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Show f ' : THIS BUSINESS SUSAN THAYER & 9i ni Party Line I you'd probably do the same thing I am doing if you were in mine." And then, driving home along the deserted country road past snug looking farm houses where people were saying what they wanted to, to whom they wanted to, the young investigator smiled. It was a good thing that Mrs. Sanders could say what she wanted to to the governor or any one else, although it would mean some extra work on her part before the thing was settled. j We're a nation of talkers. We say what we think and what we don't think. We complain and we criticize and in most instances get it out of our systems. We've , j always been talkers. Since the Pilgrims complained of the British j I and the time when men sat around the stove in the village general store and told each other! what President Lincoln ought to do. We talk in papers, on the radio, on platforms and to each other and no one tells us to look out we better not say that . . or shh . . we mustn't say this. Because this is America where every man "from the oceans to the prairies has a right to his own opinions and, come what may, can say what he likes When the phone gave two long rings and one short one, Jane Brown lifted the receiver. And P then there was the tell-tale click of two other receivers .being lifted, for this was a party line. Old Mrs. Allen and Sally Peterson probably. prob-ably. They were both confirmed eavesdroppers, people said. But never mind. It wasn't anything personal Mary had to tell her. Just things about the state political po-litical meeting she'd been attending attend-ing and the subject for their next club meeting and something about the school program to be held that night. Let the neighbors listen lis-ten in all they wanted to. As a matter of fact, it would do them both good. Jane gained delightedly as her sister, Mary, launched into praise of a man Mrs. Allen hated and criticized some one she liked. It must be hard for the old lady to keep from breaking in with - a few thoughts of her own. What would it be like, Jane wondered to live in a country where you were afraid to say what you think even to members of your own family, let alone broadcast broad-cast them on a busy party line? I'll see that the governor hears about this. That's what I'll do. 'And then you'll see what happens to your job, young lady. It won't be worth two cents." It was Mrs. Sanders, dissatisfied with the work of the County Relief Office, who was talking to the investigator assigned as-signed to her case. "That's all right, Mrs. Sanders," the investigator told her. "Go ahead and write. I'd probably do the same thing if I were in your ! place. But, on the other hand, ! |