Evening star., 1926-03-21

n II ATHlLDE was tired and hap
HH py. She loved doing fuSsy
V things, and there We're many
/ 4 fussy things to de in youns
Dr.. Madden's office. H.
was newly graduated from dental
school and had put every dollar that
his uncle had given him for the start
of his practice into equipment. There
was no other Office like il IN Meldon
1t was so cleaning white that even
the crusty janitor who served II anC
the drug store below took pride III
scrubbing the tiled floor. The floor
and the high windows and the walls
OF the inner room and the furnishings
of the waiting room Mathilde granted
20 the janitor. The rest was hers
The porcelain fixtures TO be kept spot
less and in order, the trays and trays
If shining instruments TO be sterilized
ard graded and put away. the racks of
little bottles of many-colored liquids
TO be placed so that her hand might
never tumble for the one dema nded--
and uncounted other things and duties
that appealed to her sense Of eleanneSS
and order and precision. Any un-
pleasant aspects of her first job as
office assistant she got past in two
ways. When dental surgery seemed
temporarily cruel, she thought hard
And the grisly aspects of facsimile
laws and the like became humorous
when she considered her possession OF
sntinate facts about persons who had
before this held exalted places remote
above her. She wrote n little poem
about the bankers molars that was
scream and giggled over ii in private.
Dr. Madden said she was a cracker
Jack of an assistant. He meant
l.; t;e,rn nt;. in. tna
cess of his new practice. Part OF that
success was due 10 his youth and
blond charm, slightly offset bv his
known betrothal to stunning girl in
the city where he had. attended med
Ical school; part Of it was due to the
reputation of the retired uncle who
had endowed his nephew: but Mathilda
liked TO think because it gave her
sharel that the greatest part was due
10 the atmosphere of his office.
But this had been a hard day.
Every half-hour period had been full
and there had been some scenes OF
violence.
"Ho-hum." yawned the doctor.
''What a day, Miss Matilda What
day"
Almost nobody called Mathilde's
name correctly except Mathilde, and
she had to whisper it softly to herself,
because 1t would have sounded foolish
had any one overheard her doing such
IL thing. But she minded DR..
F'reds Miss Matilda" less than any
of the other versions. 1t meant that
he had stepped down from his profess
sional pedestal and remembered that
once upon time he and Mathilde sat
in the same room at school,
So, though the doctor looked quite
pale and spent when he left the office,
tfathilde. lingering over her trays, was
happy. She hummed a nondescript
little tune that went round and round
in circles like a buzzing bee in
sunny garden. She was still singing
when she went in to change from her
white uniform TO her street dress.
CHE always took off her uniform
~ wistfully. The people of AIeidOn
called the white uniform, the cap, the
white oXfords and stockings-white
oxfords all Winter-an affectation.
Perhaps that was why Mathilde
aiored them Certainly they had af-
fected her. She had always worn
rather plain. old-fasilioned dresses. not
because she chose to do It. but because
her clothes had been made over from
a relation box OF substantial garments
several seasons old. Now these uni
forms. ordered from the same place as
DIR. F'reds Jackets, were hers eX-
clusively. They We're stiff and stafchy
and perky and smart. A month of
wearing them and Mathilde had boil
bed her hair--her hair SO heavy and
long that she had Worn it helplessly In