Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-03-05

ed and therefore offe'dcd those IN :;
place to offer her social favors,-any
thing and everything but the 'rl!,!.
1t was II thoughtless and cruel Ill
tie small-toWn snobbery. Iiap!,i',
the days of such provinciaii>m ult
over. But the fact remain, that Mar
was not fortunate enough 20 "gct in
with the Fright people," She did her
work in the daytime faithfully and
satisfactorily. But when six o'clock
came and the labor was done until an
] other morning, she went alone to the
cheap room at the top OF Ms.
MatherS' clearinghouse and spcn,
her evenings by herself.
Once or twice the men in the Office
made advance; 20 her; t.lcl to i:kc
her out and show her attention.. 70
they were coarse, rough printcr-ioil
here today and zone to,ro.row. She
'ld"ed them intritivcly at their true
vo'uo and cave them 10 coc0ula re-
Yet the talk which her employment
in the Office occasioned among the
chest people was not match hurc
alongside the connection caused IN
the "backroom" OF our cstabli ,hmcnt
to have !; girl of Mary Woods dainty
personality working sid, by side will
our men. ok, ;.opealing 10 them with
her questions and trade perp'c>iIic#,
tickling their rough-shaven chcoi-;
unintentionally with the truant
strands Of her finc-spun hair Is she
bent with them over the forms, get
ting little daubs OF ink or typc~casc
Crime on her features and only MAX
ing them the prcttler.
If the town people could only have
known, her presence IN the Office ln"de
a different place Of the clutteled cid
room. 1t produce, also startling
changes in the mo al ton, of the c.
Establishment. Old "Daddy joe" the
ad-man, stopped splitting tobacco
Juice on the floor ard grinding it III
with his boot. skinny Napoleon"
Higgins, u lugubrou.; soul of cXccc,l-
ing thinncss who had once been iilt-
ed by !, widow, ceased BIS moro'd re-
creation OF setting ~ his own OH
tuary in different style, and leaving
it around on gallcys which we always
wanted in Il hurry; he stopped send
ing out every after ,oon fcr a pal Of
beer, he shnvcd three times Il week
and decla' cd that swearing had 10
stop in that office by GaWd CT he'd sec
to it that somebody had hell Knocked
out of 'cm. The one-cyed boy whose
given name was Lawrence Briggs
Hanchett but whom we called "Slob"
because of his propensity to cove"
everything in the place but the pay
roll with ink whenever !?G filed the
press fountains, ceased removing his
glass eye and rolling it around the
stove because it Mortified the girls,
and Mr. Nimrod Briggs who helped
with the ads and tended press, button
ed his vest for the first time in years;
he cha lgC.l his shirt as often a., twice
month and showed up f1: york SO
regularly on Monday nclnin", that
the propllctors of the "Da'y I 1lc-
graph'-notng that these ctar"c:.
had begun with the advent OF tn"
pretty little compositor-rosc up and
called he. blessed.
There were three other girls in the
office: Annie Seavers was the senior
of these in point of cmploymcnt-a
big horse of a female with sloppy
heels, reccding chin and three rolls
OF fat on her neck undcr washcd-out
brown hair which would never stay
combed. Annie cram" with the River
Street crowd, which was decidedly
not Il crowd for Mary at all, Keeping
up the traditions and popular conccp-
ton Of females who would work in
printing Offices.
Susie Whtcomb was the second; Il
conscientious little soul in gold spec
tacles which she wore halfway down
a very frcckled nose. But she was Il
slow-wttcd girl who lacked imagin-
ation-alwayS scented witt cheap
porfumc,y and clothed in homemade
lose; Of coarse stitches which "cr'
always parting somewhere about her
anatomy.
The third gill-Mabel Henderson,
more Familiarity known as "Mibb'--
was a black-eycd Independent young
spit-fre whose mother ran the mill
clearinghouse at the cast end of
town. Nib spent most of her wage,
on caramels and clothes and wa al
ways talking over the typccaacs
about her gentlemen friends" Her
father was a poor, ovcr-grown, neon ,
sequental soul who toiled not, /
neither did he spin, and who spent 4
his days sitting around in grocery
stores or blacksmith shops keeping
folks informed about the progress OF
his old army trouble.
Between 4 mother with Il cau.tic .
swcaty temper who was forever "tlH-
ing the world how she had thrown |
herself away marrying old Harvey /
Henderson, and Il father who dincd in
the kitchen from scraps the boardcrS
left-Mibb had grown up with rather
advanced ideas about the matrimonial
relation.
Uncle joe Fodder, the town Dhilo-
sopher who ran the livery stable be-
hind the Whitney House on Main
street, had often declared that Mibb,
at fifteen knew moro than most wo-