The Tupelo journal., 1910-06-17
Curiosity

It could have been filled u and i'm
mediately placed in a sealed en-
velope."
What difference does 1t maker"
asked her hostess.
IF you lived at our boarding house
you'd think 1t made a difference" re-
turned Miss Horkins very positively.
"The enumeration, after finding how
many there were in the house, left four
horrid papers, each one with spaces
sufficient for a large family. and II
was extremely awkward"
II don't see why 1t should have been
awkward" observed her friend. my
husband attended to 1t for our family.
but l could have done 1t myself just
as well. 1t Is simple"
1T is all right in your own home,
but In a place like u boarding house,
where everybody can read what the
others have written, 1t is like pro-
claiming your affairs from the house
tops. Everybody was anxious to see
what the others confessed. The land
lady put the blanks on the table in the
library. with a pen and ink beside
them. was determined to wait I'll
til every one else had finished, take
one of the papers to my room, fill It
out and hand 1t to the enumeration my
self. But I had yet to realize my land
lady's powers of strategy.
81 was very much surprised at some
of the things l read on that sheet of
paper. Mrs. Larkin's husband Is her
third. If 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 hat she had been
married 40 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?"
I'm comparing her statement of her
age with that her husband had given
as the number of years they had been
married, l 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. l had Just
finished writing out my own state
ment when there was a tap at my door.
There was the landlady, who said as
mild as milk: Pardon me, Miss Hor.
kins, but | must have that list when
you are through with it. l had for
gotten all about Nora, and as the
poor girl can't write | must do 1t for
her,
THAT does seem as If she had
planned It,"
MY dear, 1t was clever"
"Of course, you handed over the
record?"
mot l! 1 said: If you send Nora
to me I will write 1t for her, as l have
my pen and ink all ready
L Soulu IOl tLiuh VI SlVIuB yOu So
much trouble she returned.
at is not trouble at all, my dear
Mrs. Blenks,' l insisted. You ire such
a busy woman l 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 I will take the paper, if you
please
Il was growing desperate, but for
~tunately Nora came upstairs just then
she is the second girl, you know
and l called her. Here, Nora I said,
I want to do some writing for you
l think Mrs. Blenks would have wait
ed and taken the paper with her after
all, If some n 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 it reached the
hands of the government official"
did you succeed in your en-
deavors?"
Il did. | rarely fail in what I un-
dertake. A few minutes after she left
the room Mrs. Blenks called out:
Miss Horkins, the enumerator is here.
Send the paper down by Nora as soon
as possible
1T was no small task to get through
with Nora, l can tell you. She seemed
to think she vas asked to sign away
her rights to neutrality-suspicious.
knows what-and as she said she
could read print l had to give her the
record to look over for herself. She
Is very high-tempered, and her ire was
reused by what she read: OF all the
impident questions!' she exclaimed.
'Askin' If I'm a Chinese or a mulatto,
and if l a spake English! Sure,
what else wud / spake? And all this
from President Taft, for here's his
letther OF the outside! And him crazy
to know the age of livery man, woman
and child in the whole country! Mr..
Bryan niver would have done such a
thing!'
Il explained to the girl the best I
could, and had just written down the
last yes when Mrs. Blenks came up
again with. Really, 1t is too bad to
keep that man waiting. l must take
the paper down.
1t is a shame said |. gently, but
you see Nora hasn't been here long
enough to understand our ways. And.
my dear Mrs, Blenks, l will not al
low you to go downstairs for so small
a thing So Swimming past her, ! ran
downstairs and gave the record to the