The Winslow mail., 1910-02-05
TIE Resource
fulness of Sue

/ Sue was typewriter and Ethel
! 1da sod lovely laces in big shop.
They lived in an apartment that had
| plenty of closet room-five rooms and
! bath, to be exact Sue usually stopped
IN the way home and bought two
amb chops and head of lettuce, II
| was the beginning of the week, or
] i've cents worth of stew meat al j
! 10 lettuce, If it was toward the tag
! end of the week, near pay day. Sue
was generally the one to negotiate the
| purchases because shs left the Office
( FIVE and came up town on an e-E-
! press train. while Ethelindas shop
didn't close until six.
/ Now, upon certain evening they
| mad invited Marie and Ralph to dine
With them. They could say dine,
! because they intended to turn in tie
| necks of their shirt waists and wear
heir near-Brusse!s lace collars and
| because Marie was going to bring
! ,ver her finger bowls. 1t behooved
! sue to shut up her typewriter on
/ he very stroke of five, therefore, even
/ f the manager passed her the glance
| rappee. and make all possible speed
o the express train.
She had the list of dinner items
| .omplete. Chops, bread, lettuce toh.
his was Monday evening", corn On
ne ear, meringue pie and some ber-
! les for desert. She looked like the
;oddess of Plenty as she reached the
ioor of the fiat house.
She had to put down the chops. the
bread and the lettuce on the floor Of
he vestibule while she dug in her bag
or the keys.
Keys? Keys? Here was her pen
lnife, her handkerchief pencil, three
lairpins, some chewing gum, pow
Ter puff, nail file, a mirror and her
st of dinner supplies-but no keys.
learly she must have left them at
ne Office in her hurry Now here was
adeed "a pretty how-dedo!
Ethe,inda wasn't due for an hour
he guests were apt to come a'ong
my minute. and she had ordered the
grocer to send around the four bot
es of ice cold" right slra .Ght away,
md now she couldn't even set in TO
open the dumbwaiter door
1t was comparatively easy to col
sc0t the PIE. the chops, the bread,
he lettuce and the berries and go
own through the cellar and up the
our flights of stairs to her apartment
door. But then what? She sat down
on the stairs and thought some more.
There were two fats on floor. She
could ring the bell of the next-doOr
lady and beg to be let climb out her
kltchen window, across the fire es-
cape and into her own kitchen win
dow. Fine! Whereupon she rang.
No answer. Lady away. Lovely!
Now what? And time was flying.
There was but one other way. The
tiat just over theirs was vacant She
might ct into that if the door was
open, go out the kitchen window, and
down the fire escape to her own.
She carefully deposited the chops.
The berries, the corn, t;ie lettuce, the
pie and the bread upon the floor and
started upstairs. The door of the
empty fat was unlocked. All, joy!
She rushed to the kitchen window and
gazed down through the fretwork of
The fire-escape to the street My! 1t
was a long drop if she slipped. Fur
thermore, the ladder was a rusty old
thing, and as the fiat house was at
| tne corner OF the block, the fire es-
cape hung to the outer wall of the
building The openings in the iron
platforms at each floor were right
over each other, and offered a clear
drop, if anything happened. straight
TO the areaway. She hoped she'd fall
nice and plump into the area, and
not out on the sidewalk, whefs every
! body passing by would have to see her
| all mussed up.
She stepped forth courageously,
desperately. and put her foot on the
iron ladder. 1t seemed firm. She
| tried not to look down in the street
! but she couldn't hep noticing a man
/ driving a sprinkling cart. He gazed
up in her direction and shouted, pleas
antly: "Oh, say, Maude, the waters
fine. Drop in"
street yelled at companion block
away: Hey, Chimmie, hurry up! Pipe
de lady burglar!"
oh, you blue stocking" remarked
a college youth from across the way
And two men who were repairing th+
street stopped their steam roller and
called out: Don't jump! Well save
you!"
The ladies in the tenement opposit
nearly fell out of their respective win
dows in their enthusiasm over the un
usual spectacle. The grocery bo
from the corner store dropped a barrel
of potatoes on the grocer's foot, the
driver of delivery wagon paused
with his parcels slipping from his