GINGER
ELLA
vv
Illustrations by
Irwin Myers
Copyright, by Bobbs Merrill Co,
WNU Service
CHAPTER VII—Continued
a
They did not try to plan for the
future, they simply contented them.
selves with the knowledge thar what-
ever came to them must be good
They did not look ahead to the win.
ter—without a church, without a par
sonage, with a weager twenty-five
doliars 8 month to provide food and
clothes and a roof over their heads.
They merely accepted the present that
was given them, and smiled at each
other, and strove in every way pos
sible te impress upon themselves the
sublimity of their faith, the bound-
lessness of their possibilities in divine
love.
As they went out to. the car an-
swering the call of Eddy Jackson's
siren, they met the postman com-
ing in.
Ginger ran ahead of the others, and
took the mall from his hand.
“Three for father, cue for Marjory
—mine, mine— the rest is for me.”
» * ® * ® » ®
Ginger's watchfulness over Mar.
Jory and Hiram Buckworth increased.
She intercepted every glance, endured
the soft smiles with a glowering grim-
ness, answered every light sally as
though it were Intended for her ears
alone.
One evening, soon after dinner,
Hiram Buckworth decided that he
must withdraw to his room to prepare
his sermon for the following Sunday,
and Marjory thougnt she would go
upstairs and manicure ber nalls. But
Ginger was not to be distracted by
mere plans for the future. She saw
them both upstairs, saw the door of
her father’s room closed behind Hiram
Buckworth's rigid back, saw Miriam
ensconced or the foot of her bed with
files, orangewood sticks and buffers.
Then she went to the studio with a
2h of relief, There she settled down
to a complete balancing of her ac
counts. She counted the dimes In the
doll's trunk. She made careful entries
in her buge ledger.
. Her waste basket she found full to
overflowing of discarded letters, iittle
white angels, which had accompanied
the contributions to the home. Ginger
was systematic and orderly, These
angels were to be burned So with
waste basket In one band, lantern In
the other, she made her way carefully
ever the narrow beams, and down the
wabbly ladder.
She noted, comfortably, that the
two doors remained closed as she had
left them, and a pleasantly soothing
stillness pervaded the house Softly,
happily, with waste basket and lan
tern, she slipped around the curve
of the circular staircase and stopped.
She stopped aghac~t, electrified. spell
bound. For beneath her, before her
very eyes, there lay revealed a scene
whose unutterable disgustingness was
beyond her power of description.
The wide living room was lighted,
dimly lighted, by one small corner
reading lamp, and {pr the shadowy,
semi-darkness, Ginger saw two figures
—her sister, Marjory, and Hiraxn
Buckworth— whom she had left be
hind their seperate closed doors not
twenty minutes previous. By what
Strange Intuitiveness each had dis
covered, behind those burring doors,
that the other was descending to the
common meeting ground of the living
room below, Ginger never knew-—nor
even which bad made the initial move.
But ome fact was evident—there they
were.
One of Hiram's arms was about her
sister's shoulders, and his free hand
was foudling very gently, very caress
ingly, the soft gold of her hair. Mar
Jory herself, plainly not to be out
distanced in madness, was ralsing her
soft white fingers to his cheek, his
lips, his eyes. Ginger's irrepressible
gasp startled them. They looked up
at her, gravely, They did not move.
“Excuse me.” Ginger's voice was
cold and subdued, very small. +i
thought you were in different places—
doing other things.”
She turned short around upon the
stalrs, and went up to the attic. In
the studio she sat herself down, heavy.
ily, and fell to deep consideration.
She saw clearly that the situation was
critical. Marjory was hopeless. She
had ogled the grocery clerk. She had
almost beld hands with Tub Andrews
and the ukulele. She even practiced
ber blandishments on Eddy Jackson,
who had the fortitude to withstand
her wiles. And now she was flagrant.
ly necking the young minister. Ginger
writhed In belpless fury. The in
ister! Even a grocery clerk may aspire
to ownership, a bank janitor may
progress slowly upward, But once a
preacher, always a preacher,
Plainly, then, responsibility rested
upon none other thun Ginger, and
Ginger squared her sboulders to re.
ceive It. Marjory was lacking In
strength of eharacter—so much was
evident. But Hiram Buckworth, now
—he wns a minisier, he must have
some right pinciple within—an appeal
to him, perhaps— Ginger regretted
that she could not entirely abandon
Marjory to her own misguided ways.
