Graham guardian., 1918-11-08
WHEN DEAF HEARl
BY VINCENT q. PERRY.
Copyright. 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa-

|
per Syndicate)
| Vernon Montgomery, magazine and
newspaper feature writer had won
| prominence because his articles and
stories were different. He never used
secondhand information, every fact
he quoted was gained by personal In
vestigation; that was one of his boasts.
The possibility Of series of articles
In lip reading presented itself to him
and he lost no time in seeking out q
school for the deaf, and enrolling rs
4 pupil.
interesting, AS the days went by he
began to take an interest in the pupils.
There was one young lady especially
! that interested him. He was attracted
to her first by noticing that she was
always the first to catch onto the In
structions of the teacher, and her en-
joyment of the study seemed to be re-
| flected In her face.
After the first two weeks had passed
Vernon thought 1t time to set to work
on the first of his articles. He didn't
| get more than started, however. for
his mind would not settle on his sub.
! ject. He pushed 1t aside and started
on love story with deaf and dumb
| heroine.
The next day he managed to sit near
er the girl that had attracted him, with
the result that he missed seme Of the
instructions. What was her name, he
wondered. Did she know It herself?
OF course she knew 1t! Deaf and dumb
people were often very clever and her
cleverness could not be mistaken. How
eagerly she watched the teacher!
What q wonderful thing lip.readng
was to give a girl like her an oppOr-
tunity to converse with her fellow
beings. He could say few words,
already, and she could say as many,
so he seized his first opportunity to
carry on conversation with her. he
had learned her name at the first Of
their friendship and every night he
said It to himself before the mirror.
ivy Sterling he thought was the pret-
tiest maine he had ever heard but II
was not as pretty as its owner, the
denf and dumb girl.
The first of Vernon's articles had
appeared and the editor Of the tnaga-
zine that was running them wanted
more and lots Of 1t, and Vernon did
not object to comply with his wishes
II was hard to get back to his old
routine of work hut he buckled down
to work on n new idea for some fea
ture articles but the new idea didn't
pan out as he had expected. Some
thing had gone wrong
Where were all his ideasi Was
there nothing in his brain but
thoughts of lip-readfng and ivy Ster.
ling? That was it-Ivy Sterling was
the cause Of the whole thing. He was
mi love. and he had to admit 1t, and
he hadn't even written to her. To tell
the truth the thought of being in love
with deaf and dumb girl had never
entered his head before. but now he
knew that 1t was love he felt toward
Ivy. After all what did it matter If
she was deaf and dumb! They could
converse and that was all that mat
tered. Some men would be thankful
If their wives were dumb. but Of
course. II Ivy had been gifted with
speech she would not have made that
kind Of wife. He would tell her his
feelings. he resolved. But how could
no? He didn't even know her ad-
dress. Wouldn't a novel about her
find her quickest? No sooner had that
thought struck his mind than he sat
down to write the story and when he
once got started everything else was
In oblivion.
When it was completed, after weeks
of the hardest work of his life. and
yet the most pleasant, he made up his
mind that 1t was best suited for a
magazine serial, and he submitted II
personally.
"Your synopsis of the plot sounds
promising" the managing editor said
as he fingered the manuscript. "Lip-
reading. Ell" His face lit up with a
smile "Young man, we shouldn't nc-
cept any of your work. Your lip
reading series scoOped us, after we had
put one OF the best Of our staff out
after the story. To make matters
worse she got started in the course
and refused to leave off until she had
completed 1t. Were you as interested
in II as that?"
81 certainly was. II Is a wonder !
didn't meet your writer, though"
"Oh!" A gasp sounded In the office
and the two men turned to face a
young woman with handful Of copy.
It was Ivy Sterling.
"You gave me start to hear you
talk" she gasped.
"Miss Sterling, aren't you deaf and
dumb?" Vernon could hardly believe
bis ears.
81 should say am not So you are
the man who scoOped me on the lip.
reading stOries-the first time I have
been scooped, too. 1t Is wonder
never suspected you" There was a
merry twinkle In her eye.
"YOu knew all along" Vernon saw
II In an instant.
"Of course, did" she laughed, "and
Il Is going to make the dandiest mag
: azine story"
"I would have sworn you were dumb.
why the way you blushed the day we
learned the word love, made me sure
/ n