Show f uncle applies baseball f by M FRANCES WELCH Q 1022 by mcl mcclura newspaper syndicate ding dingi lucia stirred starre d under the covers and drowsily peeked over their tops at the face of the little post that roused her every morning to of the monotonous lle life she elised and of its monotonous duties hastily donning her bathrobe and winding her hall hair into a tight little wad at the nape of her neck she slipped her fe teet et into faded slippers then hastened to the bathroom bowl where she completed her waking with a cold face ace shower thus clad she hurriedly prepared her husbands breakfast it did not lot occur to lucia to apologize to toni tom for her appearance A year had bad passed since the little alarm clock had been set with due time allowance for attractive dressing and here you have a sufficiently clear portrayal of the matrimonial crisis of lucia and tom holt A jolly looking old gentleman chuckled aloud as lie he read his nephews letter listen to tills this wife dear uncle thomas come to my rescue also lu clas it was your match you know and you have always understood my wife even better than I 1 have this thing which Is the cause of the S 0 S has gone beyond my comprehension life has seemed to go stale with us lately and especially with lucia something has got to be done come and do it with love toni tom my match indeed and all I 1 did was introduce the lucky boung dog to a sweet girl who nho too stuck up to talk to an old man at a ball game wonder what toms donel done lucias sure too good a sport not to play the game it was a few days later that tom telephoned home to say that uncle thomas was in town and as usual would stay with them lucia was seems like tom ought to be with Us today glad because she liked the kindly old man lie he always made a middle aged sort of love to her making her think that she was wag a matrimonial prize some things tom had said lately were to the very opposite in effect uncle thomas sitting at the breakfast table was forced to draw unpleasant comparisons tom holt eating his cereal was the typical rising young business mah roan ile he was clean shaen sli aen well brushed but lucia 1 she had willingly accepted uncle thomas suggestion that lie be not made company of and had appeared in her usual hasty tollet toilet it was easily seen that it was an effort on oil toms part to look at his wife without putting into words the lack of compliment her attire implied tom Is not guilty thought uncle thomas guess you and 1 I lucia will have to see this new fellow do his fancy pitching must say he hate to talk about himself want to go gol 1 11 I certainly would I 1 seen a game tor for ages A MAI hat takes so much of ones tinte time when one lias has to do all tile work nork lucia had riot scorned tile hie trivial opportunity to declare her telf abused it was the fourth inning the teams venly matched no better chance could a man of ability have had to prone proe his worth in the pitchers box the loudly acclaimed and self styled man el of the glove was put on the diani diamond ond with easy confidence he threw his first ball but something was going wrong the ball ivas was being lilt tit two home runs in the fourth could it be that the man wits was not so good as lie he if lies hes a pitcher im a millionaires wife remarked lucia scornfully she was a pretty picture perched beside uncle thomas tier her cli cheeks celis hustled flushed iles hes got cot to show us vs whether hether he hei k sume he be uncle 1 ill bet hes a quitter watch ahlm to 1 tile he sixth hes notice kind io to piny i he game thi through ough uncle thomas was vas at that minute gifted with ko an in pi ration that he hoped would mean toni tom holts happen happiness ss restored oh I 1 do hope he sti clis I 1 bate a quit quitters terl said kald lidela vehemently hut but uncle thomas proved right the marvel tried all his tricks in I 1 i the lie sixth saw two more homers from ills his futile halls hall s and then som e apparently was wrong with his w wrist rast lie he felt it gingerly and made a wry race face ue he called the umpires attention to it uncle thomas and lucia could see him trying to convince that bleed bleep tic gentleman that something was wa wrong another man was put tn fit hill bl place and the ila marvel arvil walked off the diamond nursing his wrist let us go uncle I 1 dont want wiatt to ft se the finish now iverean ive read about that fellow every day and its too to see him drop out like billi s said aid via eta then hopefully perhaps herail ly sprained it sv well il try to find out listen to these two from his own club whispered uncle thomas drawing lucia to on one e side behind two players who were talking la in low tones sure bill he quit on us its cold I 1 and big coin he be gets too hes nothing but a quit quitter terl 1 said the first chap the yellow skunk 1 the yellow slunk skunk muttered the oth other e r walking home brought sick back to uncle thomas one other day when a very gay had and happy young man had bad been with them seems like tom aught tobe with us today tt lt lucia he asked slyly As a leading remark lie he could nut not have chosen chosen better lucia wai rian not above bidding for sympathy oil 01 uncle thomas we must be an awful to lo you tona tom and I 1 have failed somehow I 1 have tried to do my part but dont seem to get anywhere very fast and tom appreciate me the oral orill recitation citation of the situation bi brought ought big tears to lucias eyes a plaintive tone to her v voice olce almost it if he had not certain scenes in his mind uncle thomas could have pitied her lucia looked up into his face for thesyl the gym pathy that failed to register there little girl life much different than baseball you cant quit and bo b o happy or well thought of 0 elte eltten r 1 1 yov toy chose tom for bett better eror or worse as a th saying goes and theres been ft a lot more better than worse toms toma done and Is doing his share under handicap too for hla wife las has quit cold ignoring the tears in the reproachful eyes uncle thomas continued last night when your husband tried to tell you about a business deal you dawned yawned in his face and the hand band with which you stifled that yawn had grai tray edged nails this morning too you did riot not look lok like ilka the kind of a alfe to inspire a man bian to a hard days work lucias face worked painfully wom nn an ilke she was glad that they were on a by street she sha could see mentally the pitcher leaving the box head down another called to his hi work there was a likeness between him and herself a cold fear gripped her heart beam she ahe could not bear to think ot of further similarity am I 1 a yellow skunk too amat tin she bhe sobbed now keenly sensitive to her fallum allure well etl not exactly lucia yellow skunks do not change their color but I 1 stake my guess that yours youra lj is going to turn to true blue blua lucia am I 1 right yes you ara am I 1 cart can tee see how bund blind ive boon been you go into ton toms office and take him to dinner ive got to go home rind and do iona gome things thing to the house to myself and to toms tom clothes and uncle thomas please send him home after dinner alone losing no no time lucia hastened battened towards her neglected duties theres nothing like a little baseball to straighten out our mental perspective spec tive declared uncle thomas thoma to himself as lie boarded the town car en route to tell tom that the match maker had bad accomplished his mis masslon slon |