South Bend news-times., 1921-05-18

4 90 AV1k green III 1A1~ ~ bNe-
little working girl. show me some
thing higher and lower"
Mr.. Skidder jumped and s.-ewed
the floor with cigaret stubs at the
rap on his door.
Excuse me, Mr.. Skidder." said
Mrs. Parker, with her demons smile
al his pale looks. II didn't know
YOU were in. I asked the lady TO
have look at your lambrequins." ="
They're too lovely for anything.'
said Miss Leeson. smiling IN exactly
the way the angels do.
After they had gone Mr.. Skidder
got very busy erasing the TALL black
haired heroine from his latest Gun
produced) play and inserting
small, roguish one with heavy, bright
hair and vivaciOus features.
Anna Heidi jump at It." said
Mr.. Skidder 70 himself. putting his
feet up against the lambreQuins and
disappearing in a cloud OF smoke
like an aerial cutuehsh.
Presently the tocsin cSn CT
Clara sounded 10 the world the
state OF Miss Lessons purse. A
dark goblin seized her, mounted a
Stygian stairway, thrust her into a
vault with a glimmer OF light in its
top and muttered the menacing and
cabalistic words Two dollars"
"I1l take it," sighed Miss Leeson,
sinking down upon the squeaky iron
bed
Every day Miss Leeson went out
TO work. At night she brought
home papers with handwriting on
them and made copies with her
typewriter Sometimes she had no
work at night. and then she would
sit on the steps Of the high stoOp
with the other roomers. Miss Lee
son was not intended for a skylight
room when the plans were drawn
for her creation. She was gay
hearted and full Of tender whimsi-
cal fancies. once she let Mr.. Skid
der read TO her three acts Of his
great (unpublished) comedy. "It's
80 Kid; or The Heir Of the Sub
way"
There was rejoicing among the
gentlemen roomers whenever Miss
Lceson had time to sit on the steps
for an hour or two. But Miss
Longnecker. the tall blonde who
taught in a public school and said.
"Weu. raally," to everything you
said. sat on the step and shifted
And Miss Dorm, who shot at the
moving ducks at Coney every Sun
10 4 in, dar,q r-fv a.
store sat on the bottom step and
shifted. Miss LeeSon sat on the
middle step and the men would
al y group around her.
Especially Mr.. Skidder, who had
cast her in his mind for the star
part I'm a private, romantic (unspOk-
en) drama in real life. And espe-
cially Mr.. Hoover, who was As, fat,
flush and foolish. And especially
very young Mr.. Evans. who set up
a hollow COught to induce her TO
ask him TO leave off cigarets. The
men voted her the funniest and
jolliest ever but the shifts on the
top step and the lower step were
implacable.
As Mrs. Parkers rOOmers sat thus
one summers evening, Miss Leeson
looked up into the armament and
cried with her little gay laugh:
why. there's Billy jackson I
can see him from down here. too"
All looked up-sOme at the win
dows of slSyscrapers, some casting
about for an airship, Jackson
guided
ITS that STAR explained Miss
Lesson. pointing with a tiny finger
Not the big one that twinkles-the
steady blue one near it. I can see
it every night through my skylight
1 named it Billy Jackson"
well, really" said Miss Long
necker. It didn't know YOU were an
astronomer, Miss I.eeson."
"Oh. yes" said the small star
gazer. II know as much as any Of
them about the style Of sleeves
they're going to wear next fall in
Mars"
"Weu. really" said Miss Long
necker. The star YOU refer to is
Gamma. Of the constellation Cassie
peia. 1t is nearly of the second
magnitude, and its meridian passage
is"
"Oh," said the very young Mr..
Evans. II think Billy Jackson is a
much better name for it."
Same here" said Mr.. Hoover,
loudly breathing defiance to Miss
LonEnecker. "I think Miss Leeson
has just as much right to name stars
as any Of those old astrologers had
well. really!" said Miss Long
necker.
CT wonder whether It's a shooting
star" remarked Miss Dorm. II hit
nine ducks and a rabbit out Of ten
i'm the gallery at Coney Sunday"
"He doesn't show up very we'll
from down here" said Miss Lesson.
"You ought 10 see him from my
room. You know YOU can see stars
even i'm the daytime from the bot
tom Of we'll. At night my room IS
like the shaft Of a coal mine, and II
makes Billy Jackson look like the
big diamond pin that Night fastens
her kimono with"
There came a time after that
when Miss Leeson brought no for
midable papers home TO copy. And
when she went from office TO office
and let her heart melt away in the
drip Of cold refusals transmitted
insolent office boys. This
went on
There came an evening when she
wearily climbed Mrs Parker-s
stoop az the hour when she always
returned from her dinner at the
restaurant But she had had no
dinner.
As she stepped into the hall Mr..
Hoover met her and seized his
~haura TTa asI-a1 her IN ~, r-r1- hin,