Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1927-01-14
PA JUDD
SEES SOME
CITY LIFE
By H. M. EGBERT
Copyright by W. O. chapman.)

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pushing back her spectacles
and confronting her husband angrily
across the table. you ought to be
ashamed to think of such things"
Maybe ought" admitted Mr.. Judd.
But was only soliloQuizing, ma"
you can ventriloQuize all you want,
pa. But this has got to stop. Want
ing to see life at sixty. indeed Amt
life enough for your"
Eyes, my dear, you are. But what
meant is this. We married when we
were only children, and then the
babies came so fast, and 1t wasn't I'M
til last year that our youngest left us,
and somehow feel wish I'd had my
fling. Not bad fling, you know, ma,
but Just cutting d sort Of caper."
"Such as how?" demanded his wife
ominously.
"Why, I'd like t. run into New York
and see the shows and put up at
hotel, and"
"And some hussy'd get you, sure as
fate, pa"
"Nobody's ever In my eyes but you,
ma" answered pa diplomatically. mo,
my dear, but then there's Adam Green,
who writes me regularly every New
Year. Fine big grocery store he has
in Harlem, and haven't seen him for
twenty years. And Cy Harris. And
let me see-Jlm Brathwaite, who's
head Of the packing department Of
Ebenezer Jeffrey's china store"
"And you want to leave me heref"
demanded Mrs. Judd.
"Well, my dear, after I've explored
the city bit, maybe I'll write you to
come on. We ought to have little
trip for once. But we can't both go
there, knowing nothing Of city ways.
Why, It wouldn't be safe for settled
woman like you until I learned the
ropes"
"Therel That's enough, pa. You,
shan't go. How can face my niece.
Lizzie Spears, and you not here, and
tell her you've gone off on a spree
aloneT
"Lizzle2 You Amt going to Liz
zie'sf"
"No, but Lizzie's coming here on a
visit Read that" She pushed let
ter across the table. wonder If she
favors her ma or her pa. Pretty girl,
her ma writes me, and she's been run
down from overwork and Is going to
spend a month with us to recover. I'm
going over to WATERFOWL to fetch her
next week."
Let me go, ma"
you'll stay here" answered his
wife firmly.
Stay he did, while his wife departed
on the three days Of her little holiday.
Pa Judd was under instructions to
have the house as neat as pin for
their coming But on that morning he
received letter from his wife, In
closing hundred-dollar bill. He
gasped as It fiuttered out. His wife
was the family banker, but-what was
she sending him hundred dollars
for?
The letter informed him that she
had had such good time she had
changed her mind and thought he
ought to have his little holiday.
But y6u'll have to get off tomorrow
before nOon," the letter ran, because
I've told Lizzie you're away, and 1t
wouldn't look decent for you to go
after she comes"
Pa Judd needed no second invitation.
A few hours later saw him firmly es-
tablished in New York, in an mex
pensive hotel, which seemed to him,
nevertheless, the height Of magnlf-
cence.
He spent happy evening wander
Ing up and down Broadway, looking
into the moving picture shows and
staring in wonder, and with rather II
guilty conscience, at the specimens OF
feminine beauty on the famous
thOroughfare.
When he got back to the hotel he
felt that he was seeing life at last.
Next day he meant to look up his
friends.
But the next morning he found a
lady at his table, one of the most raw
ishing young women whom he had
ever seen. She was dressed In the
height Of fashion, and she showed a
marked inclination to be friendly to
pa. Before the meal was over they
we're chatting like old friends, and he
had told her the story of his life five
times.
In this story, whose later versions
varied from the earlier ones, Ma Judd
always appeared as the angel by the
hearth, for pa was sincerely fond Of
his wife but pa gradually grew from
a misunderstood youth, condemned to
a life of servitude upon a farm, to
modest hero who had deliberately fore
sworn the wicked world.
At lunch the lady was there again.
Now It was her turn to confide to pa.
She told him that she was stenog-
rapher on a vacation and offered to
show him some OF the sights of the
city.
Pa flushed. He did not know wheth-
er this was quite proper, but he did
not want to confess his ignorance.
81 guess bright young lady. like
you don't want to fuss round with an
old Teller like me-" he said.
II adore men Of fifty" answered the
young woman.
Pa, who knew that sixty lay little,
but yet irrecoverably behind him,
flushed with pleasure. They took a
car downtown to the aquarium.