Show ow r bg ethel bg irwin myers co S r aw I 1 C F STORY FROM THE START in the usually quiet home ol oi rev lev mr of tied ked thrush town iowa his motherless daugh daughter tero union helen miriam and ellen gln ginger ella are busy their sister bister marjory for or partick pation in the beauty pageant that evening with eddy jackson prosperous young farmer her escort marjory leaves for the anticipated triumph overwork ahre ha affected mr hir Tol livers eyes ayes to the point ot of threatened blindness ginger has ban tried iti ID many ways to add to the fam ilys slender income but she Is not net discouraged marjory wins wine the beauty prize SO 00 she gives given the money to her father as part of the expense necessary for the treatment of his eyes by chicago specialists mr tolliver Toll lver leaves tor ford chicago with miriam ginger meets meeta alexander At murdock 61 mr r tolliver Toll lver returns the doctors doctor giving him little hope CHAPTER IV continued 7 and everybody who buys one will sell four more and it all started from one one single solitary tittle little one the girls talked on and un on but ginger drew herself away from them sat eat en wrapped in impenetrable thought bought she remembered the old chain letters they had find come with some tra a few years agu ago prayers for almost everything for coi the sick for foreign missions tor for prohibition for or fundamentalism for the second coming of the lord for itie ibe release of anarchistic prisoners condemned to ideath death and everybody sends it or on to so many more and every one of them sends fiends it to so many more and they send it ginger got up suddenly ly and went butof out of the room she walked dizzily she went upstairs g geci the short ladder from the linen closet and balanced it against tile the wall under the trapdoor she noticed that tier her hands trembled but she climbed carefully tile the ladder fodder was old pushed up the trapdoor and pulled herself through the opening from force of at habit for she was wae riot not then thinking of trapdoors she locked it behind her and made imade tier her way carefully over the beams to her sanctuary under ander the dormer window there she down heavily to think she thought and thought and thought until jer bright eyes were so BO wide so bright so blue that of a sudden they seemed to hurt her and she shut them lueia hard her two small hands were gripped so tightly with fingers interlaced so closely that suddenly she ille knew they were throbbing with pain halt paralyzed so that she ehe had to work them apart slowly a finger at a time rimo but site she did not stop chain letter uj a rind and on conall over the world thousands and thousands and nobody dares to stop bemuse because nobody would dare to break the chain for the blind a home for or the blind on and on in and on But lenly ginger burst into low nervous gervous laughter laug hier and laughed and cried and twisted her little hands and rocked back ind forth on the qthol to in an ecstasy oh oh how heavenly now how perfectly heavenly I 1 I 1 never could have thought of such a brilliant thing oh as father says I 1 see the hand 0 of f the lord tn in this thial 1 silo she pulled the stool to the low table which site she used as it a desk and seated hersell herself with a professional briskness indicative of the oneness ot of purpose which prompted her selecting three pencils from crom a large number in rhe drawer ste sharpened them briskly then she drew her pad of paper toward her arid and opened it then slid she studied intently chewing her bee pencil she wrote a nasty hasty line and quickly scratched it out again she wrote again she frowningly frn discarded it several times site she repeated this painful process ordress orn ress but at lost last as so often happens persistent effort brought inspiration and we ette wrote fluently without a pause tor for thought our parsonage home tor for the blind ts la sadly in need of funds to carry on Us its noble work will you not contribute ten cents to this flits very worthy cause and complete the chain of good vibrations by sending ending copies of tills this letter to three ot your baui friends in whom boll have conn dence in this way this athla valuable institution will en large its circle of friends and will he be enabled to continue tta its rare care of the un fortunate and needy blind we depend ou you do not break the chain ba S tolliver Toll lver trens tret red thrush jowa iowa ginger was wag pleased with the formal tone of tills flits letter she knew very well that flint it if she sm sikh ah RIO nn appeal slie she would gla adl it i labe ho had the budt muni she bhe read it 11 over and over adding a word omitting a word substituting a word until the una trial version seemed impossible impassible of 0 improvement the question to whom the letter should be sent was subjected to deep thought indeed it was more diore thitu than thought so deep it was men she knew were more fihnn women to personal I 1 arly when the personal appeals came from not unattractive girls but wom en were more superstitious and would he more moire reluctant to bring upon tipon them selves the curse that flint would result from a breaking of tile the chain aomen then As for location she ehe was not particular ti except that tt it would be best to start at some borne distance from ted led thrush methodist trite interests rests are clos ly allied in neighboring towns lowns and she realized the Ini of pro teching the family name now ginger herself was deeply cna enamored mored of the he chain tetter letter idea to ro her it smacked absolutely ot of the hand of it providence but one could uever know lust how ft fathers liers and older sisi would rend react to things hence she it would he the part of to avoid questions whose answers could not be evaded gingers dingers Gin gers unfailing resource in an emergency was tile the delly press she got the last issue of the hurling burling ton Flaw keye and studied its ita eat col dumns now a chain should start atari from i single link hal but she was not willing to the foundation ol of tier her fortunes to one small dime which not noi be forth coming she decided upon three as a fair start three links are better than one she said thoughtfully and it if it starts three chains so much the better when ever she carnu came to the name ot of a woman mentioned prominently she put her finger on the place closed her eyes und and tried to pet get a vibration about it finally the three letters were written en enclosed i clodee in envelopes addressed and ginger took thom them at once to fhe the corner mull moll box and put them in im ah she breathed ecstatically as she turned back toward the he parsonage her heart was as light