The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-10-02

satisfaction. 1t left her free to give
her whole attention to the decidedly
perilous crossings: With only twelve
minutes. in which to walk four blocks,
make out withdrawal slip and reach
the end Of the line at the paying
teller's windeW, it behooves one to
lose no time. Twice she was in the
middle of the street when the signal
for the throbbing motors and rearing
horses to move forward, was given,
and so twice she made wild dash for
the opposite corner. For the rest, her
journey was made without incident,
and at precisely five minutes after two
she walked slowly down the banks
broad stairs and out upon the street
again.
There were several articles upon
Dolores shopping list and, as might
be expected, no two of these could be
purchased advantageously under the
same roof. She was glad that the
lake breeze had grown stronger; it
was the only thing that made life IN
the downtown streets endurable. How
ever with her precious savings care
fully slowed away in the smallest
compartment of her bag, instead OF
the strong boxes OF the bank, she felt
that she could take her own sweet
time about the other and less impor-
tant matters; and this she proceeded
to do.
A clock somewhere had chimed the
quarter after four, when everything
having been attended to, Dolores was
deciding between train or surface
car to take her home; al then she
recalled that there was sale on hair
nets at one of the cheaper shops.
Dolores never had enough hair nets.
To miss this sale would be next to
criminal, SO she made her way back
through the home-going crowds and
was soon pushing her way through the
revolving doors with the rest OF the
bargain seekers.
HalfS of the city was bent on net
buying, she soon discovered. There
would be no getting near the counter
for ten minutes. Fearing for her
pretty organdy gown, Dolores staid on
the edge of the crowd and for want OF
something better to do, examined
tissue envelopes of bias tape. you
know the fellow. He's thin kind of
man and honest enough, but he hates
to give you your price. / says to him,
Now you san take it or leave it, but
you'll not have that piano for a cent
less than five dollars" Dolores found
herself hemmed in and could not help
listening to what the woman in the
startling blue hat was pouring into her
sympathetic neighbours ear.
II followed him down into the street
and told him what 1 thought of his
ways. If your little girl wants the
piano so bad, why don't you be man
and buy it for her? Five. dollars is all
I'm asking for piano that was good
enough for old Miss Lee to give les
sons on for twenty-seyen years. !
knew what l was talking about, be-
cause she told me so herself when she
was dying. An awful good woman she
was, Miss Lee, but there wasn't MANY
,she took to or that took to her. But
she gave me the piano, for she had no
one at all else in the world to leave
it to. 1t had seven keys broken, but
they could be easily fixed by handy
man. Oh, he got bargain at five
dollars!"
Dolores choked on a stifled laugh.
So much for all her romancing and
lavishly squandered sympathy! The
woman had turned halfway around
in the yehemence of her explanations.
There was no mistaking the tightly
knotted hair and the thin Hips, even
though they were smiling now. The
heroine of the sidewalk pantomime
stood before her. Dolores decided She
needed air and chance to laugh at
that particular moment more than she
needed hair nets. She waited to hear
no more.
Alice Hapden. IN Mem World