The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-07-22
THE REASON WHY.

| Inc bead portiere fell to viii little
! crash.
time he remarked tentatively, as he
drew on e glove.
She aabsently twisted one of the crystal
| strands
Yes, I supposed So
| 1T would greatly tighten the path to
exile if you would give me-if 1 might
| have
Mr. Beresford"
"One Of your photographs"
! Oh in the descending scale, just a
shade perhaps of disappointment.
''WelI?"
A moments silence. fraught with de-
| liberation.
mo, will not give you one of my pic
lures"
And why not, 1t shall have"
ALLOW me to finish for you. The place
of honor
| Exactly. and"
Let me interrupt you again. I will
make a bargain with you. I shall give
| you a description OF the career and ulti-
mate fate of the photograph I bestow up
on you"
But your picture-that is different"
''Of course ca va sans dire; the last
one always is different So let it go
as the tale of her who has preceded me.
| you VIII Know whom L mean. NOW
here is nv proposition. If when 1 finish,
you can truthfuliy say L have not given
| an accurate outline of the end of my
| predecessor and-with some slight change
| in detail-of my finish-pardon the slang
but it is so appropriated will present you
| with one of my most cherished photos in
stanter. Do you accept the conditions?"
| Done. But warn you the picture is
already mine
! I'VE shall see"
I'm the meantime?'
II am placed beneath glass and Dor
dered about with gorgeous frame and
| hung directly above your dressing glass;
| that you may gaze on me long and
often.
| II have at least yard of unobstructed
/ wall space all to myself. My satisfaction
at this is Immediately dispelled when L
| discover my nearest neighbor TO be a
/ damsel in scant costume whom | recog-
| nize as having seen at a vaudeville enter
| tainment l was once rash enough to at
| tend. I might observe right here she re-
| joices in no frame and owes her elevated
| position soley to thumb tacks that keep
| her in proper place. You, too, become
| aware OF her unbecoming proximity, and
with--be it to your credit-a half shame
| faced laugh take her down and tear her
| into bits.
L
honored when | consider my solitary
state and then view the row of has-beens
leaning plaintively against the back Of
| the dressing case.
For, well, one blessed month I am
queen of all 1 survey; reign undisputed.
And then one dreadful day you come in,
| look at me with a half guilty air, and
then slowly draw from your pocket an
other photo. You look from her to mel
can't see the face. but 1 know it's her
for some time, and then you reach up at
me hesitatingly, and then with mutter-
| ed exclamation you make a grab and
lift me down. Swiftly you take me from
the frame, prop me against a cut glass
bottle on the dressing case, and the other
girl is put in my place, This probably
wrings from me showers of pasteboard
tears. 1 am enraged. The new divinity
looks down on me from my erstwhile
shrine with a patronizing smirk-you
murmur something about her heavenly
smile. The row of has-beens gives
chorus of spiteful giggles and 1 writhe in
an agony of modification. For a week
l stand unnoticed, until one night while
you are burning incense before the new
attraction you absent-mindedly place me
with the row across the back of the
dressing case. My advent is greeted with
goulish glee, but l clothe myself with an
icy dignity and apparently notice moth
ing.
"A few weeks later, in one of your perl
odic fits ofre-a ranging your effects, L
am-oh, ignominy-transferred to the row
across the mantel shelf. When you are
packing, possibly month later. to go on
your summer vacation. l am gathered up,
with many others, and tied in a bunch and
thrust into a convenient shirt box and rel
egated to shelf in closet
There l pine till | lose my freshness
and my gown grows old style, and 1 am
passe to a degree. Perhaps year later
you are changing your quarters, and L am
again dragged to light and you sort us
over. Many of my companions are torn
in half and thrown into the scrap bas-
ket. | tremblingly await similar ami
hilation. But, no, and a chosen few are
again thrust into our dark resting place
and go back to the shelf
Once more l pine for countless ages and
then 1 see the blessed light l glance
at the mirror and then the dressing case.
What is this? Many photographs every
where, but all of one woman. AS I
stare in establishment you gravely and
with low whispered words kiss each pic
ture many times. Without a shade OF
emotion from you, my companions meet
the fate of those | had seen before
burial in the scrap basket.
You pause as you look on me and
puzzled look comes in your eyes--then you
smile. Why, who is this? | almost seem
to remember her. Oh. yes. of course.
that's little Alice. Cute little girl. l al
ways liked her And then I go to join
my comrades in the waste basket.
Now, have l described my probable
fate? Remember. you promised to an
swer truly
Il think you are very cruel" replied
the young man. but
Slowly. sadly and silently he shook
hands with the girl.
And ! was right" she persisted bit
terry. Il have nothing TO say"
The young man softly opened the door
and wandered out into the night.
The girl seated herself on the bottom
step Of the staircase and burst into
tears.
just the same" she sObbed.-May Isabel
Fisk.
Too Gsrrulous Peddler
Persistently the broom pedler was Of
was trudging up the avenue, when be
= nc latter had pugilistic chin and was
deeply engrossed IN an open newspaper.
DO you want a broom, sir?' question:
ed the pedler. fourishing the broom TO
demonstrate its durable qualities.
Nope" snapped the large man with
out looking UP.
"Oh. I see, You are a bachelor. Well
you are lucky. Do you see that little