aby's little fists clutching at Aunt
Cordelia that had bridged that gulf.

Emily Louise turned away--her papa was that thing for lowered voice and
bated breath--her papa--was a Republican.

Then Emily Louise was a Republican also. Hattie said so; Aunt M'randa
did not know. At twelve one begins determinedly to face facts.

Yet the very next day Emily Louise made discovery that a greater than
her papa had been that thing for lowered tones. She was working upon her
weekly composition, and this week the subject was "George Washington."

Emily Louise had just set forth upon legal cap her opening conclusions
upon the matter. She had gone deep into the family annals of George,
for, by nature, Emily Louise was thorough, and William had testified
that she was conscientious.

"George Washington was a great man and so was his mother."

Here she paused, pen suspended; for the full meaning of a statement in
the history spread before her had suddenly dawned upon her; for that
history declared George Washington "a firm advocate for these republican
principles."

Should an Emily Louise then turn traitor to her father, or should she
desert an Aunt Cordelia and an Aunt Louise?

Life is complex. At twelve a pucker of absorption and concentration
begins to gather between the brows.

On the homeward way, William was waiting at the corner. "What is a
person when they are not either Democrat or Republican?" Emily Louise
asked as they went along.

William's tones were uncompromising. "A mugwump," he said, and he said
it with contempt.

It sounded unpleasant, and as though it ought to merit the contempt of
William.

And grammar was becoming as complex as life itself. One forenoon Emily
Louise was called upon to recite the rule. Every day it was a different
rule, which in itself was discouraging. But the exceptions were worse
than the rule; for a rule is a matter of a mere paragraph, while the
exceptions are measurable by pages.

But Emily Louise knew the rule. Even with town one background for flag
and bunting; even with the streets one festive processional; even with
the advent, in her city, of the President of the United States on his
tour of the South; even with this in her civic precincts, Emily Louise,
arising, was able correctly to recite the rule.

"An article should only be used once before a complex description of one
and the same object."

"An example," said Miss Amanda.

Emily Louise stood perplexed, for none had