Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, October 1, 1913, Page 6

P = ’ S e i st e s i L MEDBLESD 0LD AN By DOROTHEA THOMPSON. | THE BVENING TELEGRAM, LAKLELAND, B e e e et .3 e v of & Woinm. T:M and strong .md! I well-born, her choice was e asily my choice, too. I used to pass them in the hall often on t! way to some merry-making, and she had ever a bright nod and a word for me. And then, when they came back, many's They used 0 say, when I was & oy at bome, that if 1 grew up with- out being jailed for forgery it would 8peak well for my home training.! ‘However that is, I had a knack of eopylng to a nicety any signatures or addresses that | picked up. I used to do 1t for the fun of the thing, but @ever, even in school-boy crises when & note from home would have worked wonders with a hard-hearted teacher, ! @d I use the gift to my own ends. Be- yond, that is, making the boys' eyes POp at the way I could reproduce their ;udo boyish signatures or the more wing and flowery ones of the tewh-[ /ees. I'm an old man now, and com-| fortably enough off, but what I have Rias come to me honestly. I have won- dered, sometimes, whether the accom- ' plshment was still at my fingers’ onds, but it still is! Next to my little four-room bache- flor apartment is its twin, a rear flat; and not s0 many months ago it was taken by two girls- gentle and well- bred, or I'm uo judge of character. ‘The older of the two | had no love for—a quiet, dark girl, too sober by far for her years. But the young one! ¥ oould hear her singing through the paper-thin walls of the cheap flat, and I grew to distinguish her volce in Ahe indistinct murmur when they were talking. She was as full of wongs and thrills and sheer light-heart- mdness as a bird The first time 1 saw her I thought W0 myself that she deserved better Mban to be cooped up in a four-room Mat with a sister who would probably Just as happy without her. But ghere I was mistaken. Her sister adored her. However, | discovered Wefore long that 1 was not alone in my opinion of her deserts, and many is Rhe time I've heard her laughing volce &n the hall answered by a masculine one, and not always the same one, at Rhat. But she had her favorite. 1 could hear the note of real welcome fn her ‘voice for one of them—a fine lad, as deserving of her_as ever a man wag the time I've caught the note of ten- derness in her voice as she said good- night to him at the door. And he! adored her——onc look at him when they were together would have told that. In the sratches of their conversa- tlon I got as they passed through the halls—anything said in the halls was common property to all four flats—I i learned several things about them. For one thing, there was real sympa- thy between them, understanding that was surprising, considering their youth. Another was that each of them had not a little pride, which, i but for the love between them, might have caused trouble of no common sort. Going through the halls one day I found & scrap of paper. a note, folded in half, but with no address on it. I opened and read it rather shamefaced- ly. It was in French, and said that the writer had gone out, would be back in an hour, and please to wait. Then a little sentence of affection, that old as | am mwade my heart beat faster in sympathy. It was signed “Mercy,” and Mercy was the name of my young favorite. I turned it over, and saw, what had escaped me before, that it had three initials on the out- side—B. L. C. 1 remembered a sen- tence of laughing remonstrance once —“Why, Bert Carter!"” Undoubtedly she had tucked the note behind her mall-box for him to find if he came over unexpectedly. I put it back guiltily. Bless the babes! Did they think that no one else in the city spoke French? Still, 1 reviewed our fellow flat-dwellers, and decided that save for me they would have been safe. In winter came a time when my lit tle Mercy was sick. A light case of scarletina, her sister said—told me through the door. Really nothing at all dangerous, only too contagious to allow her sister to go to and from her school-teaching, or even through the halls. So I got into the habit of bringing up «heir mail to them, and OUR FALL LINE Of Hart Schaffner and Marx Clothing has just arrived. Also Bonar and the Arrow Brand Our Ties this Fall in Velvet will surprisc you, as they are the grandest that have ever been in South Florida. | Hats, Kneeland Shoes | Shirts Come in and look over our Boys’ Clothingalso I Outfitter The Hart Schaffner & Marx Clothing | JOS. | PROTSISTOTSO IS f Lakeland Paving&Construction Co. Artificial Stone, Brick and F. J. HOFFNAK Pres. Sec.