Newspapers / The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, … / May 21, 1925, edition 1 / Page 7
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CHAPTER Vlll—Continued —ll— went to the little wash room at tlie rear, felt better Immediately she had washed vigorously, combed her hair. She returned to the wagon to find a panic-stricken Dirk sure of noth ing but that he had been deserted by his mother. Fifteen minutes later the two were seated at a table ~on which was spread what Chris Spank noebel considered an adequate break fast A heartening enough beginning for the day. and a 'deceptive. The Ha.vmarket buyers did not want to purchase Its vegetables frefm Sellna DeJong. It wasn't used to buying of women, but to selling to them. Sellna had taken the covers ofT her vegetables. They were revealed crisp, fresh, colorful. But Sellna knew they must be sold now, quickly. When the leaves began to wilt when the edges of the cauliflower heads curled ever so slightly, turned brown and limp, their value decreased by half, even though the heads themselves remained white and firm. Down the street came the buyers— little black-eyed swarthy men; plump, short-sleeved, greasy men; shrewd, to bacco-chewing men in overalls. Stolid red Dutch faces, sunburned. Lean, dark foreign faces. Shouting, clatter, tur moil. The day broke warm. The sun rose red. It would be a humid September day such as frequently came in the autumn to this lake region. Garden stuff would have to move quickly this morning. Afternoon would find it worthless. The peddlers looked at her bunched bouquets, glanced at her, passed her by. It was not unklndness that prompted them, but a certain shyness, a fear of the unaccustomed. Her wares were tempting but they passed her by with the Instinct that the Ig norant have against that which Is un usual. By nine o'clock trading began to fall off. In a panic Sellna realized that the sales she had made amounted to little more than two dollars. If she stayed there until noon she might double that, but no more. In despera tion she harnessed the horses, thread ed her way out of the swarming street, and made for South Water street farther east. Here were the commis sion houses. She* knew that Pervus had sometimes left his entire load with an established dealer here, to be sold on commission. She remembered the name—Talcott —though she did not know the exact location. The boy had been almost incredibly patient and good. At tlie wagon be had stood sturdily next his mother, had busied himself vastly assisting her in her few pitiful sales; had plucked wilted leaves, brought forward the freshest and frispest vegetables. But now sht saw that he was drooping a little as were her wares, with the beat and the absence from accustomed soli. "Where we going now, mom?" "To another street, Sobig—" - "Dirk!" " —Dirk, where there's a man wholl buy all our stuff at once—maybe. Won't that be fine! Then we'll go home. Yon help mother find bis name over the store. Talcott—T-a-l-o-o double t" William Talcott had known Pervus. and Pervus' father before bim, and had adjudged them honest, admirable men. But of their garden truck he bad small opinion. In his doorway, he eyed the spare little figure that appeared before him all ,in rusty black, with Its strained anxious face, its great deep-sunk eyes. "DeJong, eh? Sorry to hear about your loss, ma'am. Pervus was a fine lad. No great shakes at truck farm ing, though. His widow, h'mT Hm." Here, he saw, was no dull-witted farm woman; no woman truck ster. He went out to her wagon, tweaked the boy's brown cheek. "Wa-al now. Mis' DeJong, you got a right smart lot of garden stuff here and It looks pretty good. Yesslr, pretty good. But you're too late Ten; pret' near." "Oh, nor cried Selina. -Oh. no! Not too Ist*!" And at the agony l In her voice he looked at her sharp!?. "Tell yon what, met)be I can more half of 'em along for yon. Bat stwff don't keep this weather. Tnrna wllty and my trade won't touch It. . . . First trip tor She wiped her face that wai damp and yet cold to the touch. "First —trip In." Suddenly she was flnnng it ab surdly hard to breathe. He called from the sidewalk to the men within: "George! Ben! Hnatle this staff In. Half of It. The best Send yoa check tomorrow, MIC De- Jong." One band on the seat she prepared to climb up again —(fid step to the hub. Ton saw her shabby, absurd ■lde boots that were so much too big for the sUm little feet. If you're Just baying my staff because you're- sorry for me—" The Psake pride. "Don't do business that way. Can't afford to. ma'am. My da'ter she's studying to be a stager, la Italy sow. OajrHne la. and costs tike ail getnmL TfWlsa all tfc« money I can scrape to gether, Just about." There ni a Uttle color la BeUna*s SO BIG By EDNA FERBER face now." "Italy! Oh, Mr. Talcottl** You'd have thought she