The Topeka state journal., 1919-06-20
EVENING STORY
CLANS.
BY DORA NOLAN.


Doris from where she stood by the
window, "if that job doesn't end soon
there won't be clam left in the
cove"
"Doris!" came the reproving voice
of her mother, please don't use such
unladylike words"
Find me one as expressive and
won't" responded the irrepressible
Doris. I'm dying for some CLAIMS and
those laborers laying the new gas
pipes are just digging them all up be-
fore get Iook-in."
But they are busy putting in the
pipes, aren't they, dear?" mildly
queried Doris's mother. How can
they dig CLAIMS at the same timer"
"Oh, they're just stalling on the
| Job, mother, waiting for some more
pipe. The little foreman told me so
yesterday. Meanwhile they're just dig
ging up all the clans"
Doris" the mother again started to
demonstrate with her lively young
daughter. but as often happened, that
same daughter took the words from
her mouth. 81 know. mother, what
you're going to say-'Please don't go
around talking to that strange young
man. You needn't worry. I've only
seen one worth speaking to since we
came-and he was claiming, too.
| Came from over across the cove some
| where. Got a lot, too. If he'd had
any decency he'd have offered me
some. Goodness knows / limited
broadly enough"
signed tone, HE thought you were a
child. probably, with your bobbed hair
and that short, red skirt"
II should worry what he thought;
| he's some country clam himself"
Doris replied, laughingly. "All the
r.
1t was SO stupid of us to forget them"
Then speculatively. THAT waters too
cold to go into barelegged."
| 'I should say So" the mother made
haste to reply. Doris, don't you think
of such thing"
mo, mother. I won't" dutifulIy
spoke the daughter, busily scheming
in her impatient young head some way
OF getting over on those clam flats,
where at the moment several Italians
were industriously digging.
Now, Mrs. Dart, Doriss mother,
had purposely omitted packing those
boots. She had a rather guilty feel
ing all day, as Doris watched for the
parcels post. This clever up-to-date
young daughter was rather beyond the
old fashioned mother.
She was proud of her, of course, for
didn't that same cleverness enable
Doris to hold up the government at
the, rate of thirty-five per, with a
months vacation" as Doris herself
expressed it? -.
make possible the yearly vacation at
the shore, even if sometimes they had
to come at an unheard of early date
But, oh dear! if the child would only
care about clothes like other girls and
not insist en- bobbing her hair with the
ridiculous excuse that it saved time.
And then those awful knickers-
and boots-that she insisted on wear
ing out fishing and clammingi But
Mrs. Dart preferred not to think about
3. them.
u Doris was a wizard at finding a way
Tout of a dilemma. Probably that was
4 twhy she succeeded so well in business.
EThe only way out of her present one,
she decided wat over a bridge farther
up thef cove.
4 This bridge had been started with a
4 flourish by some bunko amusement
company nd finished in a fizzle. 1t
lacked five feet of reaching the flat
island in the center of the cove. But
on that island were clams-that could
be gotten at without the aid of boots.
So on the following day, no boots
having arrived and low tide coinciding
with her mothers rest hour, Doris
got into the obnoxious knickers and,
| armed with short-handled hoe and a
bag, walked over the unfinished
bridge, took a flying downward leap
and there she was!
The CLAIMS were plentiful. This was
| a place the Iaborers had not hit upon.
Doris dug and dug. and the tide crept
up and up. Clam digging his time
consuming work; so when the bag
was nearly filled, the strenuous young
lady was relieved to find by a glance
at her watch that it was not quite
time for her mothers nap to be over.
But at the bridge she found some
what to her dismay, ten feet of water,
shallow to be sure, but growing deep
er every moment between the low
shore and the much higher end OF
the bridge.
Time and tide" quoted Doris. rue
fully, as she started bravely thru it
The water was knee deep when she
managed to throw the bag up onto
) the bridge: but getting herself up was
, quite another proposition. The sand
was soft and her feet sank into it.
Doris didn't give up easily once she
started to do a thing, but when her
: feet grew numb she accepted the fu-
tility of further effort and waded
back to the island.
No one was in sight. Even the Ia
borers had gone home. A loud
/ running from the cottage and out onto
the bridge. but she was powerless to
help.
In the tower window of a large
!, house situated some distance across
the cove d yOuHS IIldHs WIN l1S dlo
of binoculars. was watching the man
euvers of a seaplane out on the bay
! 1t disappeared up the river and the
watcher. taking the glasses from his
eyes, glanced indifferently over tbs
Immediate landscape.
> Hello! There's that kid digging
clans down on the island" Ht
brought the glasses into play just a.
Doris started for the bridge, and
laughed as she made the first unsuc.
] cessful attempt to gain the structure
! But when the second and the third
ended in failure his face sobered
'She's mighty plucky, anyway; look.
}, like it's up to me to get boat out anc
: give her a lift
8 Mrs Dart spied the young man run
< ming down toward the. cove and point
[ ed at him Doris ran nVer TO that sid