The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1910-12-07
The Hall
Bedroorn Habit

resided in hall bedroom she would
have had to look far back Into the
years. Before she reached tl.n4 stage
OF existence there aad been child
hood OF two rooms for the family and
corner mattress for Sarah. When
she was fifteen she became a nurse
girl and then she attained the dignity
OF the department store and the hall
bedroom.
The hall bedroom had seemed to
her marvellous apartment when she
first entered il and shut the door be-
hind her and felt that II was al hers.
That delightful sense Of ownership
never again was quite equaled IN her
life
She walked over and pulled down
the cracked window shade with the
torn hem to shut out the world further
and smiled at the diTa gaslight tiat
concealed the soiIed spots on the wall
paper Then she touched the thread
bare spread on the cot with a hand
almost reyerent There were besides
a small walnut chair and a washstand
with mirror hung over it and six
hooks on the back Of the door
Each morning she heated water in
tin cup over the gas jet and made
tea Coffee she did not dare make,
for its fragrance would have revealed
her crime to the proWling landlady
She had a piece Of bread with the tea.
Her lunch she got downtown at is
cent eating place and at night she
carried home couple Of bananas. made
more tea and had bread and butter
and dried beef
She never quite lost the feeling of
uxuriousness at Aawng her own gas
Jet to get ner meals on during all the
succeeding years Time and the mu-
tations OF the world occasionally
changed her address, but the room
remained the same IN all practical
points When people built houses with
hall bedrooms there must have been
just one architect who made all the
plans, for they are all alike.
II Sarah Corbridge had been a pret-
/ ty girl doubtless fate would have
made her the wife Of the fioorwalker
or of the friendly clerk who bought
his necktie at ths next counter. but
/ she was just ordinarily plain and pre-
4 ternaturally serious. Neither by beau
I ty nor by good spirits did she attract
1 A singular lack Of vanity kept her
from missing too much the frills and
furbelows which she passed in the
store.
Sarah was a steady faithful, old re-
liable, and the girls at her counter
gave her hating sort of affection
for her recognized virtues. None Of
them precisely loved her. You never
could imagine anyone getting up any
/ kind of violent emotion over Sarah.
The other girls told her about their
troubles at home and asked her what
shade to buy for new dress, but they
never whispered to her in corners
over what young men had said to
them. She was left out OF all that
Sarah grew to be thirty, and then
surprisingly soon she was forty, and
she was still in the department store.
There had been for ner % years OF
making tea over the gas Jet and get
ting down to work on time and
doubling In her fingers SO the holes in
the tips OF her Isle gloves would not
show Then lawyer hunted her up
with the information that her mothers
Oldest brother in an eastern state had
died and left his money to her.
1t was not big fortune. but 1t
spelled millions to Sarah She was
like child to whom had been doled
out one piece Of candy week and
who suddenly has whole ten-pound
box thrust into It's hands.
In daze she kept on working. till
slowly she formulated plans for her
future. she rented six-room fiat
and furnished it.
She did it haltingly, breathlessly
and all by herself None Of the girls
In the store knew what had happened
to her She forgot nothing in the Air-
nishings of her fiat. Somehow she haS
absorbed in long years Of glanclng in
at show windows a sense Of the fitness
OF things. so she picked out surprising
ly correct furniture The little living
room had piano and art lamps and
pretty chairs and fair pictures and
even stiff row Of books. The dining
room had golden-oak table with six
chairs and sideboard with half a
dozen silver knives and forks and a
whole dozen spoons in the drawer.
She furnished the rest OF the fiat as
completely and then she moved in.
II was like wandering through q
thousand-room palace to Sarah Cor
bridge and she felt dizzy. She was
tasting affiuence-she felt the subtle
influence Of her surroundings. It was
all hersl
She walked back and forth through
the fat TIL she was tired and then she
remembered that she was hungry. She
went out past the dining room end
the pantry with Its shelves showing a
full set OF china; into the kitchen with
It's gas range and pots and pans. A
little uncertainty, she looked at the
modest arrag Of groceries on the
shelves and then mechanically she