T THE ENCH^UlTED URN j
c
There were a lot more things he
would like to do to make the
place more habitable, but he did
not dare. Sometimes even now
his conscience troubled him.
What did he know about these
people, anyway? and what kind
of a flighty youth was he becom
ing that he let a strange girl’s
.appealing face drive him to such
lengths as he was going now?
Telephone, and electric lights,
•and stairs, and a fireplace in a
barn! It was all perfectly pre
postcrious; and, if bis family
should hear of it, he would never
hear the last of it; of that he was
" -certain. *
At such times he would hunt ^
up his young sister and carry her
-off for a long drive, in the ear,
.always ending up at Glenside
Road, where she exclaimed and
praised to his heart’s satisiaction,
and gave anew her word not to
tell anybody a thing about it un
til lie was reaify.
Indeed, Elizabeth was wild
■with delight. She wanted to hunt
up some of her mother’s old
Turkish rugs that were put away
in dark closets, to decorate the
walls with pictures and bric-a
brac from her own room, and to
smother the place in flowering
shrubs for the arrival of the ten
ants ; but her brother firmly for
bade anything more being done,
lie waited with fear uud trem
bling for the time when Ihc clear
eyed young tenant should look
upon the changes he had already
made; for something told him she
would not stand charity, and
there was a point beyond which
he must not go if he wished ever
to see her again.
At last one morning he vent
ured to call her up ou the tele
phone at her office.
“My sister and I were think
ing of going out to see how things
are progressing at the Glenside
place,” he said after he had ex
plained who he was. “I was
wondering if you would care to
come along and look things over.
What time do you get through
at yoar office this afternoon?”
“That is very kind of you, Mr.
Graham,” said Shirley, “but I’m
afraid that won’t be possible. I’m
cot usually done until half-past
five. I might get through by
6, but not mueh sooner, and
that would be too late for you.”
“Not at all, Miss Hollister.
That would be a very agreeable
time. I have matters that will
keep me here quite late tonight,
and that will be just right for
me. Shall I call for you, then,
at five ? Or is that too soon ? ’ ’
“Oh, no, I can be ready by
then, I’m sure,” said Shirley with
suppressed excitement. “You are
verv kind—”
“Not at all. It will be a pleas
ure,” came the answer. “Then
I will call at your office at five,”
and the receiver clicked at the
other end, leaving Shirley in a
whirl of doubt and joy.
IIow perfectly delightful! And
yet ought she to go! Would
mother think it was all right ? His
tittle sister was going, but was
it quite right for her to accept
this much attention even in a
business wayt It wasn’t at all
customary or necessary, and both
he and she knew it. He was just
doing it to be nice.
And then there was mother.
She must send a message some
how, or mother would be frighte
ened when she did not come home
at her usual time.
She finally succeeded in getting
Carol at her school, and told her
to tell mother she was kept late
and might not be home till after
7. Then she flew at her work to
get it out of the way before 5
o’clock. »
But, when she came down at
the appointed time, she found
Carol sitting excitedly in the
back seat with Elizabeth, fairly
bursting with the double pleasuro
of the ride and of surprising her
aister.
i ■“They came to the school for
me, and took me home; and I
explained to mother that I was
going with you to look at a place
we were going to move to. I put
on the potatoes, and put the meat'
zs» the oven, and mother is going
to tell George just what to do to
: 'finish 6upper when he gets
vjjome,” she exclaimed eagerly.
“And, oh, isn’t it lovely I”
4.^indeed it is lovely,” said
Shirley, her face flushing with
pleasure and her eyes speaking
{gratitude to the young mau in
like front seat who was opening
>2he door for her to step in be
s&de him. . ■
11
That was a wonderful ride.
„ Tiie spring iiad made tremen
dous advances in her work dur
ing the 10 days since they went
that way before. The flush of
green that the willows had worn
had become a soft, bright feather
of foliage, and the maples had
sent out crimson tassels to off
set them. Down in the meadows
and along the roadside the grass
was thick and green, and the bare
brown fields had disappeared.
Little brooks sang tinklingly as
they glided under bridges, and
the birds darted here and there
in busy, noisy pairs. Frail wav
ering blossoms starred the
swampy places, and the air was
sweet with scents of living
things.
But, w&en they came in sight
of the barn, Elizabeth and her
brother grew silent from sheer
desire to talk and not act as if
there was anything different
about it. Now that they had ac
tually brought Shirley here, the
new windows seemed fairly to
flaunt themselves in their shin
ing mbssy paint and their vast
extent of diamond panes, so that
the two conspirators were deeply
embarrassed, and dared not faee
what they had done.
