Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-03-20


many swallows into a chimney, blu
that it is the wrong time in the day
Shades are raised, covers taken off. an
simultaneously in every part of tn
house begins a vigorous busting an
putting to rights.
The new cashier, a young man witt
fine eyes and a pleasant manner, VIII
has been some three weeks in the estab
lishment, comes in and goes behind hi
desk. AS he does so he notices tina
there is new girl at the glove -counte
just opposite. Only her head is visiol
above the pile of boxes she is busting
1t is crowned with red-gold hair, an,
the face is very beautiful in spite of tn
hopeless depression it expresses.
Presently the business of the day be
gins. Whenever there comes paus
in his monotonous labor of stampin:
bills and making change, and he look
out over the green wire network tina
incloses his desk, his eyes rest NATURAL,
upon the blonde head and delicate fig
ure, because they are directly in from
of him, and in the course of the day h
learns without making any inquire
that she is No. AZ.
AS for the girl herself, she is thinkin!
Of nothing but that terrible day, AMI
wondering whether she will live through
it.. Her face is flushed, her eyes glist
ening and feverish, the joint result O
bad ventilation and bewildering trans
actions.
To her this first day behind the cour
ter seems shoreless eternity. She
can scarcely remember when it began
and has almost lost faith in its possible
ending. Two hours Of this new and
trying ordeal are enough to make hel
unutterably weary; before the day is
half over she is aching miserably in
every limb and joint After this, stand.
ing is the purest agony. And all day
long the feminine division of humanity
bears down upon them en- masse The
proprietors, welded to quick sales and
the largest possible profit. are positive.
ly ubiquitous in their efforts to enforce
the strictest attention to duty; obsequi-
Gus statesmen with an eve to premi.
ums and percentage step briskly about:
cash-boys scurry hither and thither, and
errand-boys find no rest for the soles OF
their feet. The silk man spread his
stock upon the counter and displays the
popular shades, by daylight, by gas
light, singly and in combinations. He
gathers them up into soft, rich folds,
spreads them, gathers them up again,
talking glibly all the while, and is
borne to the utmost limit of deferental
patience before the exact shade is
found and the final decision made. The
lace man, on the alert for whom he
my beguile, is bland and courteous,
while the girls at this same glove
counter dive among the boxes and be-
come breathless in the attempt to con-
vince some dubious customers that a
pearl gray glove is an exact match for
the pale-blue sample she has brought,
or vice versa, smiling, dropping words
of honey all the time, and wishing in
their inmost consciousness that perdi-
ton may ultimately collect all woman
kind.
But it does end at last. The custom
ers are gone; the curtains are up, the
counters are again shrouded in white
canvas, making the long aisles look like
SO many wards in a hospital. and these
human swallows begin to pour out of
their great chimney.
The cashier on his way to the cloak
room sees No. AZ crouching on the ledge
behind her counter. She is thinking OF
the long, dark streets that lie before
her. and of the aching feet that protest
against further service.
When he comes back she is still there.
He stops, and says kindly: IF YOU
don't hurry out they will lock the doors.
Everybody else is gone now.''
'How will | ever get home" she
means. rising YEARLY, her eyes still red
from crying.
III 60 with you if you are afraid.
Is it far?
90, yes, it's far, and then l am so
tired" He is the only person who has
spoken to her to-day. excepting the Gus
toners she has waited upon. He has
such a graceful easy way, that bv the
time he has helped her to put on her
cloak he seems like an old acauaint-
ance. They hurry out together, and
are Just in time, for the doors close be-
hind them with 4 bang, and the bolts
are drawn.
Ii happens that their WAYS lie in the
same direction, that they are domiciled
in two dreary board ny houses not more
than half square apart, and after this
they 60 home together every evening,
and speedily come to be very good
friends indeed.
The season known to retail traffic as
''busy" wakes and wanes. Summer
comes, and August, swelter,ng, intoler-
able. settled upon the deserted town.
The houses are like ovens, the streets
like blast furnaces, and everything that
remains behind the migratory pOpula-
ton is undergoing a lingering process
of cremation. The proprietors have fled
the heat. one salesman to department
is found to be sufficient, and the rest
are away taking their summer vacation.
Those who remain behind have little to
do, for there are hours together when
there is not penny's worth sold.
1t happened that ~ is reigning
alone in the glove department, and she
is refreshing OBJ Get for contemplation
this sultry afternoon in her dress of
blue organdy, with pale ribbons ilutter-
ing at throat and waist.
Above her head her wares are most
effectively displaced in complete cam
opy of long wristed gloves in every con-
ceivable color and shade of color, and,
there being nothing else to do, she sits
upon the ledge below the shelving and
Yields monstrous palm-leaf.
When no hing is selling there is no
change to be made, and the cashier
steps out of his narrow, sitting inclos-
ure and waEders in search of a breeze.
The long lace mits that fringe the cano-