The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-05-29
TIE EVENING STORY
.Heart Throbs and Things"
Rv M. T. Phillips

| writer where he was hammering out an
| editorial and approached the high
| counter. John was undoubtedly home
| ly, with a knobby, angular frame, and
untidy hair. He wore thick glasses and
| a white shirt that always had smear
of printers ink somewhere about it.
you might put me to work." an
swered the visitor with a smile, rs
she drew off her gloves. II am E. l..
| Kimball."
you are?" I thought E. L. Kimball
was a man"
E. L. Kimban shook her head. Your
ad. did not specify; you simply asked
for typesetting machine operator.
But If I'm not satisfactory
| "Oh, you are" John assured her. IF
| you can run the thing, that's all I care
about" Inwardly, however, he was n
a panic.
The prospect of having a pretty
young woman around the place was a
disquieting one. John, despite mis-
downright manner and his matter-of-
fact appearance, was very bashful
E. L. Kimball-he discovered present.
ly the "E' stood for Edith-fitted in
perfectly. She not only turned out an
| incredible amount of work on the ma
| chine, but picked up news, and kept a
supervisory eye on the devil an ink
| spattered youth, whose idea of tidying
was very elementary. In three months
John was wondering what he ever did
| without her.
! One day he stared out at the street
and faced startling fact: He was in
love with Miss Kimball!
| 1t rose like mountain peak above
the level plain of his existence, de-
| tached from it's drab surroundings. In
no sense was it part of them. He could
not see how it would ever become a
part of them. He was, he candidly adj
mitted, an alarmingly homely man.
| Binnsley, the bank clerk and Tom
he ~ Iod aIVo1 dxy
paid Miss Kimball some attention, were
away above his class when it came to
personal appearance.
So musing he attacked his morning
mail. The second envelope which he
slit open contained an appeal for help
from country youth whose ''girl'
had discarded him for a better-favored
rival. The other young man, said the
writer, plaintively, had taken her to
the last two church "soshuls;" they
er, and they ''giggled" when they pass
ed him. He signed himself Hart
broken" and wanted to know what he
should do about it.
Smiling grimly. John adjusted a
sheet of copy paper in the typewriter.
and wrote one of those biting, quiz
zical paragraphs which was giving the
'Tidings' a reputation throughout the |
state.
He reflected complacently there
broken and his plight. Then he sent
the letter, marked, Don't change"
and his comment, up the copy-chute |
to Miss Kimball.
When the next proof came down |
for correction, John blinked behind |
his CLOSES. ''Hartbroken's" letter had |
been altered as to language, spelling |
and punctuation; and the editors flip |
pant comment had not been set. In |
stead, there were a few words of kind
H. ,A%s-
broken" was transformed from a gawk |
to be laughed at to a shy youth who |
suffered.
At the bottom of the proof the oper-
ator had added a sentence of her own. |
He appealed to you for advice; 1t
wouldn't be right to make him laugh |
ing stock"
Willxie rumpled his hair thoughtful
ly, corrected the proof, and wrote 20.
K, J. w." below Miss KimbalPs note.
Then he smiled sheepishly. sent the
proof up the chute, and slapped him
self three times on the red, bony wrist.
"Heartbroken" was really RESPONSE
BILE for the 'NTidings'" most popular
column. Miss Kimbau evolved it, moth
cred it, and kept it alive. The coun-
try youths letter had evidently touch
ed a hidden spring in Trenton, for
missives from the lovelorn came in a
steady trickle after that.
John turned them all over to the
operator; he didn't want to continue
slapping his own wrist. She gave the
perDlexed advice.
Conniving with the foreman, she set |
an attractive box head, "Heart-Throbs
and Things" She filed a column with
the letters and her answers. with para
graphs she clipped or wrote, and with
some of Johns snappy editorial sQuibs.
Launched in the "Tidings," it made
an unmistakable hit. John, who had
been waiting the chance, raised her sal
arv.
Winter deepened So did Johns
love for Edith Kimban. He longed to
take her in his arms and kiss away
her capable, self-reliant air; to pet and
tease and adore her out of the status
of a valued employee into that of wife
and comrade. Many times he started
upstairs, firmly determined to take her
busy. dimpled hands off the keyboard
and say masterfully, Put on your hat;
we're going to be married.
An inspiration came to him one
evening as he smoked in his Office af-
ter hours. He selected a cheap, plain
envelope from his stock of samples,
put on his hat and hurried to the Of /
flee of Bob Sears, young lawyer with
whom he was friendly. There he cut
terheads and wrote an appeal to the
Heart Throbs Editor
Dear SIR he wrote, 81 am a young I
man of 81 and 1 am very much in love
with a young lady who works in the +
same place I do. 1 am not at all good
looking, and there are several paying c
her attention that are, so 1 fear she
does not regard me favorably. I feel Z
that / would make. her good hus-
band, but am afraid to ask her to mar +
~ me. as do not know that she cares
anything for me. What would you il
advise me to do?" He signed "'Nath-
an and mailed the missive in the t
plain, typewriter envelope in a train q
that passed through Trenton at mid
night. d