Gilpin observer. (Central City, Colo.) 1897-1921, 1916-12-14
ACCEPTING ASSIGNMENTS
sy sEFToM Lee.

On tne WINDOW seat. dor mOtneI puO
father and her aunt and uncle. who
had come In to spend the evening, sat
around the fireplace. jeans brother
Jack. who stood BY the library. table
putting cigarette, picked up the Eve
ming Argus and looked carelessly over
its four pages.
Gee! A deaf and dumb and blind
man could get up more news than this
paper prints" was his sweeping crit
icism. t
The thoughtless brother had given
Jean q suggestion which she thought
over all during the evening. The next
morning she astonished Mr.. Archibald
Edwards by appearing In his sanctum
and asking for job as reporter on
the Argus. efv
"Why, Miss CRANKY, nothing would
please me more If 1t were practicable.
Or even possible" stammered the sur
prised editor.
"Now, Mr.. Edwards, first let me tell
you what practical and possible plan
] have" Jean was convincingly in
earnest, and she made charming pic
ture in a trim blue cheviot suit and
Highland cap with bit Of plaid rib
bon dangling from 1t. Her dark eyes
flashed and her color deepened as she
unfOlded her plan, which was to
arouse the social and civic spirit of
Marshton by a persistent appeal
through the Argus. There was to be
a column headed, "It's Up to YOU" an
other headed, "How the Women Can
Help" and another, "Marshtons Many
Merits"
An hour later Mr.. Edwards was I'M
able to tell whether it was the bonnie
smiles Of the applicant or the plausi-
bility Of her plan that had induced
him to take her on"
The plan worked so well that few
weeks after Jean began her work on
that paper there were many evidences
that MarshtOn was beginning to shake
Off its social and civic stagnation. In
the Argus office rushing activity be-
came the daily program in all depart
ments.
On the same morning that the fore
mans wife telephoned the office of
her husbands Illness with the grip
Mr.. Edwards had violent seizure of
lumbago. Jean faced the crisis brave
ly, but she realized the impossibility
Of getting the paper out in any sort
of shape with the two mainstays of
the machinery missing. She remem-
bered having heard Mr.. Edwards say
that his nephew, now a reporter on
city daily, had been most promising
all-round newspaper worker when he
left the Argus office few years be-
fore. Something had to be done quick
ly, and Jean decided to telegraph for
the nephew, for there wasn't an avail
able man in Marshton. r.
1t was then ten o'clock and the first
edition should be out by one, SO Jean
rolled up the sleeves of her soft white
shirtwaist, and for the next three
hours fluttered back and forth from
editorial desk to composing and print
ing rooms. 1t was 80 when the first
edition was out.
She was turning the damp pages of
paper just off the press when the
office door opened and a tall, broad
shouldered MAJ entered the room. 1t
had evidently been more than q few
years since that man had been merely
promising boy, yet Jean rightly
guessed that he was Mr.. Edwards
nephew.
"Mr. Bert Edwurds?" she asked. and
there was slight twinkle in the mans
gray eyes as he inclined his head af-
Tentatively.
Il am Miss CRANKY. special writer
on the Argus, but today I've been ed
itor and foreman as well. I'm going
to ask you to take hold of the fore
mans work at once so as to get the
home edition out promptly. When
that is done we can work together on
tomorrow's editorial page. I've got
to give the next two hours to some
special interview stuff
Thus coolly did Jean assume the
generalship, and the tall man accepted
the assignment without letting her
see his amused smile as he turned
away. For the next two days, he did
cheerfully and went about what
should be done. On the morning of
the third day Mr.. Edwards returned
to the office.
Bert, my boy, 1t was like you to
help me out in pinch" he said, in
greeting his nephew, land Miss Gran
by, 1t was like you to know what to do
In an emergency. I'm glad you sent
for Bert. But how did your chief
happen TO let you Off, Bert?'
I'm pretty much my chief, Uncle
George, and I had two capable young
Fellows to leave at my desk"
AT your desk? Why, what's your
position now?' asked his uncle.
"City editor" said Bert quietly, with
a fleeing glance at Jean, who van
ished blushingly into the next room.
Half an hour late, when Mr. Ed
wards was deep in his accumulation
of mail. Bert encountered Jean among
some old newsDaper files She come