The San Francisco call., 1910-12-11

hlucn oouDlf II was nard TO dwell With
the fat young poets soul In her hand
bag She had at least eight inches of
ballad burdened with the amorous
tragedy Of one Tiburico Vasquez. an
early California outlaw, who eloped
with his friends wife. and was there
after hanged through the husbands
machinations, which Mr.. Jarbo had con
hded to her for criticism; the stanzas
dripped with tender passion. and the
poet had squeezed her fingers eestatic-
ally as he read them to her on the
stairs.
But now Miss Melody turned to
Sammy in confusion, a spot of color
on her pale cheeks, a catch in her
voice: You don't care for nothing"
she declared "Sa ammy-Sammyw
4 don't?" protested he Look at
me. girl you'n be fatal to me-
He grasped her hand across the table.
and they drank in each others glances,
Mary with her color heightening, her
eyes growing bigger under the poets
hypnosis until she flung about from
him on the chair.
20, you're awful just awful, sam
my"
The laundry route poet uprose and
strobe the little cafe. Napoleonically;
he tried to frown. and then came ba elk
to sit across from her.
Sweet Melody" he began present.
~, with softeuing voice. how'll
ever turn ont the big stuff with you?
You make me feel fimsy How'll I
ever get past the forty second stanza
Of Pizarro-with you?"
7 don't know" she faItered Z sup
pose I'm just only in the wayi"
The poet shook his head lugubrfous-
y. but without speech.
But as they went out and paused un-
der the balcony of the Family Liquor
Store, ere going to their rooms, he
saw, within her eyes. sonnets. rondeaus,
cycles OF such songs as Dante found
in the gaze Of Beatrice. or Abelard in
Heloise. Perhaps, after all. it didn't
matter so much
Miss Cranberry found them hand in
hand coming up the lodging house
stairs, and discreetly turned within the
little kitchen TO scold the parrot. NelIa
Free met them in the hall with ner-
vous laugh
My" she said, you kids! where's
Hammy?"
We don't see so much of him now,
answered the poet. Hes going it pret-
ty fast, downtown, isn't he? You ought
10 know"
Nella laughed again in 4er usual
good natured constraint- She was OBJ
sessed by her idleness, her vacant mind,
her good clothes; her lover, for ex-
pedient reasons, forbade her to mingle
much with the life Of the downtown,
where otherwise she would have been
II was politics. and she reasoned on
1t not at all But she chafed and fret
ted. heart hungry. inutile, forever go
ing about with her nervous little
laughs and small questionings.
At times she envied Bernice Murasky.
the apostate Jewess, the sulIen shop
girl, who gnawed her fingers with fury
when she saw Nella with a new hat
costing three times as much as Ber-
nice earned in a month; but she could
not have held herself week at the
level on which the shopgirI fought
wildly against the conditions that were
crushing her dreams, her worship of
an unknown and glittering esthetieism,
the beautiful things and ways of life.
Bernice, TO herself, reviled the other
girl her fnaDfffes bar sba1l,,,,..
she might have read. studied. travelled,
found dozen expressions for the pit
eous woman's note which the girl of
Solinsky's was dying to give forth
and she thought of nothing but pleas
ing her lover, dressing prettily, idling
about her fiat. Debarred from friends,
she chartered town gossip with her
maid or messenger boys or the janitora
She came to Sedainis to eat the cheap
table dhote because the boys made
her laugh; and up In Washington
street she wouldn't interfere with
Harry's political affairs: she could
really have a friend. When she Wis
ited Granberry's she invariably brought
something for the Polacchi children
shoes for Terry" as Arnold had nick
named the small girl a sweater for
Angelo. or now, sweets for Bill, the
waif With these small gifts Nella
supplicated tolerance in Miss Gran
berry's sharp eyes; bit here she was
mistaken, for the old woman did not
draw back from Nellas ways of life.
She guessed much, but. in her cap and
black silk gown, going to Trinity of
Sundays, Miss Cranberry found no
judgment.
The hard town had taught her; one
does not live 40 years in San Fran
cisco lodging houses for nothing; one
finds the infinite and necessary com
promises with life. The divorce court
or the morgue may make the summing
up of ones neighbors but one can
leave the signing of the count to God
so the little, old woman had it, and.
kneeling to try the new shoes on the
hsherman's orphan. she would mutter.
There. there, dearie - the pretty
tbings-the pretty things. And who
the giver is we'll not ask-she's only
f.-+