The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1908-09-19

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cleaning round here, Mr.. Tiger, and
away you'll go. first thing"
But the books, kept according to
Mr.. Gray's old-fashioned ideas, oc-
cupied so much of Adelaide's time
that for five weeks the tiger remain
ed unmolested.
During February, when trade was
always dull, it was Mr.. Gray's habit
to go East to select his spring stock.
Then Adelaide was left alone with
the tiger in the cage-like Office. The
day after Mr.. Gray's departure came
the winters most severe snap. For
FIVE days the thermometer registered
from ten to twenty below zero.
Horses and pedestrians hurried
along in clouds of white steam. The
closely packed snow creaked noisily
underfoot. Windows werethick with
frost. Telephone wires hummed and
whistled with the intense cold. The
shopping district was deserted.
In Gray & Company's the idle
clerks huddled about the two huge
base burning stoves that had warmed
the building in the first Thomas
Gray's time. Adelaide, however,
was sufficiently warm. She stood on
her stool, reaching for the tacks that
upheld the tiger.
"What in the world are you doingH
asked Julie La Tour, who served all
French-speaking customers.
Cleaning house, replied Ade-
laide, dropping the time-worn tiger
gingerly to the floor. "Don't you
think we need it? Bring me roll
of paper, Mr.. Anderson I'm going
to straighten this cupboard"
"My," exclaimed the Swedis b
clerk, admiringly, "but you're the
smart one I've been here nine
years, and 1 guess nobody but Mr..
Gray has touched those shelves in all
that time"
Bring me big box, somebody"
said Adelaide, poking dusty cata-
logues off the cupboard with Mr..
Gray's umbrella. 81 don't quite dare
to burn this trash, but there's no use
having it here.'
"Mr. Gray" warned Julie, ''is
fussy about having things changed.
| I've told him it would be handler to
have the spool cases where the but
ton shelves are but no, he says it's
always been just so-and that set
ties it."
'But this" said Adelaide, "is my
corner. and I'm going to have it just
as fine as can. I've sent for cata-
logue of Office furniture, and I'm
going to persuade Mr.. Gray to fix
this place up"
"You don't know him." demurred
Johnson, the old shoe clerk. "This
store is just about all the home and
family he owns and he doesn't take
tslzirrlly, trsscl1angee When he can't.
I get the same old brand of sheeting.
the same make of lamp chimneys, or
the same old cut of overshoes, he's
terribly put out. Pdgo easy with that
desk, Miss Adelaide.
The Office certainly looked neater
when Adelaide finally tucked her
dust cloth into the roaring stove. 1t
looked different also. A calendar had
replaced the tattered tiger. An arti-
fetal palm waved its too green leaves
above the safe. A damaged curtain,
taken from the stock, hung before the
cupboard. The desk, turned corner
wise, was bare except for few new
pencils, Adelaide's fountain pen, a
new scarlet penholder -thoughtfully
provided by Adelaide for Mr.. Gray's
personal use-and a new bottle of
ink. Even the pigeonholes wore a
Sunday air of unprecedented neatness.
The enterprising young woman eyed
it all with complacency.
But Mr.. Gray did not. He reach
ed town after closing time, three nights
later, let himself in with his own pri-
vate key, and went straight to the
old-fashioned Office to write letter.
No one knows exactly what happen.
e6 during the first FIVE minutes, but
he spent the next thirty-five in a
frantic search for his own battered
penholder, twenty-five more hunting
for his own particular kind of ink,
another fifteen in digging up the stack
of blue lined paper that no longer oc-
cupied the right hand corner of the
fourth shelf of the family cupboard.
By the time he had accumulated these
articles and found the necessary en-
velope and stamp, he was too annoyed
to be able to write good letter.
To calm himself, he reached for
"Jacob Faithful" for he read and re-
read Captain Marryat, in preference to
anything more modern. But Jacob"
no longer rested face downward on top
of the southeast corner of the safe.
Then Mr.. Gray's eyes sought the
tigers. An exceedingly up-to-date
girl returned the glance.
"I'll discharge Anderson by tele.
phone" muttered the angry mer-
chant, "if this is his work !"
But Anderson, fortunately for him,
had no telephone.
The next morning, when Adelaide
arrived, the Office looked considera'
bly, worse than it had in the begin
ming, for her employer had spent
most of the night restoring his an
cient treasures to their proper places
eyes, 1 did it ALL" confessed Ade
laide, eyeing with CONSERVATION the
chaotic office. "But 1 thought you {
like it."
"Do you think so now?" demand
ed Mr.. Gray, surrounded by scattered
. palm leaves.
"No," returned Adelaide, remain
ing outside the railing. II don't
"Come in. I guess we'd better
have a clear understanding in thi.
matter. Do you see this book /! Well
when Pm vexed or puzzled like tt
f read it-there's something sort o