The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-12-19


The tones of a pleasant voice foated in
over the transom. The neighbors had left
their door open. Wen have mush for
dinner. Fanny" said voice Light the
oil stove and get out the saucepan"
a smell of kerosene was waited to the
nostrils OF the artist and the scribbler IN
the next room. Pretty soon another and
VI .niistakable odor supplanted the first
1t was the smell of burning mush. 'Oh.
Fanny" walled a voice. you've burned
the stuff and we can never eat it. Moth
ing but dry bread tonight or well get
to the limit OF our g before half the
week is up. Dearie me. but I'm famished
Mercy, but wouldn't 1 like some fresh
crackers and a box of first-class sar-
dimes"
Hear that. Tom" said Billy Aston;
wouldn't that make your heart gnaw
let alone your stomach? Girls aren't cut
out for this bohemian life. We've got
l.50 between US. Let's take a reef in
our belts to close the aching void a little
&C out and get beer each and some red
hcts and put the rest into sardnes and
crackers. and drop them quietly at the
door of these famished females.
Good scheme, Billy" said Tom. 81
couldn't enjoy a square meal with the
thought of those girls going hungry. Come
along"
An hour afterward. when one of the
girls in the fourth floor hall bedroom
rear opened the door she found two brown
paper parcels on the Threshold She ut
tered little exclamation. picked up the
packages and went back into the room
In the next room two listening young
fellows heard. oh Helen. somebody has
cropped large can OF the best sardines
here, with two pounds OF crackers. Oh.
my. but how I would like to eat therl"
"Oh, but We mustn't. Fanny I believe
It's just somebody trying TO tempt us to
eat. We mustn't really dear" And then
the voices became so low that the artist
and scribbler heard nothing further
Every day for a week Billy Aston and
Tom Porter heard occasional snatches of
conversation over the transom. The bur
den Of the speech was always that OF
seni-starvation. with an occa sional ref
erencc to the facts that crushed rice is
cheap. and that round the corner one
might get two loaves of stale bread for a
nickel
Once or twice Billy and Tom passed
their neighbors in the hall. They found
that the famished ones were poorly. but
neatly dressed, apparently rather pale
from privation. but withal astonishingly
pretty The young women had been a
week in the place, Billy and Tom in their
room one morning overheard these words
We'll. Helen, our 81 are gone, our seven
Gays are up ana we must go l am not
hungry. Helen. I'm simply starved"
Great Scott. Tom. listen TO that and
then talk about hard lines"
Yes" answered Tom. its tough. but
does it strike you. Billy. that we've gone
through the week on a dollar and sixty
cents. but then we're Hardened To this
sort of thing. and | don't grudge the cash
that we put into the sardines. etc, that
we passed in to the starving ones"
Shortly after there were sounds Of an
exodus from the fourth floor back hall
bedroom.
Four days afterward Mother Scaggs-
she was Mrs \, lhelmina Scaggs, bat the
dodgers called her mother because she
was good to them-boarded North State
street car. A pretty young woman. with
sealskin coat and jaunty hat spoke to
her Good morning. Mother Scaggs.
Mrs. Scaggs looked at her moment
puzzled "Oh. Miss Sinclair" she said
= didn't know you at first. You look
so different. Well. now. your experiment
IS over how do you feel7