The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1905-04-27
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in A DAYS
SHOPPING
BY Keith Gordon
Copyright. 1904, bu Z. c. Mcclure
Copyright. 1901, bv Z. C. Mcclure
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

She was young ana haQ llVeQ always
In the suburbs, where life rolled smil-
ingly under clear skies, sweet enough,
to be sure, but just a trifie uninterest-'
ing There were times even when she
was that little girl when she had cray
ed the tonic of the worlds uglier
moods, burned to see it at it's fiercest,
as Indifferent to human beings as if
they were ants.
This may have been mere youth and
ineXperience or it may have been be-
cause she was surfeited with beauty.
Was not her home the most imposing
in Farville? Inside the house an eXQui-
site quiet reigned, sort of hallowed
stiffness that made her want to shout
and whoop in defiance.
Her sisters were 1.-The beautiful King
girls She herself, as, chance re-
one" At the moment she had felt deep
" mortified She hadn't supposed it
was so bad as all that. From this time
her distaste for beauty grew more
marked and in one of those heated mo-
ments that will occur even between the
best of sisters had said plainly that she
was ''sick and tired of their everlast-
ing beautyr' With this observation she
had made rapid but highly character
iStic departure from the room, and the
family beauties had grinned at each
other knowingly.
''Shes funny little sister," observed
Elaine indulgently, remark that was
met by Bertha's thoughtful Il wonder
why she is so bitter against beauty?
She's not half bad herself. She's unu-
sual, the restless little monkeyP'
And, indeed, this view of her appear
ance was shared by man who had on
more than one occasion allowed him
self ito look at her the second time,
though she was unconscious of his very
existence. Her trips to New York in
yariably 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 betaking herself pellmell to
great Sixth avenue department store,
where, as she passed through the re-
volving doors, she felt with shiver of
delight that she plunged into the
stream Of life.
The jostling and crowding, the TEEN
Ing exhibits that overran counters and
were forever falling to the floor, the
near silk, near silver and near gold
commodities that filed the place so
iavishly, 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 a
little bit lacking in form.
But the spot that she loved best of
all was the broad landing of the mar
BILE staircase that swirled grandly up
ward from the center of the first floor
with magnifcence that was dazzling
even for a department store This
landing formed balcony, rich with
oriental rugs and upholstered furni-
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. Il
fascinated spectator of one of the best
theatrical productions that the big
round world has to offer.
The mamie 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 a
start, glanced in a daZed way at the
bold faced clock near by and then fair
" scampered down the flowing marble
stairs and melted away Ill the crowd,
Not being a mind reader, he 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 $50 by the purchase of
six yards Of val lace
But the studies of her face and head
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 cre that she was a very
marvel of OPPRESSION.
1t was abo-,c this time that the pub
fishers for whom he did more or less
work sent hin book for illustration,
and as he read the manuscript it
seemed the very girl Of the balcony
who had wandered into it's pages. By
some strange fate the lines that he
selected as the pictorial points told a
tale. "She stood looking down at 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 Tres composed themselves in