4
I Don’t Know
What You Mean
Vv
By FANNIE HURST
(© by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)
(WNU Service)
HE courtship of Mary and Niles
was one that conformed nicely
to the conventlonalities of the
community. She was twenty and
he was twenty-nine they met at the
home of a mutual friend, became en-
gaged three months later and married
that same spring.
In the large industrial eastern city
where Niles was already making his
way, they began their married life on
a scale commensurate with his Income
and at the end of the second year were
occupying a small apartment in one of
the up-to-date apartment houses on
one of the exclusive streets in town.
They were happy, formative years
of gathering friends and furnishings.
An inveterate shopper, Mary had the
faculty of making a dollar seem to
stretch twice {its usual resiliency.
Thelr little four-room apartment, in
Bradford Arms, an address the young
housewife glorified in giving to trades
and sales people, was so unusually
caparisoned that a magazine called
Interior and Exterior had sent a
photographer to take pictures of the
living and bedrooms for Inclusion in
the publication.
Mary, and justly so, was proud of
her achievement of. this home, Busy,
constructive years went into its mak-
ing. Niles took his pride in it too.
It was pleasant to be able to invite
a client into the really distinguished
atmosphere of his surroundings. The
charming, well-bred Mary, In her
smooth good-looking clothes, the pleas-
ant lamplit living room of Sheraton,
good old prints, dim-toned rugs, books,
firelight, pewter, grand plano with its
invariable luster vase containing yel-
low roses, gave forth an odor of suc-
cess that never failed to register in-
stantly.
Clever woman, Mary! Clever as the
dickens,
From that point on, the advance-
ment of the Niles Gregorys was con-
sistent and always a little ahead of
itself. That is, when Niles was earn-
ing twenty thousand a year, they
seemed to be living at the rate of
thirty; when he was earning thirty, It
was as if his income must be at least
fifty. And so on, due of course to
Mary's unceasing attention to every
detail,
At the conclusion of the tenth year
of thelr marriage, while Niles was
steering ahead to greater and greater
success in his work, their country
place, thirty miles from town, was the
most pretentious and luxurious estate
thereabouts. A far more luxurious
place, Mary took pride In explaining,
than Niles normally could afford.
She not only had the gift of taste
and selection, but she had the indomit-
able energy for shopping. It might be
sald that the first ten years of their
married life wag one exhaustive shop-
ping tour in Europe and Ameriea, Not,
mind + you, that it was drudgery to
Mary.
All this made the busy years of
growth seem filled with the sense of
creating the setting for the kind of
life they wished to live,
As Mary's friends put it, she worked
like a stage designer, bent on accom-
plishing the proper dramatic setting
for their background. With the coun-
try place called Wildmere, she achieved
ft. On the outskirts of town, adjoin-
ing the most select country club in the
state, representing an actual outlay
of several hundred thousand dollars
and giving the effect of having cost
much more, the beautiful home of
Mary and Niles reared its turreted
head.
It gave you a sense of repose just to
enter these doors, to sink Into Its rest-
ful chairs and divans, to look out over
its meticulous expanses of garden and
terrace, to browse In its libraries, re.
lax In its music room, stretch out In
its luxurious sleeping suites,
The home was finished.
Well, for another year or two, there
was the pastime, the excitement, and
always the pleasure, of bringing into
this home the friends and acquaint-
ances who would exclaim at its per-
fection and revel In its comfort. It
was a source of perennial thrill to
walk with them through the beautiful
avenue of poplar trees, the geometric
perfections of the sunken gardens and
point out to them the vistas and
scenle delights from almost every
window,
Then one day, something seemed to
drop like a lead plummet to the bot-
tom of Mary's being. Now that the
house was finished, what next? What
then? There were the usual divertise-
ments, Cards, Friends, Theaters
Travel. No children of her own, but
a deep-seated Interest in a local child
welfare charity to which she gave
time and thought. There were appar-
ently as many Interests as there had
ever been, No particular reason, so
fur as casual diagnosis could make
out, why suddenly and completely the
gense of finish had written Itself across
all of Mary's life.
For a year, with this crack across
her being, but with no ostensible let-
down, life moved along at Wildmere.
Consultations with gardeners, motor
troubles, week-end parties, dinners to
clients of Niles, tours of Inspection
with admiring guests through the
grounds and then gradually even Niles
began to notice,
“What's the matter, Mary? Fagged?
