The Heart's Kingdom

proceeded to execute it with a great vigor. And in the execution of that resolve dear o

tle clubhouse over in the oak grove by the river's edge, just between the Town and the Settlement, so that we would no longer fee

e homes in my day," Mrs. Cockrell had sighed, as she finished the pe

sponded Harriet's mother, Mrs. Sproul, as she finished the hundredth round on the shawl she was knitting. H

Mrs. Cockrell and their friends had first been tolled out to prayer meeting and then had come to witness a tennis match. Billy, in great glee, recounted to me the first time they had stayed to dinner with him and father and Mr. Cockrell. They had been enjoying the prayer meetings to the utmost and had come out with Mother Spurlock by mistake on a Tuesday night, which was the regular dinner dance night. It was some time before they discovered their mistake, for they were immensely enjoying the

ed you, Mother Elsie?" I asked her about it on

s her answer, as she took up her parcel of five pairs of only slightly worn stockings that five girls in the Settlement needed worse than I needed darns, and

as any in the state with old Uncle Wilks to officiate, and in the wing in one of the private dining rooms a huge wheel stood with its face to the wall during the day, but came complacently out of its corner when night descended. On the porch could always be found either Mrs. James Knight or Mrs. Buford Cunningham. They neither of them had children, hated home

not more than twelve feet away from the two couples. "The scandal that would soon disrupt this town for lack of their free chaperona

la May Spain off the floor at the dance they had in the lodge room over the Last Chance last Saturday night for appearing in one of Harriet's last year dancing frocks Mother Spurlock had c

oming out gown and I felt-" Harriet was say

her, as he poured her champagne cup and his

illy calls them, has run wild away from him and her grandmother, old Madam Payne, who lives in a world of crochet needles and silk thread with Mrs. Cockrell and Mrs. Sproul. One night I went with Billy in his car to take Grace home and he had to wait until I tiptoed to her room with my arm around her and put her to bed, while Harriet was doing the same thing with Bessie Thornton. Those girls are not much over twenty and they are only a little more "liberated," as they call it, than the rest of their friends. Ted Montgomery loves Gr

than the lockers at the Country Club. And all of us knew that very frequently Billy and Nickols and the rest of our friends went down to dance and drink with the girls from the mills and the shops. Billy had told me once that Milly Burt, who stays at the cigar stand in the Goodloe Hotel in Goodl

um of girl," he laughed, as he told me about

nd the rest had frolicked in what ought to have been a perfectly harmless way, that Mother Spurlock

ter a few preliminary shots had been exchanged. "Every dignity of tradition seems to have been dropped and everybody is dan

pacity and making more money than they ever have before. Why shouldn't they play hard?" I answered her, as I

he asked, with her

m to be,"

ance; it is for the toilers in the vineyard that I plead. The girls and young men in this town cannot dance and drink and play all night and do the constructive work of the community in the daytime. If Luella May Spain falls asleep or nods at her typewriter and fails to get out the telegram to y

my heart. There has always been something in Luella May Spain's shy and admiring glances that drew me and I have always lingered to chat with her a few minutes if

s town. You are not about your Father's business; and those less powerful of brain and character follow you in by-paths from the straight road

rth anything. I'm just living and trying to have a good time doing it. You ha

llow him are turning to persecute him. When Jacob Ensley is drunk he openly charges him with inveigling Martha away and hiding her. He was in a dangerous state one night a week ago and Billy Harvey had to lock him up in his own wine cellar to keep him and a few of his hangers-on from 'going after the parson,' who was down there praying with old Jennie Neil as she died. He doesn't know his danger from Jacob and I think Billy ought to tell him. All Goodloets has admired and aped you since you

l safety. What he offers is not enough to satisfy. His members prefer their Country Club and their Last Chance and their knitting and embroidery. What we all need from the Country Club to the Last Chance is somethi

gh 'deep waters' into 'pleasant pastures,'" she answered me, as

it to me,"

e, but God will some day give you ten and you will have to return an hundred fold. He has given the ten to Gregory Goodloe, and now is the night of his despair, but his morning wil

ny structure that another human is building up with the hope it is for the good of t

er, and let the Town and Settlement see your respect for Mr. Goodloe and for his church," she

drink from a spring that I consider dry, that is dry and has no water for my thirst? No, Mother Spurlock, if the people among

Last C

hat makes toil easier or offse

d the inburst of young Charlotte, young James as ever at her heels, with Sue clinging to his hand. To-day, however, Charlotte had added one t

im so we can play with him? The preacher cleaned up four for us to play with yesterday and they are still clean enough. If you clean Mikey I can have a baseball

eclaimed small Sue

ck up his patroness. "But not as good as her," and his admiration

ow," laughed Mother Spurlock, as she escaped through the door

hool with us in the nice schoolhouse he and Judge Powers and Minister are going to build in front of Mother Spurlock's orchard. That is a law and then we'll have good times, all of us. There is not many children in the Town and they are all too dressed up, but it is a million down in the Settlement and we are g

ed Jimmy with

ject fear, for the sake of his e

iled her from the superintendence thereof down into the garden with me, where from my window I could see Nickols and father in deep conclave over some drawings. Father had discarded his Henry Clay costum

s before me. "Now you can help Nickols and me locate the exact spot for the public school

ance," said Nickols, as he came and stood beside me, looking over my shoulder at the map

s Elsie Spurlock's house. Nickols and the parson are inclined to place the schoolhouse right opposite, but I am afraid

ve the Town and the Settlement g

l system is only to be executed in a democratic-"

oak grove back of that, the Country Club beyond, with the river beginning to curve it in. It solidifies and unifies the landscape of the whole town and puts all the community centers where they belong. The Town and Settlement straggled a bit before, but the chapel and the school will unite

e clean some, and Mildred Payne and Grace Sproul and some of the others get dirty a little, nobody will know the difference and we can play ball and scouts and everything Minister teac

ll, but it will never hold young Charlotte," Nickols jeered, as father began to roll up the map and speak to a young