Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1905-05-18
Observation-Disclosures
IN A DAYS
SHOPPING
BY Keith Gordon
COPYRIGHT, l0o.. by r. c. Mcclurc

to lie sure. but just a trifle unintereet-
ing, There We're times even when she
was that little girl when she had crav-
ell the tonic of the worlds usler
moods. burned to see 1t ut its tiercast,
as Indifferent to human beings as IL
they were ants.
This may have been mere youth and
ineXper!cnce or 1t may have been BE-
cause she WIS surfeited with beauty.
Was not her home the most imposing
in Farville? Inside the house an cxqui-
site quiet rcigned. sort of hallowed
stiffness that made her want to shout
aud whoop in defiance.
Her sisters We're the beautiful King
girls She herself, as chance re-
mark had Informed her. was ''the plain
one AT the nloi.itiit she had felt deep
ly mortified. She hadn't supposed 1t
was SO bad as all that. From this time
her distasie fer beauty grew move
marked and in one of those heated no
mentS that will occur even between the
best cf sisters had said plainly that she
was sick and tired OF their eyerlaat-
ing beauty With Il observation she
had made a rapid but highly character
istic departure from the room, and the
family beauties had grinned ut each
other knowingly.
"Sl,es a funny little sister" observed
Elaine indulg2ntly. a remark that was
met by Bertha's thoughtful II won.ier
why she is so bitter against beauty?
She's not half BAD herself. She's UNI
sual. the restless lttic monkey"
And, MIDGET. tbs view OF her appear
ance was si.Syyi Us man who had on
more than one occasion allowed HIM
self to look ut Ter the second time,
though she was unconscious of lis very
existence. Her trips To New = ok in
variably LED her TO one destination, and
there he had come to watch for her
The mother and the beautiful sisters
never knew. any more than they knew
her keen interest in the gloomy In
teriors visible from the elevated trains.
that their youngest WAS in the habit of
rushing through her shopping at the
high class stores where they had credit
and then hetaking herself pcllmcll to
n great Sixth avenue department store,
where as she passed through the re-
volving doors. she felt with a shiver of
delight that she plunged into the
stream Of life
The iostlir.g and crowding the teem
ing exhibits that oyerran counters and
We're forever falling to the floor, the
near silk, near silver and near gold
commodities that filed the place so
lavishly, far from offending her taste,
stirred her fancy oddly, and she saun-
tered up and down the long aisles
alive with that suppressed excitement
that Is one of the keenest emotions
life had to offer and Indifferent to the
buffetings of the crowd which seemed
to her delightfully."- good natured if
little bit lacking in form
But the spot that she loved best of
all was the broad landing of the mar
Bile staircase that swlrled grandly up
ward from the center of the first floor
with 4 magnificence that was dazzling
even for department store. This
landing formed balcony, rich with
oriental rugs and upholstered furn-
ture, and, most desirable of all. it
commanded a panoramic view of the
floor beneath.
Here 1.-The youngest often sat for
an hour or so at time, with her chin
resting on the railing and her eyes
fixed greedily on the scene below.
fascinated spectator Of one of the best
theatrical productions that the big
round world has to offer.
The man-he was an artist, and he
haunted the balcony on the lookout
for types-had noticed that she usually
came out Of her absorbed contempla-
ton of the scene below her with
start, glanced in n dazed way at the
bold faced clock near by and then fair
ly scampered down the flowing marble
stairs and melted away in the crowd.
Not being mind reader, LIE could not
know that she was wondering If there
was any chance OF catching the $50
or how on earth she should explain her
absence since $3.50 by the purchase Of
six yards Of val lace.
but lHe SluliltS Oh IltT lace anu Dedu
In his small sketchbook multiplied
and the oftener he drew her the more
dissatisfied he became. Always he
just missed catching the spirit of her,
the youth, the interest, the ardor and
the innocence of her glance, of every
line and movement, for it seemed to
his artists eye that she was a very
marvel of expression
1t was about this time that the pub
fishers for whom he did more or less
work sent him Il book for illustration,
and as he read the manuscript it
seemed the very girl Of the balcony
who had wandered into its pages. BY
some strange fate the lines that he
selected as the pictorial points told q
tale She stood looking down nj the
throng below her, breathless, absorb
ed was one; Malvern. watching
her, recognized that of the thousands
she was the one" was another, and
the pictures composed themselves In
his brain with a precision that could
not be gainsaid
He had watched for her before with
dreamy pleasure. Now his watching
became eager, intense. His fingers
itched 10 tell the story-tell it, as be
knew he couM, as he had never to4a
a story before. Once, indeed. she hal