had seen It from her face. She began to thank him, gravely. "Now, that's all right Mis'. DeJong. I notice your stuff's bunched kind of extry, and all of a dlze. Fixln' to do that way right along?" "Yes. I thought—they looked pret tier that way—of course vegetables aren't supposed to look pretty, I ex pect—" she stammered, stopped. "You fix 'em pretty like that and bring 'em In to me first thing, or send 'em. My trade, they like their stuff kind of special. Yesslr." As Sellna gathered up the reins he stood again In his doorway, cool, re mote, unllghted cigar In his mouth, while hand-trucks rattled past him. barrels and boxes thumped to the side walk In front of him, wheels and hoofs and shouts made a great clamor .all about him. "We going now?" demanded Dirk. "We going home' now? I'm hungry." "Yes, lamb." Two dollars In her pocket. All yesterday's grim toll, and all today's, and months Of labor be hind those two days. Two dollars In the pocket of her black calico petticoat. "We'll get something to eat when we drive out a ways. Some milk and bread and cheese." The sun was very hot. She took the boy's hat off, passed her tender work calloused hand over the damp hair that clung to his forehead. She made up her mind to drive east and then south. Pervus had sometimes achieved a late sale to outlying gro cers. Jan's face If she came home with half the load still on the wngon! Apd what of the unpaid bills? She had, perhaps, thirty dollars, all told. She owed four hundred. Mo?e than that. t • Fear shook her. She told herself she was tired, nervous. That terrible week. And now this. The heat. Soon they'd be home, she and Dirk. The comfort of It the peace of It Safe, de sirable, suddenly dear. No work for a woman, this! Well, perhaps they were right. Down Wabash avenue, with the L trains thundering overhead and hei |JB| As She Gathered Up the Reins He Btood In His Doorway, Cool, Remote. horses, frightened and" uneasy with the unaccustomed roar and clangor of traffic. It was terribly hot The boy's eyes popped with excite ment and bewilderment "Pretty soon," Sellna said. The muscles showed white "beneath the skin of her Jaw. "Pretty soon. Prairie avenue. Great big houses and lawns, all quiet." She even managed a smile. "I like it better home." I'ralrie avenue at last, turning in at Sixteenth street It was like cairn after a storm. Selina felt battered, •pent. Then another thought came to her. Her vegetables, canvas covered, were fresher than those In the near-by mar kets. Why not try to aell some of them here, la these big bonnes? In an hour she might earn a tew dollars this way at retail prices slightly leas than those asked Vy the grocers of the neigh borhood. Agilely she stepped down the wheel, gave the reins to Dirk. She filled f large market basket with the finest and freshest of her stock and with this on her arm looked up a moment at the bouse in front of which she had stopped. The kitchen entrance, she knew, was by way of the alley at the back, but this she would not take. Across the sidewalk, down a little flight of stone steps. Into the vestibule under the porch. She looked at the bed—a -brass knob. "Pall it V said the des perate Sellna. "I cast! I can't r cried all the prim dim Vermont Peakes, la chorus. "All right Starve to death and let them take the farm and Dirk, them." At that aha polled the kaob hard. Jangle went the bed la the halL Agate. Agali. •. DtttMv. P«t ft Co.) WW] Service. I'ootstepa up the ball. The door opened to disclose a large vfoman, hlfii cheek-boned. In a work apron; a cook, apparently. "Good morning," said Selina. "Would you like some fresh country vege tables r "No." She half shut the door, open ing It again to ask, "Got any freab eggs or butter?" At Sellna's negative she closed the door, bolted It Well, that was all right. Nothing so terrible about that, Selina told herself. Simply hadn't wanted any vegetables. The next house, and the next and the next. Up one side of the street, and down the other. Four times she refilled her basket. At one house she sold a quar ter's worth. Fifteen at another. Twen ty cents here. Almpst fifty there. Twenty-first street—Twenty-fifth— Twenty-eighth. She had over four dol lars In her purse. 