It was Carol who broke the si
lence that had come upon them
all.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” she shouted.
“Shirley, just look! New, great
big windows! Isn’t that great!
Now you needn't worry whether
it will be dark for mother days
when she can’t go out! Isn’t
that the best ever!”
But Shirley looked, and her
cheeks grew pink as her eyes
grew starry. She opened her
lips to speak, and then closed
them again, for the words would
not come, and the tears came in
stead; but she drove them back,
and then managed to say:
“Oh, Mr. Graham 1 Oh, you
have gone to so much trouble!”
“No, no trouble at all,” said
he almost crossly; for he had
wanted her.not to notice those
windows, at least not yet.
‘ ‘ You see it was this way. The
windows were some that were
left over from another order, and
I got a chance to get them at a
bargain. I thought they might ,
as well be put in now as any time
and you get the berefit of them.
The barn really needed more
light. It was a, very dark barn
indeed. Hadn’t you noticed it!
I can’t see how my grandfather
thought it would do to have so
little light and air. But you
know in the old times they didn’t
use to have such advanced ideas
about ventilation and germs and .
things-” He felt he was get
ting on rather famously until he
looked down at the clear eyes of
the girl, and knew she was seeing
right straight through all his
talk. However, she hadn’t the
face to tell him so; and so he
boldly held on his way, making
up fine stories about things that
barus needed until he all but be
lieved them himself; and, when
he got through, he needed only
to finish with “And, if it isn’t so,
it ought to be ” to have a regular
Water-Baby argument out of it.
He managed to talk on in this
vein until he could stop the car
and help Shirley out, and togeth
er they all went up the now vel
vety green of the incline to the
Dig uoor.
“It is beautiful! beautiful!!”
murmured Shirley in a daze of
delight. She could not yet make
it seem real that she was to come
to this charmed spot to live in a
few days.
Graham unlocked the big
doors, and sent them rolling back
with a touch, showing what ball
bearings and careful workman
ship can do. The group stepped
inside, and stood to look again.
The setting sun was easting a
red glow through the diamond
paues and over the wide floor.
The new partitions, guiltless of
paint, for Graham had not dared
to go further, were mellowed into
ruby hangings. The stone fire
place rose at the opposite side of
the room, and the new staircase
was just at the side, all in the
ruddy evening glow that carried
rich dusky shadows into the cor
ners, and hung a curtain of
vagueness over blemishes.
Then all suddenly, before they
had had time to take in the
changes, more than the fact of
the partitions which they expect
ed, Graham stepped to the side of
'die door, and touched a button,
and behold a myriad of lights
■ burst forth about the place, mak
iug it bright like noontime.
“Oh! Oh! Obt” breathed Card
in awe and wonder, and “Oil!"
again, no if there were nothing
else to say. But Shirley only
looked and caught her breath. It
seemed a palace too fine for their
poor little means, and a sudden
fear gripped hold upon her.
“Oh Mr. Graham! You have
done too much!'1 she choked.
“You shouldn’t have done it!
We can never afford to pay for
all this!”
“Not at all!” said young Gra
ham quickly. ‘T’his isn’t any
thing. The electric people gave
permission for this, and. I
thought it would be safer than ,
lamps and candles, you know. It
cost scarcely anything for the
wiring. I had our regular man
do it that attends to the wiring
and lights at the office. It was
a mere trifle, and will make
things a lot more convenient for
you. You see it’s nothing to the
company. They just gave per
mission for a wire to-be run from
the gole there. Of course they
might not do it for every one,
but I’ve some pretty good friends
in the company; so it’s all
right.”
“But the fireplace!” said Shir
iey, going over to look at it. “ It’s
beautiful! It’s like what you see
in magazine pictures of beautiful
houses.”
“Why, it was just the stones
that were left from cutting the i
windows larger. I thought they
might as well be utilized, you
know. It wasn’t much more work
to pile them up that way while
the meawere here than if we had
had them carted away.”
Here Carol interrupted.
“Shirley! There’s a tele
phone]”
Shirley’s accusing eyes were
upon her landlord.
“It was put in for our con
venience while the workmen
were here,” he explained defen
sively. “It is a pay phone, you
see, and is no expense except
when in use. It can be taken out
if you do not care to have it, of
course; but it occurred to me
since it was here your mother
might feel more comfortable out
here all day if she could call you
when she needed to.”
Shirley’s face was a picture of
Varying emotions as she list
ened, but relief and gratitude
conquered as she turned to him.
‘“I believe you have thought
of everything,” she said at last.
“I have worried about that all
this week. I have wondered if
mother would be afraid out in
the country with only the chil
dren, and the neighbors not quite
near enough to call; but this
solves the difficulty. You are
sure it hasn’t cost you a lot to
have this put in!”
