Holbrook argus., 1909-12-07
The Resource fitness of Sue

plenty of closet room-fve rooms and bath, to be exact Sue usually stopped on the way home and bought two. lamb chops and a head of lettuce, if it was the beginning of the week, or five cents worth of stew meat ard no lettuce, if it was toward the tag end of the week, near pay day. Sue. was generally the one to negotiate the purchases because Ehs left the office at five and came up town on an ex-i press train, while Ethelinda's shop; didn't close until six. :,
 Now, upon certain evening they; had invited Marie and Ralph to dine with them. They could say dine because they intended to turn in the necks of their shirt waists and wear their near-Brussels lace collars and because Marie was going to bring over her finger bowls. It behooved Sue to shut up her typewriter on the very stroke of five, therefore, even if the manager passed her the glance frappee, and make all possible speed to the express train.
 She had the list of dinner items complete. Chops, bread, lettuce (oh, this was Monday evening", corn on the ear. meringue pie and some ber- ries for desert She looked like the Goddess of Plenty as she reached the door of the flat house.
 She had to put down the chops, the bread and the lettuce on the floor of the vestibule while she dug in her bag for the keys.
 Keys? Keys? Here was her pen knife, her handkerchief, pencil, three hairpins, some chewing gum, pow der puff, nail file, mirror and her list of dinner supplies-but no keys Clearly she must have left them at the office in her hurry. Now, here was indeed pretty how-de-do!
 Ethelinda wasn't due for an hour. the guests were apt to come along any minute, and she had ordered the grocer to send around the four bot ties of lice cold" right straight away, and now she couldn't even get in to open the dumbwaiter door.
 It was comparatively easy to col lect the pie, the chops, the bread, l the lettuce and the berries and go 1 down through the cellar and up the ! four flights of stairs to her apartment door, But then what? She sat down on the stairs and thought some more. l There were two flats on floor. She could ring the bell of the next-door ! lady and beg to be let climb out her i kitchen window, across the fire es- cape and into her own kitchen win dow Fine! Whereupon she rang. No answer. Lady away. Lovely! Now what? And time was flying. There was but one other way. The fiat just over theirs was vacant. She might get into that if the door was open, go out the kitchen window, and down the fire escape to her own.
 She carefully deposited the chops. the berries, the corn, the lettuce, the pie and the bread upon the floor and started upstairs. The door of the empty fiat was unlocked. An, joy. She rushed to the kitchen window aad gazed down through the fretwork of the fire-escape to the street My! It was a long drop if she slipped. Fur thermore. the ladder was rusty old thing. and as the flat house was at the corner of the block, the fire es- cape hung to the outer wall of the building. The openings in the iron platforms at each floor were right over each other, and offered clear drop, if anything happened, straight to the areaway. She hoped she'd fall nice and plumb into the area, and not out on the sidewalk, whera every body passing by would have to see her all mussed up.
 She stepped forth courageously, desperately, and put her foot on the iron ladder. It seemed firm. She tried not to look down in the street, but she couldn't help noticing a man driving a sprinkling cart. He gazed up in her direction and shouted, pleas antly: "Oh, say. Maude, the waters fine. Drop in!"
 Two small boys playing ball in the street yelled at a companion block away: Hey, Chimmie, hurry up! Pipe de lady, burglar"
 "Oh, you blue stocking!" remarked a college youth from across the way. And two men who were repairing the street stopped their steam roller and called out: Don't jump! We'll save you!"
 The ladies in the tenement opposite nearly fell out of their respective win dows in their enthusiasm over the un- usual spectacle. The grocery boy from the corner store dropped a barrel of potatoes on the grocer's foot, the driver of a delivery wagon paused with his parcels slipping from his arms-and all because desperate young person was descending fire escape. It seemed to Sue to take an hour at least to get to the platform outside her own kitchen window. Her