Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-11-28
Evening Story
A DOGS PART.
BY Jane Osborn.
Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure News
paper Syndicate.

When AnSel BAKER IN pOSsessioh VI ="
crisp, new doctor of philosophy degree,
accepted the post of professor OF ro-
nance philology in Clayburn Women s
college he had distinct idea OF what
college girls as a class really WERE
Halt of them. he was convinced, wore
pince-nez glasses, and the other half
wore spectacles. They were usually
tall and invariably had straight, neatly
arranged hair They wore broad, nat
heeied shoes and had the admirable
quality of being able to talk to any
man. woman or child on any concelv-
able subject with perfect composure.
Giggling, blushing, whispering, or least
of all, flirting practices which he had
sometimes observed in women VINO
had not gone to college, were positive
~ out of their line.
With the perfect assurance that col
lego women were built along these
lines Ansel, though but twenty-five
years old and rather inexperienced IN
the ways of women in general, accept
ed the appointment at Clayburn.
After his first day in the classroom
he withdrew to the privacy OF MIS-
clearinghouse bedroom to puzzle IL
out. Was Clayburn college real wo-
mems college, or perhaps, had he iost
his way and was not really at Clayburn
after all? Or, perchance, were the
Young women he had in his classroom
really rot typical? Could it be that
the fact that he was new and inexperi-
enced have drawn only the most frivo-
lous to select his course of study, or
was there something in the mere sub
iect, Romance Phifology,' that had at
tracted them
Ansel recalled the group of young
women he had seen that day. He re.
called tho bright-eyed, pink-cheeked
little lady who sat in the front row
taking copious notes on everything he
said. He recalled that she was too
short for the chair and had to bend her
small feet downward to reach the moor.
How unlike the tall Minervas OF, MS
dreams! Then there was the helpless
little girl in the next row who mad
dropped her notebook on the floor and
had blushed when he picked it up tor
her. There was the round-eyed bru-
nette who wore blue ribbon through
her hair. She was Daisy.
Daisy had stopped to sharpen pen
Gil in the middle of his lecture. anG
foo!ishly enough he had waited till she
was ready to take notes again before
going on. She noticed his kindness
and, instead of smiling her thanks
composedly as the college girls Of his
Imagination would have done, she had
actually blushed-blushed and then
giggled to her next door neighbor. Lat
e. in the day Ansel had discovered that
her name was Daisy when he had
heard her companions calling her by
that name as he passed the tennis
court and saw her leaping like FAIRY
in the air to return her partners serve.
Daisy proved before many days to De
enchanting, and though her scholarship
was not of the most promising order
Ansel convinced himself that Daisy
ought to specialize in phililogy Per-
haps, he thought, as he let his mag
nation wander, perhaps she might. az
ter she has finished her course, become
his assistant. He hated the idea OF
Clayburn without Daisy.
It was two months later. 1t was the
day Of the sophomore play, and Daisy
under the responsibilities of her posi-
ton as property man and scene shifter
had had no head for philology for a
week. Ansel knew this because he had
noticed that instead of taking notes OF
what he said in his lectures Daisy had
been writing something like this in her
notebook: Zone sausage, two candle
sticks, one quill pen, one pistol, one
bottle of poison. one solitaire ring, one
dog biscuit" 1t was relief to Ansel
when it occurred to him that this was
not inspired by his lectures. but was
simply a list of necessary properties
for the impending play.
Ansel would have enjoyed seeing the
play, even though Daisy was not TO be
one of the actors. but the eyes of men,
even if they belonged to professors, are
never admitted to one of these produc-
tons. So Ansel contented himself with
the prospect of spending the afternoon
in his Office in the third floor of the
building that contained the little
theater where the play was to be given,
two flights away from the incompar-
able Daisy He wondered whether it
was hard work to be property man;
whether she had to roll her sleeves up
to shift scenery and whether she wore
an apron.
Just then Ansel looked up from the
desk, and there was Daisy, very pink
of face. with sleeves rolled up and a
large apron tied about her young body.
"Oh, Mr.. Baker" she said in haste.
''can you turn somersaults. and can you
bark? Please tell me. tried to get
the laboratory hoy from the chemistry
laboratory, but he has gone for the af'
ternoon and you are the only man left
Please come quickly if you can and
will explain as we go down. The play
begins in ten minutesI We can go
down the back way and you can get
dressed in my locker and no one will
ever know"
Ansel followed in a maze.
"You see. Mr.. Baker" she explainet
''the girl that was going to take the
part has the mumps just at the last
minute, and she has been learning how
to somersault for a month and none o.
the rest Of us can do It in short notice
! almost can. but get stuck half way
over. The dog has to come into the
play and bark and growl, and ther
when the hero comes home from the
war he comes in and somersaults. i
is one of the hits of the play, I'll tel
Won lust what to do before every cue