The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-04-04

| quoted far and wide, and she edited the
witty articles of others in such skillful
manner that they were twice as good
when they left her hands as when they
came into them.
"The Woman's Funny Department"
was q success grand success. Miss
Burr knew it was, and she knew she had
made it one. No one appreciated her
more than she appreciated herself. Her
own jokes amused her immensely, and
she had way, when she had written
something that struck her as irresistibly
droll, of bursting into the jolliest of
musical laughs, and then reading it in a
clear, musical voice to McGregor Dou-
glas And the moment that laugh was
heard, that was nothing heard in that
semicircle of cubby holes until the point
of the Joke was reached. Then various
sounds of merriment escaped from
them.
"Ha! hal hap
"He-he-he."
"Haw-haw!"
"Good," etc., etc., etc.
The fourth time this performance took
place the sanctum door opened slowly
and the old man came quietly out, but
not so quietly, however, but that five or
six pairs of ears caught the sound of his
footsteps and drowned them at once in
the loud scratching of pens, at the same
moment that Douglas seized an illustra-
ton designed for transfer and shipped
it in two with great appearance of in
terest in his work. But did Miss Margery
Burr bend quickly over ner writing2 No,
sir. No, ma'am. She looked directly
at the old man, her long silken lashes
we'll uplifted from her mischief full gray
eyes, and said: ooh, Mr.. Enderby,
would you like to hear it, too2n 81
shall be content to enjoy it at the proper
time, when it appears in print" said
that gentleman with more than usual
sternness, and again withdrew.
But the very next day the excessive
comicality of another joke struck Miss
Burr with such force that another peal
of laughter responded to the blow. And
again Douglas, forgetting the reproof of
the day before, threw himself back in
his chair and prepared to listen, and
again silence reigned in the cubby-
holes and again the witticism was read
and again it was greeted with sounds of
appreciation, much subducd it may be
confessed, from the semicircle of unseen
hearers.
Lo! the result. A notice printed in
large letters and pla"ed where it could
not fail to be seen by all parties inter
ested: "Reading of matter intended for
publication in the'-no matter what
never intended to give the name, "dur-
ing office hours strictly forbidden"
''Horrid old thing, said Miss Margery
Burr when she beheld it. 81 don't
know what I'm going to do. 1t will be
impossible for me to keep all the funny
things that pop into my head to myself
Something dreadful will happen to me
know, if Pm compelled to- Something
that won't fit into the 'woman's funny
department at all. Oh Ishan't be able
to do it, know 1 shant I shall be
obliged to break that rule even though
Pm discharged without recommend the
moment after"
But she managed to keep it for two
days. On the third, Douglas, feeling
the table that as between them begin
to shake, looked up to see her in a parox-
ysm of silent laughter In vain he shook
an admonishing finger at her. in vain
she struggled to obey the admonishing
finger. Open few her rosy little mouth,
and out gurgled the not be imprisoned
laugh. Then she began to read, but
Douglas scissored away as though his
life depended on the number of interest
ing items he secured from his exchanges
durinp tho povt f ya mimi tov apd corofob
scratch, scratch went the pens in the
cubby- holes as though the lives of the
holders depended upon the number of
words they scratched off in the same
amount OF time
The door of the sanctum opened Mr..
William Enderby appeared on the TIRES
hold. Slowly he advanced toward the
delinquent. Slowly she raised her eyes
to his face and then, as he looked at her,
with something very like frown, she
burst out with: "Ohl i say, Billy,
don't be SO outrageously cross" For
once the old mans eauanimity was
SHAKEN. And no wonder, for never be-
fore in all the years of his life had any
one dared to reply to him with even a
suspicion of disrespect
strange look came INTO MS FACE and
for an instant he regarded Miss Margery
Burr so keenly and steadily that thatim
pertinent young woman almost sue
cumbed under his gaze. Then he
turned away and descended the stairway
that led to the street. It was well that
he did so as soon as he did, for if he had
not there would have been a man in
commissions in each one of the semi
circled cubbyholes.
Immediately upon mis- departure Miss
Burr arose, donned her hat, Jacket and
gloves, shook hands in the gravest man.
ner with Douglas and also departed.
Two months passed away, during
which McGregor Douglas took charge Of
the "Womans Funny Department,
thereby subjecting himself to endless
gibes and jests on the part of his com
patriots. But he consoled himself with
the thought that the old man had told
him that it was only to be temporary
charge.
1t was bright June noon. As usual,
the old man and the senior editor had
gone to lunch, and also, as usual, when
his carriage had rolled away a chorus of
whats the news, Douglas" from the
doors of the cubby- holes greeted that
estimable young man. For a moment
he did not answer. His eyes were fixed
In wide-opened surprise on a society
item in paper he held in his hand.
1.-THE newsP at length he exclaimed