The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-12-01
THE. DAILY
SHORT STORY
The Jazz CHI.

j
Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure
Newspaper syndicate.)
~ LADYs KIMBALL was not TO
tell the truth, having quite as
good q time as she had anticipat'
I'd. When a girl has the satistEclon
81 telling herself and her family to be
the distinct superiors Of everybody In
& ftfty.cottage summer colony; when
she has the finest clothes and the most
expensive canoe In the place, and
when her fiance has come to visit her
and Is both good looking and very
we'll .to-d do. the stage would appear to
be let for happiness. Jim had ar
rived In the forenoon, buoyant, nat.
teringly glad to be with her again, and
they had had quite a wonderful day
ON the water, and in 1t.
yet now, as they sat on the Wide
arandah OF the Kimball cottage, with
The wide cove stretching far on into
the starlight night and the whippoor-
wills hammering away at their ever
lasting carpet beating, Gladys was
conscious Of being bit bored rather
than exultantly bllssful. The rhyth-
mic cadences Of an orchestra from the
pavilion a furlong away added to her
restlessness. ~
"Don't you think this is dreadtully
-slow?" she said. Just sitting still
and looking at nothing?"
Jim Carruthers, after an early
morning start, a considerable railroad
trip and his outdoor day, hadn't
thought of the occasion as being
i'slow" in the least. He would have
been content to sit there with Gladys
a very long time. But he was good
tempered, was Jim, and not little
used to certain degree OF wisely re-
strained petulence in his fiancee's
makeup. So he only said in reply:
"Well, what do you want to ny at
next?"
"There's place over there where
they dance = some of the less par.
ticular of the vale people and crowd
, Of all sorts that come out here from
town in the evening. We wouldn't
care to mingle with them, of course,
but we could go over there and have
an ice and look on. The music Isn't
80 bad"
CO." He was too tired to dance, any
how, so he made no comment on
Gladys exclusiveness, though he
grinned bit under cover of the dark
ness.
The pavilion was broad and airy and
flooded with soft light. Jim thought
! The all sorts" who patronized it SEEM
ed to be a pretty decent sort, on the
whole. Any way, they made a mighty
Interesting picture, full of color and
Fgracious movement. Gladys chose a
table from which there was a perfect
view of the floor and presently, ovei
their sundaes, both were lost in the
fascination of the scene.
The music changed. The tremulous,
nurying throb OF classic waltz gave
.nlace to "jazz with all the wool on, !"
Jim exclaimed, mostly to himself.
From settee Just In front Of Jim ana
Gladys man and girl arose, swung
lightly into each others arms and
tloated away into the crowd.
To speak Of jazzers Floating" may
be, ordinarily, fantastic use of Ian
guage-but not when applied to JAZZ
zers such as these. A leaf, caught in
the current Of a ripping, gurglIng,
Jolly little rapid, never swan more
lightly with all its tremons and rock
lngs and quiverings,
And 1t was as single leaf, thrill
ing with the Joy Of its adventure,
that they danced Jim found him
self suddenly very wide awake as he
watched them, almost breathless in his
admiration of the superb perform
ance.
He turned suddenly to Gladys. Did
you notice that couple who were sit
ting in front of us. Did you ever see
anything like their dancing?"
"You mean that creature in black
with the bobbed blond hair?" Gladys
inquired in turn. That's the trouble
with all such public places as this.
They never seem to be able, some
how, to keep them out, A really nice
girl can't" Gladys let her sem
fence trail OF into nothing.
Jim had reply on his lips When
there suddenly descended upon Gladys
three extraordinary gushing young
buds named Burton, who had arrived
81 their place In the Vale only that
day me buTgonS bnareu VIII me
lSimbaIls the distinction Of being the
Z l.sery nicestn Of the Vale colonisJ.
Jim thought the girls rather rude
b the manner Of their carrying
Gladys of to see their mother, who
was outside IN the Limousine, you
know" II he had been less easy
tsmpered he might have resented the
pffhand way in which Gladys, tltnglng
hind command to stay here, Jim.
sie, disappeared I'm the direction OF
the big doorway. But he didn't ap-
pear 10 mind.
Twenty minutes later Gladys, re-
turning found another party at the
table and Jim nowhere in sight. The
slight Indignation she felt at her
fiancess failure to stay put" Jared
into wrath when, searching the pa
tliion with her eyes she beheld
Jimmy her own especial property,
a5zfng, actually jazzing, and with
no one in the world but the sinuous,
bob haired girl with the astonishing
hack gown that showed glimpsoa OF
aif hose and the girls own white