The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-10-18


 smoke in the grand manner. Then the scene changed. We felt so i'll | that we didn't know what to do.
 We had taken some ginger wine as | well, and 1t did not help matters. That | night we did not pick up any sweet hearts. Smokesickness is sure cure for ladykilling.
 Here is one of the ssrangest things that happened. Yet perhaps 1t was not so strange after all This young man pal of mine was a very nice ichap. He was working with me at the factory. and one day he looked at me suddenly, and burst out with the exclamation, q say, if you were a girl I'd walk out with you. He little knew what his words meant to me. I wondered II ne guessed my sex. ..-.s l
 The Special Girl. Now I will tell you about the spe- cial girl. For this story I will call her Lillian. That was not her name, but as we are now Just two jolly good girl friends I will not give her true name.
 i I went for walks with her for six months in my character as a young man. She never knew until the mo- ment came when I decided to tell her She knew nothing until one day, be- fore the outside world know of it through the report of my being brought up in the police court. She was a delightful girl, and we not on- ly went for walks together, but she came to our house and I went to hers.
 The Revelation.
 I treated her just as 8 pal, but l think from the way she kissed me she had it in her mind that it would be something further.
 Well, one day came after six months of pleasant acquaintanceship on my part, real friendship of one girl for another, when I had to tell the Recruiting Office officials of what had done. That evening I went ov- CT to her home, still in my young mans clothes, and I said. Lillian,
 come out for a little walk. I have something to tell you.'' I felt I must ' tell her. We walked along little l way outside.
 |. q have brought you out really to
 tell you something that I think it better for you to know from me be- - fore you hear it from anyone else, ' said.
 What is 1t about? I hope it is g nothing serious" she answered, won- o dering. V Yes, you might look on it as very se- t rious," I answered.
 She waited patiently, surprised and
 bewildered, and then I spoke, telling -hCI in eli lOrt ', tence:
 T am a girl"
 Surely you are not!" t h Yes, I am," I said. & Good Friends Now. 8 She took it all in good part, witr
 @ presence of mind that makes mt O think now that Lillian was kinde1 d than I could have been in the samt o circumstances.
 It could hardly help being a shocl e to her, though she never showed tn n least bitternessjust a wee sigh sh h least bitterness just a wee sigh sh Il Our simple and silly six months
 courtship was at an end. Il For a moment, I remember, sh y seemed as one in deep pain, and tear t. came to her eyes. But she kissed me 1t and said: "Oh, all right, then; we B; be friends now instead of sweetheart " In the Factory. Now let me tell you bit about m l. two years at the factory. I had new sense of freedom in the neat-fit If ting trousers and the tweed jacket. ,s l put on the stride of young ma e as well as l could. I must comics ,+ that although I thought everybody i m the street was looking at my leg of because I felt so strange in trouser al my clothes were really most comforr av- able.
 ,o I went in for the whole thing whi
 was about it, and wore boy o- shirt and collar and tie, a fairly sul q stanttal pair of Shoes. and, of cours , I put aside my coTsets and stockin! 1o and wore an ordinary pair of sock la I never felt the loss of the corset off and I must say I never needed, du
 ing the whole two years, anything ,11 the way of support for my back
 my waist.
 The first thing that gives away Il . sex when you see a woman on u =. stage in a mans dress is the shaI od of her hips. I was afraid peep ,a would see my figure and say was girl. so I took care that I wore Il .,1 jacket loose.
 ,ra How I Carried It Through ,,, For the same reason, although
 first I took off my jacket like t .bo other lads, and rolled up my sh ;I. sleeves for work, I soon began ro keep my jacket pn for fear that T -La girls arms might give me away. Of course when I went to the wa ir,r basins at the factory to'have wa ,ll4, after dealing with the wire -worki
 and lacquer, l used to roll up I
 shirt sleeves very much like the mt 9 .5 but no one ever remarked about I or arms. I was often clipped for wo1 ,eo ing with my jacket on, but o1
 laughed.
 In fact, my laughing and my che ,.,- fitness all through carried me a 10 - way.
 ,,,- Put a bright face on things, and it ,.7 wonderful how it helps you in tit ,,aII corners. There is nothing like sl r,,+ shine to carry you through a f a,.o tory.
 Somehow I was always teasing ro+ girls and running them down in ,1 good-natured sort of way. VIC Fancy being a grill" I said. ,,,o, wouldn't be a girl for worlds
 Wrestling Match. ung i"U h z log III 'ile s..,L i"C'1ts n. o