Evening star., 1912-03-17

boy whizzed along on a wheel. A
large leather bag was on the handle bar.
and spiked under the lads arm was a
gold-handled umbrella. tagged.
The detective from Baker street would
have deducted that the boy was carry
ing some travellers luggage. And any
body from anywhere, could see that he
was on the job with business and dis
patch, until
Until a woman who was old enough to
have more gumption. trailed across the
street without looking where she was
going And to avoid a collision, the boy
made too abrupt a curve and fell. He
fell hard His body struck the asphalt
with such a whack that people who write
elegant language could have described IL
as having been shot from a catapult, If
that's the way to spell the thing.
Anyhow, he got one good, hard jolt
poor kidde-and. what do you think he
did as soon as he could pull himself to-
gether?
He looked that umbrella over from tip
to handle and back again, and then all
around. and every which way, to see III
it was injured. He entirely overlooked
the possible fracture of his own poor
little human skin and bones to examine
into the health of silk gloria and lot
of whaleboneS.
Business is business, of course, but 1T
does seem that when a very small boy
ignores the first law of nature he is
rather overturned.
Two women came together opposite the
general post office. The youngish one in
the gray polo and cooked hat was flushed
with juhilan5 excitement. The one in
black-hut everybody knows What spin
ster looks like.
..Way, Money, what makes YOU so dra-
matte? Anything hap?
The gray polo fairly snatched the word
out of the spinSters mouth.
Happened, Why, old girl. I've been
in the shadow of the penitentiary all
morning.
1.-The wh-what?''
"Penitentiary. I tell you what. Ann.
you can't ever appreciate the blessings of
liberty until you have been in the grip OF
the law"
.Why-what on earth have you been do
ing
Nothing. That's what made it so hard.
Being the first offense, they let me off
with fine. Say, you won't repeat it II
i tell you, will YOU.
The spinster person would doubtless
have promised eternal silence-but she
didn't get the chance.
We'll, this morning | got a notice from
the post office that l had registered an
unsealed package that had writing in
side. and to call at the office at once. Oh.
my dear. l hope you'll never have to
realize the awful possibilities of an off1-
cial envelope"
'.But if you We're innocent. and there
was no writing inside"
'.Of course. | was innocent, but you
don't for one minute suppose they would
have sent me a notice like that unless
there was writing inside do you!
"Oh, there was writing inside?
"Uh huh; just line or two. and not at
all private. Well. sir, / Jumped into my
street clothes-that's one good thing about
a long coat, you don't have to bother
about belts. but l know my ties f1oppy
and | can feel that my hats on crooked
but that's nothing new; my hats always
wobble. You see. I've got bump where
the pin ought to so through. | envy
women who have no knowledge bumps;
their hats are always such a comfort to
thenl-and YOU know how mean the old
post office is, charging $500, or year in
the penitentiary, or something like that,
if you use them. And they are not worth
over cent apiece. So in case | had to
pay a fine / grabbed up my handbook,
and all the way down here | tried to col
lect my thoughts and decide whether to
pay or go to the penitentiary, because
$26g is an awful lot of money, especially
when YOU haven't got it,
But you could have borrowed the
money. Why didn't you come to me?"
Thanks. YOU nice old thing, you. but
! don't like to borrow money. | hate so
to lay ii back-and | thought if / gave
them my last cent and apologized they q
call II square. This would be heaps
nicer world. Ann. if it wasn't for money
Go on-I'm worried"
We'll, the clerk told me real pleasant
that my package hadsc come united. and
said ! never could tie knots, and that's
why | had to register things. Then he
went TO safe and brought me my pack
age and showed the picture had inclosed