Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1915-03-26
Evening Star S
Daily Story
MISS CADY'S zoo
BY JOHN TRENT.

the high school, 1T is a human zoo,
anyway, if there could be such a
thing
First" said Sally, there is our
own reverend principal, Mr. Dale-is
he not a perfect bear, q big, growly,
grizzly bear? And DR.. Coleman is a
perfect polar bear, so cold and un-
mannerly and restless! And Miss
Twitehell is feline-soft and purry
and with sharp claws that scratch,
and a biting tongue. And" Sally
giggled, Il heard Mr.. Dale say that
the new boarder, the young man who
works in the drug store, was puppy,
and everyone knows what a silly
goose Mrs. Jones is, and all the rest
of the houseful are just as funny
and freaSish. OH no, Miss Lane
don't go to The Zoo to boardi'
s Violet Lane, the new teacher
smiled mirthfully at Sally's descrip-
tion of Miss Cady's boarders.
you are too late, Miss Hecker; I've
engaged board there and l don't care
what you say about the rest of them,
but do think Miss Arabella Is a per-
feet dear"
A gale of laughter greeted her re-.
mark.
"A deari What did I tell you.
giIls?" cried Sally. "Oh, don't mind
our foolishness, Miss Lane; you are
dear yourself and entirely eligible
to go to The Zoo Perhaps you can
| do some missionary work among them
all"
Violet smiled and was silent. She
could not explain to these giddy girls
how pleasant and homelike was the
little chintz-hung room at Miss
Gadys, where she had unpacked her
belongings that very morning. How
quiet was the home atmosphere of
the place, and how delicious the we'll
cooked food
They could not appreciate what this
position in the Vineland school meant
to a girl who had worked her way up
from an orphaned and friendless
CHILDHOOD who had paid for her own
education, and who had never known
what a real home was like.
To Violet Lane Miss Cady's zoe, was
q charming colonial house filed with
delightful people. 1t was more than
that, 1t was home.
So, accompanied by the unwarrant-
ed pity of her companions, Violet
Lane turned in at Miss. Cadys gate;
smiled as they hurried away In af-
fected fear of it's inmates, and was
still smiling as she opened the front
door.
The smile died away as she met the
the fierce, dark gaze Of Homer Dale,
the principal of her school. Mr.. Dale,
a tall, dark, studious looking man,
growled greeting, tried to smile
aud failed utterly, before he des-
perately bolted into the sitting room
and hid himself behind a newspaper.
Violet was puzzled. "I don't be-
deve he likes me-" she thought, as
she mounted the stairs. At the top
etaa UNxr,i+a
had lived for many years at The Zoo.
She had a little, dried-up face and
form, and spoke in q rasping little
voice.
"oh, it's you, Miss Pane-Lane or
Dane, did you say? On, Lanei 1
really thought you were a little girl;
but lai wnen our school teachers wear
such short skirts and fiounce around
so, how Is a body to know? Humph!"
"She is scratchy!" decided Violet,
as she removed her hat and slipped
off her gown preparatory to dress
ing for supper. But l don't care
a real home has cats and dogs, and
sometimes, I suppose, tame hear,
and I may as well make friends with
them; make pets of them, perhaps"
She sat down at the crowded table,
with violet eyes and rosy lips and
cheeks and hair like pale corn silk;
surely this flower face did not belong
here among these sterner counten-
ances.
The drug clerk passed the hutrsr
twice to Violet and ventured a re-
mark about the weather. Mr.. Dale
frowned at his overtures and again
passed the butter to the new
boarder.
Miss Twitchell made a scratchy re-
frnark. and fat Mrs. Jones giggled.
Violet blushed and DR.. Coleman
emerged from his Polar bearishness
long enough to remark that she
looked feverish, and suggested to Mr.
Dale that there might be an epidemic
of scarlet fever threatening the
school.
"Oh, I have had scarlet fever" re-
assured Violet hastily.
DIR. Coleman froze up. again and
asked for another cup of tea.
The remainder of the meal was
eaten in silence and the guests passed
out to the broad piazza, where each
one Immediately appropriated a COM
Portable chair.
Violet sat down on the top step and
felt very lonesome. The women were
embroidering and talking in low
tones; DR.. Coleman was reading a
medical journal, the drug clerk mad
returned to his soda water fountain,
and Mr.. Dale was looking very stern
and unapproachable behind news
paper.
Miss Arabella Cady, fat and rosy,
hustled out dressed in her second best
attire.
''I'm going over to Sister Amy's for
O. while" she said as she went down
the steps. She paused beside violet
and laid q plump hand on the girls
head. Don't get lonesome, honey
there's a piano in the qarlor-make
yourself at homep
"Thank you, Miss Cady," quavered
Violet, for she was very near to tears
Presently she arose and went into the
dim parlor. She had learned 10 play
by ear, and she had sweet, un-
trained voice. There were so many
old songs that she knew by heart,
and as the melodies threaded out from
her fingers she sang softly to their
accompaniment. "Annie Laurie,
''Bonnle Doom" Tosti's Goodbye"
Loves Old Sweet Song and as she
sang the words of this last favortte
love song of several generations Vio-
let became aware that other voices
were added to her own.
Somehow the dim room had mys-
teriously become populated with
shadowy forms. There was the reedy
treble of Miss Twitchell, the deep
bass of DR.. Coleman, the throaty alto
of Mrs. Jones, and the rich baritone
of Homer Dale. Miss Crotty, the
1uilliner, hummed like a bee, and the
Bennets husband and wife, sang all
off the key in no particular voices
at all.
But they all enjoyed 1t and Violet
said never a word, but when the song
was finished her fingers drifted into
the melody of "Silver Threads Among