The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1905-03-02

ed across them and couple of period |
icals containing verse from the pen of |
the irrepressible Will
OF the three men VIII had been most
in earnest. The afternoon Of the mar
riage he had gone west to work for a
Chicago newspaper and to forget The
latter part of this purpose was set
forth beautifully in one Of the letters in
the packet.
Anne Stacey who had written ''on
space" for a living since. girlhood and
who had never had sweetheart. had
rescued the bundle from the Japanese
wastebasket She recalled Will as q
fine, broad shouldered young fellow
who up to the time that he had ceased
visiting her chum, a few months be-
fore, had paid no attention whatever to
the large mouthed small nosed. intel
lectual girl who always made point OF
having an engagement somewhere with
in ten minutes of the hour of his ar
rival Anne had never been noticed,
and she didn't expect it. She prompt
ly forgot being snubbed and remem-
bered only that once VIII had pressed
her hand quite tightly while he said,
Little woman, think you understand
| what this means to me-"
Recollecting this, Anne had adopted
the letters. At first she had enjoyed
them only as love letters-letters which
were real and which said just what
she had been making her people say
for ever SO long. Then, as the deser-
ton of the bright little creature came
to be realized as an endless desertion
and as she made no new friends, those
ardent notes had commenced to seem
her very own. Their author was her
lover She read them over and over
and over, making them more personal
| with each reading For three years
she fed her hungry soul with them.
and then, being temporarily destitute
of ideas for stories, it had occurred to
her that they were the clew to one
ready -made-a story of which she was
the heroine.
"A Taker of Crumbs was duly fin
ished that very night and dispatched to
the mail box in charge of the young
woman in the room adjoining, who was
going out to buy ice cream. Anne
thought about it great deal in the
days that followed A dozen times she
would have given the world to have
had it back, IL only long enough to
have substituted fanciful terms for the
ones she had taken from the letters.
Dear Lady O. Mine" Twice at night
she dreamed that Will had come out
of the west to rebuke her for stealing
his love words and to take the packet
out of her keeping. At the end OF a
month she got a check from the maga-
zine to which the manuscript had been
sent, and after that she merely waited
for the appearance of the story in
type When it did appear, illustrated
with picture Of very tall girl hold
) ing two extremely long arms toward an
astonishingly low door in the middle
distance, she was surprised that no one
seemed to take the least notice Of the
tale.
Anne went back to her work and
, wrote other stories. By grace of these
and a. kindly providence she was able
to pay 81 to her landlady regularly or
, Saturday evening and to take three
, car rides week Every Wednesday
morning she walked uptown ana drew
! little money from a newspaper fol
| which she wrote a column called "HintS
+ for Home Makers She dined at
/. revised manuscripts until 10 and criel
, awhile over the bundle of letters befor,
t going to bed. Now and then she stoOt
: at the window, looking out upon tht
$ hurrying throng and remembering tha
= not one person in all that throng care<
S whether she lived or died.
t Three weeks after the publication o
e "A Taker Of Crumbs she found lyins
d on the table in the lower hall an en-
d relope without the name of a newspa
y per on it. The postmark was New
f York SIZE climbed the steps leadin:
/, to her room and sat down on he
couch to read the letter. Dear Lad,
s O. Mine'-yes, it was addressed to her
It 'Who would have believed that ther
r was so loving little woman in til
:. world? May | call tonight? That
\ rather soon, admit. but--well, an
= very lonely too. Will"
e Anne Stacey got up and dfopne
,, the packet of letters in the Japanes
i wastebasket. She locked the one lei
e ter just received. envelope and all, i
t. her bureau drawer in place left fo
8 it,
o Supreme Test.
Che uyoc n Wisconsin, Oir ri of NOR