The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1918-09-25
Sugar
Shortage
an
ght. 1918. by the AcClul
Der 9yndicate.l


them tea for. when you know we
haven't any sugar!"
"What difference does that make?
Some Of our best families don't have
sugar nowadays."
swell. I'll bet the Garrison girls. are
rolling in sugar."
IF they are, all we need to do IL to
shake them over the cups, and there
you are!"
you needn't joke about It, Anne.
I have some pride II you haven't. and
Tn not going to have those rich Clark.
sons coming here and thinking we're
not as well 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 1t. 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 1 can do"
Josephine Bruce, not in this bad
weather.
But Josephine had vanished into the
bedroom Of the little fat.
It was the worst day Of that never
remembered-such-a" winter. There had
been a heavy snow fall, thaw and
then q 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 1t was still raining. with
heavy wind. 1t was 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
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
/ braveiy up to the counter.
1.-TWO pounds Of sugar. please" she
| said. with her sweetest smile.
~No 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 no sugar up to my own
house. and Tn in the grocery business.
What was yours. madam" to a sleek
haired Italian woman in a red shawl.
| Josephine went out on more ice.
For an hour she slipped and slid
from one store to another. and heard
the same story in fiftrseven 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
on 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
[
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 baskets She gasp
ed. Not for months had she seen a
sight like that. She looked again. 1t
was absolutely true. In that basket.
camouflaged by Tapping paper cover
ing, but with tell-tale little yellow
sharp corners sticking out. We're six
two-pound cartons of sugar. And the
food commissioner had ruled that no
dealer should sell more than ten
pounds to any one person. And she.
Josephine Bruce. had not one single
grain!
She looked above the basket to see
who this plutocrat might be. and met
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 I'M
til they piled up in 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 on 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 ii. And
then. with the most outrageous polite
ness. she stopped and picked up two
Of the other packages. She handed
them to the young man In the gray
raincoat. crawling out from the chaos.
sYour sugar. SIR" she said. smiling.
| and xonf m her WAy entirely unre-