G art cs as 2 ~ A : 5 s : 5 5 . 5 sf es err eat vale ni Td paen ce La bate baba be fr tole petey eit ite leper ofeletet= ete Sj-}- ” " 73 ory oy ee ener ernment a * = 4st OE REE TT y é ( ¥ ‘ =A Se y ; Sn e 51923 PRIZE STORY THE STUDENTS) CEuUeE COLUMBUS, GEORGIA PRICE 35 GENTS WECOPYRIGHT, 1923 BY THE STUDENTS’ CLUB OF COLUMBUS, GA. GILBERT PRINTING CO., COLUMBUS, GA.PREFACE Inspired by Miss A. B. Redd, in the spring of 1923, the Students’ Club offered a small cash prize for a short story with the desire to encourage and develop the literary talent which we believe to be among us. This story by Miss Sylvia Blascoer received the award and is presented to the public with pride and pleasure. By the sale of this booklet the Club hopes to make the prize self-perpetuating.ALL ON A SUMMER’S DAY —=| OCIETY in Leesville was composed of two circles, the circle in which the Greenways rotated, and the circle in which they were conspicuous by their absence. Leesville was one of those compact little Georgia towns where a fellow’s future depended on his ances- tors’ past. Family trees grew in every yard, cherished, cared for, and watered; kept pruned of dead leaves and branches and forever being graft- ed. The tallest tree in the town was Mr. Hugh Greenway. Miss Mary Bennett summed it up like this: “Oglethorpe first came to Georgia bringing con- victs and debiors, but he went back and brought over some more people, and in the very first load of aristocrats and grafters, came Dick Greenway, and as soon as he landed, he mule-backed it to South Carolina, married the richest girl he could ae ear6 All on a Summer’s Day find, brought her back to Georgia, built himself a log cabin and started in getting all he could for nothing. Don’t tell me about those Greenways. I know them all.” And no one tried to tell Miss Mary, for with her sharp eyes and sharper tongue, she did and said what she pleased. She could afford to, because the Bennetts had come to America and raised two crops of corn before Oglethorpe began his person- ally conducted tours. But with all its narrowness and snobbishness, Leesville was modern. Bernard Shaw and Ein- stein were discussed and argued over; Lucille gowns and Gage hats appeared at afternoon teas; Coty’s dorine compacts were carried in the pockets of tweed skirts: Cadillacs and Packards rolled along Lakewood Drive, sending fine clouds of dust up into the interlacing boughs of the sweetgums and elms. Leesville, hke a thousand and one other towns, had swung its back on history and ad- justed its “specs” to the ever changing panorama of the twentieth century. Summer was coming to town. In the yards jessamine and oleanders bloomed, and on the walks, organdy dresses and spring hats blossomed. Miss Mary Bennett went on a trip through the negro section, hunting a cook because her faithfulAll ona Summer’s Day. Aunt Liza was “tuk wid a misery.” Mrs. Hugh Greenway advertised in the Leesville Courier for a “maid to help in the kitchen and do odd jobs about the house.” As only a few negroes read the paper, she advertised in vain, but Miss Mary found her cook and brought her home in her surrey. Cupid takes on strange forms and it was in the person of Miss Mary’s cook that he hid himself “all on a summer’s day.” Mrs. Greenway, comfortably knitting on her vine-covered piazza, saw Miss Mary ride by in her triumphant chariot. “There, isn’t it just like those Bennetts, with no effort at all Miss Mary finds a cook, while I wait and worry to no avail. Lila, what am I to do? No cook, and June sixteenth just two weeks off ?” “I am sure I don’t know, Mummy, unless you let Burns take you down and hunt for a cook.” Mrs. Greenway’s eyes hardened. “Don’t start that again, Lila. How many times am I to inform you that I am not going to lower my dignity to go begging aid from the negroes. It is preposterous the way the life, education and culture of the highest class is dependent on the’ black race. Cook hunting! Il tell you again that no Green- way has ever asked help from the negroes and I won’t be the first one.” Mrs. Greenway’s knitting8 All on a Summer’s Day needle flashed as much as her brown eyes. Out on the dusty road Miss Mary calmly jogged along, carrying with her the spoils of the chase. Lila came out on the porch, a fascinating young person in her tailored blouse and plaid skirt, her auburn hair framing her olive face in bewitching curls that no hair-net could keep in the trim style then in vogue. “Mother, I think you are carrying your inde- pendence just a little too far in this matter. If you will persist in waiting until the mountain comes to Mahomet the cook book might be useful to pass away the time, because my prophetic soul tells me you will end in the kitchen. You know a dance is as dependent on its supper as on its men.” Twenty year old Lila smiled with the all-knowing smile of a maid, well versed in social steps. “That is right; lecture to your mother who is do- ing all she can for you. I do not know what the world is coming to when twenty tries to reform forty.” Mrs. Greenway, though speaking sharply, looked with pride on her daughter, curled up in a corner of the big porch swing, as she tried to draw a few signs of kittenhood