“Why, don’t you know the
telephone company is glad to
have their phones wherever they
can get them!” he evaded.
“Now, don’t worry about any
thing more. You’ll find hard
ships enough living in a bam
without fretting about the few
conveniences we have been able
A __M
VV
I “But this is real luxury 1” she
said, sitting down on tho Bteps
and looking up \^here the lights
blazed from the loft. “You have
put lights up there, too, and a
railing. I was so afraid Doris
would fall down some time!”
“I’m glad to find you are hu
man, after all, and have a few
fears!” declared the owner,
laughing. “I had begun to think
you were Spartan through and
through and weren’t afraid of
anything. Yes, I had the men
put what lumber they had left
ito that railing. I thought it
wasn’t safe to have it all open
like that, and I didn’t want you
to sue me for life or limb, you
know. There’s one thing I
haven’t been able to get hold of
haven’t managed yet, and, that is
piping water up from the spring.
I haven’t been able to get hold
of the right man so far; but he’s
water to this floor. If it is it will
make your work much easier and
be only the matter of a few rods
of pipe.”
“Oh, but, indeed, yon mustn’t
do anything more!” pleaded
Shirley. ‘ I shall feci so ashamed
paying such a little rent.”
“But, my dear young lady,”
said Graham in his most dignified
business manner, “yon don’t at
all realize how much lower rents
are in the country, isolated like
this, than they ore in the city;
and you haven’t as yet realized
what a lot of inconveniences you
have to put up with. When you
go back to the city in the winter,
you will be glad to get away from
here. ’ ’
“Never!” said Shirley fervent
ly, and shuddered. “Oh, never!
You don’t know fylw dreadful it
seems that we shall have to go
back. But of course I suppose
v __
we Shnil. Qno couldn't live in«;
bar* ill the whiter, even thoughitj
m a palace for the summer”; end |
she looked about wistfully. TTJien,:
her eyes lighting up, she said in a
low tone, for the young inan's
benefit alone:
‘‘I think God must have made
you do all this for us!” She
turned and walked swiftly over
to one of the new Jasement win
dows, looking out at the red glow
that the sun in sinking had left
in the sky; and there against the
fringes of the willows and maples
shone out the bright weather
vane on the spire of the little
white church in the valley.
‘‘I think God must have sent
you to teach me and my little sis
ter a few things,” said a low
voice just behind Shirley as she
struggled with tired, happy tears
that would blur her eyes. But,
when she turned to sipile at the
owner ot the voice, he was walk
ing over by the door and talk
ing to Carol. They tumbled joy
ously into the car very soon, and
sped on their way to the city
again.
That night the Hollister chil
dren told their mother they had
found a place in which to live.
CHAPTER X.
The crisis was precipitated by
Shirley’s finding her mother cry
ing when she came up softly to
see her.
“Now, little mother, dear I
What can be the matter?” she
cried aghast, sitting down on the
bed and drawing her mother’s
head into her lap.
But it was some time before
Mrs. Hollister could recover her
calmness, and Shirley began to
be frightened. At last, when she
had kissed and petted her, she
called down to the others to come
up stairs quickly.
They came with all haste,
George and Harley with dish
towels over their shoulders, Car
ol with her arithmetic and pencil,
little Doris trudging up breath
less, one step at a time, and all
crying excitedly: “What’s the
matter?”
“Why, here’s our blessed little
mother lying here all by herself,
crying because she doesn’t know
where in the world we can find
a house!” cried Shirley; “and I
think it’s time we told our beau
tiful secret, don’t you?”
“Yes,” chorused the children,
although Harley and Doris had
no idea until then that there was
any beautiful secret. Beautiful
secrets hadn’t been coming their
way.
“Well, I think we’d better tell
it,” said Shirley, looking at
George and Carol questioningly.
“Don’t you? We don’t want
mother worrying.” So they all
clustered around her on the bed
and the floor, and sat expectant
ly while Shirley told.
“You see, mother, it’s this
way. We’ve been looking around
a good deal lately, George and I,
and we haven’t found a thing in
the city that would do; so one
day I took a trolley ride out of
the city, and I’ve found some
thing I think will do nicely for
the summer, any\ray, and that
will give us time to look around
and decide. Mother, dear, would
you mind camping so very much
if we made you a nice, comforta
ble place?”
“Camping” said Mrs. Hollis
ter in dismay. “Dear child! In
a tent?”
f “No, mother, not in a tent.
There’s a—a—sort of a house—
! that is, there’s a building where
, we could sleep, and put our fur
'niture, and all; but there’s a
I lively out of doors. Wouldn’t
' you like that, for Doris and
I you?”
