Evening star., 1919-04-27

w
one bright spot in his rather dull and
grimy existence in the employ of
Burns, Dolan 4 Co.. steamftting and
fixtures.
Day after day. in rainy or sunshiny
weather he viewed the ever-chang-
ing panorama Of boots and shoes:
fat ones and slim ones, the smart and
the trig, the rundown and the
patched. He saw youth and age pass:
confidence and hesitance, success and
failure, Joy and hopelessness. The
step of each passer-by was to him a
wonderful story whose plot was ever
in embryo. Whence did they come.
these myriads of feet and whittier
did they go? The eternal stream
which flowed past that little window!
There was ebb and food all through
the day, and the real marvel of it was
that each pair of shoes was going
somewhere. had a destination and a
destiny. Out of this pair or that
William instructed the character OF
the owner: and he often builded bet
ter than he knew. He saw this
strange world of his through the
eyes of Balzac; but he could only
visualize. he could not transcribe his
deductions or marshal them coherent
ly. He knew that this man drank
for the joy OF 1t. that that one had
something to forget; he knew when
old man Hennessy had just lost his
job and Heinie Stahl had found one.
Here WAS a young woman going to
meet her lover, here was one who
carried a heartache; all in the step.
Arl hnr hn Aot ch
less shoe belonging to all sorts and
conditions of women, from Tony
Cipriano's thrifty wife always bear
ing children, down to the wheeling.
gin soaked virago who scrubbed
floors for her 10-cent pieces Nor
did he ever grow tired OF the angular
legs OF childhood; these were the
leaven Of humor in a grim possession
OF tragedies. Wasn't. that the
bakers kid that just went. by, hip
pity hoppity, headed for the soda
fountain? ..
Out OF this fantasticaI world of shod
feet one pair became OF peculiar in
terest. They were feminine; and 1t
was but natural that William should
build him romance. Their regu-
larity of appearance first appealed to
him: later he added little character
istics. She was young. sensible and
wage Garner like himself. She
was young, because there was al
ways spring TO her step: sensible
because she wore low shoes in the
summer and stout boots in the
winter. There was no nonsense. no
embroidered silks; old fashioned isle
nd IN
That she was Il wage Garner there
could be no doubt. AT O'Clock each
morning, Saturday and Sunday ex-
cepted. she walked east with conf
dent step. Never had he seen it drag
or falter. 1t was a small and shape
ly foot, alluring, but not enticing.
Perhaps the picture lasted three sec
onds; eastward at in the morning
and westward at 4 in the afternoon.
4 or whereabouts. He pondered over
these hours for some time before he
fell upon the truth of the matter.
She was one of the teachers in the
public school nearby. Saturdays
minus and the gap Of July and Aug
ust could in no ~other way be
explained.
For three years now these little
feet had twinkled past the basement
window. The odd part of this sngu-
lar e-sded romance, William was
never tempted TO run up to see what
the young woman looked like. He
was canny for an Irshman. He
rather preferred his dream. There
We're lots OF homely young women
with pretty feet. He hadn't many
) illusions LETT this young philosopher
of the soldering iron. and he wanted
to keep this one. Besides. what good
would ii DO to pipe her fiz"? If he
spoke to her she might put him
down as a mashcr and walk to
school by another route. Let it be as
ii was, her world outside there in the
sunshine and his In this smelly eel
lar. But. nevertheless. Re often
wished he knew a girl such as he
ina ined this one to be. One thing
was certain; anywhere in the world.
i'm any kind of leather, he would
recognize those feet. And thereby
hangs this tale.
! have forgotten to mention that
william was an orphan. once upon
a time this condition had embar
rassed him considerably; it had
forced him to make his bed in empty
halls and areaways. in stables. in dry