Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1918-12-26
Sugar
Shortage
Ga%D
BY BERTHA cuRRla PORTER

per S~yndicaCe.)
II don't see what you said we'd give
them tea for, when you know we
haven't any sugar!"
"What difference does that make?
Some Of u best families don't have
sugar nowadays"
swell, I'll bet the Clarkson girls are
rolling in sugar"
eff they are, all we need to do is to
shake them over the cups, and there
you arey"
"You needn't joke about it, Anne.
I have some pride if you haven't, and
I'm not going to have those rich Clark
IONS coming here and thinking we're
not as we'll able to have things as they
are, even If they do carry fifteen dollar
knitting bags, all covered over with
pin-cushion fruit, and tassels.'
II don't know how you're going to
get it. I've telephoned to every store
I can think Of and they all say the
same thing-'no sugar."
"Telephoning and asking face to face
are two different things. I'll run out
and see what l can do"
Josephine Bruce, not in this bad
| weather."
But Josephine had vanished into the
bedroom Of the little flat.
It was the worst day of that "never-
remembered-such-a" winter. There had
been a heavy nov fall, a thaw and
then a sudden freeze, with thick, black
ice over everything. And in the night
the weather had moderated and rain
had fallen in torrents on the ice. This
morning it was still raining, with q
heavy wind. It was a day when sensf-
BILE folk wore creepers over their rub
bers, and other people lost their pride
in the good old Biblical way.
Josephine appeared, clad in a very
becoming brown %raincoat and little tan
hat. She wore brown boots and ridicu-
lous low rubbers, and carried a brown
umbrella.
Sister Anne stood at her tower win
dow and watched Josephine slip down
the hill, using her folded umbrella as a
staff. Anne began to chop nutmeats
for sandwiches, wondering what her
erratic sister might be doing. The
reality was this:
In the nearest store, Anne marched
bravely up to the counter.
"Two pounds Of sugar, please" she
said, with her sweetest smile.
mo sugar in the store" growled the
harassed clerk for the one hundred
and thirty-seventh time that day.
"There's no sugar in the store" the
next grocer told her, "and more than
that, there's nc sugar up to my OWL
house, and I'm in the grocery business.
What was yours, MADAME" to a sleek
haired Italian woman in a red shawl.
Josephine went out o more ice.
For an hour she slipped and slid
the same story in fifty-seven varieties.
Josephine paused on a corner to collect
her forces and decide where to attack
next. This particular corner was at
the foot of a hill-this city was built
or more than seven hills-and the side
walk sloped at an unpleasant angle;
also the building on that lot projected
in such a way that pedestrians coming
down the side street were completely
hidden from those on the main thor
O%ughfare. Josephine had seen so many
people fall that day that she now me-
chanically watched them all. Perhaps.
that was why she noticed the gray
raincoat behind the big market basket.
"New style coat" she thought, and
looked again at the basket. She gasp
ed! Not for months had she seen a
sight like that. She looked again. It
was absolutely true. In that basket,
camouf1aged by a Tapping paper cover
ing, but with tell-tale little yellow
sharp corners sticking out, were six
two-pound cartons of sugar! And the
food commissioner had ruled that nc
dealer should sell more than ten
pounds to any n person. And she,
Josephine Bruce, had not n single
grain!
She looked above the basket to see
who this %plutocrat might be, and met
a pair of serious blue eyes staring
straight into her brown ones. She had
only time to realize that this law.
breaker was young and very good.
looking when his feet appeared where
had been his face-he bounced up and
down, landing on the woman who had
slid down the side street, and vanished,
in the midst Of arms and legs and
bodies that came faster and faster un-
til they piled up in a slipping, stopping
snarl of humanity. And high in the
air, flying merrily toward the blue sky
before descending to the soaking side
walk, went the six packages of sugar.
Josephine lodged. She escaped the
pedestrians because they all slid into
the gutter, but a couple of pounds Of
sugar landed IN her stylish little tan
hat and bounced down into her yawn-
ing knitting bag. Josephine had no
recollection Of opening her bag, but she
knew exactly when she closed it. And
then, with the most outrageous polite
ness, she stopped and picked up two
Of the other packages. She handed
H.. L. AL1 o,- T. Al ~~o-