The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1910-03-31

0eau WHITE, nedFy OuoESV pethAS'
Dulcie stopped In store where
goods were cheap and bought an irni-
tation lace collar with her 90 cents.
That money was to have been spent
etherwise-15 cents for supper, 10
cents for breakfast, 10 cents for lunch.
Another dime was to be added to her
small store of savings, and cents
was to be squandered for licorice drops
the kind that made your cheek look
like the toothache and last as long.
The licorice was an extravagance-al-
most q carouse-but what Is life with
out pleasures2
Duicie lived in q furnished room.
There Is this difference between fur
nished room and a boarding house
In q furnished room other people do
not know 1t when you go hungry.
Duleie went up to her room-the
stone front. She lit the gas. Seien-
lists tell us that the diamond is the
hardest substance known. Their mis-
take. Landladies know Of compound
beside which the diamond is as putty
They pack Il in the tips of gas burn.
ers, and one may stand on a chair and
dig at It In vain until ones fingers are
pink and bruised. A hairpin will not
remove It; therefore let US call it i'm
movable.
So Dulcie lit the gas. In its one.
fourth candle power glow we will OBJ
serve the room.
Couch bed. dresser, table, washstand,
CHARIOT this much the landlady was
guilty. The rest was Dulcie's.
On the dresser were her treasures
gilt china vase presented to her by
Sadie. a calendar issued by q pickle
works, book on the divination of
dreams. some rice powder In glass
dish and cluster of artificial cherries
tied with pink ribbon.
Against the wrinkly mirror stood
pictures of General Kitchener, William
Muldoon. the Duchess Of Marlborough
and Benvenuto Cellini. Against one
wall was o. plaster of paris plaque of
an O'Callahan In a Roman helmet.
Near It was a violent telegraph of
lemon colored child assaulting an In
fiammatory butterfly. This was Dull
cie's final judgment In art, but 1t had
never been upset. Her rest had never
been disturbed by whispers of stolen
copes; no critic had elevated his eye
brows at her infantile entomologist.
Piggy was to call for her at Z While
she swiftly makes ready let us dis
creetly face the other way and Cos
sip.
For the room Dulcie paid So per
week. On week days her breakfast
costs 10 cents. She made coffee and
cooked an egg over the gaslfght while
she was dressing. On Sunday morn
ings she Toasted royalty on veal chops
and pineapple fritters at "Billy's' res
taurant at cost of IS cents and tip
ped the waitress 10 cents. New York
presents so many temptations for one
to run into extravaganza.
She had her lunches in the depart
ment store restaurant at d cost of go
cents for the week. Dinners were
$1.05. The evening papers -show me
q New Yorker going without his daily
paperi-came to cents, and two Sun
day papers, one for the personal col
umn and the other to read. were 10
cents. The total amounts to S4.76
Now, one has to buy clothes, and
give It up. / hear of wonderful
bargains in fabrics and OF miracles
performed with needle and thread, but
am In doubt. hold my pen poised
in vain when | would add to Dulcie's
life some OF those joys that belong to
woman by virtue of all the unwritten,
sacred. natural. inactive ordinances of
the equity Of heaven. Twice she had
been to Coney Island and had ridden
the hobbyhorses. IT'S weary thing
to count your pleasures by summers
instead of by hours.
Piggy needs but word. When the
girls named him an undeserving stig-
ma was cast upon the noble family
OF swine.
The words OF three letters lesson in
the old blue spelling book begins with
Piggy's biography. He was fat; he
udQ lu6 5Uul VI u Etttt tHe HaDltS VI II |
bat and the nagnaninity of cat. He
wore expensive clothes and was con.
noisseur IA starvation. lie could look
at a shopgirl and tell you to an hour
how long 1t had been since she had |
eaten anything more nourisfing than |
and tea.
He hung about the shopping dis.
triets and prowled around In depart |
ment stores with bis invitations to |
dinner.
Men who escort dogs upon the streets
at the end of a string look down upon
him.
He IL type. can dwell upon him
no longer. My pen Is not the kind In
tended for him. | am no carpenter.
At ten minutes to Z Dulcie was
ready. She looked ut herself In the
wrinkly mirror The reflection was
satisfactory. The dark blue dress, 1T
ing without wrinkle. the hat with
Is jaunty black feather. the but slight
y sofled gloyes-all representing self /