The Democratic advocate., 1908-09-11
Fresh Air
F F,1nds.
av Lulu johnson,

! Copyrighted INs, prss~ rs :
3 ~ :
~ s,,D a great ball of red against a
orv lno sky, had long since ceased to
0ppN! u.n mon the narrow street and
splns lozi,v upon the line of the west
DuDS .,r as though reluctant to leave a
Sottieield Sat where be had been a ami mighty n15y
oa, ''.o, The pavements and even the
'I,, a,,nrs rave out their scorching heat
l.'a pe,,1, q bake oven from which the fires
1.~o -, been newly drawn.
D11s Dora and there some one watered the
~. ~ with = hose or turned the stream
'Us w ,ne tiny grass plots in front OF
up'I ,,nsos but the heat quickly dried
'ne .no flood. and the humidity served
up Wv ~ add to the general discomfort.
oI' ~ was a long street of old fashioned
~, s+oon houses, once the home OF
alsn ln;on Latterly society had been
.1s ,,-nn out by the resistless march of
ltNV h ritv's progress, and the district
u oi,pn over to the boarding house
i,trpsses ~t until such time as the needs
u j. tho growing city should require the
snace for factories.
Gill retaining somewhat OF its old
,,gTionad dignity, the street was be
.aminr ,o shabby genteel. Here and
brovnstone front had been re-
nIsced MAJ by brick tenement masquerad
p i"r &c q fathouse, and here and there
tbe soualor of the poor became appar.
sn+ Already the street marked the eX-
trama edge of the residential district"
=. tho boarding house mistress loved
- torn il and its chief recommends
.ion was the fact that the boarders
oould reach their places of employment
r. walking and so save the tedious
.srr and the 60 cents car fare that rep
,osonted an important item in their
weekly expenditure.
The boarders thronged the high
.toois, gasping in the hot air, not dar'
ina to seek their rooms until the heat
sbouId abate little. At Mrs. Marcy
mdlpy Thearle shared the top step
with Maude Ryerson. Ever since he
had come to Marcy's. two weeks be-
fore, he had sought place beside
Uaude until the other boarders had
come to regard the top step as the
Joint property of the two.
Presently they would make jests on
tbp oddly assorted pair and Thearle's
Iye affair would share, with the
weakness of the coffee and the
strength of the butter, the humorous
attention of the other boarders. The
coffee was not weak and the butter
rather better than the average, but
tradition is mighty and has decreed
that these jokes shall endure while
boarding houses exist. Generally, too
there is some mismated pair, lost in
their own happiness. to offer third
butt Of ridicule.
And surely never was there such
an oddly assorted pair. Thearle still
wore the sulburn and ruddy colorine
which proclaimed him a product OF
field and farm. The fortnight which
had passed since he had taken a posi-
ton offered him by one of last sum
mers boarders at the farm had no
faded the flush Of health, nor had the
dty's burdens bent the strong shoul
deR
Miss Ryerson was commercial
nun, welded to the work which tool
her youth and beauty and gave naugh
IN return save the pittance which per
nllted mere existence with none Of
the pleasures that are the heritage o.
youth. She was only twenty-one, bu
she looked thirty, for since her six
Renth birthday she had been working
Fart of that time she had been th,
support OF a younger sister. and The
aory Of privations endured for he
SISTERS sake was written large OF
'he eolorless skin and in the weary
eyes and bent carriage.
4 Yet to Thearle she seemed beauti
ILL., for she represented knowledge
AAO"ledge of ways and manners tha
we're strange and new to him-and h,
"orSnlped dumbly if not from afar.
4 hef greatest charm he found in tn,
V' ,IV' mat she did not laugh at hi
~uluers, as the others did. She seem
VI 10 MIN some Lady Gracious, a wo
ISn vastly different from all others.
"Vliaa most greatly to be desired.
N. S 'hey sat there in silence, unwill
|s 10 make even the exertion tha
|"'efsatlon demanded, there cam,
ms Snouts of children, the complainin.
s,nu OF heavy motor cars, and pres
,4u' 'nere rolled past line of deliv
cargo.
, us the city fresh air fund" ex
inau. Sauea the girl in answer to Thearle'
A. nnns glance. "The real fund send
Ns, 'u.laren i. to the country. This is a,
,so Az" VI the Evening Spark. The park
and M UO w far for the little feet to walk
ho % .ar 1are Is not for the children O
tss,, 'enements. The merchants len
ebila,el, H trucks in the evenings, and tn,
nm eu as are taken out to the park t,
trasb VI The grass and get a breath O
sT ar 1t is wonderful charity"
a sl, 'SSa t some one would start fresl
Tba.uad .uld for people like me-" musec
q e "or i DON'T mean just that sort
be,sra aise, but sit here on the step
tOdO." Seeihs 10 De nothing els
ed Su tSo could % go to the park" suggest
cnos spe slrl, THAT car on the corne
tp os suaight out past the park int,
costs Cuntry. on It's a lovely ride, but /
the n,a' "ao.her nickel once you are pas