The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 6, 1903, Page 7

Oopyright, 150) WEN the young woman rrom the College Settiement dragged Ardelia n degradation she was sitting on & dirty pave- ment and throwing assorted rafuss &t an unconscious policeman. It Dever had oocurred to her that her situa- was anything less than refined - o g1 sald the young woman fnvitingly. “Wouldn't you like to come with me and have & nice, ooal bath ™ “Naw,” ssid Ardelis “You wouldn't? Wel like some bread and b ba's Jam? said ng 1, wouldn't you ter and jam?" delia conserva- age of four she be- of Master John hot August, and her board was as whipped as reg- omprehensivel; it AR her wom: nor should be left for local and gen- nistered, she sald very lit- t accustomed to question t sent her to fried eggs— ised to eat them bolled—for her sietly placed them in the as opposed to the baths, st she ¢ starched and creaking ransported to the sta- t time introduced to She sat stifly on the with furtive eyes and while the young woman ingly of daisles and cows grass. As Ardelia had never ese things it is hardly sur- g t she was somewhat enthusi- as t the young woman was disap- pointed by this lack of ardor. ¥ roll in the daisies, my dear, you want—all!” she urged © answering gleam woke in Arde Aw right’ and stered into her lap. a’s eyes. ehe enswered guardedly, “Look out, dear, and see the flelds and houses—see that handsome dog, and see the little pond!” Ardelia shot a quick glance at the blur- ring greer dizzied her as it rushed by. Then she resumed the contemplation of her starched gingham eringly: hot day and the comb re woe. Once last summer, he ate the iiquid dregs of the ice- creem man's great tin, and fell asleep the room where her mother was frying T fore- day set her teeth ignation for the en stolcal res- while the young and wa woman babbled of green fields and won- dered why the child should be so sullen. The young woman At last they stopped seized her N r o fou can’t ere, ¥y just walk over. he plenic I t The force of this w lost on Ardelia, who had never been driven off any grass whatever; but she ga expected to walk out he thick, rank of the unmowed side yard, & ard obediently, turn exact center of the plat, f Pick the daisies!” excitedly. “I want Get a bunch! Oh, you ater, she doesn’t know rs was deeply moved picking imaginary dais Ardelia’s quick eyes nd, stooping, a Pull them she explained ady’s lap. the dirty, her linen ots ski ing and sighed. ““Thank she said politely, for you. I meant you on't you want them?” said Ardelia dec porch Miss Forsythe's eyes brightened sud- “I know what you want!” she cried “You're thirsty! Mrs. Slater, won't you us some of your good, creamy milk? you want to drink, Ardella?” dded felt very tired, glare of the sun seemed reflected T into her daze ater appeared with w glasses she wound her hands about the stem of get nervous littie be a deep draught, » 1t; it was hard to swal- ct warned her not to go on with it. But all the thirst of.a long wrning—Ardelia was used to drinking —urged her on, and fits icy s enabled her to fi the glass. She handed it back with a deep sigh. The young lady clapped her hands. “There!” she d Now, how do you like real milk, Ardelia? I declare, you look like ano ild already! You can have all you t every day—why, what's the matter?” For Ardella was growing ghastly pale before them; her eyes turned inward, her lips tightened. A blinding horror surged from her toes upward, and the memory of the liquid ice cream and the frying onlons faded before the awful reality of her present agony. Later, as she lay limp and the slippery hair-cloth sofa in ter's musty parlor, she heard cussing her situation. “There was a lot of Fresh Air children over at Mis' Simms’s,” her hostess ex- plained, “and they 'most all of ‘em sald the milk was too strong—dld you ever! Two or three of 'em was sick, like this one, but they got to love it in a little while. She will, too.” Ardelia shook her head feebly. had learned her lesson. After & while Miss Forsythe went away, and at her urgent suggestion Ardeila came out and sat on the porch under the shade of & black umbreila. She sat mo- tionless, lost in the rapture of content that follows such a crisis as her recent white on Mrs. Bla- them dis- Bhe few moments she was misery. In a asleep. When she awoke she was in a strange place. Outside the umbrells all was dusk and shadow. The tall treea loomed vague- 1y toward the dark sky; the stars were few. As she gased in half terror about her a strange jangling came nhearer and nearer, and a great animal with swing- ing