The Song of the Lark

Mr. Kronborg considered Thea a remarkable child, but so were all his children remarkable. If one of the businessmen downtown remarked to him that he “had a mighty bright little girl, there,” he admitted it, and at once began to explain what a “long head for business” his son Gus had, or that Charley was “a natural electrician,” and had put in a telephone from the house to the preacher’s study behind the church.

Mrs. Kronborg watched her daughter thoughtfully. She found her more interesting than her other children, and she took her more seriously, without thinking much about it. The other children had to be guided, directed, kept from conflict with one another. Charley and Gus were likely to want the same thing, and to quarrel about it. Anna often demanded unreasonable service from her older brothers: that they should sit up until after midnight to bring her home from parties when she did not like the youth who had offered himself as…