The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1924-01-03
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Candy uIling Tout Seul

Mrs. Alison lived upstairs and rented
her rooms on the lower foor-the one
across the hall frem the parlor to Miss
Daseom, who gave music lessons, the
one back of the parlor to a poet, and
the other room, the one back of Miss
Dascom's, she rented to Guide Morton.
Guide was a girl who worked all day
in the Office of an old crank down
town and trudged cheerily home in
the dusk of each winter day to dabble
in literature. "A sane. sensible little
soul, Guide wore black because at is
the cheapest in the end and wore
red bows at her collar to brighten up
the black. She got on well with the
other renters-did errands on her way
home for Miss Dascom, and had al
ways good, straight look for the
poet when she met him in the han
scowling over the mail he had found
there.
1T is bad enough to have the stuff
sent back when you are only doing it
for fun. But if you are making liv-
ing at tit must be terrible" To
Guide, as the most business women,
life without a salary was a blank. 81
wonder if he is ever crowded for his
rent? But man as big as thati" She
went on thinking about him, watching
the coal twinkling together in her
cozy crate, and seeing very clearly
there a reflection of the poet as she
had seen him earlier in the day, tall
and broad-shoulder in his ulster,
waiting with his hat in his hand while
She struggled into her raincoat. In
dry weather his ulster and her rain
coat hung side by side on the hall rack
but how much longer his was than
hers. And she saw also the hair
showed back from his forehead and
the little hollows in his smooth-shaven
cheeks, and
"That look in the back Of his eye
Guide said softly. HE is very nj
and polite, always has something
cheerful to say, but he looks like he
wanted something all the time. sup
pose it is the poet in him looking-it
can't be that he is hungry" Guide
threw the notion aside as ridiculous.
But suppose he were hungry while her
own little oyster stew was simmering
there so nice before the CRATE?
IF he was a woman now / could run
across and invite hin to supper. But,
of course, he isn't hungry"
But Guide had begun to feel none
too sure of it. Poets, even the best Of
them, often have hard time to make
a living. And then, like the girl she
was, Guide saw what she could do.
81 can give candy pulling. can
cook it in here. I'll have to put it in
The hall window to cool-and invite
him and Miss Dascom to help pull it
out in the hall. Then we will divide.
And he couldn't get his feelings hurt
because offering a man candy isn't
like offering him bread and meat"
There might have been flaws in her
scheme, but Guide saw none. She
would, she resolved, buy the sweets
next day.
The poet was hungry, yet not so
hard UP, financially, as Guide had
feared. He was indeed contemplating
expenditui es that would have scared
Guides salary out of sight.
IF I rented both these rooms and
the parlor." he was thinking, even
while Ci;lde was bordering the price
of syrup, IF | rented both rooms and
the parlor. No, we'd have to get rid
/. of that everlasting banging! Well, if
/ took the whole floor we could be
comfortable enough. But / do not
know"-his reflections trailed off into
the dimness of doubt and the look in
the back OF his eyes grew more hun
cry.
In his uncertainty as to what he was
to do about it, the poet had ordered
new clothes; day clothes, night cloth
es. hats, gloves, overshoes. A queer
assortment OF orders given spasmodi-
cally and because there is nothing
like being ready"
'She is such a CHEEKY little soul
would make life 50 delicious even II
rented rooms. But do not know that
she cares at all"
Guide did not see the poet next
morning because she had TO leave
earlier than usual to buy the sweets,
but as she struggled into her rain
coat she saw package on the hall
table addressed to him.
/"Oh, if he has had all that sent
back at once" she thought with the
quick sympathy of a soul that hiss suf-
fered. The package had evidently
been sent back from some of the city
ofIees-there were no stamps.
ut looks big enough to make a
book" And Guide was glad she had
resolved upon the candy-pulling.
1T may brighten him up bit even
'. IL he isn't hungry"
When she met him in the hall that
evening, he going out as she was COM
ing in, the poet looked like he needed
cheering. Everything had, indeed.
gone wrong with him that day. The
first of his wild purchases had been
sent home and had shocked his esthe-
a. oo,,ea bod flIad him with 3icp1Ist