The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-08-13

- NtAa "a - f+NN 1AC EtAS NES
all be fresh and rested. and ready to
go to work, that finally l asked a
saleswoman I happened 20 know,
what the trouble with me was.
1T isn't YOU she said. It's just
that the first customer on Monday
let somebody else wait on her, for
the girl who waits on the frs. Mon
day customer always hes ill-luck dur
ing the week. She'll be repMmanded,
or locked or discharged, or sic. or
something, sure as fate. It isn't the
clerks only who are afraid of No.
One on Monday. One of our floor
walkers would not draw an easy
breath all week II he didn't make all
the rounds Of his department before
he spoke to q customer. 1t wasn't so
when l came here first five years ago.
but so many things have happened
that We all avoid the first customer,
IL we can
Next time I go shopping on Mon
day.. I'll take pains not to be first in
at the door. What brings such bad
luck to a clerk can help but react
on me-"
There's one Of the six best selling
books that ! never rear mentioned
without having cold shivers," says a
woman I know. 'tIt was brought to
my attention in the most uncanny
& About 2 month ago. ] got my
courage screwed to the sticking point.
and had a minor surgical operation
performed-one of those awful things
surgeons do 70 ones posterior nasal
cavities. J went to the surgeons Of
fee Just as his morning hours were
over, and I lived ten thousand years
of misery in his chair for half IN
hour. Then he anQ his office nurse
took me into q reception room. and
+aIl 80 70 10. inu-r, n v-HiJA ain 7 cot
my shattered pieces of nerves togeth-
er again. I was feeling as If I'd been
through a cyclone and an earthquake
and a railway accident all together.
but as I sank on the couch I saw a
middle-aged woman sitting across the
room. Her face was strange to me,
but it was one Of the p~leasantest faces
I ever saw. She looked up and
smiled at me. She was reading a
book-the book 7 spoke IF. I saw
the title distinctly, and then 7 didn't
see anything more for some little
time. I don't know whether 7 faint
ed or went TO sleep. but when I opened
my yes again, the office nurse was
asking me how I felt.
"'Who was the lady I saw here
when I came in asked.
What do YOU think She told me-
She said there hadn't been any ono
in that room but herself and n sur
econ and me all morning. The sur
?eOn said so, too. The Oma / saw
wasn't there at all. There wasn't a
copy Of that book in the house. I
suppose IL was just an Authorization.
unless publishers have found out a
way Of advertising by means Of astral
shapes. I saw the strange woman so
plainly that I feel sure she's real
somewhere. and some time I'll meet
her. ] meant to read the book. but I
cant. Every time I sec II in reality.
] feel Just as Wretched as I did when
I saw it's astral shape
I hear from New York that Miss
Alvs Bently. who has lone so much
for music in our public schools. is
spending a part Of her vacation over
there introducing her methods into
some OF the public Institutions. The
waits at the SheIterine Arms are
learning to sing her Qu@nt and fasci-
mating songs. initiating the clock. and
the violin, and the drum. and the
wind. and doing all the other inter
esting things that seem mere play.
but in reality are most serious and
+one-productior. The children in an
taki00 UP the new music work. too.
One Of her friends sang Tor ne the
is q skipping rc-e song. and il ia one
Of the most entertaining songs eye-
listened 70. The words end win Z
cause a little girl who did that once