Kay Lyttleton

“ Not a word was said as Becky turned the car toward home, but they had not gone far before the wind changed suddenly. The full force of the smoke from the fire-swept area poured over them suffocatingly. Cynthy half-rose to her feet in terror, Jean’s arm around her waist trying to hold her down as she screamed.
“For land’s sakes, Cynthy, keep your head,” called Mrs. Ellis. “If it’s the Lord’s will that we should all go up in a chariot of fire, don’t squeal out like a stuck pig. Hold her close, Jean. I’m going to drive into the river.” ”

“ I don’t want to get married,” Ethel cried. “I ... well, I just don’t want to get married!”
Mrs. Craig smiled knowingly and patted the girl on the shoulder. “I know, my dear. I know just how you feel....”
“They’re so short-handed over at the hospital. They can’t spare any nurses,” Ethel sobbed. “I just can’t get married now! There are too many things to do!”
Suddenly her eyes brightened. “Do you think Ted would understand if we called the wedding off? I mean, just till I finish everything that has to be done at the hospital?”
Mr. Craig came into the front hall together with Aunt Becky. ”

“ The first laugh she had ever heard came from the Dean’s lips, although it was more of a chuckle. His next question was apparently irrelevant.
“How do you think you’re going to like Hope College?”
“All right,” Kit responded cheerfully. “I only hope it likes me. I’ve met a few of the boys and girls through Rex and Aunt Della, and I like them awfully well. At home they’re nice to you if they know who you are, and all about your family. But here it seems as if they either like you or not. Just when they first meet you, you’re taken right into the fold on the strength of what you are yourself.” ”

“ Must she wear her heart on her sleeve for a sort of personal barometer? Peg Moffat was high-strung and temperamental too. So was Kit. They both indulged now and then in mental fireworks, but nobody took them seriously, or considered it a mark of genius. She felt just a shade of half-amused tolerance toward this Aldo person who was to get any balance or poise out of her own nature.
“If Beth knew for one minute,” she told the face in the oval mirror of the dressing table, “what kind of a person you really are, she’d never trust you to balance anybody’s temperament.” ”

“ Mr. Craig’s first impulse was to chuckle. But he stopped himself and said seriously, “I’m quite glad that you’re so fond of Doris, son. You see, she’s a great one for hiding her light under a barrel. Someone near her own age can make her see how foolish some of her fears are better than her parents can.”
Bert nodded solemnly.
“But as for you,” Mr. Craig said. “I would say that you have pretty normal feelings for a boy your age. After all, a seventeen-year-old boy is getting to be pretty grown up. Naturally he finds some girls attractive.”
“I’m almost eighteen, Mr. Craig,” Bert said. ”

“ I love Ralph more than I do a career and if he asks me to marry him, I’ll say yes. I’ve learned to analyze my feelings and I am quite sure my love for art is only a hobby. To have a happy marriage like yours and Dad’s is, is the most important thing I want.”
“You have made a wise and difficult decision, my dear,” said Mrs. Craig tenderly. “Your father and I have felt all along that Ralph was ideally suited for you, but we wanted you to make your own decisions first.”
Just then, the mailman brought Kit’s next letter and Jean read it over her mother’s shoulder. ”

“ With her arm around Jean’s waist, she led her over to the group around Morel, and told them in her charming way of how they had discovered each other.
“And she has taught me a lesson that you, Morel, with all your art, do not know, I am sure. It is not the execution that is the crown of ambition and aspiration, it is the vision itself. For the vision is divine inspiration, but the execution is the groping of the human hand.” ”

“ Jean was making plans for a party. The list of names lay before her, and she tapped her pencil on her nose thoughtfully as she eyed it.
“Now, listen, Jean,” Doris proposed. “I’ve got an idea. Why not roll up the living room rug and push the furniture back out of the way, so that we can play records and dance. We can ask all the kids who have records to bring a few with them. That way we won’t have to keep playing our same old records over and over. Don’t you think that would be fun?” ”

“ Jean patted Jack’s shoulder. “You’re learning young that no man is indispensable to his business.”
He looked up at her. “Huh?” he said.
They all laughed. “Jean means that business has to go on no matter what happens,” Mrs. Craig said, smiling. “And it usually does. Billy Ellis and Buzzy Hancock were over this morning. They want to see you as soon as you can have company.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jack said. “They wrote me. Jeepers, what a swell gang they are! Those dumb letters! They made me laugh till I hurt!”
Ted Loring brought in a wheel chair. ”