& Tres, J. N, Supt, & Gen. Man. < % Concrete Building Material Estimates Cheerfully Furnished on Paving Phone 348-Black and all Kinds of Artificlal Stone Work 307 West| Main Street - OMIE J. P. NEWBECKER V. Pres & Asst Map iuieteiatalate every monfing there was a letter for Miss Mercy Jud=on in the sume writing. I was rziher interested in that hand-writ if 1 had been un- able to class the boy hefore that writ- ing of his would have helped me. It was unadorned, and rather smaller than the average masculine hand- writing, but it carried with it a sense of absolute reliability. Foolish, per- baps, but I have always thought that my gift carries with it the ability to read character in writing. When Mercy recovered the spring came on as if by a signal. I heard the boy's voice again in the halls, and met them going in and out again, as happy and over-joyed as if she had come back from the brink of the grave to him. The sewing machine was busy those days—I could tell by the whir it made—and once when I brought up a letter that someone had dropped Mercy came running to the door with her hands filled with fluffy white stuff. I felt as happy, and yet as bereaved, a8 if she were my own daughter and getting ready to leave me. Everything was quite as it should be though, and T hoped fervently that they'd be as happy as they deserved. Then it April something happened. I heard them at the door one night, and listened deliberately for the “Good night, Bert, dear,” that always came. But this time I was disap- pointed. Instead, I heard the boy say with feigned cheerfulness: *“Good night, Migs Judson,” and her answering “Good night, Mr. Carter.” I didn’t like that. It sounded seri- ous beneath the banter. Then the boy said soberly, “Be sure I'll come when you send for me, Mercy.” And Mercy answered with gentle stubbornness, “I'll never write till I hear from you, Bert," and the door closed slowly. Bert didn't know, as I did, that she stood waiting at the door instead of hurrying down the long passageway; wafted till the clatter of Bert's feet on the stairs and the slam of the door proved to her that Bert had really gone. Then [ heard her go back down the passage, and after a minute she began to play the pizno But in a mo- ment more that stopped with a dis- cord, and I guessed, though T could not hear, that Mercy was crying I waited almost for the boy's step again, and the boy's voice In the hallway; but two weeks passed, and I knew that, stubborn young things that they were, they stood a good chance of spoiling the wonderful thing they held between them. Mercy crept in and out of the flat like a pale little ghost, and one day I spoke to her sister of it. “No, she doesn’t lock at all well, Mr. Bonner,” her sister admitted, “but I don’t know what the matter is. stole a look at her out of the corner of my eye. The woman meant ft! Was she blind? Well, the long and short of it is, that it got to be too much for me, and I put an end to it. One day when Mer. cedes had stolen out as usual, I wrote a note—in French, and in the boy's unadorned, dependable handwriting, and tucked it behind their mail box It was just a sentence or two, but I ended it with the phrase that had end ed Mercy's note to him. | had an idea that it was a sort of pass-word of theirs, and I was right From the window, I saw Merey come in. There was a paure {n the vestibule, then the heavy door opened and Mercy stumbled up the stairs. | watched her through the half-open door, and her young face was alight with joy almost too great to bear. A moment later the door opened and she | flew out again. 1 knew Bert was to have his answer The next day was warm, so warm that windows were open everywhere; and so it comes that sitting in mine, | heard the end of the story. Oh, the sound of that young voice again! For me and one other, there was no sound like {t on earth. Then there was a duet of voices. They were evidently sitting on the deep window-sill -his arm around her. I had no doubt After a moment of silence, the epl sode of the note was reached. In the boy’'s voice | heard incredulity, aston- ighment Then Merey's voice eame clear and convinced “But, Bert, dearest. it was in your dear, funny writing, und in French. And oh, Bert. it ended- yvou Kknow hO\\"” Then I gathered that she got up and found it for him. There was a mo- ment of blank silence—then in a volce of awe and wonder “By jove You're right.” “Let's keep it always, dear.” said softly it is! Mercy | after that." Ah, well Even meddlesome old men have their uses (Copyright *‘ ‘lure News- Quite S.mple. Boston Five-Year Old-—Father, what is the exact meaning of the verse be- ginning, “Jack Sprat could eat no fat?” Father—In simple terms it is as follows: Jack rat could assimilate no adipose tissuve. His wife, on the other hand, possessed an i for the more Iz epithelium. And so between them both, you see. they removed all the foreign substances from the sur- face of that utilitarian utensil com- monly called a platter Does that make it clear, son Boston Five-Year-Old—Perfectly, fa- ther. The lack of lucidity in these Mother Goose rhymes is amazingly apparent. as eagerly as she | O | “We can't quarrel again | FLA,, OCT. 1913. 