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Peggy Derm * W.N.U. RELEAiE
CHAPTER I
"Miss Meggie!" It was Annie's
voice lifted above the roar of a
truck in the backyard. "Hit's de feed
man."
"All right, Annie." Megan looked
up from the desk where she was
writing labels for the latest batch of
canned goods. "The money's in the
old brown teapot."
"Ain' no money in de brown tea
pot, Miss Meggie," shouted Annie
after a moment. "Cep't jes' a dime
an' two pennies."
Megan sat very still for a moment
and felt her heart go down into her
wom shoes. Dad had found her
secret cache! That was why he
had been so eager to take advan
tage of Mr. McCurtie's offer to
drive him into the county seat that
morning I
Annie, vast and black, loomed In
the doorway. Her eyes were gentle
and warm with affection.
"Miss Meggie, yo' reckin yo' Paw
?" she began impulsively, but
Megan silenced her with a glance
and reached for her checkbook.
Annie accepted the unspoken rebuff
good humoredly and said helpfully,
consulting a slip of paper in her
hand, "Hit's fo'teen dollars an' six
ty-fo' cents. Miss Meggie."
Megan nodded, wrote the check,
ripped it out,- and signed the slip
Annie extended. Annie padded out
and the door closed behind her.
For a moment Megan sat still,
her elbows on the desk, her chin
propped in her hands. She could
have wept, and yet she tried hard
to laugh at herself for the wave of
discouragement that swept over
her.
She had been carefully hoarding
the egg money in that old brown tea
pot, to pay for feed. She had been so
sure that her father knew nothing
about its being there. He must have
prowled?or else he had spied on
her. Neither thought was pleasant.
Megan finished the last of the
labels and straightened wearily.
As she went out of the small sit
ting room that was her "office" she
glanced across the road and saw
the glimmer of lights in the shabby
little cottage well back from the
road, that was her nearest neighbor.
So Alicia Stevenson had returned
from her visit to Atlanta. She knew
a moment of sharp envy for Alicia's
ease and freedom from the grueling
farm labor that was the lot of prac
tically all the residents of Pleasant
Grove.
Busy with milking, a task which
she had done so- many times that
it was purely automatic, she found
herself thinking about Alicia. The
shabby little old cottage across the
road from the MacTavisb place had
stood vacant for years, ever since
Old Man Brigham had died, six
months after the death of his wife.
Then, late one June evening, the
New York Limited, which ordinar
ily raced through Pleasant Grove
with merely a derisive toot of its
whistle, had stopped and a woman
had alighted, a woman of perhaps
forty, smartly dressed according to
Pleasant Grove standards, and sur
rounded by a sea of luggage.
She had announced herself in
Burns Mercantile, Pleasant Grove's
general store, as Alicia Stevenson,
only child of the Brighams, and
stated that she had come to live in
the old Brigbam place?at least
"for the duration."
From the first, Megan had been 1
established as Alicia's best friend,
although Megan was ashamed to
admit to herself that she neither
liked nor trusted Alicia. There was
something about her that was, to
Megan, almost sly; perhaps the rel
ish with which she pounced on the
smallest morsel of gossip and rolled
it about on her tongue and found
exactly the moment to mention it
when it would do the most harm. '
Occasionally Alicia departed on a
trip. She was quite close mouthed
about where she was going and
why;" Megan suspected that Alicia {
liked being "a woman of mystery," ,
ST end that it fed her sense of impor
tance to knew that people wondered (
where she went, and why.
Annie Megan finished the milking ,
and she and Amos took the brim- ,
ming milk pails to the spring house. ]
cool and dark, where the milk
would be left over night and where, |
in the morning, Annie would churn. {
Coming back across the back- i
yard, almost completely dark now <
that the sun had gone and twilight i
was deepening, she saw a man 1
standing waiting for her at the
steps and was startled. He was a
stranger, and strangers?especially j
masculine strangers ? were suffi- i
ciently rare in Pleasant Grove to 1
arouse a bit of surprise. j
"Miss MacTavish?" be came 1
Cowards her, smiling, and she saw |
that he was tall and rugged looking i
and that be must have been close
to forty. "I'm Tom Fallon?your i
neighbor down the road there.
We've Just mowed in, and they told i
me that you might be willing to l
supply us with milk and butter and
a us." ?
"Why. yes, I think so." said
Megan, and then remembered. "Oh,
you're Professor Fallon, the new
high school principal! Welcome to
Pleasant Grovel"
"Thank you." said Tom, and his
handshake was warm and friendly.
"That's very kind of you."
