Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1903-11-13
THE CAKE
WALK
By
ZOE ANDERSON NORRIS
Cnnyrfuht ION h,- Too
ZOE ANDERSON NORRIS
Copyright. 1903. by Zoe Anderson Norris

~HE programme at an end. the
manager, advancing to the
foOtlights, announced the cake
walk. There was hushed
moment. Then those who had stood
tirelessly throughout on chairs made
mad rush for the seats giving upon the
aisles down which the participants
were TO pass.
On the platform the judges had
ranged themselves in formidable row.
Importantly solemn. The cake stood
before them, square of tlaky pink, up
on which rose giant pyramid, pris-
matte In the snowy brilliaucy of its
icing.
The music commencing. the great
curtain at the left swung aside. and
the drum major appeared. Dancing
daintily forth. he flung his baton TO
the roof-or nearly-caught it again
and received the attendant burst of
applause after the fashion of one to
the manner born and accustomed.
Close on his heels followed the first
couple.
Jasper Jefferson Jones occupied Il
seat above the row of boxes at the eX-
treme right, where an excellent view
was to be had of the walkers as they
rounded the curve and pranced down
the broad aisle facing the entrance, but
from which, because of the dense
crowd intervening, only Il parasol or
two could be seen as they passed from
beneath the curtain to this aisle. In
order to see, therefore, he rose, the
whites of his eyes cleaning in the ex-
cited dusk of his countenance.
The effort proving fruitlesS. he forced
himself TO sit again with the rest, oc-
cupying himself with consulting his
programme, running Il dark and trem-
bling foretinger restlessly down
| throughout the list of names and final
| ly stopping at "47-Alaggie Malone,
| Frog Eyed Pete accompanying
He raised his head in time to see the
| first couple come mincing around the
curve, the girl looking seriously into
| the face of the man as she bowed, pir-
ouetted once or twice and passed Sc
renely on.
Other couples, trusting to the splen-
dor of their attire and appearance rath-
| er than to their nimbleness of toe,
walked sedately by. The dignity of
their walk verged upon stateliness, but
they failed to interest him.
| Again he looked across toward the
curtain through which others thronged.
He caught sight of a bobbing white
| parasol. His heart bobbed with it. 1t
approached the bend of the aisle, and
the girl holding it faced him. On the
sleeve of the man with her shone Il
broad white placard, upon which was
his number
"47-FrOg Eyed Pete and Maggie"
The couple ahead of her, hurrying on,
had left some considerable space in
which to cavort. Maggie leaped to the
occasion. Jasper's head whirled with
the turns she made, his glowing eyes
drinking in the coquetry of her tilmy
skirts of delicate white, contrasting
we'll with the olive of her skin. the
slender mold of her ankles the droop
Of her picture hat heavy with pink
roses, the rou.ndness of her cheek and
the innocent look of her narrow eyes
fixed not upon him, but upon her part
ner, Frog Eyed Pete, whose costume,
containing her colOrs, matched hers III
way very pleasing to behold. In like
manner the wonderful variety of his
gyrations conceded with the grace of
her pirouettings.
Maggie had paused effectively in the
center of the aisle. With a whirl she