Free The Pilgrim Song by Gilbert Morris Page A

been shocked by what he had seen. He left before the others were finished and started back to his cottage, encountering Hannah on his way out. He did not know the woman well, but she stopped him to ask about planting some bulbs for the spring. As he struggled to answer her, she said, “Is something wrong, Jamie? You look disturbed.”
    Jamie hesitated, then told her what had happened. Shelistened carefully, and he finished by saying, “The violence just seemed to leap out. I never would have guessed it was in him.”
    Hannah studied the face of the gardener, then said, “I think we’ll have to let Earl go. He’s been causing such trouble with the maids.”
    “It might be best, Miss Hannah.”
    “I’ll discuss the situation with Father. He may need to reprimand Clint as well.”
    Hannah turned away and tried to picture the scene in her mind. She had received complaints about Earl before, but she had not seen this side of Clint Longstreet, and it troubled her.
    ****
    Hannah had been listening to the New York Philharmonic on the radio, but at two o’clock a program of popular music came on. She was writing a letter and listening only halfheartedly as they played the new record “Happy Days Are Here Again” and then “Wedding Bells Are Breaking Up That Old Gang of Mine.” She listened as a singer named Hoagy Carmichael, who couldn’t sing very well, introduced one of his songs called “Stardust,” which she didn’t care for.
    “They ought to slow that down,” she said, getting up and turning the radio dial to a newscast.
    The announcer seemed disturbed as he said, “ . . . and although stock prices opened steady, the unexplainable has happened. Everyone seems to be selling, and prices are plummeting. United States Steel opened at $205 but dropped to $200 and is now at $193. Other stocks are plummeting faster than anyone has ever seen in the history of the stock market. A spirit of fear appears to be ruling the day, and no one is buying. Everyone is trying to sell. Exactly where this will stop no one knows, but one thing is certain. We are witnessing an event in America that has never happened before. The big bull market, for all intents and purposes, is over.” The announcerhesitated and then said, “If you have stocks, you’d better sell them, folks, while they’re still worth something.”
    Hannah turned off the radio with a frown on her face and went downstairs. She was aware of her father’s recent anxiety over the stock market. For months now he had been troubled. Just two days ago he had said, “Hannah, America’s been on a wild spending spree, and they’re buying almost everything—including pianos, records, and radios—on the credit installment, and people are doing the same thing with stocks—margin buying. That simply means they’re buying shares on credit. It wouldn’t take much to tip the whole structure over.”
    Hannah found Joshua in the kitchen fixing a sandwich. He had come home sometime after three, obviously inebriated, and now there were deep circles under his eyes. She did not rebuke him, for that did no good, but she asked, “Have you heard the news on the radio?”
    “No, what is it?”
    “Something’s happened to the stock market. All the stocks are going down. I’m worried about it.”
    Joshua took a bite of the sandwich and shook his head. “It’s gone down before. Dad will know what to do.”
    ****
    Hannah had stayed close to the radio all day. She cared as little about money as Kat did, but she knew that her father would be worried.
    At suppertime all the children sat down for the evening meal.
    “Where’s Dad?” Kat piped up.
    “There’s a problem at the office,” Hannah said quietly.
    Jenny looked up. “What kind of problem?”
    “Haven’t you been listening to the radio?” Hannah asked.
    “No, what is it?”
    “The stock market has gone crazy. The bottom is dropping out of it.”
    Jenny knew nothing about the stock market and shrugged her shoulders.