The Press., 1922-07-27
The City of Dreams
R JESSIE DOUGLAS


 G%~~$>>>>~~%.%%%%%*%~%~%%%A' d, lssh sy Msciurs Newspaper Syndicate.
 "What do people do to get acQualnt- adf' Annie Laurie Ware thought des- parately.
 She was walking along one of those streets in Harlem where the buildings seem to form canyon, where the ave nues are ugly crosscutS, where there Is no vista to rest the eye.
 "Now, if 1 should just stop this man coming and say, I'm 90 dsspsr- ately lonely that I'd like to cry ! wonder what he'd do. Gall a police man, 1 suppose.
 Annie Laurie had come quite close to him now, and she saw that he had keen blue eyes and two pleasant creases in his cheeks, that he glanced at her casually and that when he did she felt the blood color her face.
 "Just as though he knew that was thinkingI" Annie Laurie went on dis cOnBOlately, as she turned the corner. "Now, if I looked back and he looked back and Why, Annie Laurie, I'm scandaliEed at yOu!" she told herself.
 She stopped a moment before shop window; 1t was a very tiny shop with just enough glass to show Boston ferns, q feathsry spray of hlacs and some narcIssuB blooming in a shallow bowl.
 He'd say, Would you rather have violets today, Annie Laurie, or just roses as usuRiT"
 Anything can do for you, missT r
 Annie Laurie started. She realized she had stopped longer than she need before this window. and she blushed and looked down at her glove, which was quite white at the finger tips where 1t should have been gray, and hssitated.
 "Yes. I should like a bulb," she said, boldly. and some pebbles and R very, very little bowl"
 "Forty-hye, miss"
 Annie Laurie just had fifty cents left and she realized with a pang that 1t meant she would have no lunch tOmorrOw-and she hoped there would be no delay with her pay en- VelOpe.
 She smuggled her precious bulb under her arm and made the journey back to her room without further ad- venture.
 Ut must have sun and 1t must have water" she said aloud as she set 1t in the open window ledge.
 She let the water drip over her bulb and heard an irritated voice as- cend from the regions below: But ! don't need any water, thank you"
 Annie Laurie peered down. and the voice peered up. until sic found her self looking into the very blue eyes of the man she had passed.
 'Oh, it's yOu!" she gasred,
 Then overcome at the betrayal of her words, she pulled in her head and in her embarrassment dislOdged her precious bulb. She heard 1t gel rattling down the areaway amid the sharp chatter of her pebbles. and a. she saw her little bowl shattered into fragments she gave a heart-brOken wall.
 'Pn see what can dO," a sympa, thetic voice called up to her.
 Remember, Annie Laurie, how you were brought np!" she warned her self.
 When, i've minutes later, a breath, less young man with laughing blue eyes presented her with 6 stubby brOwr bulb, Annie Laurie, with dropped lids that hid all the light of her dancing eyes, answered primly. ''Thank you very much"
 That was all.
 That thank you very much pre- cluded all other conversation. You couldn't talk about the weather sud derly or even about having seen cer tain person heRore, so the young man thought, when prim little guardian held the floor.
 And Annie Laurie hack in her room vus l0nelier than ever,
 "I know he's nice" she walled. III has eyes like little Bennie, and hi, vrice-Hnd l shall just have 10 rn trp Snme aE ever. dying 6! l0EP' rxS. going down to the office In Il r,arh'ng and coming hnck In the. ert ming. and wishing in the meantime."
 And she did.
 The ache in her heart was get ting harder to bear all the time and If ii hadn't been for the five dollars frame house in St. Petersburg. she might have given up the struggle and fled home.
 Her letters were full of the charm of New York, Of Fifth avenue In the sunshine. of a shop window that was glimpse into fairyland, of colorful East side streets and the mystery of the river after dusk-all this and more - Annie Laurie wrote about, while her shoes showed stubbed toes, and her little gloves had patched fingers and her hat-wel, she refused even to consider it any longer.
 One afternoon the temptation was strong and she stopped before the tiny shop and breathed in the scent Of trailing arbutus.
 'T must have some" she told the bent old woman.
 The little, bushy, fragrant sprays of sweet blossoms were tied in white tissue before she asked. And how much Is 1t, pleaseT
 "SeVenty-ave."
 She searched in her pocket and she felt in her purse. but all she could lind was fifty cents. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment for there was another customer in the shop