Zona Gale

Neighborhood Stories Zona Gale

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1914. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... THE HOME-COMING "Eighteen booths," says Mis' Timothy Toplady, sighing satisfied. "That's enough to go round the wholeMarket Square, leavingbreathin' space between." We sat looking at the diagram Mis' FireChief Merriman had made on the dining-room table, with bees-wax and stuff out of her workbasket, and we all sighed satisfied -- but tired too. Because, though it looked like the Friendship Village Home-coming was going to be a success -- and a peaceful success -- yet we see in the same flash that it was going to be an awful back-aching, feet-burning business for us ladies. We were having our fourth committee meeting to Mis' Sykes's, and we weren't more than begun on the thing; and the Home-coming was only six weeks away. "Just thinking about all the tracking round it means," says Mis' Sykes, "I can feel that sick feeling in the back of my throat now, that I feel when I'm over-tired, or got delegates, or have company pounce down on me." Mis' Hubbelthwait looked at her sympathetic "I know," she says. "So tired you can taste it. I donno," she says, "whether homecomings are worth it or not." Mis' Sykes didn't answer. She was up on her feet, peering out behind the Nottinghams. "My land o' life," she says, "that's the stalkin' image of 'Lisbeth Note." "Lisbeth Note!" we all said. "Oh, it can't be!" It struck me, even then, how united folks are on a piece of gossip. For the Home-coming some had thought have printed invitations and some had thought send out newspapers, some had wanted free supper and some had wanted pay, and so on, item by item of the afternoon. But the minute Lisbeth Note was mentioned, we all burst into one common, spontaneous fraternal horror: "Oh, no. It couldn't be her." "It is!" cries Mis' Sykes. "It is. She's turning in there. I thought I...