' [MAIN STREET The Story of Carol Kennicott- By SINCLAIR LEWIS > CHAPTER IV 1 "The Clarks have invited some folks to their house to mee! us, to- aight," 3aid Kennicott, as he un- packed his suit-case. "Oh, that/'is nice of them!" "You bet, - I told you you'd like 'em. Squarest people on earth. Uh, 'Carrie--Would you mind if I sneak- ed down to the office for an hour, . Just to see how things are?" + "Why, no. Of course not. I know you're keen to get back to work." "Bure you don't mind?" Out of my way. .Let| or "Not a bid, {me unpack." { { But the advocate of freedom in marriage was as much disappointed 'a8 a drooping bride at the alacrity i with which he took that freedom and { street. new bride, good-looker, pumpkins as aswindow display does n't exhilirate me much." 'The grocer was Mr. Frederick F. Ludelmeyer, whose market is at the corner of Main Street and Lincola Avenue. In supposing that only she was observant Carol was ignorant, misled by the indifference of cities. She fancied-that she was slipping through the streets invizible; but when she had passed, Mr. Ludel- meyer puffed into the store and coughed at his clerk, "I seen a young woman, she come along the side I bet she iss Doc Kennicott's nice legs, {but she wore a hell of a plain suit, no style, I wonder will she pay cash, .I bet she goes to Howland & Gould's more as she does here, what you done with the poster for Fluffed : | sscaped to the world of men's af-| 'fairs. She gazed about their bed-| sroom, and its full dismalness crawl-| i ed over her; the awkward knuckly L-| {shape of it; the black; walnut bed) 'with apples and spotty pears carved 'on the head board; the "imitation imaple bureau, with pink-daubed {scent-bottles and a petticoated pin- {'eushion on a marble slab uncomfort- {lably like a gravestone; the plain 'pine washstand and the garlanded \waterpitcher and bowl. The scent of horsehair and plush and Florida 'Water. "How could people ever live with jthings like this?" she shuddered: {She saw the furniture as a circle of) {elderly judges, condemning _her to ideath by smothering. The tottering 'brocade chair squeaked "Choke her .j~--chok® her---smother her." The +0ld linen smelled .of the tomb. She vas alone in this house, this strange still house, among the shadows of dead thoughts 'and haunting repres- sions. "I hate it! I hate it!" she ipanted. "Why did I ever--" She remembered that Kennicott's mother had brought these family_re- Mes from the old home in Lac-qui- Meurt. "Stop it! They're perfectly gomfortable things. They're--com- "fortable. Besides-- Oh, they're hor- ' "rible! We'll change them right | away." ' Then, "But of course he has to see) ' Bow things are at the office----" | She de a pretense of busying! + herself with unpacking, The chintz- lined, silver-fitted bag which had seemed so desirable a luxhry in St. Paul was an extravagant vanity - here. The daring black chemise of "+ frail chiffon and lace was a hussy at which the deep-bosamed bed stiffen- . od in disgust, and she hurled it into burean drawer, hid it 'beneath a nsible linen blouse. &ve up wnphcking. She went 1 e window, with a purely literary thought ' of village charm--holly- Bocks and lanes and apple-cheeked cojtagers. What she saw was the 8ide of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church--a plain clapboard wall of a "Sour liver color; the ash-pile back f the church; an unpainted stable; and an alley in which a Ford deliv- i ery-wagon had been stranded. This « Was the terraced garden below her " Noudoir; this was to be her scenory or . "I mustn't! I mustn't! I'm ner- Yous this afternoon, Am I sick? ,. + - Good Lord, I hope it isn't * that! Not now! How people lie! : How these stories lie! They say the © bride is, always so blushing and { proud and happy when she finds that © out, but--I'd hate it! I'd be scared to death! Some day but-- Please, © dear nebulous Lord, not now' Bearded suifty old men sitting and demanding that we bear children. It they had to bear them--! I wish they did have to! Not now! Not 8ill I've got hold of this job of liking the ,ashi-pile out there! , , '.I ust shut up. I'm mildly insane. 