The home for the blind was on (ts
way to firm establishment, it was true,
but alas, so many dimes went into the
purchase of a load of coal, a month's
groceries, a delicate operation for the
eyes. An appeal, then, to Hiram
Buckworth.
The next morning before breakfast,
Ginger, alert and watchful, saw him
walking down the flagstone path be
tween the rows of flowers, inhaling
great breaths of the fresh morning
air, his entire manner and countenance
reflecting a smug and satistied con-
tentment with the world at large. She
burried down, and joined him.
“Mr. Buckworth,” she began firmly,
“excuse me for butting in-—and (t
really isn't a thing against Alarjory,
you know, for she is just as nice as
she seems to be—"
“I should say she Is!”
“But I've known her a long time,
and really, she is a terrible flirt,
though al! heart she doesn't mean a
thing by it. I don't know whether
she has told you— | mean— You
see, It is already arranged—"
“Ellen! You don't mean that Mar
Jory—that she Is engaged —*
The use of the word relieved her,
She was finding It unaccountably hard
to express herself In a way that would
gain the desired result, without com
mitiing herself to falsehood.
“Well, yes, In a way. Not exactly
engaged, you understand, but it is all
understood, If you know what | mean.”
“Yes, | do know what you mean”
The bright ruddiness went suddenly
’
wring
-
She Stopped Aqghast, Electrified, Spell.
bound,
out of Hiram Buckworth's face. “I
understand entirely too well. You
are a good sport for tipplug me of.
1 see”
And then he went quickly indoors.
and sald oothing else. The appeal to
Hiram Buckworth had indeed reaped
results after a fashion, but Glnger did
not feel very well pleased. Hiram
Buckworth, although anything but =a
romantic figure, was a nice chap. Ano
the shocked look on his face, the
strange, hurt, stricken look, had
touched her heart. He had looked
sorry. Ginger did oot enjoy seelug
people look sorry, not even disgusting
pretenders who pawed and held hands
Breakfast, usually such a gay and
cheery meal, proved an awkward oc
casion. Hiram suckworth seemed
every Inch a minister, unsmiling,
grave, and stiffly formal, fe talked
exclusively to Miss Jenkins, and not
very entertainingly. He did got look
at Marjory, who had come in a little
late with her usual bright morning
radiance. But ber radiance was of
short duration, paling swiftly to
startled, wide-eyed wondering. She
bad no appetite, toyed idly with her
fork, und kept her eyes upon his face,
curiously, as though her eyes were
seeking something, asking questions
But always they found nothing, re.
ceived no answer. Immediately after
breakfast he excused himself, and
went quickly out of the room.
Ginger was very cncomfortable in.
deed. She tried to tell herself that
she was merely Imagining that these
things were so—that it was a mere
chance that Hiram bad not looked at
Marjory, that Marjory could not eat
her breakfast. Dut she was uncom
fortable. Not even a trip to the
stuaio, and a painstaking count of her
doll's trunk of dimes sufficed to put
her in a cheerful frame of mind, Not
even the coming of the postman, with
sixteen letters for [1 Tolliver, made
her really happy.
He fished two small packages from
his bag and handed them to her. “I
See you're getting some more of those
samples,” he added cheerfully.
“Those are for the twins,” she an-
swered, flushing. “Personally, 1 am
not Interested in beauty preparations.”
The day passed dully, a busy day,
as Saturdays always are in parson-
ages where arrangements are always
leading up to the climatic Sabbath.
Hiram Buckworth remained down
town for luncheon, Marjory, a still,
white Marjory, busied herself In a
studied way about the work of the
house. And dinner in the evening was
an lncreasingly painful repetition of
the morning meal,
When the dishes were done, Ginger
repaired to the veranda. Miss Jenkins
sat there, alone, solemnly rocking.