Yook ls If you might need a trip or
change.”
“All right, try a trip or change®
Three months in England, browsing
about among the shops for ideas for a
certain addition of a Tudor suite she
had in mind, then a bit of Basque
country, and home by way of Naples
and the Mediterranean, But strangely
enough, the home-coming of a Mary a
little more lusterless and a little more
¥ difficult to bestir out of her lethargy
than the Mary who had gone hunting
divertisement three months before.
“Matter, Mary?”
It was not easy to tell Niles the
matter, That is, it was not even easy
to attempt to tell him, There were
not the words to convey to him what
he could not understand. Better to
walt. Better to try somehow, some
way, to jerk out of this leaden agony
that was gripping her more and more,
Another year then of the week-end par-
ties, the personally conducted tours
through the grounds, the adding here
and there to the perfection of the es-
tablishment,
“What In heaven's name is over you
these days, Mary? You haven't been
yourself in months.” Well, here she
was trying to tell the untellable. Some-
how it had to be told—it had to be
told. ... .
“We're so finished, Niles.”
“Meaning what"
“You. Me"
“How?”
“Oh, I don't know.
ing we are expectant about, You take
me for granted. I suppose I take you
that way. Nothing around the corner
for us.
we've already bullt,
There Is noth-
tion between us.
Stale. I need something to do. I want
a spontaneous compliment from a
spontaneous impulse to pay one. I
want the impulse to say complimentary
You're a failure as a husband to me,
Niles. I'm a fallure as a wife, te
mentum of inanimate things, and now
that we have finished with them, we've
nothing left.”
about.”
“You wouldn't.”
“You mean-—"
“I mean, I'm dissatisfied Niles. Hor-
ribly. Irrevocably. I'm finished here,
I'm bored. There isn't enough between
us. We're polite boarders under the
same roof. Life is swift, life is pass.
ing, and we're pissing It.”
“1 don't know w you mean,
“I know you don’t, or I wouldn't be
saying what I'm saying.”
“Take a trip™
This Mary did, but it was a trip
which struck incredulity and amaze
ment into the heart of Niles
“I need to be free, Niles, [ cannot
regard my life ag the snug completed
thing It seems to be with you Emo-
tionally, we are finished; materially
we can only be repetitl I need to
be fed, stirred, moved intellectually
and inspired to do.”
“1 don’t know what you mean”
“I know you don't, Niles"
"
That was four years ago. ‘he new
Mary lives In a three.-room farm house
in Connecticut that she had construct.
ed out of an old barn. She Is married
to a student of bee culture. Every-
where throughout the simple and
sparsely furnished household is evi
dence of the study of this Intricate
and subtie form of life, to which they
both devote their days,
Some day, Mary hopes to find time
to furnish their home in a quaint and
charming manner. But in the mean.
while the days are too crowded, too
busy, too happy.
Jackals Described as
The ancient Roman writer Ovid let
us know that it was not an uncommon
try and that at one of the state fes
tivals it was a custom to tie a number
of foxes together by their talls, affix
run wild
trick in olden times and is referred to
ment in the Land of Promise—"went
took firebrands and turned tail to tail
the brands on fire, he let them go into
and olives.” @
would have been a tremendous task for
hundred specimens of the fox, which
alive.
almost certainly be right In reading
“three hundred jackals,” Instead of
foxes, as a marginal reading of the
authorized version of the Bible sug
gests Montreal Herald, #
World's Largest
The fish aquaria of the United
States bureau of fisheries, just opened
to the public, consist of 40 tanks,
When fully stocked, they will consti.
tute the largest fresh water fish ex.
hibit in the United States, The total
population of 400 fish will cost Uncle
Sam more than $2,000 for food alone.
CE EET
ee S|
a
Ne? Fa
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
UNE 14 is Flag day and on that day
patriotic Americans will pay tribute
to the emblem which “symbolizes the
freedom, equality, justice and human
9 ity for which our forefathers sacri
ficed their lives and personal for
tunes” and which “represents a na-
tion of over 100,000 free people, its Con
stitution and institutions, its achievements, and
aspirations,” Everywhere—over homes, busi
ness offices and public bulldings—the Red, White
and Blue will be displayed in celebration of
the anniversary of the day when the Continental
congress in session In Philadel; “Resolved,
That the Flag of the thirteen United States be
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: that
the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue
fleld, representing a new constellation.”