'm going out for a walk, I'll see town by myself. My first view the empire I'm going to conquer!" She fled from the house. _ She stared with seriousness at ev- @ry concrete crossing; every hitch "post, every rake for leaves; and fo each house she devoted all her Speculation, What would they come 10 mean? How would they look six from now? In which of ! would she be dining? Which £ these people whom she passed, mere arrangements of hair and , Would turn into intimates, oF dreaded, different trom all _other people in the world? As she came Into the small buzi- lon she inspected -a broad- med grocer in'/an alpaca coat who 'bending over the apples and cel- on a slanted platform in front of at "I am Mrs ¢ "Some day I hope to con- that a heap of extremely dubious nrg | ness of the land. Oats?") 11 > When Carol had walked for thir. ty-two minutes she had completely covered the town, east and west, north and south; and she stood at the corner of Main Street and Wash- ington Avenue, and despaired. Main Street with its two-story brick shops, its story-and-a-half wooden residences, its muddy ex- panse from concrete walk to walk; its huddle of Fords and lumber-wag- ots, was too small fo absorb her. The broad, straight, unénticing gashes of the streets let in the grasping prairie on every side. She realized the vastness and the empti- The skeleton iron windmill on the farm a few blocks away, at the north ends of Main Street, was like the ribs. of a dead cow. She thought of the coming of the Northern winter, when the. un- protected houses would crouch to- gether in terror of storms galloping out of that wild waste. They were 80 small and weak, the little brown houses, They were shelters for sparrows, not homes for warm laugh- ing people. She told herself that down the street the leaves were a splendor. The maples were orange; the oaks a solid tint of raspberry. And the lawns had been nursed with love. But the thought would not hold. At best the trees. resembled a woodlot. There was no park to rest the eyes. And since not Gopher Prairie but Wakamin was the county-seat, there was no court-house with its grounds. She glanced through the fly-8peck- ed windows of the most pretentious building in sight, the one place which welcomed strangers and de- termined their poinion of the charm and luxury of Gopher Prairie---the Minniemashie House. It was a tall lean shabby structure with sanded 'pine slabs purporting to symbolize stone. In the hotel office she could See a stretch of bare unclean floor, a line of rickety chairs with brass cuspidors between, a writing-desk with 'advertisements in mother-of- pearl letters upon the glags-covered back. The dining-room beyond was a ig of stained table-cloths and catsup bottles. f She looked no more at the Minnie- mashie House. A man in cuffless shirt-sleeves with pink arm-garters, wearing a linen collar but no tie, yawned his «|way from Dyer's Drug Store across to the hotel. He leaned against the wall, scratched a while, sighed, and in a boréd way gossiped with a man tilted back in a chair. A Jumber- wagon, its long green box filled with large spools of barbed-wire fencing, creaked down thé block. A Ford, in reverse, soundgd as though it wero shaking to pieces, then recovered and rattled away. In the Greek candy-store was the whine of a pea- nut-roaster, and the oily smell of nuts, 1 -- There was no other sound nor sign of life. She wanted to run, fleeing from the encroaching prairie, demanding the security of a great city. Iier dreams of creating a 'beautiful town were ludicrous. Oozing out from ev- ery drab wall; she felt a forbidding spirit which she could never con- quer. She trailed down the street on one side, back on the other, glancing into the cross streets, It was "private Seeing Main Street tour. She was within ten minutes beholding not on- ly the heart of a place called Gopher Prairie, but ten thousand towns from Albany to San Diego: Dyer's Drug Store, a corner build- ing of regular and uareal blocks of artificial stone. Inside the store, a greasy marble soda-fountain with an electric lamp of red and green and curdied-yellow mosiac shade, Paw- S0-uver heaps of tooth-brushes and co! and packages of shavi a Shelves of soap-cartons, a - | | - maT H Err nm naan -~ - - --_., ur PY fl [Ia y 3 1 LL fl vd t N J ] F- 1 | HE TRE Bin f Job For Eve Prosperity Mr. Farmer-------- "YN Jone 1920 you were receiving $2.50 per bushel for wheat, i In October 1921 you received $1.00 per bushel. During the same period oats declined from $1.40 to 40c. per bushel, hogs from $19 per hundred weight to $10, cattle from $15 to $6.50 per hundred weight. tt Dairy products have declined about one-fifth On the whole the average value of your products, including apples, dairy produce, fodder, grain, hides, honey, live-stock, vegetables, and wool, if represented by 100 in June 1920, had shrunk to 61 Ee October 1921. You have felt that other commodities, and labor, have not been similarly reduced. ' Under these circumstances and curtail operations. 