Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-01-20
PEGS
PINEAPPLE
CHEESE
girls" said Peg as she
laid an apoplectic parcel on
the dining room table-"there
L. .NanlAaI LIZ. EI,nr,t nina
By Edith Sessions Tuppel
COeHight 1902. bY tdlth Sessions Tuppu


laid an apoplectic parcel OF
the dining room table-"ther'
Is probably the finest pine
apple cheese on the isle Of Manhattan
pineapple cheese" A chorus of dis
may and derision arose. why pine
apple? Why not brie or camemDer
orr
"Oh, I know" said Peg loftily. "tha
you swells," with a bitter emphasis OF
the word, affect all kinds Of evi
smelling cheeses with your after din
ner coffee; but. as am plain and dem
ocratic In my tastes. buy pineapple
cheese wherewith to regale myself
when l come in worn. jaded and fain
with hunger after my days toll"
Then she hung up her sailor. cut of
the head Of her pineapple cheese
scooped out chunk and proceeded t.
eat it like a piece Of cake. Meantime
we three jeered.
AS Peg stood there greedily devour
ing her cheese she did not look mucl
like a girl whose heart was broken
She was plump. rosy and sturdy. Sh'
curled her hair. She was as diIcren
as possible from the accepted type o.
lovelorn maiden wasting away to
premature grave from disappointed
love. Yet we girls knew al about thu
dreadful quarrel Peg had with Jacl
Sheppard. a quarrel that broke off he
engagement and sent Peg out into the
world to seek career.
We four girls-Grace, Eleanore. Mar
garet. otherwise Peg. and the writer
have tiny little box of Hat uptowi
where we play ut housekeeping. W.
live In chatting dish. and the fire es
cape is our refrigerator. Every weei
or so we are visited by big. god ma
tured officer who tries to look sterl
when lie states he will surely II" oblige,
to arrest us If we do not keep our FIR
escape clear of birdcages. vegetables
fruit and tlOwerpots.
Then there ensues Spasm OF tidy
ing I'D, the plants and birds are ar
ranged in the drawing room" as We
call the tiny reception room. the Vc&e
tables are stored in the kitchen closet
and the fruit is heapcd ostentatiousl.'
ON the sideboard. But some way. graf
ually. decentralization again crcepS UP
ON us. the fire escape allures and Geck
ons us and flaunts its attractions us
storehulse before us. and we again
succumb to its destinations.
Therefore we were not greatly sur
prised when Peg. after satisfying hcl
healthy young appetite procee';ed to
place her cheese just outside the WIN
dow upon the fire escape.
"Peg, you are crowding the refrlgcr'
ator." objected Grace.
DO you want call from Dan
Flynn? asked Eleanore.
Dan Flynn. it may be remarked IN
passing, is the policeman who pHr.ou
ically cleans out our refrigerator,
Dan Flynn won't see it tonight
said Peg calmly. "and may eat the
rest Of it for breakfast"
This silenced us. There really was
no argumen.. to that proposition.
We adjourned to the drawing rooil'
and while Grace prepared an article OH
"How to Turn the Back Breadths oi
an Old Silk Skirt" for ladies maSa
zine and Eleanore ran over the new
song she was to introduce in her next
role | gossiped with Peg about the new
comers who that day had taken tie
fat under us.
There can't be any women, re'
marked, "for there wasn't rocEih%
chair, a piano or a sewing machiiic,
and there were whole cases OF stuil
incidental to the accursed sex carried
in"
"Then there were rifles and walking
sticks and clubs galore" continued
"a whole arsenal. counted all sorts
of weapons except Gatling gun. Can
they be social highwaymen, do you
think?"
"Au men," said Peg oracularly, ARE
in n measure social highwaymen. very
likely this is an organized band OF cut
throats. The details assuredly are sus'
picious. Grace, you know the chief OF
police, l believe"
az interviewed him once" drowsily
came from Grace, who had just ar
rived at the sponging and pressing
stage Of her article.
Every well; you know him. then.
said Peg severely. 81 think you should
call on him and ask him to look up
these creatures and see whether four
UNPROTECTED women are safe In living
so near them"
Wouldn't Dan Flynn do as well as
the chief? asked Eleanore, lazily hum
ming over the last bar Of her song.
"You see, Peg, the head Of the depart
ment is a rather busy man, and as Dan
Flynn is on our visiting list 1t might
be quite as convenient, mightn't IT.?
But Peg made no answer to this idle
banter. She sat engrossed In deep
thought. Her blue eyes grew larger
and DREAMER. We all watched her
with undisguised admiration. She was
so abominably pretty.
made sure that she was wandering
through the maze Of memory with her
lost love and ventured to rouse her,
hoping she would rehearse some ro-
mantle chapter for ones delectation.
Peg" 1 asked softly, "of what, dear.
are you thinking"
81 was wondering" said she, with a
little start, whether these miscreants
below US would steal my pineapple
cheese"
In the middle of the night we were
aroused by a fearful crash in the kitch-
en-. Grace, Eleanore and l rushed
frantically about, confident that bur-
glars were upon US. After scrambling
for matches some minutes, with cold
chills running down our spines, we at
last g6t light, only to discover Peg
wandering about in her nightgown.
looking very sheepish and nursing a
broken head
II got up to see If the pineapple
cheese was safe" she explained, "and
fell over the clotheshorse, which some
driveling imbecile had left directly in
my path"
We got her to bed, where she re-
mained a day or SO in company with
vinegar and brown paper, smelling
salts and eau de cologne.
Meantime the rest of US often met
our new neighbors on the stairs. They
certainly did not look like criminals.