The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-12-23
THE EVENING STORY
Polly's Christmas s.Hike.
(By Carl Jenkins.l

going to begin at the beginning and
tell you all about it, and then we are
to go out and buy Santa Claus pres
ent for him.
yes, Polly" answered the young
woman.
You had gone to Europe. You had
just packed up and skated as if the
police were after you. Mother said
she didn't believe you wanted to go
the least little bit, but that your moth
er made you.'
Don't talk nonsense, Polly
We'll, you skated, anyhow"
And don't talk slang
Slated isn't slang. It means that
you just glided off like streak of
lightning. You had skated. and I
was lonesome, and I was out walking
with poor Flora, when a boy came
along with big dog. He. was tough.
So was his dog. He shouted at me:
Take care of your dog!'
Why?' 1 answered.
"'Cause my dog will chew him
up!'
if his dog did there would be trouble
in the camp. when it sprang upon
poor Flora and ended her life. I can't
describe my feelings as I raw her
breathing her last
s'Well don't try to-not If there's
sfWhy. Hilda, haven't said a slang
word. You know how very. very par
ticular mother is with me. No. L
can't describe my feelings. but 1 re-
member that I went for that boy, tooth
and toenail. I hit and scratched and
kicked and bit, and I was doing him
up when"
"Polly Sewell," exclaimed Miss Hill
da in horror.
"Now, what's happened?" Polly
asked. 81 told it to papa Just this
way. and he patted me on the shoulder
and called me a good girl. As I was
saying, I was putting in my best ticks
when along came taxi with fat
woman in it. Maybe she was clipping,
and maybe she only wanted to get
home to lunch. Maybe the chauffeur
yelled Hill at me, and maybe he just
wanted to kill another girl. Yes, cous-
in, was knocked out"
you mean you lost conscious
ness?"
"Gracious, but how ignorant you
are for girl of twenty! Nobody can
be knocked out without losing their
consciousness. That's the whole idea
of it. Yes. I was knocked out and
counted out, and when I came to
was in the hospital with three broken
ribs. The fat woman must have
weighed a ton. 1t was hours and
hours before I came to. and then
oh, then"
'"Then what?''
Then there was the loveliest angel
standing beside my cot in the hos
pital you ever saw. Nobody knew
who I was and they had rung for the
pital. And, oh, that angel, cousin
that angel!'
"You mean a nurse. of course
81 don't. I mean a mana doctor.
looking down on me with his sad,
sad eyes. I saw at once that he had
some great sorrow on his mind. Yes,
he had the finest eyes,-and curly
hair-and a handsome nose. and
when he spoke to me there was pa
thos in his voice. And the fun of the
once, while he didn't know me from
a side of sole leather. oh, you are
| interested, aren't your
Polly 1 was just thinking how
find yourself in a hospital. said the
blushing Hilda.
"Oh, L see! Well, save your sym
pathy. A hospital with an angel
doctor to fix up your broken ribs
isn't a half bad place. In fact, liked
j it so well that 1 lied to stay there
'Polly Sewell!''
81 sure did. They had gone through
my outfit without finding my address
and had concluded I was stranger
| in the town. When I opened my eyes
and sort O. winked at the angel"
Polly, that's surely slang!''
NO. it isn't. 1 told papa about it,
and he said things had come to a
pretty pass if a girl with three broken
ribs couldn't wink at the angel doc
| tor who had set them When had
/ opened my eyes and winked the doc
&c Little girl, what is your name -
Its Hannah Jones. "
"'And where do you live ?''
| "tAt far off Blackberry Corners Z"
Polly, you ought to have been sent
| to jail" was the emphatic comment.
''But had my little scheme to
DAYS before he found me, and then
/ it was ten more before the angel
would let him take me home. Cousin
Hilda, a girl who is the real thing
can accomplish a heap in fifteen
days, even if she has broken ribs.
wanted to have chat with that angel
on outside matters, and 1 had three
or four of them. You ought to have
seen his face when I told him where
I had seen him before and asked if
| he didn't remember me-
"But-but L don't-don't@ pro-
tested Hilda in puzzled way.
.'But you will in just minute. I
! told him I had seen him in this very
! housed Now. then!"
polly, it wasn't
Polly, it wasn't, Ell? Want to bet a
| $40 hat it wasn't? OF course it was,
and I was so mad at you that it set
days. DR.. Charles Mortimer, and
because he isn't rich your mother is
down on him and she skated you off
| to Europe. oh, got on to the racket
right away"
.sPolly SeweH, you are wicked
girl! You use slang, and you fib to
the doctor, and you NEEDLE with
other peoples affairs. and-and-''
And such dark eyesEand such a
| deep, pathetic voice! And we had
| several confidential chats together
| very confidential. We didn't even let
| a trained nurse come within ten feet
of us. Hi1da, you don't know how
1 foI rfx II xr-1-