"It's going to be nice to have
someone in the Westbrook place,"
said Megan pleasantly. "I'd like
to call on Mrs. Fallon as soon as
you are settled."
She saw the shadow fall over his
face. Even in the dusk uhe could
sense the tightening, the stiffening,
that made him look older and some
how, aloof.
"You're very kind," he told her
formally. "But Mrs. Fallon is?an
invalid. Her health does not per
mit her to have callers. Her sister
lives with us and takes care of
her."
"Oh ? I'm sorry," said Megan
quickly and meant It. "You will let
us know, though, if there Is any
thing we can do to help? We pride
ourselves on being neighborly in
Pleasant Grove."
Tom smiled and the darkening of
his face was gone now. He said
pleasantly, "I'd almost forgot that
such a thing existed?neighborly
ness, I mean. You don't Ibid any
evidences of it in a city any more."
The Fallons had moved Into the
Westbrook place early in Septem
ber. But by the time school was
in its second week, people were
speaking approvingly of Tom Fal
- V - I
She mw I man standing waiting
tor her at the steps and was startled.
Ion?"Professor Tom" they were
calling him, and gradually it came
to the term, " 'fessor."
"I was right worried at first," ad
mitted old Mrs. Stuart, helping
Megan make sauerkraut. "Seemed
like he didn't have enough spunk to
make the older boys behave.
Seemed like he ought to 'a took a
stick to 'em more'n he did?but now
seems like the younguns has settled
down right nice with him. And they
say the other teachers is crazy
about him."
Megan said quietly, "He seems
very nice. I think we are fortunate
to get a man like him in a small
town school."
Mrs. Stuart shot her a glance.
"Why'd you reckin be come to a
little bitty place like this?" she won
dered innocently. "Folks says that
with good teachers scarcer*n hen's
teeth just about everywhere In the
country you'd think a man with all
them fancy diplomas and papers and
things could get him a better job
than this 'un here."
Megan frowned a moment in deep
thought, hesitating.
"Well, he said his wife was deli
cate?maybe be wanted a mild cli
mate for her," she suggested at
last.
Mrs. Stuart paused In chopping
the crisp, hard cabbage heads and
shot Megan a look. "You hear any
thing 'bout what's wrong with his
wife?" she wanted to know, an odd
tone in her voice that made Megan
look at her sharply.
"Why, no," she answered.
"Well, I thought maybe you sell
ing him milk and eggs and things,
maybe you might 'a heard some
thing or seen something." Mrs.
Stuart was almost on the defensive.
'Folks say there's something mighty
peculiar about her kind of sick
Oddly enough, Megan found her
lelf suddenly furious.
"1 don't suppose it would be Alicia
Stevenson who said that, would it?"
the asked dryly.
Mrs. Stuart chuckled and bar col
ir deepened a little.
"Well, now that you ask me, I do
believe It was something Mil Ste
venson said, t'other day when we
was all sewing for the Red Cross
over at her house," she admitted.
"She made a right smart story out
o' It Said she went over to call,
takjn' some chrysanthemums from (
her garden, and some new maga
zines and a book, thiukin' likely a
woman that was an invalid might
like to read?well, she says this big,
husky-looking woman, a 'Miss Mar
tha,' come to the door and fairly
glared at her and wouldn't let her
in. Said fer a minute she didn't
think she was goin' to let her leave
the flowers, and she wouldn't let her
leave the books and magazines.
Said Miz' Fallon didn't want to be
read to, and she was in bed so she
couldn't read to herself. Miz' Ste
venson said the house, what she
could see of It, leastways?was neat
and clean but depressin' like."
"Professor Fallon said that his
wife's sister lived with them and
took care of her," said Megan dry
ly. "Of course It would be like
Alicia Stevenson to make up a story
about mystery over there. I imag
ine Mrs. Fallon may be crippled?
there could be any one of a lot of
reasons?anyway, she is an Invalid
and not permitted to have company,
so why can't we Just leave it at
that?"
"Well, I rekin there ain't much
else we can do," admitted Mrs.
Stuart, but it was plain that her
lively curiosity was far from satis
fled with any such unenterprising
decision.
There was something about Tom
Fallon that made Megan feel sorry ,
for him; something, too, that put
her on the defensive when he and
his family affairs were being dis
cussed. Pleasant Grove was a
small town where everybody knew
everybody else's business; you
might think you had secrets from
your neighbors?perhaps they let
you think so?but occasionally there
would be little spatters of rumor,
whispers, revelations that your se
cret was no secret at all, but that
your friends and neighbors were
perfectly willing that you should
think they were.
