The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-12
EVENING STORY
When the Deaf Hear.
BY VINCENT G. PERRY.
copyright, 1918. by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.)

vernon montgomery, eAiiNA
newspaper feature writer, had won
prominence because his articles ana
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 1tseI
to him and he lost no time in seeking
out a school for the deaf, and enroll
ing as pupil. The few weeks it
would take of his time would be well
paid for, he considered.
From the first he found the study
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-
Elected in her face. What pity it
was she couldn't talk or hear, he
thought. How could she smile So ra
dainty and yet be shut out of two
of the greatest joys in life? If she
had been blessed with a voice it would
have been very sweet one-any
other kind would have been out of
keeping with the rest of her. The
girl noticed him looking at her and
she smiled. Her smile made up for
that the interest became mutual.
After the first two weeks had passed
Vernon thought it 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 it aside and started
on love story with a deaf and dumb
heroine who had grand eyes and a
smile that-well, you should have
read his description of her smile. But
that, too, he couldn't finish, for he
couldn't think of a hero good enough
for her and anyway the reading pub
lie might not like a deaf and dunn b
heroine. He had never heard of one
before and it wouldn't do to introduce
an entirely different type of heroine.
lie was too tired to start a new story
and his head ached, so he went to bed
without accomplishing anything
The next day he managed to sit
nearer the girl that had attracted
| him, with the result that he missed
some of the instructions. What was
her name, he wondered. Did she know
| 1t herself? OF course she knew it!
Dear and dumb people were often very
clever and her cleverness could not
| be mistaken. How eagerly she watch
ed the teacher! What a wonderful
thing lip-reading was to give a girl
like her an opportunity to converse
with her fellow beings He could saw
/
| say IS many, SO he seized his first
| opportunity to carry on conversation
with her. But deaf and dumb girls
were shy, he found, for she blushed
furlously at his first advances. But
| she decided to answer him, and it was
not long before they were Spea king in
| one syllable words. Practice makes
| perfect and 1t was not many weeks
before they were able to talk fluently,
| for as they progressed in their study
| n co
| their conversations. He had learned
| her name at the first of their friend
ship and every night he said it to him
| self before the mirror. Ivy Sterling he
| thought was the prettieSt name he ha d
ever heard, but it was not as pretty
as its owner, the deaf and dumb girl
The first of Vernon's articles had
| appeared and the editor of the ma ga
zine that was running them wanted
| more and lots of it, and Vernon did
not object to comply with his wishes.
! But subjects don't hold forever and
before he had completed the course he
| had written all that he thought the
public desired to know about lip-read-
| ing, the schools where it was taught
and the type of people that had to
learn it. 1t looked as if he would have
to give up, but he decided to stay to
| complete the course, when he thought
| of Ivy. When at length the course
| was completed he wished he hadn't
| been SO attentive at the first so he
would have had to take additional
! lessons.
| 1t was hard to get back to his old
routine of work but he buckled down
to work on a new idea for some fea-
| ture articles, but the new idea didn't
! pan OUT as he had expected. Some
thing had gone wrong The same push
| was not in evidence in his writings and
he couldn't get them accepted by any
| thing but a second-rate publication
"a to-
articles and had gone stale, he decided
and he set to work on a short story
After he started the new story he
changed his mind and wound it out to
a novel, but the first half dozen chap
tiers sickened him of it and he aban-
doned it.
Where were all his ideas? Was
there nothing in his brain but
thoughts of lip-reading and Ivy Ster-
ling? That was it-Ivy Sterling was
the case of the whole thing. He was
in love, and he had to admit it. 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 it was love he felt
toward Ivy. After all what did il
matter if she was deaf and dumb
They could converse and that was al
that mattered. Some men wo lid be
thankful if their wives were dumb
with speech she would not have made
that y kind of wife. He would tell
her sis feelings, he resolved. But how
could he? He didn't even know hel
address. Inquiry by telephone at the
school didn't help him. They didn't
know her whereabout. That gave
him idea for a novel, but he
couldn't write until he found her, he
thought. wouldn't a novel about hel
find her quickest? No sooner hat
that thought struck him than he Sat
down to write the story and when he
once got started everything else wa.
| in oblivion.
When it was completed. after week.
of the hardest work of his life, ant
> yet the most pleasant, ne made III
his mind that it was best suited for {
magazine serial, and he submitted i
personally.