'Dirk was weary now and hungry to the point of tears "The last house," Sellna promised him. "the very last one. After this one we'll go home." The last house. She had almost five dollars, earned In the last hour. "Just five minutes," she said to Dirk, trying to make her tone bright, her voice gay. Her arms full of vegetables which she was about to place In the basket at her feet she beard at her elbow: "Now, then, where's your licenser' She turned. A policeman at her side. "License?" "Yeh, you heard me. License. Where's your peddler's license? You got one, I s'pose." "Why, no. No." She stared at him, still. "Well, say, where d'ye think you are, peddlln' without a license! A good mind to run you In. Get along out of here, you and the kid. Leave me ketch you around here again P' "What's the trouble, officer?" said a woman's voice. A smart open carriage of the type known as a victoria, with two chestnut horses whose harness shone with metal. "What's the trouble, Reilly?" The .woman stepped out of the victoria. "Woman peddling without a license, Mrs. Arnold. Tou got to watch 'em like a hawk. . . Get along wld you, then." He put a hand on Sellna's shoulder and gave her a gentle push. There shook Sellna from bead to foot such a passion, such a storm of out raged sensibilities, as to cause street, victoria, silk-clad woman, horses, and policeman to swim and shiver in a haze before her eyes. The rage of a fas tidious woman who had had an alien male hand put upon her. Her face was white. Her eyes glowed black, enormous. She seemed tall, majestic even. "Take your hand off me!" Her speech was tllpped, vibrant "How dare you toucb me! How dare you! Take your hand!—" The blazing eyes in the white mask. He took his hand from her shoulder. The red surged into her face. A tanned weather beaten toil-worn woman, her abundant hair skewered into a knob and held by a long gray-black hairpin, her full sk'lrt grimed with the mud of the wagon wheel, a pair of old side boots on hef slim feet, a grotesquely battered old felt bat (her husband's) on her head, her arms full of ears of sweet corn, and carrots, and radishes and bunches of beets; a woman with bad teetli, flat breasts—even then Julie had known her by her eyes. And she bad stared and then run to her in her silk dress and her plumed bat, crying, "Oh, Se lina! My dear! My dear!" with a sob of horror and pity, "My dear!" And had taken Sellna. carrots, beets, corn, and radishes In her arms. The vegetables lay scattered all about them on the sidewalk in front of Julie Htm pel Arnold's great stone house on Prairie avenue But strangely enough It had been Sellna who had done the comforting, patting Julie's plump rillker. shoulder and saying, over and over, soothingly, as to a child, "There, there! It's all right, JuUe. It's all right. Don't cry. What's there to cry for! Sb-sh! Ifs all right" Julie lifted tier bead in Its modish black plumed hat, wiped her eyes, blew her nose "Get along with you, do," she said to Reilly, the policeman, using his very words to Sellna. "I'm going to report joa to Mr. Arnold, see If I don't And you know what that means." "Well, now, Mrs. Arnold, ms'sm. I was only doing my duty. How rud I know the lady was a friend of yours. Bure, I —" He surveyed Sellna. cart Jaded horses, wilted vegetables. "And why not!" demanded Julie with superb unreasonableness. "Why not I'd like to know. Do get along with you." He got along, a defeated officer of the law, and a bitter. And now It was Julie who surveyed Sellna. cart Dirt, Jaded horses, wilted left-over vege tables. "Sellna. whatever In the world • What are you doing with —" She caught sight of SeUaa's absurd boots then and she began to cry again. At that Seilna's overwrought nerves lapped sod She began to laugh, hys terically. It frightened Julie, that laughter. "Sellna. don't! Come la the bouse with at What are yoa laugh ing at! Sellna I" With shaking finger Sellna was point- Is* at the vegetables that lay tumbled THE ALAMANCE GLEANER; GRAHAM, N. C. at her' feet "Do you »ee that cab bage, Julie? Do you remember bow I uaed to deaplae Mrs. Tebbitt's be cause she used to have boiled cabbage on Monday nigh tar* "That's nothing to laugh at. Is Itt Stop laughing this minute, Sellna Peake!" "I'll stop. I've stopped now. 1 was Just laughing at my ignorance: Sweat and blood and health and youth go Into every cabbage Did you know that, Julie? One doesn't despise them as food, knowing that . . . Come, climb down. Dirk. Here's a lady moth er ustfd to know—oh. yeafs and year* ago, when she was a girl. Thousands of years ago." The best thing for Dirk. The best thing for Dirk. It was the phrase that repeated itself over and over In Se nna's speech during the days that fol lowed. In this period of bewilderment and fatigue Julie had attempted to take charge of Sellna much as she had done a dozen years before ut the time of Simeon Peake's dramatic death. And now, as then, she pressed Into service her wonder-working father and bound en slave, August Hempel. "Pa'll be out tomorrow and I'll prob ably come with him. I've got a com mittee meeting, but I can "You said—did you say your father would be out tomorrow! Out where?" "To your place. Farm." "But why should he? It's a little twenty-five-acre truck farm, and half of It under water a good deal of the time." "Pa'l! find a use for It, never fear. He won't say much, but he'll think of things. And then everything will be all right." A species of ugly pride now pos