You know, he ran the
billiard-parlor; the son of the----"

(From Mrs. Cowles, a small, disapproving sound; from Ray, a grin of
knowing naughtiness and a violent head-shake.)

Gertie (gently): "Yes.... He--has left Joralemon.... Klemm, you mean."

Carl (hastily, wondering what Eddie Klemm had done): "Oh, I see....
Have there been many changes in Joralemon?"

Mrs. Cowles: "Do you write to your father and mother, Carl? You ought
to."

Carl: "Oh yes, I write to them quite often, now, though for a time I
didn't."

Mrs. Cowles: "I'm glad, my boy. It's pretty good, after all, to have
home folks that you can depend on, isn't it? When I first went to
Joralemon, I thought it was a little pokey, but now I'm older, and
I've been there so long and all, that I'm almost afraid of New York,
and I declare I do get real lonely for home sometimes. I'd be glad to
see Dr. Rusk--Ben's father, I mean, the old doctor--driving by, though
of course you know I lived in Minneapolis a great many years, and I do
feel I ought to take advantage of the opportunities here, and I've
thought quite seriously about taking up French again, it's so long
since I've studied it----You ought to study it; you will find it
cultivates the mind. And you must be sure to write often to your
mother; there's nothing you can depend on like a mother's love, my
boy."

Ray: "Say, look here, Carl, I want to hear something about all this
aviation. How does it feel to fly, anyway? I'd be scared to death;
it's funny, I can't look off the top of a sky-scraper without feeling
as though I wanted to jump. Gosh! I----"

Gertie: "Now you just let Carl tell us when he gets ready, you big,
bad brother! Carl wants to hear all about Home first.... All these
years!... You were asking about the changes. There haven't been so
very many. You know it's a little slow there. Oh, of course, I almost
forgot; why, you haven't been in Joralemon since they built up what
used to be Tubbs's pasture."

Carl: "Not the old pasture by the lake? Well, well! Is that a fact!
Why, gee! I used to snare gophers there!"

Gertie: "Oh yes. Why, you simply wouldn't _know_ it, Carl, it's so
much changed. There must be a dozen houses on it, now. Why, there's
cement walks and everything, and Mr. Upham has a house there, a real
nice one, with a screened-in porch and everything.... Of course you
know they've put in the sewer now, and there's lots of modern
bath-rooms, and almost everybody has a Ford. We wou