Megan's favorite relaxation, when
she could find time for it, was a
walk to the top of the low-lying hill
beyond the meadow, that rejoiced
in the ambitious title of the Ridge.
Here she crawled under a barbed
wire fence, walked a hundred yards
more and was on top of the Ridge.
Here there were lordly pines whose
green feathery tops seemed almost
to brush the sky; here the aisles
between the pines were kept clean
and tree of underbrush, and thickly
carpeted with resinous, slippery,
brown pine needles. Here there
were several big flat rocks that of
fered a pleasant place to sit and
rest after the walk. And from here
one had a beautiful view over roll
ing meadowland and pasture and
green woods.
I
On an afternoon late in October,
Megan emerged from the barbed
wire fence and straightened, to look
back down the low meadow valley,
rhe dogs were scampering wildly;
Dixie, the small black water span
iel who was a superb hunter, self
taught, had treed game and was
barking his head off; Bessie, the
pointer, was racing through the un
ierbrush at the edge of the pines,
ber tail quivering with delight at
the scent she had disturbed; while
he cats were climbing trees with
loyous abandon.
But as she stepped out of the
bines to the small clearing where
the rock lay, she paused and said,
(tartled, "Oh?I'm sorry?I didn't
enow there was anyone here."
Tom stood up, smiling, eager.
"Well, Miss MacTavish! How are
rou? Am I trespassing on your
property?" he said quickly.
"Oh, no, as a matter of fact this
property belongs to your place,"
Megan assured him. "The circus
ind I just use it as a finish to eur
walk."
"Shall I go?" suggested Tom
lightly.
"Of course not?how silly!" pro
tested Megan swiftly. "After all,
there are two rocks and plenty of
room for both of us!"
"Thanks," said Tom, and smiled
is he watched ber settle herself on
he rock while he selected another
>ne.
The four cats, shy of strangers,
itepped daintily into the clearing,
taw him and drew back startled,
rejvety ears erect, fluffy plumy
ails quivering a little, tiny growls
rtarting deep in their soft throats.
"Behave yourselves, boys!" Me
[an ordered sternly, and Tom
aughed as the arched tails relaxed
i little and the cats went on about
heir business of investigating fas
rinating scents, yet keeping wary
[olden eyes on him as they did so.
"They are beauties, aren't they?"
aid Tom in quite honest admira
ion.
"Well, naturally I think so," Me
[an laughed.
Tom nodded. "I'm a little that
ray myself," he admitted,
fro mm oosrmruxD)
L IMPROVED J-LWM>
UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL
Sunday i
chool Lesson
By HAROLD L. LUNDQUIST. D. D.
Of The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.
Released by Western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for July 14
""Weeta *nd Scriptur* Uxta **
?<** and copyrighted by Interne ttonal
Council of RcUgloua Education; uaed by
permission.
jesus and supreme
loyalty to god
LESSON TEXT? Exodua M id: Joahua
M:l(. 22 24; Lake 14:21-27.
MEMORY SELECTION?No man can
aanra lam mailer*: for either ha will hate
tha ooa. and lore the other: or ale* ha win
hold to the one. and daaplao the other. Ye
i'Sl" Co<' mammon Matthew
The first three commandments
bring man Into the presence of
God, where he la taught how to
worship God in spirit and in truth.
"The first commandment (Exod.
20:3) bids us worship God exclu
sively; the second (w. 4-8) bids us
worship him spiritually. The flrst
commandment forbida us to wor
ship false gods: the second forbids
us to worship the true God under
false forms" (Farrar).
We shall lose much of the value
of our lesson If we confine the ap
plication of it to Israel. We miss
the point if we think only of the
gods of wood and stone which the
heathen worship and fail to apply
the truth to any and all idol wor
ship of our day.
The loyalty to God of which our
lesson text teaches may be sum
marized ill four words. It is a loy
alty of
L Purpose (Exod. 20:3).
Jehovah means, "I will be what
I will be," or "I am that I am,"
(Exod. 3:14). His very name de
clares God to be the self-existent,
eternal one. How Infinitely gracious
then is the use of the word "thy"
in Exodus 10:21 He?the great I
AM?is my God, a personal God. (
It must be our constant purpose to
worship him only.
There are many things concern
ing which we do not speak dogmat
ically. There are even Christian
doctrines about which spiritual and
earnest men may honestly differ,
but regarding God we say with ab
solute assurance and complete ex
chiaiveneas?there is but one true
God. If he is what he claims to be,
if God is not to be declared to be
a lij?, then it is beyond the realm
of possibility that there could be
any other God.
