The Western outlook. [volume] (San Francisco, Cal.) 1894-1928, 1915-05-22
At MISS CADY'szOO
Violet Lane Found Both Home
and Happiness in 1t.
BY JOHN TRENT.

copyright. 1919, by the MCCLURE NSWsp0-
per Syndicate.)
Among the frivolous young folk In
the village Miss Arabella Cady's select
boarding house was known as The
Zoo" AS Sally Hecker vivaciously
explained it to her fellow teachers at
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-ls
he not perfect bear, big, groWiy'
grizzly bear? And Doctor Coleman Is
a perfect polar bear, so cold and I'M
mannerly and restless! And MISS
Twitchell Is feline-soft and purry
and with sharp claws that scratch,
and biting tongue. And Sally
giggled, 4 heard Mr.. Dale say that
the new boarder, the young man VINO
works in the drug store, was a puppy,
and everyone knows what a silly
goose Mrs. Jones is, and all the rest
of the house full are just as funny
and freakish. oh, no; Miss Lane,
don't go to the Zoo to board!"
Violet Lane, the new teacher,
smiled mirthfully at Sally's descrip-
ton of Miss Cady's boarders.
you are too late, Miss Hecker; I've
engaged foard there and / 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 dear! What did tell you,
girls?" cried Sally. ooh, don't mind
our foolishness, Miss Lane; you are
a 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 Cady's,
where she had unpacked her belong
ings that very morning How quiet
was the home atmosphere of the place
and how delicious the well-cooked
food!
They could not appreciate what this
position in the Vineland school meant
to 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 Zoo was
a charming colonial home filed with
delightful people. 1t was more than
that, it was home.
So, accompanied by the unwar-
ranted pity of her companions, Violet
Lane turned in at Miss Cady's gate;
smiled as they hurried away in af-
fected fear of its inmates, and was
still smiling as she opened the front
door
The smile died away as she met the
fierce, dark gaze of Homer Dale, the
principal of her school. Mr.. Dale, a
tall, dark, studious-looking man,
growled a greeting, tried to smile and
failed utterly, before he desperately
bolted into the sitting room and hid
himself behind a newspaper.
Violet was puzzled 81 don't believe
he likes me-" she thought, as she
mounted the stairs. At the top she
met little Miss Twitchell, who had
lived for many years at the Zoo She
had little, dried-up face and form,
and spoke In rasping little voice.
"Oh, it's you, Miss Pane-Lane or
Dane, did you say? Oh, Lane!
really thought you were a little girl;
put la! when our school teachers wear
such short skirts and f1ounce around
so, how is 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 I don't care
a real home has cats and dogs, and
sometimes, suppose, tame bear,
and / may as we'll make friends with
them; make pets Of them, perhaps"
She sat down at the crowded ia
BILE, 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 counte-
nances.
The drug clerk passed the butter
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
remark and fat Mrs Jones giggled.
Violet blushed and Doctor Coleman
emerged from his olar-bearishness
long enough to remark that she
looked feverish, and suggested to
Mr.. Dale that there might be an cpl
demic of scarlet fever threatening the
school,
"Oh, have had scarlet fever" re-
assured Violet, hastily.
Doctor 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; Doctor Coleman was reading a
medical journal, the drug clerk had
returned to his soda water fountain,
and Mr.. Dale was looking very stern
and unapproachable behind a news
paper.
Miss Arabella Cady, fat and rosy,
hustled out dressed in her second-best
offiro