The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-02-25

/ stop in that office by Gawd CT. he'd see
to it that somebody had hell Knocked
out of 'em. The one-eyed boy whose
given name was Lawrence Briggs
Hanchett but whom we called "Slob"
because of his propensity to cow
everything in the place but tie pay
roll with ink whenever Is filed lie
press fountains, ceased removing his
glass eye and rolling it around Tie
! stove because it Mortified the girls,
! and MIR. Nimrod Briggs who helped
with the ads and tended press, button
/ cd his vest for the first time in years;
! he cha 1ge.' his shirt as often as twice
a month and showed up 60: work SO
regularly on Monday mornings that
the proplletors Of the DAILY i -Ie-
graph noting that these charges
had begun with the advent of the
pretty little compositor-rose up and
called her blessed.
There were three other girls in the
office: Annie Seavers was the senior
of these in point of enployment-a
big horse of a female with sloppy
! heels, receding chin and three rolls
of fat on her neck under washed-out
brown hair which would never stay
! combed Annie fran" with the River
| Street crowd, which was decidedly
not a crowd for Mary at all, keeping
up the traditions and popular concep-
ton Of females who would work in
printing offices.
Susie Whitcomb was the second; a
; conscientious little soul in gold spec
tacles which she wore halfway down
very freckled nose. But she was a
slow-witted girl who lacked imagin-
ation-always scented with cheap
perfumery and clothed in homemade
dresses of coarse stitches which were
always parting somewhere about her
anatomy.
The third girl-Mabel Henderson,
more Familiarity known as "Mibb"-
was black-eyed Independent young
spit-fre whose mother ran the mill
clearinghouse at the east end of
town. Mibb spent most of her wages
on caramels and clothes and was al
ways talking over the typecases
about her gentlemen friends" Her
father was poor, over-grown, incon-
sequental soul who toiled not:
neither did he spin, and who spent
his days sitting around in grocery
stores or blacksmith shops keeping
folks informed about the progress Of
his old army trouble.
Between a mother with caustic
sweaty temper who was forever "tell-
ing the world' how she had thrown
herself away marrying old Harvey
Henderson, and a father who dined II
| the kitchen from scraps the boarderf
left-Mibb had grown up with rather
advanced ideas about the matrimonial
relation.
Uncle Joe Fodder, the town philo
sopher who ran the livery stable be
hind the Whitney House on MAR
street, had often declared that Mibl
at fifteen knew more than most wo
men know on their wedding night.
I "Harvey's wife is sort o. female
battleship," quoth Uncle Joe, "ane
! Harvey always reminds me of two OF
| three hours o. July afternoon. An6
when you get a battleship married to
! two or three hours o. July afternoon
! it amt reasonable to expect that the
] offspring's goin' to recite any phe-
nomenal number O. scripture verses
| at a Sunday School entertainment
/; Some young folks know a lot about
marriage by missin' it to home. Show
me home where the mother runs the
bank account and I'll show We a
bunch o. kids who usually don't rise
up and give the old man chair when
he hoofs it in!'
This was the general attitude of the
village toward the Hendersons. And
/ yet there was one redeeming feature
about the Henderson girl, because of
which the village made due allowance
for her freshness" BY one of those
strange pranks which Nature often
plays in small town, the girl coulsl
! sing.
/ Sing?
5: She had a contralto voice that
! Uncle Joe further remarked was
"hquid glory given her to sooth the
savage beast-probably referrin' to
t her old woman beautiful voice
that needed only training to make
Nib prodigy. But it had not ben