Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-31
THE GIRL WHO
ALMOST MISSED
by Mary Douglass.
NEIGIiBORS.
Chaptcr NI,IN

! looked around me with q distinct
| feeling of pleasure. | sat down IN one
| of the bottomicss chairs to draw a fuil
breath tO realize ] was tired more
tired than | had been for many days
and more satisfied The cohWchs no
long,l luopcd from corner to corner and !
had KILLED hravcly, scurrling army Il
spidcfs The windows smiled pack at me
bright and spotlcss | must scrub The floor,
but now ! had swept II and hal t.,hca
the hdculls brown Governing from the
couch and hung Il 10 air ont # my
window II was still ugly and bare and
p,rr ~ the little room, but II was no
! longer dirty
Carefully planned what should
i" Tomorrow | should clean the dining
ropm, Thursday The kitchen, tridaN
would root ont the storeroom and sec If
i could not bc made INTO bedroom
suddenly | found myself lrcmnli~g z
and faint what Was the matter Then
remembered in tins new zeal ci homo
making. ! had forgotten 10 ct had MI
eaten. IN tact, since breakfast | forsaw
another tu>>l" with the nir. black stove
! m'Iet 20 md look lor kInding
sat quite still tr,Ing t. ,athcr enough
energy together for the n,W Effort
spranp 10 my feet rs ! heard nmconc
poundlp. on my front door 4 lttlc hnN
with a shcok Of hair falling over hs
gruhhv face and one stocking ~hppng
INTO ms shoe was my caller
Ma SAYS. viii YOU come t. nur house
and have tcl with us
"Oh YES ! saId gratefully Nhore
DO YOU live
bow tic road piece. he poin,
81 vitl stunby finger 10 where the lane
turned oii INTO a huddlcd body Of trees
tgnr ! washc! my hands al the
pump IN the sink and trlcd TO brIng
some ncatncsS t. my tumhlcd drcsa
What were my ncIchhors ike Tho,
were kind Al least, 70 take me IT The
first day of my appearance
tonG the lane that passed my hou~c
walked trlSkiy, hoping that tea would hc
ready Whcn ! reached there, for | felt
strangely weak aud tired
The house doomed up before nc. .
comfort ahlc- looking old place u gray
hnglc> hit Nat on he bare grass a>
Il + grew there \ woman was standing
IN he doorway dressed IN 4 brown calico
with I white apron tied around her
Whiteharc habv chung 10 her skirts
\ walked up the path felt a strangc
dllHnr come ovct me When ] reached
tllt' NtIlistI NNtttltAittE III TIT tlt'iN, ,4N /
found that she n.ls wavcrlng rtngclv
and then She rrcw quite blurred
When ! opened my eyes, | found
myself II a hg bedroom with a kind
fac, leaning over nc
Bc " all right now" she asked
How silly ~ me. | cred II guess
I worked too hard today and then
forgot 10 eat
Johnnie JOHNNIE. she called IN
peculiar high verc, vou bring up that
bowl of soup atf the iablcand some water
The shock headed child came >tagCcr-
ing into the room carrying the bowl of
>uup - dangerous angle
Now he woman piled up the
pillow IN back u me- and gave me the
bow nf soup held II aganSl me and took
u Wlth smooth-handled old spoon,
-'o4mIug hot from the bowl
urvCr tasted ANYTHING so good
exclaimed
Nov JOHNNIE. YOU bring up that
chicken lcg and some bread and butter Of |
II, table
In d lew minutes the chd came
back INTO h fopri carving the chicken |
cg d one grimv hand and holding care |
.aliN j hurtsrei ,hcc Of bread in the other |
JOHNNIE, am vou ever learned no |
his mother exclaimed IN cyi- /
iuut rhaTln
10 ict m, eat il that way begged
.teJug tn. chicken from the boy
Vow just hate - have YOU
Eai j, much more fun tins WAY.
pleaded. then. remembering. told
l.r 1iv name and how | tad come and /
ulnd The little shack, and spent the dav
leaning and forgetting - eat. II don
.f',n dis Cace myself this WAY. ! conclude
You are Just gong to stay right here.
rhI~ Is the spare chamber and We all are
lat clear through, to havc someone
rom the city with IL
Il almost too kind | began
~ hat nciChbors for Mr. Dur
ID asked seems maybe / can %
.aoi turn for YOU this timc and YOU can
d on ior m some other
consented gratefully enough In httI
.nle had taken Of my clothes and Mr.
purkiu had brought mc one 81 her sweet
m.lIng coarse uighGoWn- - put On
A9u Iu~t rest Yourself good She said
lu1lf YOU don want 70 CT up when We do
uI Just lay 4bci and il hrng YOU up
olr food
oh. no ! begged IN be up bright
nd early for " rot " 20 back p do my
pulled The -noeti ptnt, -hcct> III,
: uv chm and lav bact d Tho rather
ard-rrcaklug bed vlth h'iIe SIgh ii
out.nt Pspopit s,re nInd thought
! d gong ta ike my nev homo and my
~ u.ighbor and drited oflnt" sleep
lamorrow MaropncG