Every Soul Hath Its Song | Page 5

has to have Europe, and Ray wants to
stay home so with snips like Louie Ruah she can run with. I tell you
when you got daughters you don't know where--"

"Give 'em both a brain test, ma."
"Stop teasing your sister, Izzy. I always say with girls you got trouble
from the start and with boys it ain't no better. Between Arverne and--"
"Arverne! None of the swell crowd goes there any more, mamma."
"Swell! Let me tell you, Miriam, your papa and me never had time to
be swell when we was young. I remember the time when we couldn't
afford a trip to Coney Island, much less four weeks a cottage at
Arverne-next-to-the-sea. Ain't it, papa? I wish the word 'swell' I had
never heard. My son Isadore kicks to-night at supper because at hotels
on the road he gets fresh napkins with every meal. Now all of a sudden
my daughter gets such big notions in her head that nothing won't do for
her but Europe for a summer trip. I tell you, Simon, I don't wish a dog
to go through what I got to."
Mr. Binswanger let fall his newspaper to his knee.
"Na, na, mamma, for what you get excited? Ain't talk cheap enough for
you yet? Why shouldn't you let the children talk?"
Miss Binswanger inclined to her father's knee, her throat arched and
flexed. "Papa dear, it's a cheap trip. For what four weeks in a cottage at
Arverne-by-the-sea would cost the four of us could take one of those
tourists' trips through Europe. The Lillianthals, papa, for four hundred
and fifty dollars apiece landed in Italy and went straight through to--"
"The Lillianthals, Lillianthals," mimicked Mrs. Binswanger, sliding her
darning-egg down the length of a silken stocking. "I wish that name we
had never heard. All of a sudden now education like those girls you
think you got to have, music and--"
"Oh, mamma, honest, you just don't care how dumb us girls are. Look
at Ray and me, we haven't even got a common education like--"
"You can't say, Miriam Binswanger, that me or your papa ever held one
of our children back out of school. If they didn't want to go we

couldn't--"
"Oh, mamma, I--I don't mean just school. How do you think I feel
when all the girls begin to talk about Europe and all, and I got to sit
back at sewing-club like a stick?"
"Ain't it awful, Mabel!"
"Izzy!"
"Why do you think a fellow like Sol Blumenthal is all the time after
Lilly Lillianthal and Sophie Litz and those girls? He has been over
seventeen times, buying silks, and those girls don't have to sit back like
sticks when he talks about the shows in Paris and all."
"I know girls, Miriam, what got as fine husbands as Sol Blumenthal
and didn't need to run to Europe for them."
"I never said that, did I, mamma? Only it's a help to girls nowadays
if--if they've been to places and know a thing or two."
"If a girl can cook a little and--"
"Look there at Ray, nothing in her head but that novel she's reading,
and little snips that'll treat her to a soda-water if she hangs round the
White Front long enough, and ride her down to Brighton on one of
those dirty excursion boats if she--"
"You shut up, Miriam Binswanger, and mind your own business!"
"You let her talk to me that way, mamma?"
"Go to it, sis."
"You let her talk that way to me and Izzy eggs her on! No wonder she's
fresh, the way everybody round here lets her do what she wants, papa
worst of all!"
Ray danced to her feet, tossing her hair backward in maenadic waves,

her hands outflung, her voice a taunt and a singsong. "I know! I know!
You're sore because you're four years older and you're afraid I'll get
engaged first. Engaged first! I know! I know!"
"Go to it, sis!"
"Sure, I got a Brighton date every Saturday night this summer, missy,
and with a slick little fellow that can take his father's car out every
Tuesday night without asking. Eddie Sollinger! I guess you call him a
snip, too, because he's a city salesman. I know! I know! Ha! I should
worry that the Lillianthals are going to Europe! I know! I know!" She
pirouetted to her father's side of the table. "Give me a dollar, pa?"
Mrs. Binswanger held out a remonstrating hand. "Ach, Ray, you
mustn't--"
"It ain't even seven yet. Have a heart, ma! Gee! can't I walk up to the
corner with Bella Mosher for a soda? Do I have to stick round this fuss
nest? I'll be back in a half-hour, ma. Please?"
"Don't let her go,