Evening star., 1925-11-20
JOA IN MA
THE Gracious Gift of God"
By II. L. GATES
By II. l.. GATES

It's lines had the swagger. even if its
lining was only mercerized cotton.
Mrs. Adams had marvelsd often ut the
uncomplaining patience with which a
girl like 10 could put her hunger into
a thing like this-the hunEers that 10
and l5 cent lunches and scautier
breakfasts piled up. She shook her
head dubiously. The trouble that had
been in her eyes deepened to an in
ward sadness. She took the coat into
her own room. laid it across the foot
of her bed, tenderly. then brought the
$500 note which she folded and
slipped into the handkerchief pocket
in the coat lining. Then she sat
down to think, forgetting all about
the flowers on the table in the
drawing room only"
Upstairs Joanna was trying. also.
to think She sat down on the bed
and put her chin i'll her hand, her
elbow propped on u crossed knee.
But the room imprisoned her too
tightly. The walls. dotted here and
there with photogra phs of boys. Il
movie star or two, and a framed
litogra ph OF Niagara Falls, pressed
In on her and suffocated her. She
! needed more space. With all that
money in her bag, and with more
all the money in the world, more
than she ever possibly could get rid
OF. she must get out again, out onto
the street, where the crowds We're,
into the stores, aud buy. buy, buy!
She'd never been able TO buy.
Joanna hadn't. Always she'd had to
shop and haggle. The fellow who ran
the store In the office district where
she bought filmy. sheer things OF
tinted crepe de chimes, he'd collapse
when she should walk in, call for his
fancieSt sets with real handworked
| lace on them, the ones he hung In
his ShoWca SeS for the same reason
Cohen hung the mink In his window
when she should walk in, call for
these expensive sets and pay the
price without haggling him down a
dollar or two. Shed go around there.
now. Tomorrow, after she'd talk
with John tonight. she could take
an hour or two and think. Think
what to do, and how!
She slipped out without seeing
Mrs. Adams. AT the corner she
hailed taxi and went, first. to the
shop where the dainty things in
crepe were. But she was disappoint
ed. The shopkeeper didn't collapse.
He was calm. AS If such a lavish
purchasing We're not at all unusual
to one who dealt in such dainties.
and in him. suddenly this little
shop, with the gaudy. but enticing
window display of. and the racks
filled with, billowy, soft things. in
every conceivable tint and shade, be-
came unpretty. uninviting, she COM
pleted her purchases, though, and
went out to her waiting cab.
She remembered her first picnic.
Strange how her thoughts We're slip
ping backward during these hours,
That picnic. Because she had been
particularly good for a week her
mother had permitted her to go with
the other girls, older girls, without "A
guardian to restrain her. And she
was in such a stew when the baskets
We're spread out. and the girls and
boys broke up into parties and hunted
out the swings. and wading places
around the little lake. There was SO
much for her 10 do. SO much sheer
joy to garner in, that she ran about
in circles unable to make up her mind
where to begin. She was like that
today. but it was funny that she
should remember. And, queer, too,
that today she had something of that