less the roistering play boys of saloon and plain and gambling house never house never had hada a 0 chance against the Indomitable materialism materialism ma ma- of the women Sabra's house became a sort of social center following the discovery that she received copies of Harp rs r's Bazar with fair regularity Her social triumph was complete when she dIsplayed displayed displayed dis dIs- dis- dis played her new draped Jars done by bybel her bel after minute Instructions found In Inthe Inthe Inthe the latest copy of Harpers She then graciously printed these Instructions In the Oklahoma Wigwam causing a flurry of ot excitement In a hundred homes and mystifying the local storekeepers storekeepers storekeepers store store- keepers by the sudden demand for Jars Slowly In Sabra's eyes the other women of the town began to emerge from a n mist of drab drabness ness Into distinct personalities There was one who had hadn ire h i t n h I. I C n nf i f Ill Til Tn u e CU n a Q sc i oo sac er m LU n v VUU a ro V LU Her husband Tracy Wyatt ran the spasmodic bus and dray line between Wahoo and Osage They had no chil chil- dren She was a sparse and simpering woman of thirty-nine thirty who talked a good deal of former trips to Chicago during which she had reveled In the culture of that effete city Yancey was heard learnedly discoursing to her on the subject of Etruscan pottery of t which he knew nothing The ex- ex teacher rolled her eyes and tossed her head a good deaL You dont don't know what a privilege e eIt it Is Mr Cravat to find myself talkIng talkIng talking talk- talk Ing to some one whose mind can soar above the sordid life of this horrible town It was Sabra who started the Philo- Philo club The other women clutched at the Idea It was part of their defense against these wilds After all a town that boast boasted ell a culture culture culture cul cul- cul- cul ture club could not be alto altogether ether lost Sabra timidly approached Mrs Sirs Wyatt with her plan to form a womans woman's club and Mrs Irs Y Wyatt att snatched at It with such ferocity as almost to make maket It t appear her own Idea Each was to Invite four women of oi the the towns town's elite cUte Ten they decided would be enough as charter members I began Mrs Wyatt promptly am going to ask Mrs Louie Hefner Mrs Doc it Her lIer husbands husband's horrid I hate him I dont don't want her In my club The Theten Theten Theten ten barrels of ot water still sUll rankled Were not asking husbands my dear Mrs Cravat This is a ladies' ladies club Mrs MIS retorted Mrs Wyatt introducing snobbery Into that welter of mud Indians pine shacks drought and semi barbarism known a as Osage Indian territory was a of ot OuachIta Ark Arl I Sabra descendant of ot the and the Venables lifted her handsome black eyebrows Privately she decided decided de de- to select her four from among the less vertebrate and more ebullient of ot matrons She made up her mind that next day after the housework housework housework house house- work was done she would call on her candidates beginning with that pretty and stylish Mrs Irs Evergreen Waltz At supper that evening she told Yancey of ot other her four prospective members Waltz wife I Surprise and amusement too were In his voice but the he was a too full of her ber plans to no no- tice Besides Yancey often was mystifyingly mys- mys amused at things that seemed to Sabra quite serious Why that's fine Sabra That's fine That's the spirit I 1 She looks s kind of babyish and lonely lonely lone lone- ly sitting there thele by the window sewing all day And her husbands husband's so much older and a Jl cripple too or almost I noticed he limps quite badly What's his trouble Shot In the leg learned to Oh She had already accept this form of Injury as a matter of course I thought Id I'd ask her to prepare a paper for the third meeting on Mrs Brownings Browning's Aurora Leigh I could lend her yours to read up on If it you dont don't mind Just In case she hasn't got It Yancey thought It unlikely The paper on Mrs Brownings Browning's Aurora Aurora Aurora Au rora Leigh never was written by the pretty Mrs Evergreen Waltz Three days later Inter Sabra chancing to glance out of her sitting room window saw the crippled and middle aged gambler pa passing her house and In spite of his infirmity he was walking with great speed speed runnIng running almost In his hand was a piece of ot white paper paper paper-a a letter Sabra thought She hoped It was not bad news He had looked she thought sort of ot odd and wild Evergreen Waltz after weeks of ot tireless tireless tireless tire tire- less waiting and