“Where's Margle?”
“She went to bed.
ache”
“Oh,
and
door,
She bas a head
I see”
knocked gently at
In answer,
in,
do anything for your headache.”
been crying”
Marjory. “My eyes sting.
to sleep now.” Ginger, at this
missal, turned toward the door
it to—Miss Jenkins-—or anybody. If
I have a headache and hay fever it's
nobody's business but my own.
that anybody would care anyhow.”
“I won't talk about it. Go to sleep
now, Margie, I'll be very quiet not to
isturb you,”
And Ginger closed the door softly
behind her.
CHAPTER VIII
Sunday, ordinarily such a pleasure
ably hurried day in the parsonage,
was no less than a dreary ordeal,
Marjory appeared very late for her
breakfast. She need not have ap
peared at all, for she ate nothing.
“Headache all gone?" inquired
Ginger.
“M'm.”
Hiram, Instead of walking compan.
fonably to church with the girls, ex-
cused himself and went on in advance,
explaining that he wished to see some.
body about something. Marjory
dreamed nbeent-mindedly during the
service, while Ginger, on the con.
trary, listened attentively tc every
word, ceporting confidentially to her
sister, Inter on, that she did't think
80 wuch of the sermon,
In the afternoon, Eddy Jackson enme
in the car to take them to Pay Dirt
and aithough Hiram tried to be ex.
cused from the party there vas 00
evading Eddy’s friendly insistence.
jut while there was great galety
at Pay Dirt, the arrival of the ear
from the parsonage brought a sudden
slump in their high spirits. Alexander
Murdock was there, and Ginger's
wrath, long slumbering, vented Itself
spon his unoffending head Why
should he spend sil o1 his spare time
at Pay Dirt? What bad a mere can
grocer to do with the conduct of ag
riculture? And why, If mere friend.
ship for Eddy attracted him thither,
did be so openly ignore his friend In
his ardent attentiveness to Mirlam?
And why, for that matter, should the
so-sensitle Miriam, be suddenly thus
gny and shining?
“What's the matter with everybody
anyhow?" demanded Eddy crossly,
“That's some grouch of a preacher,
if you ask me. Margle's clear at the
bottom the dumps, worst thing In the
world for ber complexion. And even
sou, Ginger, you're ne cheerler than
a broken crutch™
Ginger dully.
The one bright moment in (he after
roon for Ginger was when Alexander
announced that he was leaving the
next day for the farther West.
“Walking?” she inquired coldly. i
“Oh, no. Business has been quite |
good. | shall be able to ride quite a
little distance before I connect up with |
another Orange and Black.”
“Sort of a can tour.”
“Something of the sort, yes.”
But if the parsonage group had little |
to contribute to the day's enjoyment, |
it was more than compensated by the |
glad bilarity of the others. Mr. Tol
liver laughed like a boy at the bald |
and ribald jokes of the can grocer,
Miss Jenkins nnd Mrs, Jackson ex.
changed giggling reminiscegces of
their own untrammeled youth. Ali.
riam and Alexander were ringleaders
In the day's recreation, doing all sorts
of absurd young things.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Cl
—— AA ———
Mental fatigue cuts down efliciency
and spoils happiness. American life
with its high-power speed for both
work and play produces an unuosual
amount of mental fatigue. To ald In
the cultivation of more serene habits,
Dr. Lauren fl. Smith, writing In
Hygela Magnzine, makes the follow.
Ing sugestions :
1. When we work, let us keep our
interest In it and make it pleasurable,
2. When we ping, let as enter into
it for all it Is worth without regurd
for anything else.
8. When we rest and sleep, let as
turn the mind and body loose to them.
selves and let them do what they will.