There are several places in the United States
which bave become “flag shrines” because of
their association with the history of our flag
and there could be no more appropriate ceiebra-
tion of Flag day than a visit to one of these
shrines on that day.
One of them ia the little house at 230 Arch
beth Griscom Ross, famous in American legend
as “Betsy Ross,” who, even though she may not
have been, as the legend has it, “the maker of
the early ones. Another is the reconstructed
the flag which provided the Inspiration for
Francis Scott Key's “Star Spangled Banner.”
Still another is the case in the National mu
seum In Washington where is displayed the very
flag which Key saw “by the dawn's early
Hght™ It was this flag which gave him the In.
spiration for the Immortal poem that has be-
Banner.” Then, too, there is the monument
in Old City cemetery In Nashville, Tenn, which
marks the last resting place of Capt. William
Driver, the New England sea captain, who first
called the flag “Old Glory”
Interesting as all of these are because of
national emblem, there Is no place, perhaps,
place as in the museum at the United States
Military academy at West Point. In its cases
are displayed colors which not only cover more
than a century of American history but which,
as Individual flags, played thelr part in stirring
events In all of our wars from the Revolution
to the Spanish-American war,
One group of flags which has a special appeal
during this, the Washington bicentennial year,
is composed of British and Hessian colors which
were once the property of Gen, George Wash.
ington, having probably been surrendered at York.
town In 1781 with the command of Lord Corn.
wallls, These flags were bequeathed to George
Washington Parke Custis, son of Washington's
adopted son and grandson of Martha Washington,
Custis bequeathed them to the War department,
who received them In 1858 whereupon Secre.
tary Floyd sent them to West Point
Meager ag are the records for these flags, the
Iabels on them suggest innumerable thrilling
stories of the days when Washington and his
Continentals were fighting what so often seemed
to be a hopeless fight for American liberties,
Here Is one described as “British king's colors
1~~The museum at the United States Military
academy at West Point. Note X.arrange-
ment of the stars on the American flag in the
middle.
2~0One of the Hessian flags, captured at
Trenton and once the property of George Wash.
ington,
3.~Ansbach-Bayreuth, German
colors, captured at Yorktown,
4A battie-torn British flag, which became
the property of the Americans when Cornwallis
surrendered at Yorktown,
5.~British king's colors or regimental Union
Jack of the Seventh Roya! Fusiliers. Probably
the first British flag captured during the Revo.
lution.
& »
or regimental Union Jack of the Seventh Royal
Fusiliers. Probably captured at Fort Chambly,
October 18, 1775, and was therefore the first Brit.
ish flag captured in the Revolution.” What mem-
ories of the brilliant exploits of “Mad Anthony”
Warne or of the stubborn fighting in the redoubts
at Yorktown are called up by the label on this
one near by: “British king's colors or Unlon
Jack, Queen Anne pattern, 1707. History not
known, but this may be the flag of the Seven-
teerith regiment, lost at Stony Point, or the
Forty-third, Seventy-sixth or Eightieth regi.
ments, lost at Yorktown"
There are half a dozen or more flags describad
as “Ansbach-Bayreuth, German mercenaries col
ors, bearing the date of 1770, captured at York-
town” and “Flags captured from the Hessians,
one taken at Trenton, and two others either cap-
tured at Trenton or at Yorktown™ No doubt
Washington often looked upon these colors, while
they were in his possession, with particular
pride for they were relics of the two high points
in his career as a soldier,
Reminiscent of the flerce border wars in New
York during the Revolution, when green-coated
Tory and black-painted Iroquois carried the toma-
hawk and the torch against their erstwhile neigh-
hors who had espoused the Patriot cause, are
two flags close by those previously described,
One is labeled “Captured English colors, prob
ably Revolutionary war or War of 1812, Imita-
tion British king's colors or Union Jack. Queen
Anne pattern, 1707. Probably a Tory or rene-
gade flag and believed to be the flag of Colonel
Butler's Rangers carried in the Susquehanna
region during the Revolution and at the Wyoming
massacre, also believed to have been taken at
Fort George In Upper Canada, May 27, 1818.7
The other is even more historic If the following
inscription ls correct: “Captured British colors,
Revolution or War of 1812, Imitation British
king's colors or Unlon Jack. Queen Anne pate
tern, 170%. A Tory flag which has an olive green
8t. George's Cross. May be either Sir John
Johnson's ‘Royal Greens’ flag captured at Fort
George In Upper Canada May 27, 1818. Or it Is
possible that this flag was captured by Colonel
Willett ‘at Fort Stanwix, New York, August @,
nn.
