The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-08-08
EVENING STORY
Miss Cherry Hat.
(By Jane Osborn.)

ton for the third time that Tom Tom
son, h-r brother-in-law, looked up !
from his desk and grunted a negative. |
And just then the other Mr. Tom !
son-Bob Tomson, Clara's husband
came into his brothers office where \
his wife was waiting to go to luncheon |
with him. and before she had time TO |
put her question to him he had made |
that question unnecessary.
Say, where did you get the girl-with !
the cherry hat?" he laughed, and then /!
slipping into the slang current among
the girls who worked in the millinery
workrooms of which his wife still |
Some hat, that. Did the kid make it |
herself"
You don't suppose she could have !
bought it, do you? 1 guess there was |
fire sale on cherries at the five and |
ten cent store out in Podunk just be- !
fore she made her ay to the city. |
You wouldn't have to be told that she |
came from the country. But I'm not |
going to let the girls tease her. She
, seems like nice sort and it's her
first job.
so long as she doesn't start in de-
| signing cherry hats for Us you can be
as nice as you like Say. what does
| she dog"
Just now she is picking up pins
and shipping hastings. She's new
apprentice. We don't give them much
to do till the second week, but she
seem, to be all there-and it is some
| times the plain James that make the
best trimmers.
well, she certainly has got original
ideas in millinery" was the husbands
comment
| The elder Mr.. Tomson continued
work at his desk, but he had heard
| just enough of the plain little girl
from the country with the queer little
| homemade hat to want to see her
When luncheon hour was over and the
girls were flocking back to the work
rooms he made point to saunter
| out from his office with his eye peeled
| for the strange hat in question.
He saw the girl-little Margaret
| Daw, the young APPRENTICESHIP as
| she stood at her locker, and before
| she had taken off her much discussed
| headgear he had a chance to look and
| to smile. 1t was a tenure little affair
that turned up rather abruptly in the
back to show the brilliant glints of
Margaret's hair. unspoiled by peroxide
or crimping irons. And around the
| front and slightly to one side dangled
that row of cherries.
4 The girl who took off this piece of
millinery was very simply dressed, and
surely had as yet caught none of the
l ways of the city-bred working girl.
But her complexion was a.. fresh as a
i child's and her lips were as red and
as full as the cherries on her hat: and
after all, reflected Tom. if a girl looks
! good and pretty she has fulfilled more
than half of her duty. Hats and
smart frocks are more or less super
numerary then.
But Tom Tomson had little time to
think about the cherry fae them and
altho Clara and his younger brother
found considerable time to cast BAN
| tering remarks about Miss Cherry
Hat" as they called her, Tom was too
much preoccupied to join tt EN-. For
Tom was spending anxious days and
not few sleepless nights over the sit
uation that seemed to threaten his
and his brothers position as leaders
in the production of smart and exclus
lively women's hats. For years they
had received their Paris importations
of hats as regularly as the seasons
Il changed and now that tie war had
cut off this importation even the gen.
ius of the clever Clara could not de-
wise models that would keep the name
of Tomson at the head of the list of
wholesale milliners.
4 To Tom Tomson hats were what
tors of coal are to big mine operators,
or best sellers to the Publisher, or
magnetic stars to theatrica- mana gers
He could no more have designed a
hat than hi could have designed
yacht-no more than the mine oper-
ator could have mined coal or the
theatrical manager could have taken
a leading role. But he knew, or
thought he knew, good hats when he
saw them, and it was his particular
business in the world of industry to
produce ats that would sell. And
since the war had interrupted Paris
importations, Tomson's h".ts had not
been selling extraordinarily well.
Perhaps it was because of this prob
lem, perhaps it was because Tomson
felt sorry for the solitary little ap-
. prentice-but at all events he of all
persons in the office took no part in
the bantering that went on about her
remarkable piece of millinery. In
fact, as days went on, no one could
fail to notice that Mr.. Tomson was
taking an interest in the sweet-faced
. apprentice, and there was look of
understanding among the girls in the
workrooms when he had Miss Cherry
Hat" transferred from the workrooms
to his own Office
1t vas one day few weeks after
MargAret Daw had started work at
Tomson's that the younger member
of the company came to his brother
) in a serious mood and began to talk
about the girl. Perhaps the fact that
the elder Tomson had been taking
: Margaret Daw to luncheon frequent
Iy made the brother more bold.
Il don't want to butt into your pri-
. waite affairs" he said, but IL you real
. ly want 70 be seen with that little
! | country girl, can't you induce her to
wear a regular hat? Haven't you
ever spoken to her about that cherry
: thing?'
No" answered Tom. II haven't
! and perhaps the reason / haven't is
, because we have had too many other
: things to talk about Miss Daw is an
extremely charming and capable
young woman
"Oh, that's the way the wind blows
, is it?' returned the brother. We'll,
1 she does seem to be a nice enough
girl. But. honestly. Tom. couldn't you
[ do something about her hat? / saw a
buyer who came in yesterday when
you were starting out to luncheon
with her. She had that hat on. and
honestly, he couldn't keep his eyes of
it. If he doesn't think the girls that