The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-10-29

| ! III memories WING
| ! drove a satisfac
tory bargain, filching shirt without
notice being taken thereof. Carrying
his empty basket down the street he
figured the gain and was content, and
that same instant he caught the first
glimpse of his destiny.
She was standing behind the plate
glass of department store. A robe
of azure gauze. price marked $8.95,
swathed her slender form and a polo
hat of violets sat well forward above
her golden Marcel" Her cheeks
mantled with the blush of maidenhood
were luscious as ripe pomegranates
and her round eyes, which in color
matched the $685., grew lashes as long
as a painters brush
Wing saw and was conquered. Trail
ing his basket he approached the win
dow, admiration expanding his fea-
lures into grin. Fixed as the pago-
das of Nankin he stood before this
daughter of the gods and drank his fill
of her loneliness.
AdtC tudI CVCilAllS5 NC ICtul I1CO W LID
laundry. Next afternoon he feigned
sickness and hurried off to State
street, where his idol awaited him.
A week of such devotion and Wing
summed up his cash on hand-eight,
nine, ten dollars and 40 cents. He
dressed himself in Sunday clothes,
rolled his pigtail into tight knot and
set out for the department store,
where she was enslaved.
"How muchee you want your Nell
can gal?" he asked the floorwalker,
most politely. Strange to say it took
some minutes to convince the ad-
dressed that an insult was not i'm
piled. Questions followed at length.
Did Wing wish the figure alone, or in
costume, as exhibited. To be sure he
wished her clothes and all. Alas, when
the price was named. including dress,
hat and girl, in toto, Wings counte-
nance fell. He shook his head and de-
parted with the visage of stole.
Behind the ironing board came more
calculations and Wing began to work
overtime.
Months passed. The adored one
changed her diaphanous wolfe for q
smart green tailor-made and the
violet polo for velvet toque. Later
in the season she wore a fur cape
around her shapely shoulders.
The new year had been ushered in
before Wing again appeared in the
role Of sutton. The savings of six
months were with him. A new inven-
tory was made, the price had increased
with the season. Wing deliberated.
He was "velly solly," but the Mclean
gal" would have to do without her lux
uriOus cape.
The money being paid, the new
master undaunted by jeers of the pop
ulace and occasional apple cores,
shouldered his blonde beauty and bore
her home.
Once within the laundry precincts.
Wing placed the beauty on wash tub
and arranged her gown in correct
folds. It took him full half hour be-
fore he was satisfied with the result.
Then he lighted some joss sticks and
placed them so that she should be en-
veloped in the perfumed smoke. He
next offered her a plate of rice and
sooy, but the tilted nose refused to
sniff it's appetizing aroma.
Alas, that the fates should be so
cruel to lovers. A sharp ring at the
telephone interrupted this amorous
soliloquy. To Wings reluctant re-
sponse an irate customer demanded
his washing and threatened the law.
Wing shouldered aNheavy basket and
stole out into the night.
An hour passed. The Mclean gal
still crowns the wash tub with stat
uesque grace. Then a visiting rat
spreads the tale that the beauty is be-
coming animate. True it certainly is
that the smiling rosy mouth has begun |
to pout. An ugly wrinkle, too, has
above the smooth brow and
as the moments pass the tapering fin.
gers stretch and grow weirdly long.
"Pling," the rats scamper as one
azure orb smashes on the floor. Tears
Df wax run down the once tilted nose
and ruin the tailor-made. A second
eye follows. The hands melt away and
disclose their props Of wood. Brow,
cheeks and nese have become one
shapeless mass then the laundry door
opens and in slips Wing.
!. Emotion is not according to the code
If Confucius. 90 our celestial lover
neither wept nor tore his hair. He
looked and closed the damper OF the
Jtove. Then again. this time without
The lingering glance, he locked the I
laundry door behind him and stole out
INTO the night.
ss(Copyright, BY Daily story Pub. Co.l y