Hear it, men and women of Amer
ica who in an enlightened land and
age bow down in heathenish wor
ship "before the god of gold, the
god of self, the god of wine, the
god of success, the god of fame,
the goddess of pleasure, the god of
licentiousness." The one true God
says, "I am Jehovah. . . . Thou shalt
have no other gods before me."
D. Performance (Exod. 30:4-8).
What is in the heart must show
In the life. The second command
ment calls for the undivided devo
tion and worship of man. It
expressly forbids idolatry in any
form. The injunction is twofold, (l)
Men are forbidden to make any
material likeness which to them
represents a being to be worshiped.
It matters not whether it be an
image of what men believe God to
be like, or the image of an angelic
being, a heavenly body, in fact,
"anything that is tn the heaven
above," or on the earth, such as a
man or animal; or under the wa
ter, such as a fish. (2) If such ob
jects have been made either by our
selves or others we may not bow
down to them, nor render any serv
ice to them. Let us all examine our
religious ceremonies and practices
to the light of God's commandment.
Observe that obedience to this
command brings rich bleating to
"thousands" (v. 8), whereas dis
obedience is a curse not only to the
man who disobeys, but also to his
descendants.
in. Premise (Josh. 24:16, 22-24). 1
Before the aged leader of Israel
came to the cloae of his life he
called leaders of the people, whom
he had led in the taking of the
Promised Land, and urged them to
continue in the way of faith and loy
alty to God.
They promised rather readily, but
he made clear to them that God
was not interested in lip service.
They were to prove their promise
by putting away all strange gods.
This they agreed to do. Wherein
they failed, they suffered defeat,
and wherein they kept their prom
ise, God blessed them. We may
learn from their experience.
IV. Practice (Luke 14:23-27).
It is not always necessary to
choose between our natural affec
tions for those near to us and our
loyalty to Christ, but if the time
comes for that decision, Christ must
come first without question and
without hesitation (cf. Matt. 10:37).
The word "hate" (v. 26) does not
carry with it any thought of malice
or personal dislike. We know from
other scriptures that we are to hon- 1
or our father and our mother
(Ehcod. 20:12). The one who tails
his own Is declared to be worse than
an infidel (I Tim. 6:8).
The point is that no personal loy
alty or responsibility is to stand in
the way of our devotion to Christ.
On own lives must be counted as
a glad sacrifice to him as we take
up our cross - in the cruciflxicn of 1
self-will itnd devotion to his will
(sae GaL 2:30; 0:14).
NEW NATIONAL ANTHEM
WASHINGTON.?Gen. Joseph P.
McNarney, who is doing a better
job as commander of occupied Ger
many than most people think, likes
to sing. And when he comes up to'
Berlin for his regular visits with
the other Allied commanders, he
always engages in a song test with
the Russians.
As a result, the Russians have
adopted a new song which they
virtually regard as the Ameri
can national anthem. They sing
it on any and an occasions.
They think it brings pride and
pleasure to the hearts of Amer
icans; and the Red army in
Berlin, at least. Is anxious to
please Americans.
Actually the song may bring
great pride and pleasure to General
McNarney, but other Americans
privately are getting a bit weary of
it. The Russians have learned the
English words, and to the tune of
"The Stars and Stripes Forever,"
here is what they sing as the new
American national anthem:
"Three cheers for the Sam Jones
Junior high school.
The best junior high in Toledo."
The fact that they have learned
the words illustrates a point which
some of our top-bracket statesmen
don't always realize?namely, de
spite our difficulties with the Soviet
government, we have no quarrel
with the Russian people. Not much
has been said about it, but relations
between the American and Soviet
armies in Berlin have been extraor
dinarily good. At first, the Russians
were suspicious, didn't want any
fraternization of their troops with
ours. But that suspicion has large
ly disappeared. The Red army is
a large, unwieldy, badly disciplined,
very human cross section of the
Russian people, and that part of the
Red army which is in Berlin likes
Americans.
? ? ?
PRUSSIAN JUNKERS
Robert Murphy, political adviser
to General McNarney in Berlin, baa
secretly sent a bitter complaint to
the state department because the
Russians have redistributed the es
tates of the Prussian Junkers in
the Soviet zone of Germany. The
Russians have broken up some 10,
000 large estates among about 175,
000 peasants. Despite the fact that
the Potsdam agreement specifical
ly called for breaking up large es
tates, Murphy has warned Wash
ington that this land reform in the
Russian zone is endangering the
western type of democracy we want.
WE DIDN'T DEFEAT JAPAN
Most people won't believe it, but
in Czechoslovakia, a country not un
friendly to the U. & A., the people
have no idea that the United States
had anything to do with defeating
Japan. They think it was Russia
that did it all.
