The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-03-25

fE~Si trio light bracket above Adj
olson Winklehorst's desk
gr1 ri was a beautiful calendar
tASl EgI!I or, rather, a picture of
a beauutul woman with little cal
endar in one corner of the card It is
what might be called haunting face
that beamed down upon Mr.. Wrinkle
horst as he sat there looking over his
mail. He could not, for some reason,
Keep from glancing up every little
While and drawing deep sigh.
1t may have been that something
which he ate or drank at the banquet
the night before had put him into
romantic mood. At all events. he dis
covered some new charm in the lady
every time he looked up. He marvelled
at the splendor Of her figure, clad in
rich robes that suggested wonderful
outlines, and the soft tints upon her
cheeks were so indicative of perfect
health and maiden modesty that he
became possessed of the idea that if
he were to touch them with his fingers
he would find them warm and yield
ing.
Presently he noticed that the lady of
the calendar was bending forward to-
ward him and assuming .ifelike pro-
Portions One Of her dainty feet pro-
truded over the edge of the card and
a faint, delicious perfume emanated
from her rich attire. Just how she
got down to the floor he did not know,
but he suddenly found that she was
sitting beside him and looking gladly
into his eyes.
II can never hope to show you how
grateful 1 am" she said in soft. en-
chanting tones, "for releasing me-"
For releasing you?" he asked. Chow
did release you?"
"Why," she answered with wonder
in her deep, splendid eyes, don't you
know? I was under spell. I had
foolishly sold myself to great soap
maker. You see these fine clothes I
am wearing? They got me into all
my trouble"
"Tell me about it." he urged.
She drew a long, deep sigh and said:
II was only a poor girl. working as
stenographer in his office. Every
year he got up a splendid calendar as
an advertisement. He hired great art
lists to paint pictures of beautiful wo-
men. and / used to think / would be
so happy if one Of them would paint
me. richly dressed, so that my picture
would be hung up in thousands of
places for men to admire. l longed
for beautiful clothes. l used to stand
in front of the big store windows when
they were getting ready for the horse
shows and wish could have the ele-
CANT things I saw there.
zone day as I fingered before a win
dow looking in and thinking how hap
DIV the women must be who could
wear such things as saw there, the
rich soap man came along and, point
ing to one of the finest costumes, asked
me bow l would like to have it. How
my heart leaped at his words told
him would be the happfest girl in
the world if that dress could be mine.
"'You shall have it, he said. L will
buy it for you-on one condition. If
you will consent to be painted in it
and let me use your picture for a cal
pnuuT the uEcSS S1dll NC yOulS
Imagine how joyful l was. The
dress was bought for me and | posed
in it for the artist. l am sure l was
the happiest girl in the world and the
proudest But one day, as the finish
ing touches were being given to the
picture. / noticed that the artist had
turned into a horrible old woman, with
a wrinkled face, with one long, yellow,
fang-like tooth, and with hands that
looked like claws. / was filled with
fear and tried to run away, but
couldn't. I couldn't make a noise when
I called for help. / was pressed back
ward against something and then
found | was the picture for the soap
calendar.
"The horrible old woman grinned at
me and said:
"'You see what love for fine clothes
has brought you to. You were willing
to give up your soul for that dress
YOU know it, So you deserve just as
much punishment as If you had really
done what you were willing to do for
the sake of being dressed III finery