The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-09-29
The Kings
English.
by Csor6s N. A. Coin.


girls who sold everything conceivable
from the counters OF the big store on
Sixth avenue. Tho FIRST Of these dis.
tlnctlons was that OF being the clever.
eat manipulation OF tho latest slang,
The second was that Of being Michael
Mnloncy's "steady company
When Mike had arrived from the
Emerald Isle and had been made q
clerk In tho branch OF the Amalga-
mated Tea Stores company all on the
same day he had been easily persuad.
cd by some friends who had preceded
him into the land OF freedom 10 attend
a dance Of tho Moonlight Athletic AZ
aociation In the evening There Nellie
had seen him and. seeing, had BEEN
well. impressed,
who's the new harpf" she had
asked with well disguised interest
whcrcupon she was duly presented 70
"Mr Maloney. just over from Dub
iIn"
Perhaps II was the unconventional.
ty OF her conversation that attracted
the young IrIshman from the start,
Perhaps II was her fresh, young beau
~ Perhaps II was the snap and go
that marked all she said and did.
At all events, Mike and Nellie were
''steadies' from thnt evening forth.
In another sense Michael Maloney
was Ms steady young man ~ ever
became citizen OF New York, and
when he WIS promoted to the position
OF manager In the branch store being
his sweetheart became real distinc.
ton for Nellie.
But shortly after Mlchael's promo
tion Nellie acquired new distinction
which entirely ecllpsed one Of her old
ones and certainly went far toward
finlshIng the other. II ali began limo
Gently enough. No one would have
suspected the results when she Dor.
rowed one Of her favorite authors
novels. There was no sign OF danger
until she had got well on toward the
end Of the book,
In fact. ut the middle Of the second
page the girl had handed the volume
back TO Its owner, with the comment,
II can't dope out this talk" But the
other had urged perseverance. assuring
Nellie that she would get used 70 the
"swcll guy talk" OF the story and that
the tale Itself was ''somepun grand"
And. sure enough. nj page 223 Nellie
was shedding real tears over the sor.
rows OF the heroine. She nearly forgot
10 wait on customers. so absorbed had
she become. The worst Of It was that
she had become fascinated with the
''swell guy talk" itself At the end Of
the book she began anew to study the
lofty phrases OF the empty conversa-
tions, for she had been converted To
the idea that really nice people used
that sort OF language instead OF the
very lucid style OF her past colloquies,
She instituted process Of self refor.
nation. She suddenly forsook the
dances OF the Moonlight Athletes, She
went to night school classes In Eng
lish. She attended lectures on English
at the settlement house. Her progress
In the improvement OF her converse.
tional style was a thing to delight the
hearts Of the settlement workers.
In two weeks she had got 40 far that
instead Of remarklng that II was q
'swell day" she impaired 10 Mamie
Mcdonnell that "the sun bids fair Il
shed his Illuminating rays unimpeded
by nebular obstacles"
Mamie promptly admonished her "a
"come OF the roof" One by one her
old friends forsook her and left her
to the society Of a pocket dictionary
and grammar--and more of her au
thor. Her little brothers and sisters
took to spending their evenings on the
sidewalk beyond her correcting infu
ence--and palm,
Her father and mother openly sighed
In relief when she sailed forth to at
tend her classes. But all these things
only added zest to her earnestness by
giving II a flavor of martyrdom. She
had the makIngs OF n real reformer.
II was when she undertook to re-
form Michael that she waded In the
waters Of real sacrifice to principle
Michael did not yet know how to WELD
the east side slang, but he had a
brogue that could be cut only with an
ak, and that brogue was Incompatible
with Nellie's new Ideas OF the refine.
ment that must mark her future home
At first she explained her lofty am
bitions to her lover. He assented rath'
or vaguely to the proposition. He even
agreed to help her upward move, but
his interest began to langulsh when
she corrected his pronunciations.
For awhile he would repeat his
words second time with solemn ear
nestness. Then he merely said "all
right" to her Interruptions Of his dis
qulsltions and went on with what he
was saying. He was hard hit by Gu
pId's arrows and was willing to stand
for good deal.
But on the evening when he had
screwed up his courage to. the polnt Of
asking that their relation as STEADY
company" be changed to that Of a rca.
betrothal, n spite Of hls misgiving
about the recent changes In her make
UP, she made a fatal mlsta.c.
"DoI,'t rall mo 'swAtehopr..t sh