Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1920 — SEVENTY-FIVE AND BOARD [ARTICLE]

SEVENTY-FIVE AND BOARD

By K. P. MERRYMAN

irn. W Uynatcef) .Yellow sunllght poured through the west windows of the library. Myriad dust particles floated along the slanting sun paths that slid abruptly Into shadow at the table's edge. The assistant professor bf biology pat humped over a book that lay upon the table before him, but he was not concentrating, at least not upon the text. With a thump of his fist that set the book jumping be raised his head and looked about the big, Quiet room. The assistant professor took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes and stretched. Then be shoved his hands Into his tilted back in his chair and surveyed the shelves of dogeared volumes opposite him. It gave him an immense satisfaction, this bare, low-vaulted room with its brown walls and poild. brown tables and its rows and rows of books. The assistant professor pulled out a crumpled bit of paper from his pocket and smoothed it out upon'the book, after which he continued to regard It with an expression of ironical amusement It was a check made out to him for the amount of twelve dollars and fifty cents; a sum he had recdfved in payment of a scientific article which It had taken him two months to write, ft was a good article, too, hut accordtag to more than one editor "not sufficiently popular in tone.” He had been trying to make a decision. This last cohtemplation of the scrap of paper in his hand had served to topple the scales. He closed the book with a bang, uncrossed his long legs, rose from the table and ambled down die aisle to the door. Outside be stood for an Instant blinking in the strong light. When he closed his eyes they still registered printed book pages. With something of the feeling of a stranger he turned and scuffed along the leaf-strewn path to the lake. Mow that there was no longer any doubt about his departure the intlseemed all at once untomfliar and different He felt already detached from it—and sorry. The moment the tip of her canoe veered round a bend In the shore Une he recognised It and whistled. The assistant professor of English whistled her answer and waved an undignified paddle in greeting as her small craft slipped Into sight “Want to come?" she called, invlt“Sure!" “AU right! Climb in!" The canoe nosed landward and slushed into the sand. With a lunge which shot the boat into deeper water and* himself miraculously,' into the ’■’foat the new passenger embarked and took charge of the paddle. “Where to?" he asked. “Oh. anywhere.” she replied and smiled at him. He selected the most distant spot on the lake, laid the paddle across the canoe and rested his elbows on It. “Takes longer this wjy," he explained. Sh* laughed and leaned sideways to watch a swirt of red and yellow leaves that went scudding along the surface of the water like a fleet of .toy sailboats. The red of her tam-o’-shanter, however* held more fascination for him. At length the leaves whirledput of right and she settled back in her amt to feast her eyes upon lake and trees and sky. “Fm so sorry for all the folks w’ho live tn cities," she said.

"Whyr She looked up Inquiringly *t the question. He had snapped It out so abruptly It puzzled her a little. He had begun paddling, too, furiously. "‘Why?’” she repeated. “Why, because they miss all this!" She waved a brown arm toward the rusting woods that shadowed them. “Wouldn’t you hate to miss it?” she queried. The blade in his hand cut a long swath before he answered. “I—l expect to miss it—after next Sunday," he said. “You—you mean— T Her question hung unfinished. “Yes, Tm going away—to the city ” he said dryly with a pucker of his mouth as if even the taste of the words was bitter to him. *Oh!" She bit her lips and tried to go on speaking naturally, but her brain appeared to be turning a somerannit—and no words came. “Yes,” he went «n dully- "I'm going away. Decker has a fellow here dow who can take my place. They've given me these last two days till college opens to decide. Weil, I’ve made up my mind, rm going to the city to Hve in A hail bedroom and work in an office—and sell rubber. Hl loathe rubber, but Tve got to stick M tttfll I can make a decent enough inw to ask a decent girt to marry ■ya rnth(k ~Wiiiy here and go on With my work than anything else on wear cm nijrsdi. S'* '-Ini- a,a* ' ,4» • 4 'jFt l juakit-Jhfii' undert and I*lt into lior

each waiting for the other to speak. When she had made up her mind that he never expected to open hid mouth again, she gave In. “And —and how doea the girl—-fed about It?" she tn-' quired. ‘That wohld make—some difference—of course.” Hours passed for her before he replied. “I—l haven't—asked her—yet." he said hesitatingly. With a little shiver of relief she sank back in her seat and caught back the smile in her eyes so that he might not see. He went on blustering, manfashion £ » “It Isn’t unreasonable, is it, to want enough to live on decently? I’m not aspiring to plumbers* wages, you know, or anything like that; but bang it, even a teacher’s got to live.” She began speaking then and her voice grew softer and fuller as she went on. “I know," she replied. "It’S unfair and it probably will be for a long time to come, but you can't have everything, you know, Bob. You have the work you like best in all the world. Not many men can say that.”

“I know all that" he sqid. shaking his head in reply. ‘Tve talked that way to myself, too, but all the same steam-heated apartments In town rent for SSO a month.” “So you have been house hunting?” He had not even the grace to blush. “Sure!” he exclaimed. “Why shouldn’t I? Even a poor devil of a pedagogue can look, can’t hd?” She leaned forward, her eyes dancing, but for the moment she felt a little like his mother, nevertheless. “Boy,” she explained slowly and emphatically, “when you’re a schoolteacher you don’t rent a steam-heated apartment in town; you get a cottage in the country and buy a good secondhand stove. For that matter, all the furniture is second-hand but you needn’t look like that—it’s nice! You buy a few pieces at a time and put on three coats of paint and then you enamel It and if you want to you paint little flow—" He could not wait for her to finish. “And for an engagement ring," he jeered, “you buy some pretty little tin thing at the five and ten.” She shook her head defiantly till the red tassel bobbed. “No, you don’t! You hunt up that lovely old amethyst ring of your mother’s that you once showed to —to me.” / He was still stubborn and unconvinced. “And then,” he demanded, “when the house is rented and furnished and —and everything —who pays the bills?”

Her patience reached its limit “Can’t you figure out anything for yourself?” she demanded angrily. “Some land goes with the cottage, of course; enough to raise garden truck for the —the family, and besides that you do whatever you can. Raise chickens or rabbits or bees or thoroughbred dogs or mushrooms or anyt thing that sells —how can I tell exactly? Personally, I’ve made several hundred dollars writing ‘deteketif stories. Maybe your—your wife could do something like that —after the dishes." The assistant professor of biology began to believe he had died and gone to heaven. He felt as if he were treading on balloons that bore him higher and higher, yet strangely did not break. The prospect of remaining at his work made him giddy enough, but added to that the idea of wife home was still beyond iHs rapidly expanding imagination. “Do you—do you suppose—it could he done?" he demanded, and tried to swallow. The red mouth beneath the red tam-o’-shanter was quivering, but the round little chin was firm. “Of course it could!” she said. “God!" murmured the assistant professor of biology fervently, I—l almost believe it could, too! And you don’t believe Td be a low-down cad for asking the best little girl in the world to marry me and live like that?" His hands moved forward, eagerly awaiting the touch of the two steady ones that slipped into his own, while the paddle, unnoticed, slid into the water and floated away. “I —Tm sure you wouldn’t,” she answered, “if—if you mean—me 1”