Evening star., 1925-06-28


lawhile the audience came in, and 1t
| got dark and the play started, but
| just as / was all settled in my seat
and ready to have a good time l heard
an awful row directly behind me.
Somebody had asked this lady"-he
pointed to Mrs. Robinson. ''to remove
her hat like she should of done any
| how and she was sore about it. She
kept telling the two ladies that was
| with her how she'd been at the
theater before and knew enough TO
take off her hat. She kept that up
for long time, five minutes maybe,
| and then every once in Il while she'd
think of something new and say it in
a loud voice. SO finally j turnad
around and looked at her because |
wanted to see what lady looked like
that could be SO inconsiderate as that.
Soon as l turned back she began on
me. She said I was insoient and then
she said 'Tchk. Tchk. Tchk" a lot
with her tongue and the two ladies
that was with her said 'Tchk, Tchk.
Tchk" until you could hardly hear
yourself think, much less listen to the
play. You'd have thought I'd done
something terrible.
BY and by, after they calmed down
and / began TO catch up with what
was doing on the stage, l felt my
seat sort of creak forward and then
creak back again and | knew the lady
had her feet on it and | was in for
a good rock. Gosh" he wiped his
pale, narrow brow on which the
sweat had gathered thinly. lit was
awful. l hope to tell you l wished
I'd never come at all. Once l got ex-
cited at a show and rocked a mans
chair without knowing it and I was
glad when he asked me TO stop. But
l knew this lady wouldn't be glad if
l asked her. She'd of just rocked
harder than ever"
COME time before the population of
the courtroom had begun stealing
glances at the middle aged lady with
yellowishwhite hair. She was of a
deep, life-like lobster color with rage.
1T got to be near the end of the
act, went on the little pale man.
and l was enjoying it as well as
could, seeing that sometimes she'd
push me toward the stage and some
times she'd let go, and the seat and
me would fall back into place. Then
all OF a sudden she began to talk.
She said she had an operation or
something-1 remember she said she
told the doctor that she guessed she
knew more about her own stomach
than he did. The play was getting
good just then-the people next to me
had their handkerchiefs out and was
weeping-and l was feeling sort of
that way myself. And all of a sud
den this lady began to tell her friends
what she told the plumber about his
indigestion. Gosh. Again he shook
his head from side to side; his pale
eyes involuntarily on Mrs. Robinson
then looked quickly away. You
couldn't help but hear some and
begun missing things and then miss
ing more things and then everybody
began laughing and l didn't know
what they were laughing at and, as
soon as they'd leave off her voice
would begin again. Then there vas a
great big laugh that lasted for long
time and everybody bent over double
and kept laughing and laughing. and
l hadn't heard word. First thing
knew the curtain came down and
then l don't know what happened |
must of been a little crazy or some
thing because I got up and closed my
seat, and reached back and pushed
the lady in the face"
AS he concluded there was a long
sigh in the courtroom as though
every one had been holding in his
breath waiting for the climax. Even
the judge gasped little and the three
ladies on the witness bench burst into
shrill chatter and grew louder and
louder and Shriller and Shriller until
the judges gavel rang out again upon
his desk
Charles Stuart" said the Judge
in slightly raised voice, rs this the
only eXtenuatlon you can make for
raising your hand against a woman
of the plaintiffs aee?"
Charles Stuart'S head sank a little
between his shoulders, seeming to
Withdraw as far as it was able into
the poor shelter of his body.
Yes, sir" he said family.
Mrs. robinson sprang to her feet.
Yes, judge" she cried shrilly.
and there's more than that. He's a
liar, too, dirty little liar. He's just
proclaimed himself a dirty little
silence. cried the judge in a ter
rlble voice. I'm running this court.
and I'm capable of making my own
decisions He paused. Il will now
pronounce sentence upon Charles
stuart he referred to the register,
upon Charles David Stuart of 2121a
west twenty second street
The courtroom was silent. The re-
porter drew nearer-he hoped the
sentence would be light-just a few
days on the Island in lieu of a fine.
The judge leaned back in his chair
and hid his thumbs somewhere under
his black robe.
Assault justified" he said. Case
dismissed
THE little man, Charles Stuart.
came blinking out into the sun
shine, pauSlng for a moment at the
door of the court and looking fur
lively behind him as if he half ex-
pected that it was judicial error
Then, shifting once or twice. not be-
cause he had a cold, but for those
dim psychological reasons that make
people sniff, he moved slowly south
with an eye out for a subway sta
ton.
He stopped at a newsstand to buy
a morning paper: then entering the
| subway was borne south to Eight
eenth street, where he disembarked
and walked east to Third avenue.
Here he was employed in an all
| night restaurant built of glass and
plaster white tile. Here he sat at a
desk from curfew until dawn, taking
| i'll money and balancing the books
of T. Cushmael, the proprietor. And
, here, through the interminable nights
| his eyes, by turning a little to right
or left, could rest upon the starched
linen uniform of Miss Edna Schaef-
| fer.
Miss Edna Schaeffer was 23. with
a sweet mild face and hair that was
( a living example of how henna should
not be applied. She was unaware OF
this latter fact, because all the girls
she knew used henna just this way
SO perhaps the odd vermillion tint OF
her coiffure did not matter.
Charles Stuart had forgotten about
the color of her hair long ago-i1