watching had at last Intercepted a letter from his young wife's lover As he lie now came panting up the street the girl sat at the window window window win win- dow sewing The single shot went Just through the center of or the wide white space between her great babyish babyish baby baby- ish blue eyes I Why didn't you tell me that when she married him she was a girl out of ot ofa a out a-out out of ot a house a-house house Sabra demanded between horror and wrath I thought you knew Women are supposed to have Intuition or whatever whatever whatever what what- ever they call It arent aren't they CHAPTER VI I Sabra's second child a girl was born In June a little more than a year after their coming to Osage It was not as dreadful an ordeal there In those crude surroundings as one might have thought She was tended during her accouchement by the best doctor In the county and certainly the most picturesque man of ot medicIne medicine medicine medi medi- cine In the whole Southwest Dr Don Valliant Like thousands of or others living In this new country his past was his own secret It was known that he often vanished for days leaving leavIng leaving leav leav- ing the sick to get on as best the they could He would reappear as Inexplicably Inexplicably Inex Inex- inexplicably as he had vanished and his horse was Jaded jailed It was no secret that he was often otten called to attend the bandits when one of ot their number wounded In some outlaw raid had taken to their hiding place In the hills He was tender and deft with Sabra them h between them he lie and Yancey v 0 b consumed an Incredible quantity of ot whisky during the racking hours of or her confinement At the end he be held up a caterwauling morsel of flesh torn from Sabra's flesh flesh flesh-a a thing perfect of its kind with an astonishing mop of black hair This Is Is a Spanish beauty you have e for a daughter Yancey I present to you Senorita Donna Cravat Cra And Donna Cravat she remained The town somewhat scandalized thought she had been named after Doctor Don himself Besides they did not consider Donna a name at all When Sabra Cravat arose from that bed something In n her had Perhaps It was that for the first time In a year ear she had had hours In which to rest her tired limbs perhaps the ordeal itself worked a psychic as well as a physical ph change in her It might have haye been that she realized she must cut a new pattern In this Oklahoma life of theirs The boy Clin might surmount surmount surmount sur sur- mount It the girl Donna never ne During During Dur Dur- ing the hours through which she had lain In her bed In the stifling wooden woollen shack mists seemed to have rolled away from before her eyes ees She saw clearly She felt light ight and terribly capable capable so so much so that she made the mistake of or getting up dizzily donning donning donning don don- ning slippers and wrapper and totterIng tottering tottering tot tot- Into the newspaper office ce where Yancey was writing an editorial and shouting choice passages of at it Into the Inattentive ear of Jesse who was setting t type pe In the printing shop the most stupendous farce ever eer conceived by the mind of man manIn manIn manIn In a 11 e d count v ou ry He looked up to see in the doorway a wraith all eyes and long black braids Why sugar l 1 What's this You cant can't get up lit I She smiled rather feebly Im up I felt so light so soI so- so I 1 should think you would All that physic I feel so stron strong Im I'm going to do doso doso doso so many things You'll see Im I'm goIng going go go- ing to paper the whole house Rosebuds Rosebuds Rose Rose- buds In n the bedroom Im I'm going to plant two trees In the front Im I'm going to start another club not club not like the I I think that's silly now but but one to make this town no saloons women omen like that Dixie DixieLee DixieLee DixieLee Lee going to have a real hired girl as soon as the newspaper begins to feel so queer Yancey Yan Yan- cey As she began to topple Yancey caught the Osage Joan of or Arc In his arms Incredibly enough she actually did paper the entire house aided by Isaiah and Jesse Hickey Rickey Isaiah's ebony countenance splashed with the white paste mixture made a bizarre effect a trifle startling to anyone comIn comIng coming com com- In ing upon the scene unawares Also Jesse Rickey's nickey's Inebriate c eye e which so often result resulted cd In many grotesque pied pled print lines appearing in unexpected and Inconvenient places In n the Oklahoma Oklahoma Oklahoma Okla Okla- homa Wigwam columns column was none too dependable In the matching of ot rosebud