Belo aladudet ad odod add tod tod 8. 8 8 4
Ty pean v —
-
Mental Fatigue
Learn to rest the
mind alone,
4. When we think, let us make a dee
cision and carry it out. If we decide
Incorrectly It can be reconsidered la-
ter,
5, When we are very tired, let us
not permit a temporary or extreme
emotionni reaction to drive us Into an
act that will have permanent results.
mind by leaving the
Dogs’ Jumping Powers
Dogs can usually clear a fence 4%
feet high. However, when they Jump
up to 7 or 8 feet they usually eatch at
the top of the fence and pull theme
WARIO RUA UR
SHIT nnn
selves over,
|
HET
The
New Year
and Evolution
Ww
1
=
LE LA]
By
W. D. Pennypacker
HITT
" WAS more than a quarter
century that John, =a
man then, saw the
century ushered in
years now, he
midnight
SMELL EEE LE EE ELE EET ETE TT
—
’
Ah 3
"go
SOUDg
present
of mature
back to that epochal
with interest.
It seems strange that that New
Year's eve different from
his life. And yet, the
reason 1s not far to seek. There could
w no other such midnight in all bis
ife,
No other century would be ringin
him with such clamorous din o
bells and whistles,
. * - * » * .
AS n man
looks
appeared
5 '4
any other In
-
+
i
As he draws his chair close to the
cheerful wood fire, the smoke from
which has given the room an aroma
is of resinous Incense, he cannot but
wceome reminiscent, Jefore him are
mental pletures imprinted upon his
mind twenty-nine years ago—pictures
which the coming and going of many
winters and the joys of as many sum.
mers can never efface,
* - » ® » * »
than a decade prior to
his parents, and groups
of younger and
older folk In a
small town met for
f social evening
and remained to
welcome in the
New Year. It was
in those old-fash-
loned times when
young folks and
their elders fre
quently spent so.
cial evenings to
gether,
As John peers
into the ruddy em-
bers he wonders if
such things could
be possible now.
He knows that
parents and chil
more
John,
For
1000,
are seldom seen at theaters or In
church in the same groups.
“But we did it, anyway,” he mur
sup:
pressed wonder that It could ever
have been possible!
And this is as he recalls it:
* * * . * - .
The evening was cool and crisp;
the sky bright and cloudless, the
ground covered with snow, heavily
crusted.
Consciously, he was not aware that
this was different from any other
night. Yet subconsciously he realized
something was unusual, He might see
many more New Year's eves—as, In
deed, he has been privileged to do—
but he would never again see the
passing of an old century, with its
great epochal struggles and moment.
ous achievements, and the arrival of
an new one with a clean slate upon
which humanity must transcribe {ts
record of accomplishment — what
would the next one be?
White, and unmarked, the page of
an unwritten book-the year--gpread
before him. He was to be one of the
world's billions of people to have part
in transcribing a new record,
The thought was impressive,
. * . » . . *
A broad grin sweeps his face, un.
noticed by others in the room. The
dim light and the crackling warmth
of the fireside made all drowsy. Late
hours and wild festivities are no part
of the present life of one who had
reached adult life when the bells
clanged and whistles tooted, and horns
blew, as 1000 was ushered in.
Children, and in some cases grand.
children are out in the wild jazziness
of the night. Every one is doing it,
he thinks, but himself, A world pleas
ure-mad is seeing a new year's arrival
amidst a galety.and thoughtless frivol
that Is astounding. It is sll ir the
way we are brought up, he admits, to
himself, and is broad-minded enough
to recognize that with the turning of
the wheel of time a gradual but none
the less effective evolution has taken
place. He is conscious that the
young man and young woman
day-those of the flapper age he calls
it—are as different in
and mental reactions as are our pres
ent highly bred domestic animals and
their prehistoric ancestors of
Stone age.
As he takes another long pull on his
friendly pipe there is a glow, followed
by a dense cloud of smoke. The curl.
ing rings ascending In the half light
of, and, in reality, cause the full effect
of dreaminess. His mind flier back
the past.
