The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-07-03
EVENING STORY



When Edith Day made up her mind |
to pay for the expenses of her senior
year at college by running a summer
gift shop she went straight to Deans |
Bay ana leased Tort IN a weather |
beaten shack of Il building, once a |
fishers cabin, that prov1oed the de- /
sired tone or plcturesqueness for such |
venture. 1t was not far from the !
promenade that led past the fashion |
able hotels, the Casino ana the larger |
cottages, and the owner agreed to con- |
.struct rustic gateway and a neT !
board path from the promenade TO |
the cabin.
During the winter Edith made a |
really clever collection of trifles for |
sale IN her shop, and with what CAPT
ital she had LETT she laid in a supply |
of stock in trade, painted a vivid sign
IN greens and blues and repaired to
Deans Beach to have week to make |
ready before the season opened.
In order to effect every possible
economy Edith had arranged to sleep
in her loft-havIng one end PARTITION
ed off and divided into a bedroom and
living room. The first night of her
arrival it was small wpnder that she
was lonely in her little shack by the
ocean, where she could hear the ever
lasting pounding of the breakers and
see thru her narrow dormer window
the slow, regular flashes of the light
house on the far-off seascape,, appar-
emily as relentless and incessant as the
waves themselves But when morning
came it brought u bright flood of sun
light and blue sky that drove away
all thought of tinidity. The first thing
that Edith did that morning was to
go out to the little rustic gateway.
mount on a rickety old chair she had
found in the cabin, and hammer her
blue and green sign into place. The
sign simply said: The FiShnet. Goods
tor men and boys a specially"
This done, Edith returned to her
shop and by dint of much inexpert eff
| fort uncovered the packing cases and
boxes in which the supplies had been
! sent to her. Then she set to work joy
| ously to make her shop ready for Gus
| toners.
in one little showcase she arranged
a collection of cuff links, scarfpins
and other knicknacks for men that
she had agreed to sell on commission.
| She hardly had enough capital to buy
them outright In a bookcase she had
a collection of books-handbooks for
yachtsmen, a short course in boxing
| and the art of jiu jitsu were among
them. There were all softs of blank
| books, fountain pens and desk acces-
| series, but all of them were simple and
substantial. OF the things she had
made herself during the winter there
| was a collection of Japanese crepe
| bathrobes for men-the sort of thing
that men at Deans Bay had begun to
son, and that were bound to be in high
vogue this season. She had also made
raffia bath slippers for men and col
| lar boxes from circular tins covered
with plain blue or green denim. There
| We're many pictures-framed or un-
mounted engagements that she had
! taken around Deans Bay the previous
| summer-and "a hundred sorts of 9TH
er stock in trade: but of the usual bits
of fluffy handwork, embroidery ma
terials worsted and such things with
which summer gift shops are usually
crowded she had none.
What especially delighted Edith and
| what filled her with glee as she sat
before her fireplace that second even
ing, after having hastily finished her
lonely supper in the adjoining living
room. was the fact that, as a result
of the trip she had taken along the
promenade that day, she knew there
were no other gift shops within half
mile. She would have monopoly on
the trade. Her success seemed as
sured
when Edith tucked herself into her
little cot that night she heard strange
and unexpected rappings and ham,
merings, apparently in the other and
unoccupied end of the loft; but realiz-
ing that pluck was absolutely essen
tial if she was to I'VE alone aur,ns ene
| summer in her little 'Ffshnet, she
, dismissed all alarm and assured her
self that it was pure imagination.
It was not till after breakfast the
next morning, when she chanced to
look out of her door and saw Butler
hudson lacking up a sign on the rus
tic gateway, that she realized the
truth. The other loft had been rent
! ed and, what was really calam1tous,
it had been rented for gift shop. APP
: parently the proprietor was a man.
Edith's feelings of jealousy were min
| gled with contempt. The man she
l saw, comfortably attired in white
flannels, lacking his sign on that rus
tic gateway, was much too substantial
of frame and too muscular and tall,
} to content himself with running a gift
shop, especially when that enterprise
l was to interfere with the profits of
/, the "F'ishnet." From the first Edith
made up her mind to dislike him. II
he sought to make her acquaintance.
as competitors often did, she would
1 stand aloof- Not the least of her
grievances was the fact that the sign
!. tackled next to hers was in wood
$ brown and buff that made her vivid
green and blue appear horribly crude.
Y There was just one redeeming feature
3 about it, reasoned Edith, the next
=. night when she started in for the
third time to court slumber in spite
e of the inceSsant pounding of the
e ocean-she would at least have a
Y neighbor, and with this thought she
slept soundly and contentedly.
j In spite of all good resolutions
3 Edith did become friendly with
the proprietor of the adjoining shop
y and before two weeks had passed she
i found herself counting the hours OF
a the afternoon till night when the two
4 little shops were closed and the COM
u petitor would come in with his contri-
button in the way of fresh fruits and
S other dainties, which they shared in
d front of the large open fire in Edith's
S living room.
a Edith's contempt was diminishing a
little, for she now realized why this
g brawny -muscled neighbor was con
;. tent with running a gift shop.
d He was an artist, she discovered
8 whose uphill road to supcess had mot