as the wings of a butterfly it seemed to larry her home already the old house looked a 2 new place to tier her a rosy place bright with flowers tresh paint new furniture thousands upon thousands helen herself had said it thousands upon thousands oh I 1 wish I 1 had asked or quarters teri she thought such a n very good cause nobody could begrudge it ILI 0 a 0 0 0 had it not been for the pleasurable excitement attendant upon helens wedding ginger felt she could not possibly have endured the strain of the days that followed her conn dence to in the outcome of her chain let ter honie home for the bi ind was absolute winters might comi come with their heir consequent con and coat hills bills daugh might go their petty love affairs hut but ginger ella elio and the chain letter would go on an for ever plans tor for the wedding took precedence over everything else for helen yielding to tn the argument that thai for her in this case the way ot or genuine flee fice lay in III gracious acquiescence to plans already ande prece proceeded eded calmly with her arrangements she knew tn in her heart that she would have preferred a more apparent display ol of her she would have enjoyed a real martyr martyrdom dim she would have been proud to stand gloriously forth to her father her sisters an and red thrush riving giving up her marriage for a year for ten en years for everia ever eve rIf alf need be but she was war honest enough to that flint the course of f true 1 rue denial followed another an oilier channel mental rest the doctors had find prescribed bed and nd that abat could never be bad tn in the sacrifice of his daughters plans plana the wedding was to be neld held tn in the church with the girls of helens helena sunday school class cl asa the Rut heans serving a buffet luncheon tn in the sunday school assembly room the room that was used for church dinners socials and the like this luncheon was to tako the place of a home reception the details of tile the ceremony had been carefully practiced horace langley with eddy jackson na eus his best besl man was to wall wait in the small niall room at the teft left side aide of the pulpit tile the bridesmaids were to gather tn in the primary room just inside the main entrance helen decided that flint when all al the invited ed guests sat silently w wu ahting within the church slie she with her father would walk quietly across the intervening space front parsonage to church churchmuch such a wry very little awny and while ellen took look tim mm tin around to the pulpit room on the right ot of hie altar she would join tier fier to in the primary department for fully a week although but ten days had elapsed nitice si the forging ot of tile the first link that flint wn wip to grow crow into un tin endless chain of silver dirties dimes oln gin ger had dogged the steps of tile the postman letter for me theres hotl funny 11 out but on the very day before the wedding as though to ru fill 1111 tier rup to utter overflowing the postman delivered three letters addressed to 10 1 ha tolliver Toll lver fill all in strange brind handwriting writing well lints funny etti minered ginger and held out a trembling rin tild and with hie file guilty consciousness ot at the evildoer sure ole very postman pos must be suspicious ot of such a sudden hurst burst ot of correspondence she added bunch of it I 1 suppose she was so 81 excited that flint alle alie F rall 11 on off tile the ladder three times time bea before ire she finally sot got herself lind and the three letters into imo the attic studio under tinder tile the dormer window she was trembling nervously her chilly fingers tore uselessly at the stiff paper she had it open nil last it dime rolled out upon the floor she seized tin and kissed it youre my nest agg she wills youre your fl my iny welty lucky alece youri youre what some dumb furnier would call cali pay dirt she opened the other letters left ers three dimes resulting A sort of came over her she eat huddled into a H small hunch ov on the old stool and read the letters pleasant letters sympathetic it Is a joy jay to 10 help tn in such good work ond aless tl ss the cause pleasure to add my mite 1 the darlings said ginger the dear sweet generous christinn souls ginger had it significant batill of judging ones christianity not hi h N his thoughts hut but by hit contributions three dimes to her te represented presented ep resented three devout christians Christ Inns very still she sat on tile the old stool very vary quiet enveloped in a sweet and grateful gladness fler mind leaped swiftly on ip expensive curative treatments tor for her father new rich furniture to replace their threadbare shabbiness coal and a nd steak and chickens she L kissed the letters one after the other and crumpled them in her hand band to he be churned little white angels she called ten derly then she cast about for n proper re septable cep table for this athla incipient fortune three dimes of themselves did not require much treasuring hut but the highly imaginative eyes of f ellen coill ver looted looked already upon toe the thousand it and thousands tn in tient neat little stacks that were to come in another part of the attic she ferreted out no an old dolls trunk very dusty very shabby but stout well made with a strongly strong iv hinged top and best of all with the old lock still intact and the key dangling from a string siring within it side by side aide she laid the three dimes and turned the key tn in t the fie ru rusty 5 t y ol 01 old d lock then she moved everything else off her desk and directly tn in middle of it she placed the trunk royally alone the key she thrust thrisi un on concernedly into the table drawer she was not afraid of thieves her sigh was a great and glad one at last fortune smiles upon the parsonage and all the in it she lie whispered joyously perhaps not noi much of a smile so tar far just a tittle little giggle but a nice little giggle the tha poor little church mice are going to surprise folks one of these days she wished greatly to tell her ats slaters of this sudden turn tn in the tide of the family fortune hut but that little inner monitor which ginger most un ua called a hunch bunch warned her against this confidence and she burled buried herself and her seething see thins enar emo alons as well as she could in plans for the following day long before the high hour of noon on helens wedding day she abe was daintily arrayed in her cor blue or gandie gandle pirouetting up and down tile lie hall from room to room hurrying every everybody boldy criticizing the general appearance of her sisters oft oftering ering endless pert sug bug gest lons ions anti and always inciting thoai to greater haste TO HE BB CONTINUED |