Close by the British and Hessian colors cap-
tured during the Revolution are the colors of
another foreign enemy captured In a later war
Mexican flags taken by the troops of Scott and
Taylor below the Ric Grande. And there are
American flags there, too, which played an im
portant part in that conflict. One of them is
designated as “The first flag hoisted over Vera
mercenaries’
Cruz and the Citadel at Mexico City.
yards on it carried the Mexican fiag on the Na
tional! palace in the CIty
3
1847."
But e 1 Ino interesting Is the story whic
the pi
reads “Regimental colors o
States Infantry, ca by Lieut, James Long-
the El h United
al
i
8s * racimental = ibe ¥ n the storming of
sireet, regimental adjutant, in iO torming :
It was the first flag plar
fortifications by Capt. J. V.Bomford and Lieutenant
. % »
Churubusco, ted on the
Ym te '
flag planted
¢ by Lieut
df
ed by the regi-
Longstreet and It was the second
on the battlemen
George E. Pickett
ment to be the first American flag to enter
th
Hs ~ 4
city of Mexieo® Such is the record of this flag
in ‘the Mexican war. Is it necessary to remind
any American that these same men
it then rose to greater fame in a great
later—Iongstreet as a general in the OC
erate army on many a hard
1861 to 15885 and Pickett as the leader of that
{mmortal charge up the slope at Gettysburg?
The Civil war flags in the museum are legion,
including such notable colors as General Sheri-
dan’s headquarters flag for the Cava
Brigade, First Division, Cavalry Corps, Army of
the Potomac, with its record of 55 battles and the
colors of the Fifth cavalry, the “Fighting Fifth”
of later Indian fighter fame, with €1 battles on
its record. But perhaps the most historic Civil
war flag there is one which is labeled thus: “Flag
of the First New York Zouaves (Col. Ephriam
Eimer Ellsworth's Zouaves). It is claimed that
this flag was placed on the staff of the Marshall
house In Alexandria, Va., May 24, 1861, by Col-
onel Ellsworth after he had pulled down the
Stars and Bars. He was shot dead by the hotel
proprietor while descending the stairs. There
is some doubt as to whether or not this is really
the flag since it has 38 stars on it and the
American flag did not have that number of stars
until between October 31, 1864, and March
1, 1887."
Not so historic, perhaps, as the Ellsworth
flag (if it Is Indeed the Ellsworth flag) but hav-
ing connected with It a remarkable story is an-
other carried by the Thirteenth United States
Missouri Volunteer Infantry regiment. Here is
the sfory: On Sunday morning, April 6, 1862, at
the Battle of Shiloh the Confederates attacked
soon after sunrise, The regiment advanced to a
bridge near Shiloh, leaving its camp flag flying
and only a few sick men to protect it. One a
boy named Beem, was a member of the color
guard. The regiment was forced to retreat
through its own camp. Cannon balls were flying
through the alr and one of them passed through
the flag. Beem hauled down the flag, undressed
wrapped the flag around his body and dressed In
larger garments made his way safely through
the thick of the fight In time to save the regi.
mental flag. For this he was commissioned as
an officer, This flag was presented to Professor
Church of the military academy faculty in 1874
by Col. Crafts J. Wright of Glendale, Ohio, who
commanded the Thirteenth Missouri during that
historic Sunday battle. “It waz not such a
peaceful Sunday morning,” wrote Colonel Wright,
“My regiment lost 80 killed and wounded in
about an hour, among them all of my field and
staff officers”
The story of the improvised flag at Fort Stan.
wix is somewhat paralleled by another impro-
vised flag which Is on display in the West Point
museum, described as follows: “Handkerchief
flag, made of a colored handkerchief, eight
gars In a blue fleld, Used by United States
troops in an expedition In the Philippines. Above
is the official record but It is probable that a
small number of men were detached from the
main body and sent on an expedition during the
Insurrecon of 18001002. Not wishing to be
without a flag wherever they went, they made
this one from the material avallable®
(by Western Newspaper Union.)
fought fleid from
iIry Reserve