The broad ax., 1926-10-23
Hope and Window
Decorations
(Copyright.)
By JOHN EVANS

. CAaSuy What I've always
L wanted to do" exclaimed HoDs
Chandler when she had been called te
the office Of the department stora
where she had been working. The
manager had offered her an oppor.
tunity to try her hand nj window
decorating.
"YOu show some aptitude in that
line and we like to give our e,n.
plOyees a chance In their own diree-
ton. 1t Is better for us-and better
for you" said the manager.
The beginners In this line wers
usually given a chance to try their
ability on the small windows that
faced the underground arcade leading
from one street to another.
I'm going to do a perfume window
tomorrow she cried, gladly, to one
Of her co-workers.
"Oh-fOr the big drug saler' asked
her friend. Great! Step on It, kid.
You're coming on, all right"
She worked hard on the window that
would display all the varieties Of pei
fume that the shop was to have on
sale. She laughed at the silly names
on the fragrant powders and essences
and yet she knew that in the market
ing Of this kind of ware there was
much in name. kiss Me" and
FLOWERS of Love" sold by their
names, no doubt.
She was arranging a pyramid Of
ornately formed bottles in q lower
corner of the window when the top
bottle tumbed off its precariOus perch.
Fortunately, it did not break, but Il
tapped rather sharply the plate-glass
pane.
Dear mellow luckyp breathed
Hope as she bent to see II the pane
had been scratched.
AS she did so, she observed, for the
first time, the slender figure of q
young man dressing window oppo-
site her in the narrow tunneled pas
sageway. He had heard the knock on
the glass and was looking at her.
He, too, had seen Hope for the frst
time.
Hope was embarrassed. Did he
think she had tapped at the window
to attract his attention? She con-
tinued her work with only an occa-
sional surreptitious glance at the man,
in the window. She had seen enough
of his face to know she liked him.
He was arranging cigars, cigarettes,
tubes, pipes, ash trays. Hope had
never seen him in the store. She Won
dered who he was.
That night when she left the shop
she saw him swinging along the street
She liked him the more for his easy,
graceful manner of moving.
The next morning she looked at his
window. 1t was as artistic rs anyone
could have made it and there was
something about the colorful schemes
In which he had arranged the slender
cigarette holders with the trays that
matched them that gave the casual
eye a sense of harmony. Hope do
cided that the young man was IN
artist.
Without seeming pointed in her ,puf-
pose, she inquired about some Of the
other window dressers.
"Oh-you know we are having
good deal of work done just now By
students from the commercial art
school uptown. They want the prae-
teal experience and we-well, we gee
1t done free, gratis, for nothing"
fellow worker told her. "The lad that
did the cigar window yesterday in the
subway store Is one Of them. No
tice it,"
Nearly q month later she was stand
ing looking at the first outside VIII
dow she had ever been assigned to.
She had put a great deal OF thought
and effort on it and had raised the
shade on q stunning rainbow window
Of silks arranged according to the
new science of color. Ii was an
original idea. She had taken groups
Of colors from a book on this subject
and had made charts in the window
and labeled them as such SO that
passersby might choose and study
their own cOlOrs, their influence, VI
brations, etc. The window was a.
tracing much attention.
Pardon me-" said a voice at her e.
bow.
20" said Hope, looking up into
the face of the young artist
81 must congratulate you on thS
window" he was saying. Il have
asked about 1t from the management
and they told me you were outsioe'
now, they believed and they gave me
permission to tell you In person
"You-you like 1T" asked Hop~
timidly.
Its splendid. both in conception
and execution" he said.
Hope was adding admiration Tor M
deep, rich tones to the already sum.
GENTLY large list Of things she Liked
about this man.
Il am a director In commercial III.
school and am, therefore. perhaps, no'
an ordinary judge of such work. ~
an occasional window just to Cemon-
strate to the students that II ID a.
absorbing profession and one that =
far from insignificant-even Ia i's
early stages"
.Yes-I saw you In the suowaJ
windows. did l not? ! had dropped
a perfume bottle and II tapped -