rosebud rosebud rose rose- bud patterns The result In spots was with roses grafted I Ion on leaves and tendrils emerging from petals Still the effect was gay even luxurious The Fhe club as one woman fell upon wall paper and paste pot as they had upon the covered covered cov cov- ered jars In Sabra's earlier effort at nt I decoration Within a month Louie Loule Hefner was compelled to Install a full fun line of ot wall paper to satisfy the local demand demond Slowly slowly the life lite of or the community community community com com- In the beginning so wild so unrelated In Its parts began to weave werne In and out warp and woof woot to make a pattern It was at first faint almost But presently the eye could trace here a motif there a figure here a motif there a figure The shuttle shuttle shuttle shut shut- tle swept back forward back forward Its almost time for the Jew Tew Sabra would say looking up from her sewing I need some number forty sewing machine needles And then perhaps next day or the day after playing In the yard would see a R familiar figure bent almost double and grotesque against the western sky It was Sol I Levy the peddler the Alsatian Jew Sabra would fold up her work brush the threads from her tier apron or If It her hands were In the dough she would hastily hasUly mold and crimp her pie crust so as to be ready for his visit Sol Levy had come over oyer an ImmIgrant Immigrant immigrant grant In the noisome bowels of ot some dreadful ship His hair hall was blue- blue black and ver very thick and his face was white In spite of the burning southwest southwest southwest south south- west sun A black stubble le of ot beard intensified this pallor He lIe had delIcate delicate delicate deli delI- cate blue veined blue veined hands and narrow v arched feet He belonged In n crowded places In populous places In the color and glow and swift drama of or the bazaars God knows how he had found his way to this vast ast wilderness Perhaps in Chicago or In Kansas City or Omaha he had heard of ot this new country and the rush of ot thousands for Its land And he had bummed his way wayon wayon wayon on foot He had started to peddle with an oilcloth covered pack on his back Through the little hot western towns In summer Through the bitter cold western towns J I winter They turned dogs on him The children ni l d J T Tore ew u n I J T ew nu I He IT TTo 0 was n na CI nn 1 a a 1 cra L 4 g lU J V t M i AA II Ilk J y a aboy boy disguised with that stubble of ot beard He would enter the yard of ot ofa ota ofa a farmhouse or a dwelling In a town such as Osage A wary eye on the dog Nice Fido Nice doggie Down down 1 Pins sewing machine needles rolls of or gingham and calico and last craftily his Hamburg lace He brought news too The bridge is out below Gray Horse The are Iia having havinga a pawpaw at Hominy All night the they kept me awake with their drums those savages The Kid and his gang gan held up the Sunta Santa Fe near Wetoka and aud got thirty-five thirty thousand dollars j but one of them will never hold up a II atrain atrain train tram again Shot in the head Verdigris Verdigris Verdi Verdi- gris Bob nob by name Would be a feather feath feath- er In that sheriffs cap to catch the Kid l 1 A country My ly forefathers forefathers forefathers fore fore- fathers should have lived to see me here Ills Isis beautiful civilized face mobile as an actors actor's was at once expressive of ot despair and bitter amusement His Ills long slender hands were spread In a gesture of wondering resignation lie sometimes talt talked ell to Dixie Lee There existed between these two a strange relation of ot understanding and something resembling respect Outcasts Outcasts Out Out- casts both of ot them he lie because of ot his race she because of her calling A smart girl like e you what do you want In such a business Ive l got to live Solly God knows why 1 You come from a good family You are young yet et you ou are smart There are other ways wa s Y e Y s s e-e-s I tried a couple of things Nix Nis nix I In a year or two he opened a little store In Osage It was at first only a n wooden shack containing two or three rough pine tables on which his wares were spread He lie was the town Jew Tew He was a person apart Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times the cowboys deviled him or r the saloon loungers and professional bad men The They looked upon him as fair game He thought of them as RS savages C C In the three and a half halt years of ot her residence In Osage Sabra had yielded hardly an Inch It was amazing It was heroic She had set herself certain certain tain |
