South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-05-18
At T1geIUe; Noon
By Isabel Frost

II had never seemed quite so
hard as that Saturday morning For
over a year Tess had worked in the
big paper box factory on MacDougal
ST.. carrying tall piles Of boxes back
and forth as they were finished by
the older hands" and ready for
the packers.
She was Is when she started in,
and the 50 q week had seemed so
much 20 the little family tucked
away in three rooms on Sullivan
ST With her mother and Danny
helping. too, il wasn't hard TO get
along at all, and when the weather
was good they all went over into
Washington square at night to rest
and dream awhile.
But up in the factory the other
girls had never admitted her into
that inner circle Of friendly intimacy
that always exists where there are
fellow workers. Perhaps IL was
because she wasn't pretty. The first
week she had gone there, Carl, the
shipping clerk had sized her up
jOCularly and remarked that shed
be some frost at the Winter Garden
with that face hung on her"
Tess had heard and hated him
with all her heart, even while the
hot tears filled her eyes, and she bit
her lip TO keep back the swift re-
tort. She had taken a good look
at herself in the little crooked mir
ror over the wash basin where the
girls put on their hats. and it was
perfectly true. She wasn't a bit
pretty. She didn't know how 10
49,. -
style and she had freckles, and her
mouth was too large. There was no
one to tell her that her eyes were
big and lustrous, and her complex
ion clear and pink When she
smiled there was a charm that
frightened her whole face. 1t came
as a birthFight from a mother who
had been born near Killarney But
Tess only saw the red hair and
freckles, and hated them with all
her heart
The next year il was much worse.
The boys and girls in the factory
formed "a social club. and gave little
dances and picnics and Tess was
left out with old Julia, the scrub
woman. and Lizzie the little hunch-
back sOrter of labels. She tried 10
think she didn't care. but when Tom
Blake came 10 work on the freight
elevator. she knew she did She'd
have given everything she owned to
make Tom look at her as he looked
at some Of the other girls. and es-
pecialIy TeIka.
Telka was one Of the experienced
hands on bridal cake boxes. she
pasted on the satin striped paper
and the delicate, frostlike lace lin
iugs, and always sang as she worked.
She was from northern Hungary,
with the mystery of the Magyars in
her curious. attractive eyes and slow
smile. once when one OF the boys
had tried 10 kiss her. she had slap
ped him, and when he hurled a
choice bit of good old BOwery
"call down" at her returned. Telka
had promptly seized her scissors and
chased him downstairs into a corner
until he begged her pardon.
The second week, as Tess was
going down on the freight elevator
AT noon time. Tom took a bunch of
flowers from a paStebOard shoe box
at his feet and gave them 10 Telka.
They were not city flowers. Tess
could tell that There was a Whit
of rose Eerauium and sweet alyssum,
with heliotrope and mignonette.
we live up in Fordham." Tom
said Mother picked that bunch
for me this morning from her gar
den. Like ito
Telka smiled. her face behind the
towers Surely she liked them.
Tess watched them both with a little
hearta che Of curiosity. What was
this love that doomed overnight
like a flower itself and brought the
lustre 10 the eyes and the color 10
the cheeks Of Girls like Telka? When
the Hungarian girl got of at the
sixth floor, Tom turned and saw his
other passenger. her arms full OF
boxes as Usual
Hello. kid he said happily. Can
I light q match on your hair?"
'Smsrty." retorted Tess. holly,
and Tom looked ar her twice Dim
plies and red curly hair were not
such a bad combination afts- all