The vidette. (Iuka, Tishomingo County, Miss.) 1912-1967, 1923-01-11
The Mutual
Benefit
By MORRIS SCHULTZ


Nobody knew very much about any
Of the occupants OF Jackmans flats.
Although the whole district was a
slum about to be rebuilt since the
Jackmans Flat Concession had pur-
chased it--it had in the old days.
strange to say. been regarded as the
aristocratic quarter of the city.
Strange derelicts lived in these
tumbledown tenements that had once
been mansions of wealthy people.
There was the queer little woman in
the black silk gown, who had face
so wrinkled and scanned that it was
as if the entire past history of the
quarter was imprinted on it by time.
Il wonder who she islv said Ella
Ross to her father.
ooh, some derelicS" he answered
impatiently
The old opera house had been I'M
used for a generation. 1t had re
sounded to Jenny Lind and Patti in
its dayAwhen Jackman's flats was
fashionable Now 1t was to become
the civic center of the new conces-
sion. Everything was to be rebuilt;
! already houses were rising, gardens
being laid out. The Concession peo-
pie were ambitious.
Concerts and Dances" said Ella
Ross I'VE want to start the show
going by big feature of some kind
in the old opera house Something
tlat'D put the jack in JacSman's.p
Ella, who acted as her fathers sec
retary, pored over the masses Of old
advertising matter discovered in the
opera house basement.
Look, father; isn't this queer! In
1888 Luise Toscagna sang here In the
presence Of the governor and fash
ionable audience See, there's her
picturel Doesn't she look sweet"
"We'll have to get hold of somebody
big like that" said Ross. Not neees-
sariy a singer, though. We can't af
ford their prices in these days. Some
one who'll draw crowd"
The little cid woman who lived
alone was very miserable. For thirty
years she had subsisted on her tiny
income in the two rooms she rented
in the tenement. Now she was under
orders TO quit she came to Ross in
frantic, ignorant appeal
1--WE nowhere else to go. and
My good woman, ! can't help that, :"
said Ross CURLY. you'll. have to
manage your own affairs. We can't
stop pulling down these rookeries
just because they've got inhabitants"
He paused awkwardly. Maybe you
could remain an extra month without
bothering about the rent. if the work
men don't start unroofing," he said
more kindly.
"Men Colt, vat We going to do in
desc days?" demanded old Schultz,
the cobbler Old Schultz remembered
the time when his little shop had been
patronized by people who were now
dom spoke; he had reached the age
when men become silents "Dere's old
Mrs, Bianca-she's dying of her
heart"
THAT'S that poor old woman, fa-
ther!" Ella exclaimed.
"Sure, Mr. Ross, and she'll die the
minute she has to go to the poorhouse
You see. she's just got enough money
to pay her rent, and she darns and
sews for us ALL"
Elias Ross WIS beginning to discov-
er what it meant to pull down Jack
mans flats.
Most of the old-tlmers don't know
who she was" old Schultz continued
"but some Of us remember Luise
Toscagna-"
"What?9 shouted Ross. "Was old
Mrs Blanca Luise Toscagna?s
"Sure she was. And"
Ross smote his fist upon the table
1--WE got it, Ellar' lie shouted ''Well
let her sing at her own beneiit!g
1t was thirty years and more since
the voice of Luise Toscagna had been
heard anywhere In song. She had
never sung since her marriage Near.
ly all who remembered her thought
she was dead years before. When
Ross led the little, wrinkletl old wom-
an forward in front of the crowded
auditorium mutterings were heard:
It's a fakel That isn't Luise. !
remember"
Then. when the first notes rang out
through the opera house every voice
was hushed. From the throat Of the
little old woman came a flood oil
c,,4naf snuo fhot hall HAN, er,a11 s