Reasoa is that the Russian
radio and propaganda machine
has dene a skillful Job at propa
gandising the Czechoslovak peo
ple, while we have done abso
lutely nothing to counteract It.
Reason we haven't, told our side
of the story is that congress has
hamstrung the state department on
shortwave broadcasting. The house
appropriations committee cut the
heart out of the state department's
appropriation for propaganda, espe
cially radio broadcasting.
MAILMAN SULLIVAN
Too little attention is paid in this
politics-ridden capital to the quiet,
unassuming officials who consistent
ly do a bang-up Job.
One of them is Assistant Post
master General Gael Sullivan.
Coming from Chicago and trained
under Mayor Ed Kelly, Sullivan at
first looked like a pure political ap
pointee. In six months, however,
he has become one of the most ef
fective members of the little cabi
net.
CAPITAL CHAFF
Both the Chinese Nationalists and
the Chinese Communists are burst
ing to learn what's in the script for
"The Life of Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen." a
new movie to be made by Producer
Lester Cowan. Perhaps General
Marshall could use oriental curios
ity to persuade both sides to get
together. . . . Assistant Secretary of
the Navy John Kenny is the latest
to knife President Truman's atomic
control policy. Kenny testified on
Capital Hill that he was personally
in favor of giving the military great
er control over atomic energy?
which was directly contrary to his
commander-in-chief. . . . British
Tories are urging ex-Prime Minis
ter Winston Churchill to resign as
Tory leader at commons and devote
himself solely to writing his mem
oirs. They seem to feel he can be
more useful in private life.
? ? ?
MERRY GO ROUND
It got little publicity, but Presi
dent Truman pulled an A-l man out
of the navy when he made Comdr.
Jim Reynolds a member of the Na
tional Labor Relations board. Rey
nolds is brother of famed War Cor
respondent Quentin Reynolds, has
been doing a good job handling the
navy's labor relations. . . '. Harold
Ickes had his first censorship dif
ficulties when the Washington Star
didn't like what he wrote about Sen
ator McCarran at Nevada, and
omitted that particular column.
NEEDLECRAFT PATTERNS
Luxurious Mat in Cable Stitch
IT'S EASY to do cable stitch.
1 Why not make this rug?so lux
urious yet inexpensive. Use it
either in the bedroom or the bath
room.
puilif #Tj
AHOTHFR I >
\ A General Quiz 1 J
The Questions
1. Canada is made up of how
many provinces and territories?
2. The Rock of Gibraltar, sym
bolic of strength, is composed of
what?
3. Calenda was the name given
by the Romans to what?
4. What eras the original name
given the department at state?
5. The testimony of what am-'
mal is accepted in a court of law
as evidence?
6. Does the ostrich put its head
in the sand to hide?
7. What is the bird referred to
in William Cullen Bryant's poem
that ends: "Robert of Lincoln,
come back again; chee, chee.
chee"?
8. Bullets fired to the right of
a swiftly moving plane have a ten
dency to drop, those fired to the
left to rise. Why?
The Answers
1. Nine provinces and two ter
ritories.
2. Soft limestone.
3. The first day of the month.
4. The department of foreign
affairs.
5. The bloodhound.
6. No. It grubs for worms and
other food.
7. Bobolink.
8. The bullets spin clockwise
and friction from the right-angle
wind exerts force at the top of
the bullets fired to the right and ou
the bottom of bullets fired to the
left.
Use rug cotton or old Btocktn** tor tbie
durable knitted rue. Pattern 7174 haa
directions tor it and for a matching seat*
cover. I
Send your order to:
Serial Circle Needier raft Deft.
O Eighth Are. New Yert
Enclose 10 cents for Pattern.
No
Address
i
Hospital Beds
Of the 1,733,944 hospital beds la
the United States today, only 3 per
cent are in institutions operated
for profit; while 19 per cent are in
church, fraternal and other non
profit hospitals, and the remainins
78 per cent are in city, county,
state and federal hospitals.
Gas on Stomach
1
V* rtMfcrt SOUS m m# m
Huh aat Urn ftf Aw fMT ,
jfacr ifdiC
MOKE MILEAGE
WITH GKEATEK
COMFOKT:? *
A WALKDTC HUM
corns Tin
WHB4 YOU WALK ON
kuvts foot asMom
P?unk>HJ Ui ??ihmj.
lilt^?iy
?SlIIITL I
VERONICA LAKE spcakiii:
Co-Starrimg It "SO WOUDtr Wt HAIlJ" m < Hfcn
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