The Omaha morning bee., 1924-08-16
10 ELLEN
By ALEXANDER BLACK.
Copyright, 1924.

her in. Knew the old man would b.
asleep. l wanted to talk to her. Lik
10 fool. You always think you cal
talk to them. 1t WAS risky" Emm;
turned for an instant toward 10 Ell
len. Getting a crook a drink of waite
! was nothing to it. And we sat ther.
In the dark. 1 talked to her IL
the dark. What l thought was. some
body ought to be able to stop her"
i Her father might have stopped
her, IL he'd been the right kind"
j Her father. Yes Or a mother
leither. l amt sure. Maybe nothing
can stop her. I couldn't see that
lmade a dent in her. D'you see?-sh,
WANTED to laugh because she was out
As IL there was nobody to get her
AS II she could run downtown
got her crying. though, before sh,
went at two in the morning. l hat
Ito"
Il But"
i 'I had to. To frighten her"
: 10 Ellen saw the fanatic look tha'
Twas always puzzling. A queer one
Emma was, with her straight hail
and her pale hard eyes. Perhaps sh,
would be altogether crazy some day
Il LOOk mere. EilIld sloppcQ dbI upt
lily and dug one heel into the ground
How do know what they'll do will
you downtown-you, the way you're
6xed now"
rs this all about me?" 10 Eller
asked.
Emma ignored the resentful infiec
ton. II got her crying. I told hel
what went through. D'you get me-
r hA Inn
Everything. What it does. Yot
didn't know what bulls and dick:
were. You wouldn't naturally. Like
any decent girl. Wondering. Well.
know them-see?-the way you ge
to know them II you stop being de
cent"
Emma's funny lips twisted savage
lily, and 10 Ellen felt suddenly cold.
'I got mine," Emma went on. a.
began fiinging around like Myrtle
As II I could look out for myself
When Pop chucked me . . Wher
YOU'RE kicked out you don't care. See
When you're a girl. 10 Ellen Rewei
thinks she's different. And she aim
kicked out. But she's up against 1t
anyhow. She may want to take g
lhing A little one. Down there
with the crowd. l know that beat"
l The blood came back into 10 Ell
liens face.
i "Lord, she cried. you're not real
lily warning me, are your
I'm telling you. Right now-with
your people sitting over there-be
cause it's in my head to tell 1t to
lyou."
Drop II off your mind" 10 Ellen
Il Aff q
very busy married woman. I haven
got time to run wild. You talk"
You don't need time TO be dug
out"
who's going to dig me out?"
THAT Lamar might know how.
been thinking maybe he has. 1 looked
him over. He'll never stop l says.
Emma. do you think about moth
ing else but things like this?"
| 20 I think! Suppose you'd seen the
girl you had watched grow. dropping
off the wall, like a common cat
But me. I'm not a common cat
WHY must I be lectured2"
You got very red hair" said Fm
ma. And you amt really got hus
band"
Diagramed in a sentence-very red
might have seen 1t like a chart as
Emma Traub held 1t up-Emma
Traub. who had been down the line
and auivered with suspicious, who
had some insane image of a Molocf
that swallowed girls. Whichever way
you turned there was somebody dan
/ Cling a warning. 1t was a stagger
ling Joke that gave you a sick feeling
lat last. Her mother had said Jail.
Evidently there was no wall she coulf
climb over like Myrtle Fleck. Shs
wanted to scream, to take Emma
lTraub by her skinny arms and rat
tie the bones OF her. She wanted Il
go back to the porch and tell every
body that at the first symptom oi
either pity or advice she would KICK
the glass out OF few windows.
And what made her neck hot was
knowing that she wouldn't do any
thing at all unless she smashed
everything.
II Emma Traub had stared after
her for a month she never could have
arrived at an understanding OF wha'
Eas going on under that red hair she
talked about. Very likely Emma
would be feeling as she felt about
MYRTLE Fleck, that she hadn't made
a dent; that 10 Ellen's curt turning
away meant nothing very dineren'
from the shallow effusiveness OF the
other one; that the Moloch could al
ford to hover.
Danger. or course, everybody was
In danger. Anybody could act IKE
a fool. Life was always setting ou'
an assortment of ways. or course
too. everybody must have sn explod
ing point. You went on and on with
out exploding. You said you wouldn
explode. 1t helped you II you planned
that you wouldn't. 1t was like proK
Using yourself that you wouldn''
scream. But there would always be
something that you couldn't stand
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