The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-12-28
SUFFER- 1891.
~ ~ 10 -
BY LUCY BAKER JEROME.
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MISS Ellen Maher, telephone opera
M tor on the West Exchange, was
first attracted to Suffer 1851 by a
CHEEKY little trick in the voice of the
girl who used that telephone almost
to the exclusion of every one else in
that house. 1t was frivolous voice,
but musical. 1t had little babyish
turn in it-such voice as Miss Ma
her would have liked to own, together
with tall figure, and beautiful red
gold hair and large violet-blue eyes.
Miss Ellen Maher knew her own lin
itations.
Such delightfully."- frivolous CONVEX
sations were these that Suffer S691
used to carry on! Sometimes, in the
early morning before the rush of mar
let orders had begun, she used to
catch little sparkling snatches of them.
The girl at Suffer S691 seemed to have
! plenty of men friends, and they were
always talking about people whom
Miss Maher read in the. society col
umns of the newspapers; of what they
did last night at Mrs. Swinnerton's-
or of what was going to happen that
afternoon at the Bouton's coaching
party. Miss Maher would have liked
to live like that, with big house and
a telephone all ones own in ones bou-
doir, and plenty of lovers. Not that
her-until-
Now it came to pass in time that
two certain numbers grew to be most
persistent in talking back and forth
with Suffer 1851. OF course, there
were many others-voices of chatter
ing girls-voices of staid matrons-
but these two Miss Maher noticed be-
cause they were men. The first was
Red 1901; the second Main as. Miss
Maher came to like Main As as much
as she disliked Red 1901. Main As had
a fine, big voice, quiet and easy-the
voice which would go with dear
stupidity and an honorable character,
and a fine, big frame-just like the
hero in her favorite novel. Quite diff
ferent was Red 1901. That voice
1isped little, and it talked too much
and too glibly. To herself she called
it "girly- girly" kind of voice. If
there was anything Miss Maher hated
it was a "girly-girly" man. She had
her own ideas of what a man should
be, and they didn't at all correspond
to the mental picture she had formed
of Red 1901. With true femininity,
she was sure he wasn't mice" or good
enough for the girl with the pretty lit
Tie voice which responded so brightly
tN no
particularly irritating quality in his
voice caused Miss Maher to believe
him merely an animated tailor's dunn
my. In her secret soul, she was firm
ly convinced that Red 1901 was bore
But Main 45's telephone calls were
always promptly answered, and the
service between Suffer 1851 and Main
As was satisfactory in the extreme.
At first Main 45 had rung up once a
week; then, by easy and successive
stages, Miss Maher was called upon
for connections twice, thrice, four
times weekly. AT this point, the tele-
phone service graduated into the daily
stage, and now, regularly at nine
o'clock each morning, Miss Maher
sounded the iingling signal which an
nounced to Suffer 1851 that party
was on the line.
They usually discussed some ap-
pcintment for the day. Listening 10
these plans for pleasure, Miss Maher
came to have a keen appreciation of
the blessings of Suffer S691 Miss Ma
her liked big men with grave sin
cere voices. Size also liked outings
outings such as these as she heard
planned-to' the cliffs, to the sea, or
to the shaded woods among the keen,
rcsinous smell of the pines. Main As
didn't seem to care for theaters, or
teas. or balls. although the girl was