he ate little herself, as do most expert cooks, and found her reward
when Sam or Maxine uttered a choked and appreciative "Mmm!"

In the midst of creature comforts such as these Sam Pardee said, one
evening, "Oil."

Mrs. Pardee passed it, but not without remonstrance. "It's the same
identical French dressing you had last night, Sam. I mixed enough for
twice. And you didn't add any oil last night."

Sam Pardee came out of his abstraction long enough to emit a roar of
laughter and an unsatisfactory explanation. "I was thinking of oil in
wells, not in cruets. Millions of barrels of oil, not a spoonful. Crude,
not olive."

She saw her child, her peace, her linen closet threatened. "Sam Pardee,
you don't mean----"

"Oklahoma. That's what I meant by oil. It's oozing with it."

Real terror leaped into Milly Pardee's eyes. "Not Oklahoma. Sam, I
couldn't stand----" Suddenly she stiffened with resolve. Maxine's report
card had boasted three stars that week. Oklahoma! Why, there probably
were no schools at all in Oklahoma. "I won't bring my child up in
Oklahoma. Indians, that's what! Scalped in our beds."

Above Sam Pardee's roar sounded Maxine's excited treble. "Oo, Oklahoma!
I'd love it."

Her mother turned on her, almost fiercely. "You wouldn't."

The child had thrown out her arms in a wide gesture. "It sounds so far
away and different. I like different places. I like any place that isn't
here."

Milly Pardee had stared at her. It was the father talking in the child.
Any place that isn't here. Different.

Out of years of bitter experience she tried to convince the child of her
error; tried, as she had striven for years to convince Sam Pardee.

"Places are just the same," she said, bitterly, "and so are people, when
you get to 'em."

"They can't be," the child argued, stubbornly. "India and China and
Spain and Africa."

Milly Pardee had turned accusing eyes on her amused husband. "I hope
you're satisfied."

He shrugged. "Well, the kid's right. That's living."

She disputed this, fiercely. "It is not. Living's staying in a place,
and helping it grow, and growing up with it and belonging. Belong!" It
was the cry of the rolling stone that is bruised and weary.

Sam Pardee left for Oklahoma the following week. Milly Pardee refused to
accompany him. It was the first time she had taken this stand. "If you
go there, and like it, and want to settle down there, I'll come. I know
the Bible says, 'Whither thou goest,