Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-07-12
An ARTISTIC REVENGE.


~ WV OsVUs OsO"VUs0V"Oss
The elevator boy was a genius, says
the Chicago Record, although nothing
Of the kind had ever been charged up
against him. When the fat-that is to
say stout. for only men and the lower
animals are fat. women of that style Of
architecture being invariably stout =
when the stout stenographer on the
ninth floor repulsed the admiring ad-
vances OF the elevator hoy she did not
know that she was laying mine for
the destruction Of her peace of mind II
not OF herself. The elevator boy brooded
upon the snubbing he had received and
resolved that he should be gloriously
revenged.
But how as the cheap novels say.
The elevator boy did mot know at
first, but the next time the stout stem
ographer entered his car to ride to the
ninth floor an inspiration came to him.
The inspiration came on a Monday
morning.
At noon of the same day the elevator
boy, shooting downward from the pin
nacle of the building. found the stout
stenographer waiting at the ninth floor
to go down and get her cup of coffee
and peach pie a la mode.
Mine, DOWN." piped the stout stenog-
rapher. The lift stopped. and with
great dignity and politeness the eleva
tor boy opened the door. The stout
stenographer entered. The moment her
foot pressed the floor of the cage the
elevator sank two inches. The elevator
boy closed the door without word, a
glance or a smile, and the downward
Journey was resumed. The three men
who were in the dropping box, how
ever, gazed about with a wondering
expression on their faces. When their
eyes took in the proportions of the
stout stenographer a satisfied look
came into their countenances. They
understood why the elevator had
dropped two inches under the pressure.
The stout stenographer colored a rich,
autumnal red and looked daggers,
sahers, broadswords and other cutlery
at the boy. He said no word-other
than Main floor-all Quit"
After the luncheon hour the stout
stenographer sauntered into the rotun-
da of the big building once more. She
had forgotten the incident of the two
inches. Going up!" cried the elevator
boy, and she accelerated her movement
toward the lift. Four men and two
women were inside. The boy again, with
princely politeness, held the door open.
She entered. At the pressure of her
foot the elevator promptly dropped two
inches. The four men, aroused from
after-luncheon reflections by the sud
den lurch, looked about inquiringly.
They saw the stout stenOgrapher and
smiled. The two women smiled with
smiles of even greater dimensions and
duration. The boy was a hewn monu-
ment Of imperturbable dignity. The
stout stenographer glared about her.
She half suspected, but could not be
certain.
In the evening it was the same way.
When the stout stenographer entered
the elevator to ride down to the street
she gave it two-inch start on the way.
The other inmates looked at her rather
sympathetically. and she knew that
they were wondering how In the world
she managed to stand the hot weather,
but nobody spoke. The boy was pillar
of Icy calm.
1t was in this fashion that things
continued for six days. She tried to
catch the boy off his guard and slip in
to the lift when his attention was at
tracted to other things-the cigar stand,
for instance-but all such endeavors
were unavaibing. That fatal drop of
two inches always manifested itself.
She felt that she was marked woman
and the talk of the town. Once she re-
solved to walk up the nine flights of
e,%o L. l. 1
ignominy of that elevator, but by the
time she had reached the fifth floor. dis
heartened and perspiring. she rang the
bell for the lift. HE will not expect
to catch me on this floor" she said.
But he did. She stepped inside. The
elevator dropped. An ill-bred man.
who pretended to sell wire fencing on
the eleventh floor, sndckered. The stout
stenographer turned upon him. but see
ing the quiet, solemn face of the eleva-
tor boy, she remembered in time that
she was a perfect lady.
On the sixth day the stout stenog-
rapher capitulated. She caused this
advertisement to be inserted in a news
paper:
WANTED-A position by capable
StenOgrapher; wages not so much a con-
sideratiOn as a position with a firm doing
business on the ground floor.
The next day she went forever out Of
the tall building. The boy found the
advertisement in the paper and paste
it up i'm his cage, where he could see 1t
all day long.
Such is adequate, beautiful, glorious
revenge when undertaken by an artist
Pure blood and a good digestion are an
insurance against disease and suffering
Burdock Blood Bitters keeps the blood