“ Doris put in.
“How about Dad?” Kit demanded. “Seems to me that he’s got the hardest part to bear. It’s bad enough lying there sick all the time, without feeling that you’re dragging the whole family after you and exiling them to Elmhurst.”
“It’s a riot, kids,” Jean said all at once, her eyes softening and her dimples showing again. “Just the minute any one of us takes Dad’s part, someone springs up and gives a yell for Mother, and vice versa. We won’t be lonesome up there so long as we have ourselves—you know we won’t—and if things are slow, then we’ll start something.” ”

“ Peckham,” pleaded Kit, “when you were our age, wasn’t there ever anything that you wanted to do or be with all your heart and soul? Didn’t you ever just want to get away from what you had been doing for years, and start something new?”
“Well, come to think of it now,” smiled Mrs. Peckham, “I’d have given my eye-teeth to have left home and gone to be a teacher in some town.”
“Then please let Lucy do this. Becky says she’s willing to keep an eye on everything, and one of us girls will probably be helping her out most of the time, too. ”

“ There wasn’t one bit of peace in her heart, even while she fairly ached with the longing to be like the others.
“You’re a coward, Jean Craig, a deliberate coward,” she told herself. “You don’t like the country one bit. You love the city where everybody’s doing something, and it’s just a rat race for all. You’re longing for everything you can’t have, and you’re afraid to face the winter up here. You might just as well tell yourself the truth. You hate to be poor.”
There came a burst of laughter from the dining room and Kit calling to her to hurry up. ”

“ It was all very well to say there wasn’t anything to worry over, as Kit did, but one may step on toads in the dark, or hear noises in the attic that make one shiver even if they turn out to be just chipmunks after corn and nuts.
“Nothing that I know of,” Lucy replied serenely. “I never felt afraid in the dark. Just as soon go all over the house, upstairs and down, and when I go down into the cellar, I yell ‘look out, rats, here I come!’ Guess the only thing I’m really afraid of is a bat.”
“Everybody’s afraid of something,” Etoile said, her eyes wide with mystery. ”

“ JEAN CRAIG,
GRADUATE NURSE
[9] 1. Illness Strikes!
The small village of Elmhurst, Connecticut, was enjoying a balmy early spring. The March winds were soft breezes coaxing the New England earth to life again.
Night had settled after a long twilight, and gay sounds could be heard coming from the nurses’ quarters at the Gallup Memorial Clinic. The clinic, now almost two years old, was the pride of the community. Before it was built, Dr. Gallup, gentle, wise and able physician, had tended the sick, brought babies into the world and guarded the health of the community with constant vigilance. ”

“ Gradually the bluffs heightened as they neared the Wisconsin line above Waukegan, and just beyond the state line, between the shore and the region of the small lakes, Oconomowoc and Delevan, they came suddenly upon Delphi. It stood high upon the bluff, its college dominating the shady serenity of its quiet avenues.
“The Dean doesn’t keep a car,” said Rex as they walked through the gray stone station. “Besides, he thought I was bringing a boy who would not mind the hike up the hill.”
“I don’t mind a bit,” replied Kit. “I like it. It seems good to find real hills after all. ”

“ All the same, her own face looked worried when she entered the sick room and looked down at Mr. Craig’s face on the pillows.
“It seems ridiculous for me to be lying here, Becky,” he would say to her, with the whimsical boyish smile she loved. “Why, there isn’t anything the matter with me only I’m tired out. Machinery’s out of whack is all.”
“No, nothing special only that you can’t eat or walk or sit up without keeling over.” Her keen hazel eyes were amused as she looked at him. “You know, Tom Craig, if it wasn’t for Margie, the girls, and Tommy, I’d take you straight home with me.” ”

“ Craig went upstairs, whistling, Ethel composed herself and smiled at the two women.
“Poor Ted,” she grinned. “He’s so helpless. And of course he’s scared! He needs someone to look after him.” She glanced at her watch. “Good heavens!” she cried, “I’d better hurry and dress! Mrs. Craig, where is my gown?”
Mrs. Craig smiled. “Your clothes are up in Jean’s room, dear. Doris and Jean are waiting to help you. I’ll be up, myself, in a few minutes.”
Ethel threw her arms around Mrs. Craig’s neck and hugged her. “How can Ted and I ever thank you for what you are doing for us?”
“Humph!” Becky snorted. ”

