Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-09-28

|
himself Of his oyeralls-his single di-
vergence from the routine Of his fell
| low workmen-and after that he used
| soap and water copiously. This was
his transformation scene: he passed
| into the Office a rather frail young
working man noticeably begrimed, and
| passed out Of 1t to the pavement a
/ cheerfully preoccupied sample of gen
| try, fastidious to the point Of elegance.
| The sidewalk was crowded with the
| bearers Of dinner pals, men and boys
| and women and girls from the work
rooms that closed at five. Many hur-
! ried and some loitered; they went both
east and west, jostling one another,
and Bibbs, turning his face homeward,
| was forced to go slowly.
Coming toward him, as slowly.
| through the crowd, a tall girl caughc
| sight OF his long, thin figure and stood
still until he had almost passed her,
| for in the thick crowd and the thicker
gloom he did not recognize her, though
his shoulder actually touched hers. He
would have gone by, but she laughed
delightedly, and he stopped short,
startled. Two boys, one chasing the
other, swept between them, and Bibbs
stood still, peering about him in deep
perplexity. She leaned toward him.
81 knew your she said
"Good heavensr cried Bibbs. sI
thought it was your voice coming out
Of a starr
There's only smoke overhead" said
Mary, and laughed again. There
aren't any stars"
ooh, yes, there were-when you
laughed!'
She took his arm, and they went on.
"Ive come to walk home with you,
Bibbs. l wanted to-"
But were you here in the"
''In the dark? Yes! Waiting? Yesw
Bibbs was radiant; he felt suffocat-
ed with happiness. He began to scold
her.
"But it's not safe, and I'm not worth
1t. You shouldn't have You ought
to know better. What did"
81 was in this part of town already"
she said. "At least, 1 was only seven
or eight blocks away, and it was dark
when l came out, and I'd have had to
go home alone-and I preferred going
home with you"
''It's pretty beautiful for me-" said
Bibbs, with a deep breath you'll
never know what it was to hear your
laugh in the darkness-and then to
to see you standing there! Oh, 1t was
nke-it was like How can | tell you
what it was like?" They had passed
beyond the crowd now, and a crossing
lamp shone upon them, which revealed
the fact that she was without her furs.
Here was a puzzle. However, allow
ing 1t to stand. his sOlicitude for her
took another turn. 81 think you ought
to have a car" he said, Especially
when you want to be out after dark.
You need one in winter, anyhow. Have
"No," said Mary. II don't think I'd
care for one particularly"
"But my mother tried to insist on
sending one over here every after
noon for me. | wouldn't let her, be-
cause l like to walk, but girl"
"a girl likes to walk, too," said
Mary. LET me tell you where I've
been this afternoon and how [ hEL
ir=ueii 10 ne near enough III <uaSn w.
take me home. I've been to see little
old man who makes pictures of the
smoke. He has a sort of warehouse
for a studio, and he lives there with
his mother and his wife and their
seven children, and he's glOriously
happy. I'd seen one of his pictures at
an exhibition, and I wanted to see
more Of them, so he showed them to
me. He has almost everything he ever
painted; l don't suppose he's sold
more than four or five pictures in his
life. He gives drawing lessons to keep
alive"
How do you mean he paints the
smoker Bibbs asked.
Literally. He paints from his stu
dio window and from the street-any-
where. He just paints what's around
him-and it's beautiful"
'"The smoker
wonderful! He sees the sky through
it, somehow. He does the ugly roofs
of cheap houses through a haze of
smoke, and he does smoky sunsets and
smoky sunrises, and he has other
things with the heavy, solid, slow col
umns Of smoke going far out and grow
ing more ethereal and mixing with the
hazy light in the distance; and he has
others with the broken skyline Of
downtown, all misted with the smoke
and with puffs and jets Of vapor that