The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-06-09
~
Curiosity


taken" remarked the mature Miss
lo;lins There should have been a
cparafe list for esch person, so that
cGuld have been filed out and I'M
nediately placed in sealed en-
-pore
What difference does 1t maker"
sfcd her hostess
II you lived at our boarding house
on'd think II made difference" re-
nned Miss Hor1ins very positively
The enumeration, after finding how
many there were IN the house. loft four
!orria papers. each one with spaces
s''f| Gent for q la.ge family. and It
vas extremely awkward
! cont see why It should have been
| awkward" observed her friend MY
husband attended to 1t for our family
but could have done II myself just
| as well It is simple
1T Is all right in your own home
| hNt in place like our boarding house,
Where everybody can read what the
others have written, 1t Is like pro-
c'aining your affairs from the house
tors Everybody was anxious to see
what The others confessed The land
| lady pat the blanks on the table In the
| library. with pen and ink beside
them | was determined to wait un.
I'll every one else had finished take
one OF the papers to my room fill It
| ont and hand 1t to the enumerator my.
self. But had vet to realize my land
| lady's powers of strategy.
y was very much surprised at some
OF the things read on that sheet Of
| paper Mrs. Larkin's husband Is her
third, # you please, and Mr.. Jones Is
a divorced man, though he has passed
himself off for a bachelor Dear old
| Mrs. Blake, who doesn't care who
knows her family history or her age,
| had used the wrong line all the way
| down, so 1t read that she had been
married 10 times instead of 40 years.
| Mr., Empson had filled out his own
space, but his wife had insisted upon
doing her own, and that was the fun.
| NEST of all" Miss Horkins laughed
merrily.
What was there so amusing about
it?"
In comparing her statement of her
age with that her husband had given
as the number of years they had been
married, ! found her wedding day
must have been somewhere around
her fifth birthday"
But how about the landlady's STRAIT.
egy?"
Il am coming to that. had lust
Finished writing out my own state.
ment when there was tap at my door.
here was the landady, who said as
mild as milk: Pardon me, Miss Hor.
kins, hut ! must have that list when
you are through yith it. had for.
gotten all about Nora, and as the
poor girl can't write | must do II for
her
THAT does seem as II she had
planned IT.
My dear, 1t was clever"
OF course, You handed over the
rcc9rd?'
| Not |! said: If you send Nora
to me VIII write II for her as have
my pen and ink all ready
II could not think of giving you go
much trouble she returned
1T Is not trouble at all, my dear
Mrs, Blenks. insisted You are such
a busy woman | should enjoy helping
you even IN so small a matter
"'You are so kind, she insisted, but
have nothing to do at the moment
and ! will take the paper, II you
| please.
81 was growing desperate, but for
tunately Nora came upstairs Just then
---she is the second girl, you know
and | called her. Here, Nora, said
! want TO do some writing for you
! think Mrs. Blenks would have wait.
ed and taken the paper with her after
all, Ii some one had not asked for her
downstairs, and she left the room con
| siderably nonplused, for / think she
realized that the paper would not get
out Of my clutches until 1t reached the
hands OF the government Official"
Did you succeed In your en-
| deavors?" n
i did. rarely fail In what un
dertake. A few minutes after she left
the room Mrs Blenks called out.
Miss Horhns, the enumerator ia here
Send the paper down by Nora as soor
as possible
IT was no small task to get through
with Nora, can tell you. She seemed
to think she was asked to sign ava,
her rights to something goodness,
knows what-and as she said sh,
could read print had to give her III,
record to look over for herself. Sh,
is very bigh-tempered, and her ire wa.
reused by what she read: OF all tn,
immdent questions, she exclaimed
'Askin' II I'm Chinese or a mulatto
and II can spake English! Sure
what else wud | spake? And all tn,
from President Taft, for here's hi,
letther on the outside! And him Graz,