The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-09-01
EUening Story
The Good Luck knock,seslrr..
BY JANE OSBORN

Myra Grimwade stopped at the l-ur-
seryman's on her way home from
school one Saturday afternoon in
October. She was buying SOME bulbs
to be planted now for spring flower
ing. The nurseryman asked her if she
did not want to set out any shrubs or
small trees.
Myra hesitated. .'I know the place
lacks shade dreadfulIy.' she said, but
it would be several fears before they
You aren't thinking of leaving. are
your? smiled the old nnseryman
good natul eddy.
"Oh. no." assured Myra, "oniy one
hates to put lot of money in place
on shrubs and trees when one isn't
enjoy them. 1 get my appointment by
the school board only for year at
time"
"I guess there's no chance the
school board won't reappoint you" as
sured the nurseryman, who was well
informed in local politics. why,
there's Miss Shocks. She's taught in
the schools for forty years"
Myra suppressed sigh. Forty
years." she gasped. That's a long,
long time"
But she went home with her bulbs
without buying the shrubs.
Myra was twenty-four. She had
been appointed to teach English in
the high school in Dalton two years
| before when she left college. and be-
cause she had no family and didn't
like boarding houses and did like the
shady streets and quiet ways OF the
| little town of Dalton, she had built
| little house on an available lot on one
of the newer streets of the town. She
sometimes looked upon the purchase
as an investment. Most of her neigh
bers thought of it as a sign that Myra
| Grimwade had decided to teach in
Dalton the rest of her life.
One day Myra was browsing around
| q. little secondhand furniture shop in
a rundown neighborhood of old Dali
ton. She was looking for a inexpen-
| sive pair of andirons. She did not
fiEd the andirons, but she did come
upon a much-tarnished brass knocker
I thrown in with other bits of junk in
! a decrepit old scuttle. She bought It
| for song, making no comments that
| price.
Its one of those miserable old
things" commenced the dealer. TT
came off a house they tore down
somewhere around here. Had to chop
the door down, a'mast to get the
knocker, but, then, the door was bust
in. anyway. Nowadays they makes the
| knockers SO they screw on easy, but
| this one has rivets that goes right
thru. If it hadn't "a been made so
|
no one wanted to go to all that fuss to
fasten it on"
Myra waited until she reached home
| to admire thG knocker at leisure. 1t
was large, and displayed a griffin's
head of a stamp that Myra had never
seen on any modern replicas. But she
hesitated about putting it on her front
door. Once it was attached, reasoned
Myra, it would have to remain in
place. If she left and sold her house,
future tenants would not appreciate
the old knocker; they would not pay
! her what it was worth. Besides, she
wanted the knocker herself
Then one day after rather gloomy
/ day at school and a gloomier visit
from Miss Shocks. Myra gave instruc-
tons to a nearby carpenter to=go- to
work and fasten the old knocker on
her front door. The next day when
she returned from school he was wait
| ing to finish the~job. Before her sup
fper the knocker was in place When
| it was knocked it sent out booming
sound that fairly shook the little
tim going to stay here the rest OF
my life" she told a young teacher
who called on her that evening. I've
had the knocker attached. so there is
no selling out now. I'll be second
| Miss Snooks@'
''Fiddlesticks, Myra," said her COM
panion. You'll marry, of course"
Whom would marry?" asked
! Myra. with eyes wide open.
Don't ask me-" laughed the other
teacher. Every girl has two or three
men to choose from when the time
comes"
IT haven't" said Myra simply. The
other teacher shrugged her shoulders
and the matter seemed to be settled.
The next day a letter came from
Tom Jarrold, a letter that Myra had
been expecting for many months. But
| when she opened 1t and read it she
found that the letter said more than
she had expected Tom Jarrold's let
ter would say; Briefly he wanted to
marry her. He had been on long
| business "trip. Affairs had shaped
themselves, as he would explain later
| He had been released from an old en-
gageInent and now offered himself
and his millions to Myra.
Myra at first felt resentment that
Tom had not relieved her anxiety by
writing before, then there was Curl
/ osity concerning the other engage
ment. of which she had never known.
Later she was in a mood to write a
| letter that would amount to an &C
ceptance. Then she looked up from
her desk, saw the rivets of the knock
er sticking thru to the inside of the
door. and wrote a letter of refusal
| Somehow now that I've got that
knocker attached I can't leave" she
| lold herSeII. IhoSe old r1VetS seem
to hold me right here to Dalton
The letter was sealed and Myra
started at loud resounding knock
She opened the door and stood face to
face with Bailey Hanway, known TO
every one in Dalton save newcomers
| like herself.
Pardon me-" he said, but I saw
our old knocker, your old knocker
now. of course. You see our family
| has lived here for centuries. That
knocker was on the old Hanway house,
torn down ten years ago while I was
off at college. Then you know was
in France during the war and after
that business kept me across for a
while. and-well, always intended to
get hold of the old door knocker. but
1 never did. just happened to see it
as I was passing and Thought I'd
lstop.''
Myra asked Bailey Hanway to sit