“Oh, yes,” sighed the poor
woman; “I’d like it; but, child,
you haven’t an idea what you
are talking about. Any place in
the country costs terribly, even
a shanty-•”
| “That’s ait, mother, call it a
shanty” put in Carol. “Mother,
would you object to living in a
shanty all summer if it was good
and clean and you had plenty of
out of doors around it?”
“No, of course not, Carol, if it
was perfectly respectable. I
shouldn’t want to take my chil
dren among a lot of low down
people-•”
(To Be Continued Nvxt We«D
President Harding has grown res
tive under the delay of congress in
tariff and taxation matters. The pres
ident's Irritation is but an indication
of the way the country feels. It may
develop that republican leaders will
have it impressed upon them that
they made a grievous blunder when
they gave the tariff precedence over
tax revision. The nation as a whole
demanded the latter, whereas, aside
from a few special Interests, there
was no demand for tariff tinkering.
Y
———mmmmm •
Newest
Creation ^
"AFTER ^
a EVERY
MEAL"
t ;
Delectable sugar
coating around a
nippy zippy bit
peppermint chewing
gum.
Sweeten the
breatb.aid digestion,
quiet nervousness,
allay thirst and help
keep teeth white.
■
WWGUVSk
VMIdUmlp'
JWBH9yEYSL
The Flavor Lasts b«
--s-1--—
As Times Change.
“The old drinking customs have
passed away.”
“They have,” agreed Uncle Bill
Bottletop. “Instead of taking water
| on the side a man now calls for an
antidote.”
Cuticura Comforts Baby's Skin
When red, rough and itching with hot
paths of Cuticura Soap and touches of
/'aticura Ointment. Also make use
>w and then of that exquisitely scent
1 dusting powder, Cuticura Talcum,
me of the indispensable Cuticura
Toilet Trio._
GROW HIGHLY PRIZED COTTON
Virgin Islands Produce Long-Staple
Variety That Is Almost Extinct
in the United Statee.
Cotton raising has become one of
the principal Industries of the Virgin
Islands, Uncle Sam’s newest territorial
possession, according to Bulletin No. 1,
Sea Islnnd Cotton in St. Croix, of the
Virgin Islands agricultural experiment
station, Just Issued by the United
States Department of Agriculture.
> Sea-Island cotton, the much-prized,
long-staple variety which has been ren
dered almost extinct In continental
[United States by the boll weevil, is
itlie basis of the Virgin Islands industry.
The area devoted to 1L while as yet
(small, produced an average yield of
11,000 pounds of seed cotton to the acre
■ In 1919 and 1920. One of the plats at
[the government experiment station
i produced at the rate of 4,450 pounds
I of seed cotton.
“Roar" of Ostrich.
A lecture? at the London “Zoo”
/said that very few people knew that
jan ostrich roared. The roars of an
j ostrich and a lion were so alike that
£>r. Livingstone could never distin
Igtilsh the difference, save by the fact
that the bird roared by day and the
I lion by night.—Scientific American.
t The man who lays up money salts
| it down. __
“Eatonic Is wonderful,” says C. W„
Burton. "I had been a sufferer from
stomach trouble for 20 years and now
I am well.”
Eatonic gets right after the cause of
stomach troubles by taking up and
carrying out the acidity and gases and
of course, when tie cause is removed,
the sufferer gets well. If you have
sourness, belching. Indigestion, food
repeating or any other stomach
trouble, take Eatonic tablets after
each meal and find relief. Big box
costs only a trifle with your druggist’s
guarantee.
a Refuge in Silence.
Mary Marcia had come to spend the
day with relatives and had been told
not to leave the yard.
During the morning she spied some
little folks at a distance and went
off. I had been telling her how naughty
It was to go out of the yard, when
our next-door neighbor Joined the
group.
Knowing how fond she was of tha
neighbor, I said: “Now, Mary Marcia,
tell uncle where you went.”
For a moment she looked at the
ground, then exclaimed: "Oh, I’m not
talking now.”—Chicago Tribune. ^
Bum Joke. ’ " '• ■*
“Good morning, merry sunshine I”
exclaimed the jolly Jester as he
waltzed up to the window and passed
one through to the teller. “Say, I Just
thought of a funny one. ‘Why is a
teller?’ Ha! ha! ‘What does a teller
tell?’ Funny, ain’t It. huh?”
“Yep,” said the teller. “I got the
answer once, anyhow. The teller tells
when your account Is overdrawn 1”
And he passed the check back with
a mirthless chuckle. — Richmond
Tlmes-Dispatch.
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