“ Tommy was trying his best to nurse a frost-bitten chicken back to life out by the kitchen stove, where Jack was mending Doris’s skates. Kit and Doris were freely giving her advice.
“Enjoy yourself all you can, but think of us left at home and don’t stay too long,” advised Doris.
“Yes, and learn all about designing things for people. Personally I don’t want to make things for people,” Kit said emphatically. “I want to soar alone. I’m going with Sally to live on the top of a mountain. But, gosh, I do envy you, Jean, after all. ”

“ Jean laughed. “Becky sent down a stack of books for you to read. Frank and Billie call about six times a day to inquire after you, and Madame Ormond has offered to come and sing for you.”
207 “Jean, look at me,” said Kit suddenly. “Will you tell me something, honest and true?”
“I think Mom’s calling.” Jean’s voice was rather hurried, as she started for the door.
“No, she isn’t any such thing. I want to know if you and Ralph are engaged. I don’t see why you should try to keep it a secret when everybody thinks you are anyway. And a wedding in the family would be so exciting.” ”

“ There was a fascination in seeing that battle from afar, and realizing how the little puny efforts of a handful of men could hold in check such a devastating force. Only country dwellers could appreciate the peril of having all one owned in the world, all that was dear and precious, and comprised the word “home,” swept away in the path of the flames.
“Poor old Cynthy,” said Jean. “I’m so glad she has her cats. I shall never forget her face when she looked back. Just think of losing all the little keepsakes of a lifetime.”
It was nearly five o’clock when Tommy returned. ”

“ Bert asked.
Doris smiled shyly. “Well, not exactly about trying out. But I was mixed up about whether or not I wanted to leave home, even. I don’t seem to have the spunk that Jean and Kit have. They always go out chasing things. I always kind of liked it at home.”
Bert was a born leader. It was hard for him to understand the fears and doubts which plague the shy personality. But he had learned how real these fears and doubts can be when he had worked with younger and shyer boys at Mercyville. ”

“ Jean cried passionately. “I suppose it’s the only thing to do but did you see Mom’s face? It was utterly tragic. Dad’s been a country boy, and he’s going back home where he knows all about everything and loves it, but Mother’s so different.”
“I think Mom’s a darling, but she’s adaptable too, and she’ll go, you see if she doesn’t. And it won’t kill any of us. The really great mind should rise superior to its environment.”
“Let’s tell Kit that the first time she gripes about dishwashing,” Doris said. “I didn’t hear anything about Lydia going along, did you, Jean?” ”

“ Aunt Della is darling. It’s more fun to hear her tell of how she worried over a boy coming into the family. The whole house is filled from one end to the other with Uncle Bart’s treasures that he’s been collecting for years. You’re liable to stumble over a stuffed armadillo or a petrified slice of some prehistoric monster anywhere at all. I found a mummy case in the library closet, but there wasn’t anything in it at all, and I was awfully disappointed. ”

“ Last of all was Kit’s letter, two sheets of penciled scribbling, crowded together on both sides.
Hi, Jean,
I’m writing this the last thing at night when my brain is getting calm. Any old time the poet starts singing carelessly of the joys and beauties of the country in the wintertime, I hope he lands on this waste spot during a January blizzard. He’d change his mind in a hurry.
If you get your hands on any of the current fashion magazines, be sure to send them home to us. Even if we can’t indulge, we can dream, can’t we? I’m getting awfully tired of skirts and sweaters. ”

“ Jean shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “He wouldn’t give his name or address or what he was doing in town, or anything. He just swore at us.”
“Jeepers!” Jack exclaimed. “How do you like that!”
“We think he caught a freight train into town from the south. He did say he was going to Boston.” She sighed. “His parents must be worried to death.”
Jack looked thoughtful. “Polio catching?” he asked finally.
Jean shook her head. “No one knows. Why?”
“Oh, just wondered. This kid ... you think he was riding a freight? I mean, he looked sorta ... poor?”
Jean nodded. ”

