Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1918-08-08
Souvenir
glamour
c0
copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa.
per Syndicate.)
By MONA coWLES

per Syndtcate.)
The new sales girl in the little per-
fume shop on Maine street had broken
a bottle of French perfume 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 p%leasurably 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 it suffused the atmos-
phere for a hundred feet or more.
Some who passed looked about as if
to behold a tree in blossom in the
vicinity; but whoever scented it felt
curiosity, for there was that in the
extract that called up indefnable and
tantalizing recollections.
Susan Beverly, as she alighted from
her little electric hat 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
sess her imagination before she could
put into form the nature of them. She
whitfield again, looked around and then
hoard nnn of Tho ~; Vic x,,h1 -,or1,oI tn
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. "It's the most expensive per-
tume in the shop-souvenir d'a-
mour'"-only she pronounced it $500
venire damoor." "Sells for twelve dol
lars a bottle"
Eyes, it was too bad, and the madam
says she'll take it out of her wages"
"It's 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 d'amour her mind was occu-
pied with the train of associations it
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
rryoc dam in ro0o11ncfinr hrf har ro00l-
l%ections 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 a good
deal for anyone to spend for a gift.
She reflected that people did not spent
that much-especially when they were
not especially we'll of-on persons for
whom they had little regard. 1t seemed
to her then that if she had always
known that souvenir d'amour cost
twelve dollars a bottle it might have
made a difference. She had thought
if she had thought about the cost Of it
at all-that it cost not more than a
dollar a bottle.
But though her thoughts were thus
m%ercenary to begin with, eventually
the seductive influence Of the perfume
had it's effect and, though she was far
out of the radius of the sweet odor, in
her Imagination she smelled it yet.
1t haunted her like a vision that would
not down-or q sweet, haunting melody
that runs through the mind-orly this
was a vision or melody of the sense Of
smell and, they say, this sense is Of
the five the most persistent in its pow
er Of association. So from being quite
cheerful about the recollections that it
aroused, she became truly pensive.
Susan was thirty and she had so Of
ten told herself that a spinster of that
age has grown too old and too sensible
for romantic ~recollections or senti-
ments that she believed it. 1t was just
a little disconcerting then when, as
the afternoon wore on, she found her
self in the mood Of a love-struck girl
Of twenty. She had planned to spend
the afternoon on the golf links getting
IN CTluQ 1OT Tie WcGk-eIlu LOUIuuIlcIll,
but for o'clock found her reclining on
a wicker long chair under the trees in
the garden, shielded by the lilac hedge
with an assortment of once favorite
poets for diversion. This was not at
oil like the thirty-year-old Susan. 1t
really did seem as if a drop of the per-
fume must have spattered on Susan's
frock so persistent we're the memories
1t had recalled. Eventually she rose
from her chair, walked along the lilac
row, retraced her steps, counted out
the seventh lilac bush from the end
and her stood gazing down at the
earth beneath the bush. She weat of
to the gardeners hut and returned with
q trowel, then she fell to work digging
with the intensity Of n sure of I'M
earthing Captain Kids treasure In 8
certain spot. Once the old gardener
came along and asked her whether he
might help her. She said something
about wanting to see the condition Of
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