Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1922-06-29
An Empty Headed
Boss
Rn GAVIN HENDRICKS

Luella Marston looked at Howard ~
a daged sort of manner. She could
not quite understand what he was san,
ing; and she did not dare 70 undeg,
stand.
"Ranger never liked me- +. Ola
Bransforth took his side hGd Ia
support him :" The sentences were
meaningless 10 her.
Patiently Howard, taking both ben
hands In his, repeated the story. H&
had held a position tn BransforthG
company for six years, until RangsE
was made head Of his department.
Ranger was an empty-headed man
with the sole idea Of being good dr.
ciplinarian.
Bransforth had sent. for both a.
them, and Ranger had stated positively
that 1t was impossible for them t0
continue to work together. Al IasG
BransfOrth had turned to Howard
I'm sorry, Mr.. Gray" he said. "Bue
of course you understand l must ~
prove of Mr. Rangers course"
''2'hen I'll send you in my resigns
ton, sir" said Howard.
Brhnsforth certainly treated him
very fairly. He gave him two month";
salary and a cordial letter expressin@
his keen regrets at their separation.
Only, positions such as Howard had
filed were almost impossible to So
cure And Howard and Luella were
to have been married that May.
"Never mind, dear. You will get =
better position than before" LuelEG
said consolingly.
Her fance kissed her, but he knew
the awful difficulty # the task before
hin. lie lad been getting eighty dol
lars Il week, and ;he position had
seemed So permanent that he had
lived fairly well instead Of trying Tn
save money. He had only three hun
,'red in rhe bank for their first sun
9ly Of furniture. The ceaseless tramp
tramp through the hot streets, with
the constant rejection everywhere
wore on the young fellows nerves. HA
hardly dared to see Lueiia now.
They might have been married hap
PLY three months before. Howard
was becoming desperate
He had always avoided those part@
of the city contiguous to BransfOrth'&
And then-perhaps it was the heat.
which had been intense that week, On
the result of the nervous exhaustion
brought about by his dependency
but curious lapse Of memory over
came him.
LueIla called 1t fate afterwards.
The events Of the past three months
slipped from his mind completely
Once again he was a salaried employees
of Bransforth and company.
The spell was still upon him as hQ
climbed the long flight Of steps up to
the main Office
The office was half empty.
"Any mail for me today. RogersF
he asked the office boy.
IT don't think so, Mr.. Baldwin" tho
lad answered. Gee, I'm glad to see
you back, though
moment afterward TAFT came up
TO him.
"We're mighty glad to see you back
again. Baldwin," he said "Mr Brans-
forth said you were to go into HIS
private Office the moment you came
In"
Howard looked up at TAFT, and sud-
denly the absurdity Of his presencg
there struck home to him.
TAFT, mistaking his embarrassment
for shyness, took him pIayfulIy by thu
arm and led him across the room to-
Mr. TRANSFORMS Office. Mr.. Brang-
forth looked up and, rising from hf6
chair grlpped the young man warmly
by the hand
81 can't tell you how glad am that
letter found .you," he said. 81 hopa
you can come back to us. Mr.. Baldwin.
To think that after trying to locate
you all this time the name Of your
old address should suddenly have
come into my head!
"First Of ALL" he continued, II muse
apologize frankly to you for my treat
ment Of you. The fact is Ranges
came to us with the best Of creden-
tials from his old place. l took thu
trouble to look them up after he Left.
and found that he had written them
himself and signed the name to them.
too.
well. 1t didn't take long after your
disappearance for me to find out that
he was absolutely incapable for the
work Well, want you to take HIS
position. The salary is one-hundFed
dollars a week. hope l can count
on YOU"
Il can come said Howard quietly.
con September the fifteenth"
Mr.. Bransforth looked disappointed.
'WelL" he said. 'of course. if that
is your ultimatum l must hold thu
position open for you. But If III is ths
matter Of holiday, perhaps a little
later would do"
'SNo. sir" said Howard. "You see
I-er-welI. I'm going to be married
tomorrow"
And that was the best prophecy thaA