The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1917-01-23
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
Short Heroes for Tall.
tcopyrisht 1917 " tho mcclal- Nsw

ACOpyTlEIt l9lI NY the Mcclure N5N5-
paper Syndicate.)
A LTHOuGH Betty possessed no
~ very great literary genius her.
self she felt quite sure OF gain.
ing the audience Of almost any maya
Zine editor she went to see. For she
was the granddaughter OF one of the
greatest OF our men OF letters, and his
very unusual full name used as her
middle and last name or her card,
served as wedge past office boys and
secretaries, right 10 the editorial sane.
tum, especially when she wrote at the
foot OF the card line to Indicate her
exalted relationship When Betty de.
cided to write short stories as a means
OF earning her living she was rather
wise in going personally t. see the cd.
itOfs with her warcs---not only be.
cause her little explanation that she
was the great mans only living grand
child aroused Interest. but because
there was something In her wide
open soft I rown eyes that appealed to
men and made them take az interest
in her.
When Betty went TO tho office OF
The BLACK and White" magazine with
portfolio full Of mediocre love sto-
RES She was uehrraG right INTO tha M.
ncr sanctum, aud the specialized,
brow-eyed stocky young man ut the
desk offered ner chair and forgot
for the moment his pile of manuscript
two yards high that was his task t.
read before the. day wanted Betty
knew she Interested him, and she
knew that the man with spectacles
would accept her stories if there was
any possible excuse III the body OF
the story for their acceptance.
They talked for five minutes, touch.
cd lightly On the weather, on Betty's
distinguished grandparents ard or
story writing as vocation. Then as
they rose and Betty saw that with her
own only medium stature she could
see over the head Of the young man
in spectacles, she paused minute
Please pardon me for being so stu.
pid," she said, but before you read
over those stor4es want to make a
little correction. It's simply matter
OF spelling. meant to do = lore,
but l must have forgotten. I'll just
keep the stories a day and then send
them in" And the man in the specta-
cles gave back the manuscript, and
Betty, smiling. left the Office of the
"Black and White magazine
The trouble was that Betty had fal,
en- into the very Usual fault of describ
ing all three hcros n all three stories
as men of unusual height. The first
was a great big over grown boy of a
man whose six feet two of height
made him tower over the Amazon her.
Din@ and gave her that delightful
Iense. so rare to women of her height
~ actually being petite" Then in the
next story there was an Englishman
WHOSE tall physique indicated at
glance his noble line of ancestors and
Norman blood that courtel through
his veins" And finally there was the
Italian count who was six feet also,
md who was ''as different in appear
ance from tn eusual immigrant type
Of Italian as the high and exalted orr
gin was different from theirs" Peggy
saw her mistake. II those heroes were
going to be passed on by man who
was perceptibly shorter than she was
they would have to be- dwarGed con-
siderably and the Amazon lady would
have to cease osing an Amazon and
begin TO be a doll like petite creature
to go with him.
So the overgrown boy turned into
1.-THE stocky young man whose intensi-
ty OF thought and action was express
ed in an absence of superaous inches"
And the English gentleman turned
into a blond graceful young man who
like TIE reigning family was somewhat
below fiddle height, ana the Italian
whose splendid characteristic Italian