4 When the al came for " greater production," you responded in a spirit of ". patriotism. You Prod es food to the utmost of your ability. Plan you have been inclined to shorten production i of Co-operation. Qme---- "The Provincial Advisory Unemployment dere] the industrial and endorses the following statement of 1.--That Manufacturers should be asked to take a price for goeds on hand squal to the cost of replacement having to decreased cost raw material and of Hbor ved Ir mamas of }--That Wholesalers should be asked to sell goods on hand at replacement prices. 3 --That Retailers" should be asked to sell at t prices. 4~--~Knowing that the cats of building at the presen Today the financier, builder, aa wholesaler, retailer and worker, are being asked to join in a general Dlan of co-operation having as ils object the creation-of employment for a large number of persons. This is being dome in the belief that a return to normal conditions can best be accomplished through nermal channels. situation Knowing that this concerted effort is" being made, will you make every effort to plan your operations so that next your's production may be kept to normal er possibly increased ? to build should be encouraged to sdk 5 : . ; § Lerma eon a ow et, Pd orks £3 Will you make improvements on your farm : ini this winter if you find it practical to do so? Your co-operation will be a big factor in, helping Ontario lead the-way to "A Job for Every Man Prosperity for All!" Buy! -- Build! -- W. ork! WAAL ALA AA LAA A ddd A A AA A A A TR 3 daad2 22010) Madi A33 32 sa hdddiddddiiidiiil] os spent Christmas with their parents, Mr, and Mrs. George Riley. Miss Helen Hinch, Toronto, with her mo- ther, Mrs. George Hinch, and broth- er, Arthur, for the Christmas week- end. George Skinner, Brockville, with his parents, Mr, and Mrs. John Skinner. Miss Annie Hicks, Toron- to, at Frank Coakwell"s. Mrs. Tom Wilson, Newburgh, at George Riley's on Christmas Day. "Mrs. Eliza Skinner spent the Christmas helidhys with her daugh- ter, Kathleen, and" son, Clarence, of Macdonald College, St. Anne. de A Bellevue, being accompanied by her|* Son, Samuel, of Toronto, Mr. and r. mes Y Mrs. Archie Alkembrack and family Me Ur Tames Youn hrs S spent Christmas at Ira Salsbury's,| A1xenbrack and Josephine lett on] fill Colebrooke. Mr. and Mrs. 1.5 'H. Tuesday for Hamilton to visit her Stover were at Dr. Huxtable's, New- | parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Patter-| Hi burgh, on Christmas Monday. Mrs. son. ! | James Robinson, at her, son's, Acton Mrs. R. J. Brethren and Claude Robinson, of Bicknell's Corners. Brethren of Switzerville, at the for- George od and Carmen Salsbury, Queen's College, are spending the holidays at their respective homes. Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Saul and Greta, spent Christmas' Day at Mrs. Saul's sister's, Mrs. Reed, of Sharpe's Cor- ners. Mrs. Samuel Greenway spent Christmas Day at James McDonald's. Valuable Residence. Excellent Location. For price and terms apply: KINGSTON AGENCIES, Limited J. 0. HUTTON. B. G. ROBERTSON Phone 708 " mT Clarence Street. Frame House on Alfred Strect--6 rooms; electric lights; 3 piece bath; good location, Price $3,000. Stone House, Hen House, Small Barn and One Acre of Land inside city limits. Price ~~ SLIPPERS--WARM FELT SLIPPERS -- FOR LADIES, GIRLS, CHILDREN, BOYS and MEN. 4HOCKEY BOOTS, "OVERGAITERS, OVER- SHOES, RUBBERS, MOCCASINS, FINE EVENING PUMPS. THE NEWEST TO CHOOSE FROM. ., 184 Frincess St. -- == EEE - = - IT Dominion Canners. The top| P. Niles This new school will the building will be decorated with | the place of six rural seh a clock, the gift late W. | Wellington.