The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-07-12
Souvenir
d'AnOur
~
BY MONA COWLES
Copyright. 1913. by the Mcclure Newspa
per Syndicate.)

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Copyright. 1siS by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)
The new sales girl in the little per-
fume shop on Maine greet had broken
a bottle of French p~.ume just as
the clock pointed to twelve o'clock,
and so it happened that shoppers and
office workers, idlers and persons bent
on business as they walked along the
busy section Of Main street that d.
about lunch time were impressed
either pleasurably or otherwise by the
penetrating odor of one Of the most
alluring Of perfumes. For the perfume
had been spilled on the floor of the
shop near the door, which was open to
let In the first warm spring sunlight
and it had been carried forth on the
fresh air till 1t suffused the atmos-
phere for a hundred feet or more.
Some who passed looked about as II
to behold tree In blossom In the
vicinity; but whoever scented 1t felt
curiosity, for there was that In the
extract that called up indeanable and
tantalizing recollections.
Susan Beverly, as she alighted from
her little electric that she drove her
self and put foot on the curbstone,
first shifted vigorously and then looked
about. To her the perfume had po-
tent associations that seemed to pos
put into form the nature OF them. She
whitfield again, looked around and then
heard one of the girls who worked In
the perfume shop say to another, as
they stepped out Of the shop on their
way to luncheon:
''Too bad she happened to break
that bottle" with an emphasis on the
that. Its the most expensive per-
fume In the shop-souvenir d'a-
mour' only she pronounced it $500
venire damoor." "Sells for twelve dol
lars bottle"
'Yes, it was too bad, and the madam
says she'll take 1t out of her wages"
'Its a shame to spill twelve dollars
all at once. But it makes an elegant
smell"
And the other girl agreed that it
was swell"
Long after Susan had passed out of
the radius of the aroma of the spilled
souvenir damour her mind was Occu-
pied with the train of associations 1t
had called up. At first vague and Ill
defined, they gradually shaped them
selves. BY the time she reached her
home on the outskirts of the city she
was deep in recollection but her recOl-
lections were by no means melancholy.
The detail of the little experience OF
the spilled perfume that assumed the
largest proportions in her thoughts
was that the bottle had cost twelve
dollars. Twelve dollars was good
deal for anyone to spend for a gift,
She reflected that people did not spent
that much-especially when they were
not especially well off-on persons for
whom they had little regard. 1t seemed
to her then that II she had always
known that souvenir glamour cost
twelve dollars bottle 1t might have
made difference. She had thought
If she had thought about the cost OF II
at all-that it cost not more than q
dollar bottle.
But though her thoughts were thus
merceMary to begin with, eventually
the seductive influence of the perfume
had its effect and, though she was fal
out of the radius of the sweet odor, In
her imagination she smelled it yet
1t haunted her like vision that would
not down--or q sweet, haunting melody
that runs through the mind-only this
was vision or melody of the sense Of
smell and, they say, this sense is o.
the five the most persistent in its pow
err of association. So from being quite
cheerful about the recollections that 1
aroused, she became truly pensive.
Susan was thirty and she had so Of
ten told herself that spinster of tina
age has grown too old and too sensibl,
for romantic recollections or senti
ments that she believed 1t. 1t was jus
va little disconcerting then when, a
the afternoon wore on, she found her
self in the mood Of love-struck cir
of twenty. She had planned to spen'
the afternoon on the golf links gettini
in trim for the weekend tournament
but for o'clock found her reclining Oh
a wicker long chair under the trees II
the garden, shielded by the lilac hedg
with an assortment of once favorit
poets for diversion. This was not a
. all like the thirty-year-old Susan. ]
really did seem as If a drop of the pei
fume must have spattered on Susan
frock so persistent were the memorie
1t had recalled. Eventually she ros
from her chair, walked along the lila
row, retraced her steps, counted on
the seventh lilac bush from the en-
and then stood gazing down at tn
earth beneath the bush. She went o
to the gardeners hut and returned wit
q trouel, then she fell to work diggin
with the intensity of one sure of ur
earthing Captain Kids treasure in
certain spot. Once the old gardene
came along and asked her whether h
mi ht help her. She said somethin
about venting to see the condition {
the soil, and continued. Once she wa
snt Nrruptnd nv q rnpmber of har fan