How long John sleeps In the quiet
room, while younger members of his
family are out to welcome a New
Year, we could not say. In the op-
pressive silence, the tick of the man
tel clock can be heard distinctly. It's
regularity would not suggest that =
year Is dying, nor would it suggest
the joy of the coming of a New Year
and the possibility of 1030 being one
of earth's happlest New Years,
Save for the clock, all is silent
Then there is the outbreak of
whisties, the din of tin horns and
bells. For a mo
ment, protracted
into ten minutes or
more the darkness
of the night is rent
with distracting
noises,
John rouses with
a start. His pipe
has fallen to the
floor, and the fire
is out. He is still
alone,
As he had dozed
away John had, in
fancy, been back In
the old days. He
had returned to his
and the big recep
tion every one gave
to the coming mn of the new century.
It is only another New Year now,
Mileposts seem much closer than they
did then. He has geen many of them
--80 many, In fact, that they mean
little except to suggest in its widest
sense, a common brotherhood of all
mankind.
. » * - . » *
When Alice and Jack returned home
in the wee hours the color was just
coming into the eastern sky. They
wished Dad a happy New Year—and
they meant it sincerely-~though, both
were conscious that he belonged to a
different epoch,
The breaking day, with an auspi
clous opening, was a happy one for
the entire Ross family, and all were
conscious that it marked more than a
New Year—they sensed that it marked
the beginning of another cycle In the
evolution ef the race,
(@. 1929, Western Newspaper Union.)
After New Year's
After New Years the country ean
settle back to a long run of hard work,
with no disturbing influence until the
appearance of the vacation literature.
Entitled to Cover Charge
The farmer, having provided the
viands for a dinner on New Year's eve,
Insists on Inquiring why he eannot
claim a share in the cover charge,
Paul Bunton’s
New Year
GR
By
James Lewis Hays
H, IF you could on'y crack a
whole row of nuts at once!”
“That's too much eflicien-
sald Uncle Charlie
“1 ought to
Junyon's New
ey, Bub,”
| opening another pecan.
| tell you about Paul
Year's "
Bob and Jim and Bub shouted. Any-
thing about the giant wood cutter!
New Year's day,
like this, the winter of the blue snow.
He be wouldn't waste a
speck of time or a single motion In
And off he hiked, a
| mile at a step, to fetch his big blue
| ox and get busy.”
“Was that the time he plowed the
Grand Canyon?"
“No, Jim, he hed to log off North
Dakota that year. He harnessed the
resolve,
“Well, It was on
resolved
{ the year (0 come
ox to his big tree shaver and made
a new blade for it by breaking off the
top of Iron mountain and hammer
| ing it out with his fist. Away they
| went, mowing trees,
“Paul noticed whenever the blue ox
| rested it stood swinging its tail. Seo
| he strapped a great ax to the ox's
tall and stopped him, after that, by @
tall tree.
“Back and forth went the tail, and
whack, whack the great trees fell
with a mighty swish. And they went
on cuttipg trees and not wasting
motion,
“But the trees the ox cut down with
| his tail fanned him until he began tc
sneeze. [aul didn't think it would
hurt the blue ox, but he didn't want
such violent sneezes to waste. Sc
one of his axmen carved a gigantic
wooden windmill and set it In front
of the ox every time they stopped.
“‘Kerchoo! Kerchoo! the blue ox
would sneeze and ‘whiz !” would go the
windmill, Every time it whizzed It
would make Paul Bunyon's sawmill
cut a hundred logs.”
“How could it?" Bob asked.
“Oh, easy! Paul fastened it to the
sawmill by radio.”
“Sure!” scorned Jim,
“But,” continued Uncle Charlie
reaching for another handful of nuts
‘the sneeze got worse and the blue
ox had to be put to bed. Paul lost »
week's work fetching hot water bot
tiles and porous plasters an mere
square, before the ox was well. 8¢
he made his New Year's resolve over
“He whittled a tall pine Into
penholder, put in a fresh point, ané
wrote In letters ten feet high, In
book bigger than this house:
“‘1 resolve to leave well enougl
alone and not try to do everything a
once.”
(® 1929, Western Newspaper Unlon.)
A Timely Hint
New Year suggestion: Make om
good reflution and stay with jt,