“ Jean declared that she had learned more about cooking in the few weeks she had lived at Maple Grove than in all her life before.
“Well, there’s cooking and cooking, girls,” Rebecca had replied placidly, fishing for brown doughnuts with her long, hand-wrought iron fork. “It’s one thing to cook when you’ve got everything to do with, and quite another when you are eternally figuring out how to make both ends meet. ”

“ Aldo said quietly when she had finished. “I am just myself, and it’s so monotonous. I wish I could meet your family and know them all.”
“They are a wonderful family, although I rather envy you in a way. Sometimes it seems as if one loses individuality in a large family.”
“You shouldn’t feel that way,” replied Aldo. “Why, look, here you are in New York about to start studying again. Isn’t that proof enough that there is room for individuality even in a big family?”
Jean thought of this later when she was getting ready for the next day at school and decided that Aldo was probably right. ”

“ Jean held up her hand. “Adults, children and expectant mothers.”
Eileen nodded. “Very good. Any more?”
Sally raised her hand. “Sick people have to have lots of different diets, depending on what’s the matter with them. And an office worker needs different food from the food needed by a laborer.”
Eileen hesitated. “You’re right about the first category, but don’t forget that all people need the same basic foods, no matter what they do.”
“All except Dr. Benson,” Lucy muttered under her breath. “He eats people. He’s a wolf!”
Eileen caught part of Lucy’s remark and blushed fiery red. ”

“ Even if we are going to live five miles from nowhere with the eye of Rebecca forever resting upon us, there’ll be lots of fun ahead. What’s that about the world making a pathway to your door? I’m going to be famous some day and there’ll be a nice, well-worn path leading from New York up to Elmhurst, worn by the feet of faithful admirers.”
“It’s so nice having one genius in the family,” Jean answered, leaning her chin on one hand. “Now I don’t mind leaving the house behind, or the car, or anything like that. ”

“ Jean, paint if you must, but paint the thing as you see it, and do choose apple trees and red barns rather than dream maidens who aren’t real.”
“I don’t know what I shall paint,” Jean answered with a little quick sigh. “She rather frightened me, I mean the Contessa. I don’t think she has much use for my kind of art. She thinks only real geniuses should paint.”
“Nonsense. Paint all you like. It will train you in form and color and that you can apply later to your designing. You’re seventeen, aren’t you, Jean?” ”

“ You know, I’ve never hired forestry help before, and it may take a little time to find the right men for the job. Then, believe me! I’m coming straight back to Elmhurst!
Jeannie, my darling, I worry so about you! The epidemic in Elmhurst makes me almost panicky when I think of you in the midst of it. Please try to get all the rest you can. Keep your chin up. The summer may be bad for you now, but I’ll try to make it wonderful for you when I get back. Give my love to the family. I love you!
All my love,
Ralph
Jean slipped the letter into the pocket of her apron and smiled. ”

“ Becky’s gray eyes twinkled behind her glasses. “Going to be an artist?”
“Not exactly pictures,” Jean answered with dignity. “Textile design.”
“Well, whatever it is, I guess it will hold over for a year while you go up to the country and learn to keep house. Kit here can go to high school. It’s seven miles away, but there’s a school bus that picks up those who live too far away to walk. It’s real handy.”
Kit’s eyes signaled to Jean, and Jean’s to Doris and Tommy. A fleeting vision of that “handy” trip to high school in the dead of winter appeared before them. ”

“ It would be a shame to let your talent go to waste.”
Doris hesitated. Then she said, “But Mother, I don’t want to go away! I’m not like Jean and Kit. I’d just like to stay right here in Elmhurst forever and ever. I like it at home.”
Mrs. Craig tapped the steering wheel with her fingers. “Doris, I want you to enter that contest. Why shouldn’t you have the right to go away to school? We were able to send Jean to New York for a year of Art School,” she said, referring to Jean’s experiences which are recounted in Jean Craig in New York. “Then Kit won herself the chance to go to Hope College. ”

“ She has as much fun dashing around to everything as if New York were a steady sideshow. Do you want to go?”
“I’d love to,” Jean answered frankly. “Who’s Signa?”
“A girl Aunt Win’s interested in. She plays the violin. Jean Craig, do you realize the world is just jammed full of people who can do things, I mean unusual things like painting and playing and singing, better than the average person, and yet there are only a few of them who are really great. It’s such a tragedy because they all keep on working and hoping and thinking they’re going to be great. ”