sides, panting terribly, ran olumsily by, followed by & bare-le boy, whose thudding feet sounded loud on the beaten path. Ardelia shrank against the wall with & ery that brought Mrs. Slater to her side. ‘There, thers, Della; it's only & cow. Bhe won't hurt you. Bhe gives the milk" —Ardelia shuddered—"and the butter, too. Here's some bread and butter for you. We've had our supper, but I thought the eleep would do you more good."” Sull shaken by the shock of that pant- ing, hairy beast, Ardelia put out her hand for the bread and butter and ate {t greed- {ly. Then she stretched her cramped limbs and looked over the umbrella. On the porch sat a bearded man in shirt leev stocking teet, his head t 1ck against his chair, hismouth open. He snored audibly. Tipped back in another chair, his feet raised and pressed against one of the supports of the porch roof, sat a younger man. He was not asleep, for he was smoking a pipe, but ha was as motionless as the other. Curled n the steps was the boy who.had them from the station. Occasion- . patted a mongrel collie beside yawning, stretched himself, but t_speak. Mr. Slater,” sald the woman “and the young man is my eldest illiam. They're out in the fleld all and they get pretty tired. It gets i cool out here by evenin’, don’t leaned back and nocked silently to and fro, and Ardella -waited for the events of the evening. There were none. ed why the gas was not lit in th shadowy darkness; why the peo- 1 t long. She felt scared new, unknown depression down. It grew steadil happening, something co; at? Suddenly she recurrent noise, notonous click. Now it rose, accentuating the silence dense at Mrs. Slater. those are katydids. I er heard 'em, that's a fact. 1 think. Don't you like said Ardelia. long silence intervened. The i back and forth and aw,” nother ttle bright eyes now high, now It will never be wn er Ardelia thought them de- ve gaslights or the flashing, chang- ing electric signs that add color to the night advertisements of her native eity, for, contrary to all fictional precedent, she did not inquire with Interest what they were. She did not care, in fact A half an hour of the katydids Wil- yke. k Damon’s helpin’ in the south'lot av,” he observed e?" asked his mother, pausing a n her rocking. Wa mom “Yer n he smoked, row and the monotonous terrupted z-zig! Zib-a-zig-a-zig!" Slowliy t the background of this machine-like clicking there grew other sounds—weird, unhappy, far away. Wheep, wheep, wheep!” his was a thin crying. room! oom! Broom!" s was low and resonant and solemn, 2 scowled s 'at? * she asked again. t's the frogs. Bullfrogs and peep- Never heard them, either, did ye? that's what they are.” William took the pipe out of his mouth, “Come here, sissy, 'n’ I'll tell ¥’ a story, he said lazi Ardelia obeved, and glancing timorously at the shadows slipped around to his side. “Onc’'t they was an ol' feller comin’ along cross-lots late at night, an’ he come to a pond, an' he kinder stopped up an’ sayE to himself, ‘Wonder how deep th’ ol pond is, anyhow? He was just a leetle— well, he'd had a drop too much, y’' see—* iad a what?” interrupted Ardelia. “He was sort o’ rollin’ round—he dldn't know just w he was doin'—" “Oh! Jagged!" said Ardelia, compres hendingly. “I gue in’ deep! Willlam gave a startling imitation of the peepers; his volce was a high, shrill wail ‘Oh, well' &' he, ‘If it's knee deep I'll wade through,’ an’ he starts in. “Just then he hears a big feller singin® out, ‘Better go rrrround! Better go rrrround! Better go round!’ ‘William rolled out a vibrating bass note that startled the bull frogs themselves. #0. An’ he heard a voice sing- out: ‘Knee deep! Knee deep! Knee ‘Lord!" says he, ‘s it deep's that? Well, I'll go round, then.’ ‘N’ off he starts to walk around. “‘Knee deep! Knee deep! Knee deep!” says the peepers. #An’ there it was. Soon's he'd start te do one thing they’d tell him another. Made up his mind he couidn't, so he stands there still, they do say, askin’ 'em very night which he better do.” tands where?”’ Ardelia looked fear- fully behind her. “Oh, 1 d'know. mebbe.” Again he smoked, Time passed by. To Ardelia it might have been minutes, hours or generations. An unspeakable boredom, an ennuf that struck to the roots of her soul possessed her. Her muscles twitched from nervous- ne: Her feet ached and burned in the stiff boots. Suddenly Mr. Blater coughed and arose. “Well, guess I'll be gettin’ to bed,” he sald. “Come on, boys. Hello, little girl! Come to vieit with us, hey? Mind you don’t pick poison vine."” He shuffled into the house, and the boys followed him in silence. Mrs. Slater led Ardelia upstairs into a little hot room and told her to get into bed quick, for the lamp drew the mosquitoes. Ardelia kicked off her shoes and ap- proached the bed distrustfully, It sank down with her weight and smelled hot and queer. Rolling off, she stretched her- self on the floor and lay there disconso- lately. Bharp, quick stabs from the swarming mosquitoes stung her to rage; Out in that swamp, THE SUNDAY CALL. she tossed about, slapping at them with exclamations that would have shocked Mrs. Slater. The eternal chatter of the katydids maddened her. She could not sleep. Across the swamp came the wail of the peepers. “Knee deep! Knee deep! Knee deep!” At home the hurdy-gurdy was playing, the women were goesiping on every step, the lights were everywhere—the blessed, fearless gas lights—the little girls were dancing in the breese that blew in from Maggle Kelly an olive— Ardelia sinpped Vicioualy at & mosquito on her bot cheek, heard a great June bug flopping Into the room through the loosely waving netting, and burst into tears of pain and fright, wrapping her head tightly in her gingham skirt. | In the morning Miss Forsythe er, accompanied by another woman. “How do you do, my dear?' sald the stranger kindly. *“How terribly the mos- quitoes have stung you! What makes you stay in the house and miss the beau- titul fresh air? See that great plot of daisies—does she know that she can pick all she wants, poor little thing? I sup- posa she never had a chance. Come out with me, Ardelia, and let's see which can pick the biggest bunch.” And Ardelfa, fortified by ham and eggs, went stolidly forth into the grass and si- lently attacked the daisies. In the middle of her bunch the new came young young woman paused. ‘““Why, Ethel she isn’t barefootedl” sbe cried. “‘Come hers, Ardelia, and take off your shoes and stockings directly. Shoes and stockings in the tountry!. Now you'll know what comfort is,”” as she unlaced the boots rap- 4dly on the porch. *Oh, ‘she’s been barefooted city,” explained Miss Forsythe. this will be differenmt, of course.” And so it was, but not in the sense she intended. To patter about bare-legged on the clear, safe pavement was one thing; to venture unprotected into that waving, ripping tangle was another.” She stepped cautiously upon the short grass near the house, and with jaw set and narfowed in the “But lips felt her way Into tha higher growth. The ladies clapped their hands at her happiness and freedom. Suddenly she stopped, she shrieked, she clawed the alr with outspread fingers. Her face was gray with terror. h, gee! Oh, geel” she screamed. ““What is it, Ardelia? What is 1t?™ they cried, lifting up their skirts In sym- pathy. “A snake?” Mrs. Slater rushed out, seized Ardella, half rigid with fear, and carried her to the porch. They elicited from her as she #at with her feet tucked under her and one hand convulstvely clutching Mr: Blater's apron that something had rus- tled by her “down at the bottom,” that it was siippery, that she had stepped on it, and wanted to go home. “Toad,” explained Mrs. “Only a little hop toad, Slater briefly. Delia, that wouldn’t harm & bady, et alone & dig girl nine years old, like you.” But Ardelia, chattering with Bervous- ness, wept for her shoes and sat high and dry in & rocking chair for the rest of the morning. “She's a queer child,” Mrs. Slater con- fided to the young women. “Not a drop hing will she drink but cold tea. seem reasonable to give it to her all day, and I won't do it, so she has to wait till meals. She makes a face if I say milk, and the water tastes slippery, she says, and salty-like. She won't touch ft. 1 tell her it's good well water, but she just shakes her head. She's stub- born's a bronsze mule, that child. “She don’t seem To take any MPrest In th' farm, ltke those Fr Alr children, either. 1 showed her the hens an’ th eggs, an’ she sald it was a lle about the hens layin’ 'em. Then Henry milked the cow, to show her—and she wouldn't be- leve that, either—and .with the milk streamin’ down from her, what do you s'pose she said? ‘You put it in,’ says she. 1 never should "a’ belleved that, Miss For. sythe if.1 hadn't heard it.” “‘Oh, she'll get over it,” sald Miss For- sythe easily. “Just wait a few daym Good-by, Ardelta: eat a good supper.” But this Ardelia d!d not do. She gased fascinated at Mr. Slater, who loaded his fork with cold green peas, shot them into his mouth, and before disposing of them ultimately added to them half a slice of rye bread and a great gulp of tea in one breath, repeating this operation at regu- (Continued on Page Hight)