She planned their fall clothes and
she planned their friends. And there came to her father occasional moods of
anxiety. He remembered Bruce's grim remarks about those "simple" schools
and clothes, the kind that always cost the most. And he began to realize
what Bruce's existence must have been. For scarcely ever in their talks did
Edith speak of anything outside of her family. Night after night, with a
tensity born of her struggle with her grief, she talked about her children.
And Roger was in Bruce's place, he was the one she planned with. At moments
with a vague dismay he glimpsed the life ahead in his home.
George was hard at work each day down by the broken dam at the mill. He had
an idea he could patch it up, put the old water-wheel back into place and
make it run a dynamo, by which he could light the house and barn and run
the machines in the dairy. In his new role as the man of his family, George
was planning out his career. He was wrestling with a book entitled "Our New
Mother Earth" and a journal called "The Modern Farm." And to Roger he
confided that he meant to be a farmer. He wanted to go in the autumn to the
State Agricultural College. But when one day, very cautiously, Roger spoke
to Edith of this, with a hard and jealous smile which quite transformed her
features, she said,
"Oh, I know all about that, father dear. It's just a stage he's going
through. And it's the same way with Elizabeth, too, and her crazy idea of
becoming a doctor.
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