The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-11-05
A Little Squirt by Lulu
SHORT STORY By SEWELL FORD
By SEWELL FORD

Anyway, she did. And if you'll be-
lieve it, the dinner was all that was
advertised, and more. Not the hard,
chevy kind of cold storage fowl with
embalmin' fluid poured over it, such
as you usually get; but the tender
kind grandmother used to serve, with
dumplings and lots of gravy in bowl.
Also the waitress was almost as easy
to look at as Gladys had described.
"a goddess of the Green Noun
tains, as Dunsany would call her."
says Pinckney. What delicate tints
in her cheeks, tool"
"Put on with a rabbits foot, eh?"
suggests.
"No, indeed" protests Gladys. "She
is perfect child of Nature; sweet
and simple, and innocent. Her name
is Lulu-Lulu Pilley. We have come
to be great friends. l mean to take
her back to town with me, as a maid.
Think how stunning she'll be in a
black dress with lace collar and cuff.
Just fancy! The largest place she's
seen has been Rutland. What fun it
will be to take her around New York
with me and listen to her coquetish
prattle about all the wonderful sights;
and if should get the contract l ex-
pect-
Gladys has to cut her gushin' short
when Lulu appears with the apple pie
you'd stand on your head to eat, if
necessary. And there was a hunk of
real rat cheese to go with it.
BY being little slow 1 manages to
linger behind the others so l had a
word on the side with Lulu.
81 hear you're coming to town as
Miss Tarleton's maid?" says l.
"You can hear a lot of bunk if you
stretch your ear" says the simple
country girl.
why" thought you two was great
cnumS, says l.
That's part of my job" says Lulu,
mo matter what big nuts some of 'em
are. She's worse than most of the
men, Gladys is; and take it from me,
a lot of these auto tourists are mighty
fresh. They're a heap freer with the
josh than they are at handin' out
tips"
"Oh!" says 1. "Now that you've
mentioned it" and 1 slips a dollar
to go with the one I'd seen Pinckney
tuck under the plate.
So we left Gladys at Simpkinsville
and in the course of time we got back
home and that's the last I'd seen or
heard of her until here the other day
she appears, as 1 was tellin' You, in
the front Office. l takes Swifty's
bunch, too, and slips coat on over
my gym uniform. finds her standin'
in front of the mirror powderin' her
nose, as usual.
mice of you to look me up again,
Miss Tarleton's maid?" says 1.
ooh. you men!" says she, duckin'
her chin kittenish. But truly, Pro-
fessor, simply had to have the help
of some man friend today. You'd
never guess what for, either"
want to be chaperoned while you
call on some theatrical manager"
suggests.
"No, no." says Gladys, But you
remember Lulu Pilley, don't your"
1 has to scratch my head a second
before I connects up the name. ooh,
sure!" says I. "The innocent little
Green Mountain girl that"
Certainly says Gladys. "Well, do
you know, at one of those roof garden
performances about ten days ago /
saw a girl in the chorus who reminded
me so much of Lulu that when l got
home I just sat down and wrote to
her. This morning had an answer.
And what do you think? She isn't
in Simpkinsville at ALL
MOP" says 1. Got a job in Rut-
land?"
81 should say not" says Gladys.
"She's right here in New York. The
letter come from the Hotel Palmore,
West Saith Street. l presume she's a
chambermaid or something there"
Sounds reasonable" says I. What
them"
"Why," says Gladys, "if she is, per-
haps l can induce her to leave and
come with me as a maid, just as a had
planned. l may not get that contract
l was expecting after all. In fact, I've
about given up hope for this season.
But 1 do need a personal maid and
Lulu would be such dear. So l want
to look her up. But I can't go prowl-
ing around a strange hotel all by my
II