1, A S DAL DN} a8l 8 # HiL 1S Zg 4 At the time when the ham, the outlook for the paper was not good. KEven with all the ad- vertising in a town of twelve thousand, city printing and po- litical patronage. But where the bad outlook came in was with the city editor, which meant the entire local staff. With- in nine months four city editors had been killed in the street, and no wonder that a contemporary sald that the pa- per was rightly named the Dis- j patch. In the part of the country where the Dispatch was ! printed stlence could discount truth a8 a virtue. It made no difference what a man might know—it was what he said that got him into trouble. But how was it possible to print the news without saying something, and was it likely that one could keep on saying corns of an occasional truth? So, up- on taking charge of the paper she could not help but feel a certain re- sponsibility not to say anxiety. She could not herself slop around in all sorts of weather and get the news. Of course she could edit the paper—any one could do that, as nine-tenths of the politicians in the district were ready to swear; but any one would not dare to gather the news, While sit- ting at her desk, the first morning after taking active control she heard a cough, and looking up saw standing | near her a thing that looked like a | yellow ghost. She stared at it, not over {cightened, having taken a whirl at the medical course at gchool and | acked what was wanted. The man— it was a man-howed and said that he had come to offer his services as city editor. And the idea that it wnuld' be well to employ him occurred to her. No one could have the heart to| murder that skeleton. So, she hired | him. Miss Ielane opened an envelope and took out a communication. It told of a desperate fight that had just oc- curred in the hills. A young man i named Ralph Iicks had killed. in a fair fight, six ruffians who had pro- voked a quarrel with him. The deed was full of valor that it was a good thing to print and she printed it. A few days later she received another communication from a fellow named Holt Smith, giving another account of the valiant Ralph Hicks. This time a desperado known as the Swamp An. | | Dispatch fell ? to the ownership of Miss Lelane (:ra-! something without treading upon the | I | gel had met him at a country store, in a neighborhood where the Angel | was owner of all he surveved, and he ' was a pretty active surveyor Hickq was affable and inclined to be con- cillatory, but the Angel said that he wasn't fecling very well. having just got up from a shake down of chills and fever, and he thought that a little fresh blood was about what he need- | ed. Hicks asked him if a doctor had | given him that sort of a prese rlmlnn., and the Angel “lowed” that he had, \ and Hicks shot the Angel between the ' eyes and the coroner declared that it | was a good shot. This was also print- ‘ ed. The skeleton would, once in a while, 1 bring in a piece of news. No one thought of killing him, yet they m'ldm it inconvenient. One man hit him with a mallet and dislocated his hip, | and laid him up for a day or two. and | another fellow knocked him down, | | Just to hear him rattle, but otherwise no damage was done. Still his posi- tlon was often embarrassing. So he said that he believed he would re-! sign. Lelane urged him to remain a day or two longer, till she could find another skeleton, or some other phys- fcal unfortunate, immuned against at- tack. He said that he was willing. | Two days later the skeleton came in, limping, and said that his other hip had been dislocated and that it was now time for him to go. She paid him off and he went out. At this mo- ment there entered a tall. handsome fellow with black, rippling ha She eniiled and asked him to be seated Was it possible that so fine a man had come to look for death. He smiled at her. “I understand vour sltuation.” said he, “and 1 am deter- mined to hel I have had con- sidereble exper > in this sort 0! work. My name talph Hicks.” She seized h iand. He was (he one man who could dare to print (he | |news. And she er ed him The people were astonished to read that Ralph Hicks had taken the news end of the Dispatch. He printed a‘ card in which he said: “I want it un- derstood that 1 am going to print the news.” And he did. There were mutterin and scowlings, but nothing serio happened. Lelane was happy in her work. for her paper was prosperous. One uight they were sitting alone in the editor- {al room. Ralph had ceased to write and was musing. Suddenly he got up, walked over to Lelane's desk, and without embarrassing preliminaries, said, “1 love you and beg of you to be my wife.” “Oh.” was all she answered at that time, but a sweet understanding come to them. i Wooomor 1 | Schrafft’s Blue Banner Chocolates | Ice Cold 40c per pound, | For Fruits and Vegetables Phone Us. Also Watch Our Windows 8 3 » ) W. P. PILLANS i “Florlda Avenue Groce.r«'}'__‘_ . “Pure Food Store” Phone 93 - 3! mmmmm% IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BUILDING, SEE : MARSHALL & SANDERS., The 0Id Reliable Contractors [ Who have been building houses in Lakeland for years, v: 8 N rA v who never “FELL DOWN" or failed to give satisfaction, All classes of buildings contracted for. The many f; residences builu by this firm are evidgnces of their ability) make good. MARSHALL & SANDERS ‘ Phone 228 Blue rl OOHNN | g ( IF YOU ARE IN THE MARK.: For Tin, Sheet Iron, Copper, Zinc or any‘ lund of Roofing Work, call the LAKELAND SHEET METAL WORKS Smith-Hardin Building Phone 279 Ask for J. P, CARTIN We can fix that leaky roof. Our Motto is Modest Prices and All Work Guaranteed. 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