The Opelousas courier., 1899-05-20
H LADY.
BY II. G. PEARSON.

30 o"oeo1h, ~ tue olltoildi page. TO
T. perhaps half a minute he stared il
a blank a~mazement. Then he drop
e the paper and executed a war dance
. In response to his frantic calls tn
manager fastened into the inner edi
l. torial sanctum and. calmly inquired
what was the matter.
i HAS the foreman dropped gu
i another line in the makeup or die
your typewriter go off its feet anc
make a mistake for which you wish tt
blame the proofreader? What ails
you, anyway"
8 Have you looked at the editoria
t page?" asked Willis.
: why, no, what's wrong with it?'
"Did you write or cause to be writ
ten that Jarvis editorial?'
"What Jarvis editorial? t wrote
none and know nothing about N.Y.. [
thought we were to be neutral in that
fight"
, "That vas the way 1 understood it, -
said Willis, more puzzled now than
angry. "but here is the strongest kind
of an editorial in tonight's Wing ad-
vocating the election of Jarvis. If
you don't know anything about it and
| don't know anything about it who
does know about it? And what are
we going to do about it?"
First, let's find out who does know
about it," very practically suggested
the manager. "What does the proof
reader say?"
But the proofreader had never seen
the editorial until they showed it to
her. She was positive that she had
not read the proof of it, and the copy
holder supported her by affirming that
no copy for it had passed through her
hands.
When the foreman who made up the
paper was questioned he did remember
placing the tyre in the forms and read
ing the headline, but that was as far
as his information went. And the as
sistant foreman, who gave out the
copy, made the mystery deeper than
ever by asserting that no such editorial
matter had been handled by him. The
'devil," who took the proofs, was
equally certain that he had had moth
ing to do with that particular lot of
type.
The linotype operators were next in
order for questioning, and among them
Willis expected to find the solution of
the puzzle, for it was only too evident
that the troublesome editorial had
been put in type by somebody. But
one after another of the operators
denied all knowledge of the matter
until the entire roll had been called
without the f~aintest glimmering of
light. Willis noticed that when he
approached the linotype lady she was
very pale and apparently disturbed,
but when he asked, "Did you see the
copy for this editorial, Miss?" she
answered so promptly: "No, sir"
and met his gaze so ~unainchingly that
he had not the heart to doubt her.
All Investigation having thus proved
truitless, the editor and the manager
shut themselves in again for further
"The next question is" said Willis,
"what shall we do about it?"
1T looks to me-" replied the man
ager, las if we ought to male the best
of it and adopt Jarvis as our candi-
"But that is probably just what the
person wants who put up this job on
u.s." objected Willis.
Precisely. assented the manager;
'but what other course is open to us?
If, without explanation, we oppose
Jarvis, we shall be called turncoats,
weather-vanes and other choice names.
Il, ON the other hand, we tell just what
has happened and give it as our reason
opposing Jarvis, who will believe
us? No one. Like o great deal of
ruth, it is absurdly improbable. Now
you and I know that Jarvis is not a
bad fellow and that he will make a
pretty good governor. He differs
us on some points, I know, but
perhaps we can bring him around to
way of thinking after a while. He
s one Of those men whom it is easier
% lead than to drive, anyway. Now i
what do you say?" j
Willis did not fancy the idea at all, !
the longer he %pondered the further
way he found himself from any other
way out of the difficulty. So he !
gracefully and from that mo- !;
nent until the end of the campaign :
vrote vigorously and we'll in Jarvis ,
'upport.
More than once in that time the
linotype lady, with q piece of editorial ! !,
opy before her, stopped to read it over !
second and a third time. And anyone l
Who had happened to be watching her {
would have wondered at the smile of .
triumph, coquetry and hap 1
that lit up her face on those oc-
{
Before long, however, the linotype !
resigned her place. The supply t
t operators had become once more 9
quail to the demand, and as soon as t
he learned the fact she prepared to t
id the Wing good-by. The foreman. k
he manager and the editor all pro- 8
ested, and even the other operators. K
spite Of their occasional jealousy,
ERE sorry to lose her. The linotype
said that she was sorry to 90,
hitch was true, but that she had an Ii
p~portunity to engage in a line of work c
hitch she liked even better. and that Il
lso was true. t,
AS said line of work was the prepa- s
alton OF an elaborate and beautiful O
'ousseau Tor her own use, any woman II
an understand how even the sensible d
las .Iaokaop oon1d End l.