sessed Sellna. "I don't need help. Really I don't Julie, dear. It's never been like today. Never before. We wece getting on very well, Pervus and I. Then after Pervus' death so sud denly like that I was frightened. Ter ribly frightened. About Dirk. I wanted him to have everything. Beautiful things. I wanted bis life to be beauti ful. Life can be so ugly, Julie. You don't know. You don't know." "Well, now, that's why 1 say. We'll be out tomorrow, pa and L Dirk's go ing to have everything beautiful. We'll see to that" It was then that Sellna had said, "But that's Just it I want to do it myself, for him. I can. I want to give him all these things myself." "But that's selfish." "I don't mean to be. I Just want to do the beet thing for Dirk." It was shortly after noon that High Prairie, hearing the unaccustomed chug of a motor, rushed to its windows or porches to l>ehold Sellna DeJong in her mashed black felt hat and Dirk wav ing his battered straw wildly, riding up the Halsted rood toward the DeJong farm in a bright red automobile that had shattered tbe nerves of every farmer's team It had met on the way. Of the DeJong team and the DeJong dog Tom, and the DeJong vegetable wagon there was absolutely no sign. High Pralrte was rendered unfit for work throughout the next twenty-four hours. In the twelve years' transition from butcher to packer Aug Hempel had taken on a certain authority and dis tinction. Now, at fifty-five, his hair wan gray, relieving the too-ruddy color of his face. In tbe last few years lie had grown very deaf In one ear, so that when you spoke to him he looked at you intently. This had given him a reputation for keenneas and great character Insight, when it was merely the protective trick of a man who does not want to confess that he Is hard of hearing. Sellna's domain he surveyed with a keen and comprehe«isive eye. "Ton want.to sell?" "No." "That's good. Few years from now this land will be worth money." He had spent a bare fifteen minutes tak ing shrewd valuation of the property from fields to barn, from barn to house. "Well, what do you want to do. heh, Selina?" They were aeated in the cool and unexpectedly pleasing little parlor, with Its old Dutch luster set gleaming softly in the cabinet. Its three rows of books. Its air of comfort and usage. Sellna clasped ber hands tightly In her lap—those hsnds that, from much grubbing In the soil, had taken on something of tbe look of the gnarled ■ things they tended. The nails were ' short, discolored, broken. Tbe palms rough, calloused. The whole story of , the last twelve years of fteilna's life ! was written In her two hand*. (TO BB CO!*Tt!*CBD.J Discovered A young man whose gallantry was ' in excess of his pecuniary means , sought to remedy the defect and to j save tbe money required for the pur pose of expensive flowere by arrang ing with a gardener to let him have a . bouquet from time to time In return for his csst-off clothes. One dsy be received a bunch of roses which be at once dispatched to bis lady love. In sore anticipation of a friendly j welcome be called at the girl's bouse tbe same evening and was not a little surprised at a frosty reception. After a pause tbe girl remarked, frigidly: "Ton sent me a note today." "A note! If To be sure, I sent you flowers; but—" "And this note was with tbe bou quet Do you mean to deny it 7" And tbe young man read: "Don't forget the old trousers you promised me the other dsy." Work and dsnf worry tf you would be happy. Otberwiae worry and doaf Chapter IX THE PRINTING PRESS Teddy's father owned a newspaper and some day when Teddy grew older he was going to own a newspaper, too. Maybe he would share with his daddy, or his daddy would share with him. Either way It would be all right. They would work together and others would work with them. They would be most fearfully busy all the time but they would always enjoy them selves. No matter how hard they worked It would be fun. For there would be so many excitements. There would be news to gather and stories to write. Teddy knew how news was gath ered. It wasn't Just picked up as one picked up or gathered flowers, or veg etables. You telephoned and you went around and talked to people and peo ple came around and talked to you and they told you they had had a party, or that they were going to have a party and they told you who the guests had been and what refresh ments were served. And then every one's name was In the paper and that was fans for one's name looked 'so nice In the paper always. Much nicer than in everyday, ordinary speech. There would be Jobs sent out —pro- grams printed and circulars telling of some big event that was going to bap pen, and little boys would come and take these about. Just as Teddy some times did now. Then there would be a particularly big day In' the week when the paper went to press and a