The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-08-23

me. do you mind my telling you
something about her. that time up on
the dump of the Bald Hornet?''
Yes; why?'
"Oh, nothing much, only she was in
Denver, too. Where do you s'pose
saw her?''
II haven't the slightest idea"
"At the Palace
THE Palace?" L echoed in astonish-
ment. for the Palace was an all-night
variety theatre of the worst type
What on earth was she doing in such
place as that? thought she married
civil engineer
she did, only he wasn't engineering
much for drinks down there. He was
the professor and she was doing two
turns"
Professor? two turns?" l repeated,
mystified by his variety-theatre slang.
Yes; piano player, you know, and
she done two dancing turns on the
stage-carried a spear in the last act.
In spite of the paint and short dress
and things like that knew her the
minute she came on the stage, and 1
thought I'd fall eff my chair when So :
| commenced to sing about motheSS
grave. and she looked so much like she
meant it that l just felt l would have
to have a little talk with her and get
the thing straight. I didn't know how
to get to where she was, and figured
and figured on il until l saw some of
the other ladies working the boxes.
Thinks 1 to myself, That's my ticket;
I'll hire a box and catch her when she
comes around'-and l did,
What do you mean by working the
boxes, Tom?" l asked.
Thought you said you had been in
Denver" he answered, looking at me in
quiet diSapproval.
II have, only l am afraid I missed
the Palace. Tell me about it,
We'll. the lady performers. after
they do their turn-little acts. song,
dance and so on, you know-make a
round of the boxes in, their show
clothes to push wine for the house
They get a per cent. The whole upper
story-gallery-iS a row of boxes, and
the ready-cash fellows sit up there and
| order wine. Well, she got around after
while and come to me. We talked on
for a while; finally 1 asked in kinder
offhand way what her name might be-
What's the good of names in a
place like this?' she says. But, if you
really want to know, it's Maud De-
Laney. Buy another bottle and let's
drink to it. What's yours?' Never
you mind about my name just now 1
says, looking at her painted eye-wink-
ers. so your name in Maud Delaney,
Is it-Maud Delaney; that's funny.
Yes, it's Maud Delaney, she says,
spunking up like she used to some
times. little red showing under the
white paint on her face. 4 don't see
anything funny about it. think it's a
pretty name, don't your oh, yes, it's
pretty enough. but But what?' she
says. oh, nothing I says; I was only
! thinking Don't: nobody thinks here;
| they would go mad if they did
Just then the wine came in. All
right. Maud Delaney I says. 1--WE
won't do any more thinking. L guess
you are right about the mad part of it.
Your name is all right-it's quite be-
coming to you, but 1 am just down
from the hills. where they don't sport
such highfalutin names, nor dresses
like you have on. I was thinking
awhile ago how 1 used to like old
| fashioned common names - Nellie
Francis, for instance. That's it-let'e
drink to Nellie Francis She sprung to
her feet. and then began to tremble so
that she had to hold on to the wine ia
BILE to stand up. In the name of
! heaven she whimpered, what do you
mean? Who are you that speaks of
Nellie Francis?' Never mind. Nellie.
1 says, feeling sorry for her; 4 am
your friend-always your friend; don,
| forget that
"'Ah, know you now, Tom Ora
| ham: you can't fool me any more;
that's the last thing you told me be-
| fore you went away she said, drawing
in her breath and showing her pretty
teeth like she used to, but there was
something about the set of her lips that
made her look vicious, like an angry
coyote.
Yes 1 says, 4 am Tom Graham,
the same old fool Tom. and 1 can't I'M
derstand you being in this dive with
such clothes on. What kind of a man
did you marry, anyway, that stands for
thing like this?'
THAT'S just it, Tom,' she says. It's
him. 1 can't help it, deed 1 can't-he
makes me do it; and I am so tired of it
all that I am just ready to drop. He
drinks and carries on awful, and
swears-my, you wouldn't believe how
that man swears now right before
Sadie, and she is picking it up, too
Sadie is our little girl, Tom, 5 years DID,
and just as cute and pretty as she can
be; looks like / did, I guess-though
John says l look like a Pluto squaw
now. You will see her in a few min
utes; she does white turn with me in
a coon song, and Lacey gives us a
dollar a week extra for it. I don't look
like a Piute squaw, do l, Tom? / look
good to you, don't 10 And the way she
rolled up her calcimined eyes at me,
kinder lovin' like, just made me sick.
well, 1 gazed at her painted up and
spangled over like Piute squaw sure
enough, and felt like getting down on
my knees right there and thanking the
Lord for being good and saving me
from the likes of her. / bought another
bottle of wine and let her run on with
her talk, because / wanted to kill my
calf love stone dead. Why, tell you
there wasn't anything too sacred for
that woman to dig up and make fuss
over; but she thought she was doing ii
all right, she didn't know how I felt.
After a while she got to fixing my
necktie and picking the threads off of
my coat and fool things like that:
wanted to know where I'd been and
what I'd been doing. When / told her
I was going back TO Trinidad to buy
the old ranch, she squeezed out a tear
or two that she had to dry with little
pats of her handkerchief-you bet, she
didn't dare to wipe the enameling on
that face-and said, My, you must be
awful rich, Tom: wish I had married
you instead of John. He's as mean to
me as he can be and abuses me terrible
when he is drunk. He slapped me on
the mouth the other day until it bled
because / lost my temper little and