Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1920-01-02

.
by gollyl" suddenly exclaimed Dor
is from where she stood by the win
dow, "if that job doesn't end soon
there won't be a clam left in the
cover"
Doris !" came the ~reproachful voice
OF her mother, please don't use such
%unladylike words"
Find me one as expressive and !
won't" responded the irrepressible
Doris. "Tm dying for some clans, and
those laborers laying the new gas
pipes are just digging them ali up be-
fore l get q look-in."
but they are busy putting in the
pipes, aren't they, dear?' mildly quer-
led Doris mother. "How can they dig
clans at the same timer"
"Oh, they're just stalling on the job,
mother, waiting for some more pipe.
The little foreman told me SO yester-
day. Meanwhile they're just digging
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 n 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 l limited broad
ly enough"
The little mother remarked in a re-
signed tone: He thought you were
a child, probably, with your bobbed
hair and that short, red skirt"
81 should worry what he thought /;
he's some country clam himself"
Doris replied, l%aughingly. "All the
same, 1 wish my boots would arrive.
It wal so stupid of us to forget them"
Then sp%eculatively: That waters too
cold to go into b~arelegged."
81 should say So" the mother made
haste to reply. Doris, don't you
think of such a thing"
mo, mother, 1 won't" dutifully
spoke the daughter, busily scheming in
her impatient young head some way
of getting over those clam fats, where
at the moment several Italians were
industriously digging.
Now, Mrs. Dart, Doris mother, had
purposely omitted packing those boots.
She had a rather guilty feeling all day,
as Doris watched for the parcels post.
This clever, up-to-date young daugh-
ter 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 al
the rate of thirty-fve per, with a
months vacation" as Doris herself ex-
pressed it?
And didn't that weekly ~thirty-ive
make possible the yearly vacations 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 on bobbing her hair with
the ridiculous excuse that it saved
time.
And then those awful knickers-and
boots-that she insisted on wearing out
fishing and claiming! But Mrs. Dart
preferred not to think about them.
Doris was a wizard at finding a way
out of a dilemma. Probably that was
why she succeeded so well in business
The only way out of her present one
she decided, was over a bridge farthe:
Up the
This bridge had been started with q
flourish by some bunko amusement
and finished in a izzle. II
lacked five feet of reaching the fiat is
land In the center of the cove. But
IN that island were clams-that could
he gotten at without the aid of boots
So on the following day, no boots
having arrived and low tide coincid
ing with her mothers rest hour, Doris
cot into the obnoxious knickers and
ormed with short-handled hoe and
hag. walked over the unfinished bridge
took a flying downward leap-and
there she was!
The clans we're plentiful. This wa.
q Mace the laborers had not hit upon
Doris dug and dug, and the tide crept
ND and up. Clam digging is a time
consuming work so when the bag was
nearly filed the strenuous young lady
was relieved to find by a glance at hel
watch that 1t was not quite time fol
her mothers nap to be over. But a
the bridge she found, somewhat to he
dismay, ten feet of water, shallow II
be sure, but growing deeper every mo
ment between the low shore and thu
much higher end Of the bridge.
"Time and tide" quoted Doris, rue
fully, as she started bravely through
1t. The water was knee deep wher
she managed to throw the bag up onto
the bridge; but getting herself up was
quite another proposition. The sant
was soft and her feet sank into 1t.
Doris didn't give up easily once sh'
started to do a thing, but when he
foo+ oroxy pumh she accented the fu