out of Smoke, the sleepy Persian cat. “Mummy, I just happened to think, Charles hasn’t said for sure whether he could come or not.Allon a Summer’s Day 9 His law course isn’t over until June twentieth, and unless he can manage to get his exam earlier, he can’t come. Then what?” “There, isn’t that just like a man. Lila, he must come. Masculinity is as scarce as hen’s teeth here, and I'll write to that college professor that Charles is our guest and he has got to come. Lila, suppose he doesn’t come? What will we do? There are barely enough men to go around. There’s no one else to invite.” Real panic was in Mrs. Greenway’s voice. To have a Greenway’s plans fail! Never! “Oh yes, there is some one else, Mummy. You forgot Timothy Adkins.” Lila’s soft voice was in- terrupted by her mother’s words, cold and firm, chilled by years of social freezing. “Lila that will do. Please understand, once and for all, that Molly Adkins’ son is not in the same plane with Jane Greenway’s daughter.” “Mother, that is foolish. You do not know Tim. You’ve never seen him at all; for ten years he’s been away studying and Susan says he is a won- derful man. Just because his patients are among the working class and not among your bridge club, you look down on him. I think a man who has the confidence and love of human society in any class is worthy of recognition, and Tim is fairly worshiped in the Lane. He is a big, splendidAll on a Summer’s Day. man, with a fine character and I like him. I hate snobs.” Lila jumped down from the porch and ran out in the sun, her auburn hair a mass of cop- per tints. “Lila, come back, you are going to get freckled,” Mrs. Greenway called, more worried over her daughter’s complexion than over her state of mind. But Lila’s mind was in a turmoil as she hurried down the sun-flecked street. How could her mother be so narrow? Just because Mrs. Adkins is not a “D. A. R.” and Mr. Adkins’ simple and kind- ly way of life had not led him to a place of power and financial strength did not, could not lessen their characters, even though Leesville’s social world did lessen their prestige. Leesville? What was Leesville? A pathetic little orb, suffocating under its blanket of respectability that was in places worn threadbare. Leesville? Greenways? Adkins? Why Mrs. Adkins had more sense in her little finger than Leesville had in its whole county court house. “Can’t you speak to a body? Where is your re- spect for gray hairs?” Lila was brought down to earth with a thud on hearing Miss Mary’s sharp voice. “Come in here honey, and have something cool to drink, and get out of that sun before you addle your brains. Better keep them. These youngpeople need every bit they have to keep up with the fashions and tell their elders what to do,” chuckled Miss Mary. “Oh, Miss Mary, many congratulations on the cook. How did you ever find so rare a gem in these days of helplessness?” asked Lila, sitting down in the deep wicker chair by her hostess. “Gem, yes, she is a black diamond, isn’t she?” laughed Miss Mary, as she poured a glass of cold lemonade from the pitcher on the table by her side, “Drink this, honey, today has been a scorcher.” A few seconds slipped by while Miss Mary darn- ed the stockings in her lap and Lila sipped her cooling drink. “Look here, Lila, what is all this about a dance Thear? Who’s coming? Everybody and his Aunt Samanthy’s cat?” “Yes’m, just about,” Lila smiled back.: “Well, just who is coming?” “Let me see, the Willards, and the Halls, and the Waltons, and Susan Jay and Nancy Hart and——” “Look here, Lila, is Tim invited?” Miss Mary asked shrewdly. “No.” All of Lila’s Greenway heritage was in that one little word. All on a Summer’s Day. ifTZ All on a Summer’s Day. “Lila, who made out the list of invitations?” Miss Mary asked. “Mother,” came the answer. “Lila, the Greenways have always been noted for their hard bargains but a Bennett is going to try her hand now,” Miss Mary remarked coldly. “What do you mean, Miss Mary?” “I mean just this. If you manage to get Tim Ad- kins to your dance you can have my cook.” “What!” Lila looked at Miss Mary as if she thought she had lost her mind. “Imeanit. Your mother needs a cook and I have the best one in Dawson County. I know Tim Adkins is the finest boy in any county. Here is your chance. Take it. Now or never, which shall it be, cook and Tim?” Up in the china tree a jay fussed over a berry. In the vine a bee buzzed. Lila looked at Miss Mary.All on a Summer’s Day. PART TWO. And then the dance. A stringed orchestra play- ed as only a darky orchestra can play, on a moon- light night, the exotic scent of magnolias stole through the vine draped windows on the breath of a winsome breeze. Leesville’s belles and beaux were gathered on the floor, and fond mothers lined the walls with smiles for all and fans to hide their gossip. The fathers gathered in a black coated mass near the door, ready to dodge if a chance permitted, or to walk sheepishly out to “give mother a turn” if the musicians ever got a waltz between these “buzzard lopes” and “fox trots” that their tireless children indulged in. Mrs, Greenway, sitting comfortably back from the dancers could smile graciously on her guests. How well it had all turned out. A competent cook in the kitchen, silent waiters moving about among the dancers, only the elect of Leesville on the floor, and Lila the shining star in their midst. Why the dance was a credit to the Greenway name and another special gem in her social diadem. And to think of Lila’s wanting to ask Tim Adkins to this dance. Tim Adkins of all people, who went around in an unpressed suit and a Ford instead of acar. Tim, whom nobody knew, Tim the factory aan % : age 2 ei bs 74 ce yee ie Deg ees hae Ps eg mat d Saks, © tard Reh Pea RN woke id1h All on a Summer’s Day. people’s doctor, Tim, ‘that Adkins boy.’ Why Lila must have been crazy to think of asking him here to meet Mr. Towne, Mr. Charles Mewse Towne, of Boston, one of the Townes. There he was dancing with Lila now. What a striking cou- ple they made. He was just tall enough for her and his dark hair looked so well with her red locks. And that adorable way he leaned over to talk to her. Who knows? He might be proposing even now. How splendid that would be. Lila married to a Boston aristocrat, with a summer home and a yacht and a wonderful family history. Wasn't one of the Townes a signer of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution or something? Lila must mark her linen with his coat of arms and her silver should be engraved with— ‘“Scuse me, Miz Jane, but des a gemun out dyah what says he belongs on de inside.” Mrs. Greenway’s pleasant dreams were inter- rupted by a dusky face with a grin on it and a low voice speaking in her ear. “What is it, Mose?” she asked. “Dere’s a young pusson out hyah what seys he’s done come.” “Come for what?” “He’s a gues’, Miz Jane,” Mose chuckled. “Impossible, all the guests are here now. What is he doing?”All on a Summer’s Day. ‘“He’s jes’ a settin’ and a waitin’.” Mrs. Greenway rose and threaded her way among the dancers to the terrace. As she came out a small man, in travel-stained tweeds, clutch- ing a brown bag, arose hurriedly and gazed uncer- tainly at her through large horn-rimmed glasses. “What can I do for you, sir?” Mrs. Greenway asked. “Speak quickly, as I am in somewhat of a hurry.” “He says he done come to de party, Miz Jane,” Mose put in, as the little man seemed unable to find his voice. “I don’t understand. This is a private party, all the guests are already here. Who are you?” To which this undistinguished looking person— the guest without the festive garment, had the audacity to say, tranquilly, and without embar- rassment, “Charles Towne, madam.” “What?” Mrs. Greenway paled, but one glare at the intruder, and she recovered herself. “Mr. Towne!—hardly—Mr. Towne is already here.” Then in a voice as cold as the stone floor on which she stood, “You are an impostor, sir. You must go at once.” And just at that moment the lure of the cool, starry darkness brought Lila to the terrace. Lila 2 Hicoleat ar aia ee tes ie f Fi rae eee s\ HEIR By og ey Bet | eas: | 4 ae He : eats16 All on a Summer’s Day. followed by the tall hero of Mrs. Greenway’s bright imaginings. At sight of her mother’s companion, who turned and fixed her with the wide reproach of his dark- rimmed glasses, Lila cried sharply, “Charles!” in a voice that held the possibility of both tears and laughter, and then to Mrs. Greenway’s startled exclamation she said—“Wait mother, let me ex- plain.” “We are waiting, Lila,” said Mrs. Greenway with a cold stare, made more terrible by a platinum lorgnette. “Mr. Towne,’ to Lila’s tall partner, “this man claims your name.” “But Mrs. Greenway—” “Wait, Tim,” interposed Lila, “let me straighten this out. He claims it, mother, because he Is Charles Towne. This is Timothy Adkins, and he is here because I invited him. I asked him be- ause I wanted him, and he came, in good faith, be- lieving his invitation a conventional one. Nobody told you Tim Adkins was Charles Towne—you jumped at the conclusion that the stranger’”—Lila’s eyes said “distinguished looking stranger’”—“was your honor guest. Tim, my heart was in my mouth when mother spoke to you, for fear she would call you ‘Mr. Towne,’ and you would give me away. And then the real Mr. Towne came,All on a Summer’s Day. iy and you thought him an impostor, mother. I am so sorry, Charles, I did not know you could get in to-night. Please everybody forgive me.” Mrs. Greenway was a good general. Defeated, yes, but there was yet the masterly retreat. Turn- ing her back on naughty Lila, and her innocent ac- complice, she obliterated the bad quarter of an hour with one gracious, welcoming gesture, and said, “This way, Mr. Towne, I’ll have your lug- gage taken to your room. Join us as quickly as you can.” * * * * * * x « The great fragrant heads of rose and white and yellow oleanders were still available for “deco- rations” when Mrs. Greenway issued invitations to a tea that made social history in Leesville, for then was announced the “betrothal of my daugh- ter, Lila, to Dr. Timothy Adkins.” And Miss Mary nodded her white head knowing- ly as she saw Lila and Tim pass by, entirely un- mindful of the world.about them. Wise Miss Mary Bennett.eeuel Math Ee "Folie eh aoanees copra acess ee eee SP Pe a en ne | 4 d ' § 5 ‘ 4 Ail aie Ds Los Pi deny 1 ee ri Senne Ne ete ae ‘|