The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-09-29

expressiveness OF iOup and manner; at
all events, Florence made perfectly
clear her position as person of
worth. dealing with the lowest of all
her interiors. She went on, not paus-
Ing:
Il thought, being as was related to
you, and all the family and everybody
else goin' to haf to read your ole
newspaper, anyway it'd be u good
thing If what was printed in it wasn't
all a disgrace to the family. because
the name Of our family's got mixed up
with this newspaper; SO herei''
Thus speaking. she took the poem
from her pocket and with dignity
held 1t forth to her cousin.
Whats thatT Herbert Inquired, not
moving hand. He was but an anna
teur, yet already enough of an editoc
to have his suspicious.
ITS poem." Florence said. II don't
know whether ! exackly ought to have
1t in your ole newspaper or not, but on
account Of the fnmily's sake guess I
better. Here. take it."
Herbert at once withdrew a few
steps. placing his hands behind him.
Listen, here" he said. "you think we
got time to read lot o writin' In
your ole handwritin' that nobody can
read anyhow. and then so to work and
toll and mol to print 1t on the printin'
press7 1 guess we got work enough
printin' what we wrote for our news
paper our own selvesl My goodness,
Florence, 1 told you this isn't any
child's playw
Florence appeared to be somewhat
bafned. "Well." she said. "wel, you
better put this poem in your ole news
paper II you want to have anyhow one
thing in 1t that won't make everybody
sick that reads It"
II won't do itw Herbert said, more
firmly.
"What you take US fort" his partner
added. convincingly.
"All right. then" Florence respond
ed. with apparent decisiveness. "In
go back and tell Uncle Joseph and he'll
take this printing press back"
HE will not take 1t back. 1 already
did tell him how you keep pokin'
around tryin' to run everything, and
we Just worried our lifes out tryin' to
keep you away. He said he bet 1t was
hard job; that's what Uncle Joseph
said. So go on, tell him anything you
want to. You don't get yor ole poem
in our newspaper
Not II she lived to be two hundred
years old!" Henry Rooter added.
Then he had an afterthought. mot
unless she pays for it."
"How do you mean?" Herbert asked,
puzzled.
Henry's brow had become corrugat-
ed with no little professional impress
siveness. you know what we were
talkin' about this morning." he said
"How the right way to run our news
paper, we ought to have some adver-
tisements in 1t and everything. Well,
we want money. don't we? We could
put this poem in our newspaper like
an advertisement; that is, If Florence
has got any money, we could"
Herbert frowned. 'If her ole poem
isn't too long. guess we could. Here,
let's see II, Florence" And. taking
the sheet of paper in his hand. he
studied the dimensions of the poem,
though without paining himself to read
It. well, guess. maybe we can do
charge herr" W
This question plunged Henry Rooter
into state Of calculation, while Flor
ence observed him with yelled anxl-,
ETY.: but after a time he looked up,
his brow showing continued strain.
do you keep a bank. Florence-for
nickels and dimes and maybe quar-
ters. you known" he inquired.
It was her cousin who impulsively
replied for her. mo. she don't" he
said. rst4'f 81 b. .
mot since was about seven years
old - Florence added sharply, though
with dignity. "Do you still make mud
pies in your back yard, pray?" 4
"Now, see hereI" Henry objected
''Try and be a lady anyway for few
minutes, can't you? got to figure
out how much we got to charge YOU,
for your ole poem, don't II"
"Well, then." Florence returned,
"you better ask me somep'm about
that. hadn't your"
"Well," said Henry Rooter. "have
you got any money at homer
mo, 1 haven't"
"Have you got any money with
your"
Eyes. I have"
"How much is it,"
81 won't tell you."
Henry frowned. "I.guess we ought
to make her pay about two dollars and
half" he said. turning to his part
| ner.
Herbert felt deferential; 1t seemed
to him that he had formed a business
association with genius, and for a
moment he was dazzled: then he re-
membered Florence's financial capac-
tiles. always well known to him, and
he looked depressed. Florence. her.
self, looked Indignant.