The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-04-09
Eoening Story
May Tries, Being a Hick.
BY WILL T. AMES.

/ land there IS trddltionr lmmuta Die as
the laws of the Modes and the Per-
slams. that never yet save thru opera
ton of extreme violence and utterly
against her own will did one of the
sisterhood leave the city and go to
May Dart, expert board operator in
| the Bryant exchange, informed her
| friends, Gladys Stein and Ethel Man
ming, that she was quitting the job
! that night and going to Stonyport,
away off in the wilds of Connecticut.
| to live, they simultaneously gaped at
her increduously, and with one voice
cried:
Going to the countree! To stay!
Gonna live with the squirrels and be
hiek! For gawdsake' May. howja get
Jaw, 1 just thought I'd like to do
something different" replied May,
nonehalantly. Which was not the
| whole truth.
| DR.. MacKintry who had practised in
| the Ninth ward more years than May
was old land who had known her par
| ents - eased their successive tubeF-
| culous departures out of the world,
in fact-had eajoled, commanded. bull
! lied and finally thoroly frightened
May into getting away from New York
before as he phrased it, New York got
! her.
| And so it came to pass that May.
| having been given a highly compli
mentaFy recommendation by her chief.
after a conference with that kindly
official. had applied for a place in the
| Stonyport telephone central and had
| be N enthusiastically accepted.
You re going-i ia time" said MacKin-
try IF you come back in less than
a year, I'll throw you off the dock"
| Stonyport fluttered between the con-
+ dition of big village and the status
Of small city. It called itself the
| latter and its most sophisticated So
cietx women smoked cigarets some
times. In the srNls of the big Massa-
peag Hotel. But its people still term
| the railroad station the depot and
| tradition and politics between them
| had so far succeeded in preserving
the bucolic institution of volunteer
fire department. Il
| May, as an hereditary coekney, ex-
perieneed sense of obligation to look
upon Stonyport with amused toler-
ance; an attitude in which she per-
sisted, tho she soon perceived that a
telephone station was a telephone sta
ton. whether in New York or New
| England, and that the limousines on
State street looked about as costly as
the ones on Forty-second.
The Stonyport air, however, was
fresher and cleaner than the carbon
| lied mixture that serves New York,
and the big, airy. three Widowed
room overlooking vista~of gardens,
| of which May was the exclusive mis-
tress, furnished a staggering contrast
to the tiny cell, smelling of gas, from
which she had looked out on the
dreary rear walls of Bank street
| Also, because there was no Gladys
and no Ethel and no Bryant Exchange
| Dancing club. and no long list of
| theaters and no Coney-ne anything,
! it seemed-May got more sleep, and
sounder, than she had ever known
| in her twenty-four years, So she
knew Doctor MacKintry for the wise
| old owl that he was-but she wasn't
| having a good time and again she
voted Stonypoint Jay town.
1t was inevitable. of course, that the
coming of Fred -Faxon into the life
| of the girl at this lonely stage of it
should be epecha1. Logical enough in
any event, inevitable when he was big
and good looking and had been thru
the thick of the hell In France and
| had come back to laugh over 1t and
tell funny stories about it by the hour.
He was the nephew of Mays fine
old landlady-that's how their ac-
auaintance came abQut-and he was
Just starting in business, a shining
model delicatessen shop. He had had
to start on a shoestring. he confided
in May and his 'wop" landlord would
only give him a misery two years
lease. But a fellow learned to take
chances over there. If he didn't learn
any thing else" Perhaps ii was be-
cause the chances of success were not
less hazardous-his prospects in life
better-that May caught Faxon look
ing at her SO wistfully every now and
then.
The Stonyports post OF the American
Legion was giving a hall for the en-
hancement of its building fund-a big
affair in the armory. May, resplend-
ant in the selfsame black and gold
party gown that had almost made
enemies of GLADYS and Ethel at the
Bryant clubs reception six weeks be-
fore, regally descended the stairs to
find Faxon, In his service uniform.
waiting in gaspfng admiration in the
hall.
you look wonderful" he exclaimed.
Are you all ready? We're not going
to be a minute too early
LAS soon as I put on my wrap"
May had scarcely uttered the words
Bang!" The great bell in the tower of
the engine house three doors away was
fairly rafting the windows.
Goodness gracious! What's that"
cried the girl. But the effect on Faxon
was amazing. "Damni-that is, ex-
euse me. Wait. Be back. Firei''
And tearing the door open, her escort
was gone.
What's more, he didn't come back. |
1t took ten minutes for May to rea-
lie that Faxoh had deserted her to go |
to a fire and to become fittingiy in
dignant. We'll. of all the low-down |
hiek trieks" she exclaimed. Even !
then she supposed that he would re-
turn presently. all apologies and was !
torn between the desire to revenge !
herself upon him and reluctance to !
miss the much anticipated ball. But I;
at the end of three-quarters of an |
hour. bitterly regretting that there was |
press her feelingsEMrs. Hewett was |
out at a church festival-the outraged |
Miss Dart betook herself to her room |
and to bed. And before she went TO !
sleep she determined that she had had !
about enough of hick gallants and |