man stood by It and watched the papers come' Off. cov ered with all the news, all so neatly printed In columns of type. Teddy had been over tbe office many times. He knew all about It. When they were busy he didn't bother to ask questions or to get In the way, but sometimes when they had a little time they would explain how every thing was put together and how It came out as it did. There was a beautiful smell of Ink and presses and machinery about hla daddy's office. It was a very glorious place. Then one day his daddy told him that they were expecting a big press. The one they hid would still be used for some Jobs but a bigger one was Jotting Down Figures. coming upon which to print the paper. The paper had grown In size and In popularity and Teddy'* daddy was very happy, for the paper to him was like a human being. He looked up to It—he wanted to do hla beat for It he wanted It to be aa perfect ax It 9ouli] be, always Improving; always doing hla utmost for It. Teddy bad seen bis fstber often of late with pencil jmd paper Jotting down figures and when bis father started to jot down figures It always meant that sooner or later something new would be added to the office. Now It would be a big press. Teddy w|ts told tbst,!t bad started. It was on its way. It would take a week to travel from Its home where It bad been made to his daddy's office. But In tbe meantime hla daddy's of fice waa a busy place. A great pit was dug In the earth down below tbe floor of the oftce; and a foundation of bricka all put together with lovely •oft, sqnashy day which would dry and keep them In place, waa put about the pit Then everything was in readlneas. And then the press arrived. It came In a closed car upon the railway tracks and an engine pulled Its car slang with others. Ob, what a mon ster H was. wbst a gorgeous. Jolly, human, wonderful monster! Teddy loved It at once. He had loved It ever alnce he bad heard It waa coming to them, and that It bad started on Ita way. Every day, every night, be had thought about It. He bad wondered if It waa having a comfortable journey. He toped It waa. It seemed strange that K wouldn't want anything to eat all the tlmf. un til It was fed great rolls of paper upon which to print news. But Teddy felt quite certain tbe press was thrilled, too, that It was coming to lead an active life In his daddy's office. Ha was qoite certain of that And wbca be saw the big press, so splen did. ao powerful, so strong, a lump cam* in his throat and be blinked a tittle ao the press wouldn't see his motat eyes, and be said: "Great, big press! My daddy's no glad to bav» yoo. Jut do wonders Cor him, wont |*«7 lorn grant, big frana!" m Figure what other good paints cost Then take off a third! If you have figared on the cost of good paint for your house, yon can pocket a third, bay Stag Semi-Paste Paint and yet be assured of the finest, most durable and brilliant paint on the market. Just mix a gallon of linseed oil with a gallon of Stag Paint and you have two gallons of highest quality paint at a tremendous saving in cost. Just pour oO and paint together and mix. Save the dif ference and have fresh-mixed paint which flows freely and cover* more surface. There's a "Stag" dealer near you —see him —or writs us for literature and name of dealer. STAG*IftINT Hirshberg Paint Ca-ISr I "Just a little Bee Brand Insect Powder and ■ all the Flies were dead." I I Thousands of housewives have discovered that the fly- I nuisance is unnecessary. One writes from Greenwood. I I Miss., "We used until the oddr made am I I eick, but no result*. We then sprinkledjusi a tittle I I Bee Brand Insect Powder in the room and in a few I I minutes the only Hies in sight were dead." I BN Brand Insect Powder is ao may to DM, and so qalcUjr aSacti»a. I I Close door* and window*. Blow Bee Brand from a piece ct paper t»- I I to iha air. Th* almost inriaible particla* find tha fliaa and kill them. I I hi* also effective to barn tba powdar. Baa Brand Inaact Powdar I I kills Fliaa, Flaas, Mosquitoes, Ants, Roaqftea, Watar Bog*. Bad Bog*. . fl I Moths, Lica on Fowl and Plants, and many otbar Hoosa and Paid an I I Inssct*. I mankind, domsstle snhnals aad I - I V V*77lTnot spot or stain. I ■ A f • I • 1* '**• alfttag-taa ■ I raw I a eaaa, at rbw trocar'* ■ I daalar a* tnsatet'a. I ■ not Houte ■ plrjaa— * • halS I ■ H»dßcb»l ■ A f A mnn/WF alaea ■ I l*rs«b«uup W I ( s I I I * ■WMS Ma | I >■"■'»» -■ X T 1 V mm 4 I ■ «■« 'f ■■■■■■■■■lßllfMrl I TT 1 r i HwiiMf . 1Bg„ ,« I I . LTI J ■ I I past*. SlP^,^ I »va >a *J|| , J | I 3 1 Bpi# ▼OthiP >■ ■ I Pailwun, 10c. ■ FREE BooUst.lt I r a (tfidaATor killing boose and garden inssct pacta. 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The Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
May 21, 1925, edition 1
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