Show ANCESTORS as by frances french e Is ah MCC mccair 1 U service ferric F you youve VE e eier eer er seen howe hollow IF in the spring youve seen something A background of 0 low rolling hills bills covered with soft green erven through the valley a winding clear shallow brown stream I 1 lowe brook it Is tailed called an occasional rocky ford surface and willows across its bubbling sweeping their long branches down over its waters the 1 green and pink of 0 blooming apple trees on the slopes of the stone st one cleared farma zigzagging old gray rail fences marking the ancient boundaries or straight wide old gray stone walls sometimes as wide as the span of a mans arms and cradled in the preen green trees small old white clapboard houses w with ith preen green blinds and faded red deys not big houses house s for howe ajol low has never supported a rich population but comfortable houses that have been kept in good condition by generations of comfortable people if you had bad seen howe hollow a as it lay jay in the soft twilight of nn an evening in late may with the sun just leading the treetops trec tops and the thrushes singing their sweet spring song in the gathering dusk you perhaps would not have bare wondered at the love martha howe bore 1 it t tier her father and her fathers fathers before him her husbands ancestors ce oe too had lived there through the years the blond of old joshua howe who mho had bad founded the settlement two centuries before flowed through the veins of her son william and martha howe a widow a few years after her mar marriage ridge had seen to it that william knew and venerated howe hollow and all that it stood for hut but dear me anna pratt she said rising tainy fro from her knees before her sweet william border where she had bad been ruthlessly rooting out weeds 1 I dont mind because william went to the city of course not young people today arent content with the things that made life complete for us when we were young she spoke slowly and carefully as she dusted her hands against each other to free them from the soft earth of the flower border no it appears they arent mrs pratt fratt spoke acidly 1 I know times change martha but ive always said howe hollow was good enough for anyone an y one leastwise and more specially for a howe and ill always stick to it and what your william can find any better down in new york than we can find right here I 1 dont know sirs bits howe said only come on up on the porch and sit down anna ill just run in and wash my hands and pet get a shawl and then come back and sit here a while I 1 love these spring twilights but perhaps it if you had seen howe inowe hollow in the soft sleepy twilight of that late may hay evening you would have bare wondered how flesh and blood blued could endure it perhaps you would have sympathized with some of the younger ger howe hollow inhabitants who gratefully shook its dust from their feet as lightly as martha owe shook th the e dust of her sweet william border from her fingers howe hollow said one young wit yeah its hollow all right light and how martha never blamed william for fir choosing the city instead of his ancestral home for bi bis work william wil I 1 lam bad developed real talent as a boy in painting she had conserved the family resources to the utmost that she might give him a good education including two years work in paris now that he be was a successful magazine illustrator she took it quite for granted that he should elect to live in new york naturally that was the file place for him but in spite of her careful refusal to discuss the situation sit nation with her old friend anna pratt martha was troubled times were bad everybody knew that william had been graciously and generously sending something to martha each week to help keep beep the old house up ile he had done it more ore as a matter of repaying her for his bi s expensive training than as a filial duty d uty ile he had been careful in making martha feel that but even now a successful a illustrator might find end himself a bit short of funds it was not that william had less le RS money M oney surprising than he had bad had and william was in love lore he had written his mother of his engagement had bad ga 98 gement to felice leewaye Le Leev eways rays felice real made a good beginning beginning begin nin 9 toward success as a motion picture re actress when a fall had I 1 lamed amed her slightly but permanently in such a way that she could not hope for tui a future as a screen star folt tt WA william and tui as a screen star folt tt WA william and felice were to be married marrie d tomorrow then in a few days they were to coming visit martha and martha from williams william knew letters that he ask her would to give her up old home the new england among hills bills and go back with him to new york fork he be had said he be at her age worried about her would be safer far more she boarding a block comfortable or so and away from froin mm him felice where he chui coui could keep his eye on oil her martha adew the necessity money and to save of court course 4 s she he give in would it was only right that william should have a chance for and his own life if it cost too old place to in the hollow much to I 1 keep oel the old place would have tor for her the to be sold for a small go it could price was the hollow developing as a summer the old houses place and were and modernized for being remodeled summer homes the nwe house was one of the best there would be little difficulty about selling it but marthas heart was heavy tier her anc ancestors estora her husbands ancestors seemed to be putting out restraining hands bands to hold her to keep her where she belonged martha blushed well she said eald anna pratt Is an old friend I 1 suppose you heard what she said but she never neer did have sense enough to ta mind lier her own business im sorry orry youve been bothered by our small gossip just you forget it and ill III get your breakfast right on the table felice picked up the bowl of rhubarb ill help she said no wa wait I 1 L she laid the bowl back on the table william was going to tell you N when ben lie he comes down cut but I 1 cant walt wait mother howe I 1 love it here wee decided if you want nant us well stay here it will cost a lot less and william can do a lot of painting apple trees in bloom with an old stona stoie wall behind them and you yon in a blue linen dress with violets in your hands bands martha howe put her arms about felice yes and william here where be really belongs mot mother fler howe may we stay we thought wed ask you yoa to go back to the city with us cut but when hen we got here something om ething seemed to hold us yes nodded martha yes you may stay |