Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-11-16

and things In the winder-cakes WI
raisins in-splendid! Mayn't IT
"We'l see, Leel; we'll see." The
grinder, embarrassed by too many
p~resences, looked wildly at the front
walls before him and the back walls
behind him, as If meditating an escape.
"Pa, mayn't II"
"Bread and rent come before cake.
Wait till we see what we have over at
night" said the grinder, driven to def
mite reply.
Mrs. Hedge darted upstairs and ran
sacked her pantry. The cake box was
empty, but there were a few sweet
crackers. These and a bundle unskill-
fully wrapped in a morning paper she
offered to the child just as the grinder
was taking leave.
"Is it cake?"
"No, dear; a dress, which I hope you
can wear"
".Long enough, do you think? Pa
says I'm getting tall as a shot tower;
but, then, I'm very old-most seven"
A week later Mr.. and Mrs. Hedge,
walking ON Geary street, met the same
pair, father and daughter. Leel looked
up brightly, recognizing the friendly
face, and said:
sThe dress was too short for me.
Wasn't 1t a lover"
"Corn colored, with white lace, yes"
sighed Mrs. Hedge, remembering how
her little brown eyed Lissie had looked
in 1t.
$50 I had to take 1t round to Israel's,
you know. Pa said l should spend ev-
cry CEN 1 got for 1t myself, so I
bought this calico for six bits. Amt
1t nice and long? And this hat for two
bits. It's-not in the fashion, but It's
big-lots big. And then I got a lovely
cake WI raisins in-not big, but so
sweet. I gave some to pa and some to
Molly Brown, and l ate some, and 1t
was gooder than popcorn"
"~Spillmouthl If you ever gets a hrs-
band you'll chatter him Dead" said the
grinder, pushing the child along, but
Mrs. Hedge stopped them with a ges-
ture and cried out:
What are you talking about, childf
Do you mean to say that you sold that
oldNdress for more than a dollar? 1t
was nice, to be sure, but so oldl"
"Oh, the dress sold for two bits, and
the thing that was In the pocket-that
thing that opens and the's a picture
inside, you know-whX, that brought a
dollar.n
"Oh, you don't meant can't be-
oh-oh-oh-how could I be so care
less? The locketl The locketl'' almost
screamed Mrs. Hedge. Get it for me,
Adam; get it again. I shall never rest
until l have it safe In my own hands.
Oh, oh, oh?'
tits only a bit of folly, like the dress
ITSELF" expostulated Adam, but his
wife, when she heard these words.
looked as if she might faint right
there on the street, so that Adam, in
alarm, promised to GOV the locket
If possible.
Leel looked frightened and moved a
pace away, but was persuaded by a
promise of more cake to go with Adam
Hedge in quest of the trinket.
Mr.. Israel remembered selling the
locket because 1t brought him luck, he
said. He had sold 1t below cost, be-
cause the person who wanted it was
the first customer on Monday morning,
and he would have been ruined for a
week had she gone cut without making
a purchase. Mr.. Israel did not know
her name or address. She bought moth
ing else, and of course she carried the
locket away herself, SO there had been
no delivery address left. She was a
short woman and wore her hair in
curls. 1t was brown and hung yer
her shoulders. That was all he could
remember about her looks.
TITS no good hunting the thing"
Adam reported to his wife that night.
"Best let 1t go and never mind. 1t
isn't worth the fuss you're making"
"Oh, Adam!"
81 say it isn't. You never veal 1t
anyway. I wouldn't give 5 cents a
dozen for such trinkets. When you've
got a bird right in your cage, the thing
itself, it's nonsense to want a picture
of it, SO I say the birds better than
the picture"
"Oh. but 1 haven't really got iti It's
lost to me; lost forever-lost, lost, lost!'
Mrs. Hedge began crying and cried a
good deal of the night. In the morning
Adam visited three newspaper offices
and with subdued wrath saw his little
store of money melting away in adver-
tisements. Every man who did bust
ness with Adam was compelled to hear
such CALCULATIONS as:
"Beats the world for downright tom
foolery! The picture Of a squash faced
little girl that looks as If she'd believe
any blamed thing you'd a mind to tell
her isn't a patch beside our handsome
grownup Lissie,, with a fine boy in her
arms, so I say"
Besides advertising, Adam bethought
him that curls worn oyer the shoulder
by q full grown woman are no longer
aoVnnop ond p,i0b+ nooLo Identification