Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1929-11-15
The Lure of
Corn Bread
By JANE OSBORN

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TT NIGHT not have made your
mouth water-thut street car pic
ture of corn bread but Hope Mawson
had lunched early and lightly, and
the yellow square of corn bread made,
as the nd said, steaming hot, with a
cup of coffee at the side--also steam
ing-and two nice, neat butter balls
ON butter plate-all this was pleas
nntly tantallzing to Hope Mawson,
even though the picture was only an
advertisement for Folger's famous
cornmeal.
Hope was riding homeward on the
street car and the advertisement was
directly opposite her, so 1t was not diff
iicut for her to dwell upon the tempt
Ing sight for many minutes.
It was Dianas night to cook dinner,
to be sure, but Hope would stop at the
corner grocery store, buy some Fol-
gers cornmeal and make some corn
bread and have II ready by the time
Diana had finished the rest Of tho
dinner.
Here Hopes medltations were sud-
denly cut short. The conductor was
calling "Love-a-avenue," and Hope
knew that Lovel avenue was Ave
blocks beyond her own street.
Brandon Jones, who had been sit
ting beside her, rose with her and
also went toward the door. Hope
walked three blocks and then stopped
at the grocery store. Oddly enough,
Brandon Jones went into the grocery
store, watched her as she made her
purchase and stammered out with con-
siderable embarrassment: "Dog bis
cults, please" when the grocer's clerk
asked him what he wanted.
Then Hope proceeded, and the man
proceeded He even crossed the street
where she wanted to, and preceded
her into the hall of the apartment
where she and her companions, Diana
and Daphne, lived. The hall boy spoke
and let him pass. Obviously he was a
resident. yet why, IL he lived In that
apartment, did he ride on to Lowell
avenue?
Hope was interested In this appar-
ent mystery, but not so Interested as
to forget her cornmeal. She quickly
, changed from her office clothes to a
washable house frock, and In five min
utes more had the cornmeal and -four
and milk beaten up as she had seen
old Sally do so many times In her
Daphne and Diana declared the
corn bread to be exactly like the
corn bread old Sally used to make.
They we're feasting merrlly on It when
the bell of the apartment rang. They
exchanged surprised glances, for cali
ers never came unannounced In that
apartment. Hope fed to the door,
and there stood Brandon Jones.
Excuse me-" he began, and before
he had time to go further with his
apologies he shifted and said: "My,
but that smells good | smelled 1t
way up in my apartment. and that's
why came. You see"
'I'm sure we all would like to have
you come in and share It with u.s."
said Hope, looking at Daphne and
Diana, who Ind now appeared In the
hall. s..
And so Brandon Jones was ushered
into the living room, where the large
table had been spread for dinner.
Brandon then explained. He hoped
Miss Mawson-the elevator boy told
him her name-would accept his apol-
ogles.
He had sat beside her on the car
and had been interested In the inter-
est she showed In that corn bread
advertisement. He had seen her be-
fore and knew that she lived In this
apartment, 80 when she rode past her
street he knew It must be because OF
her preoccupation In this advertise
ment.
He got off where she did and fol
lowed her into the grocery store, and
to his delight she bought the corn
meal. Later he got the tempting
smell of baking corn bread through
his open window above--corn bread
and coffee, just as the picture had sug-
gested. He was looking for good
rule for corn bread--he thought per-
haps he might be able to secure hers.
"You see, I'm an advertising man
Jones Of Jones & Hancock"
"ob, didn't know you were that
Mr.. Jones'" said Daphne, with much
respect, hearing the name Of the larg-
est advertising concern In the city.
"And we just took over the account
OF Folger's corn products-wa TO
mike big thing OF II. thought a
picture Of corn bread would make
good street car card--trled to get our
artist to make II as real as possible.
Mr.. Hancock thought that was little
too supplemented TO try something
clever, you know. But we thought
we'd try II out. so when | saw you,
Miss Mawson, reading the advertise
ment felt that at least one street car
rider was Interested. And then, by
jove, you went to the store and bought
the cornmeaI. I'll have to tell Han
cock"
Mr. Jones ate two, then three pieces
~ the corn bread and declared that
Miss Mawson was the best cook In the
world, md he never said word about
Diana who Ind cooked all the rest or
the dinner.
But then right from the first Mr..
Jones had eyes only for Hope.
"And that was as 1t should be-" said
the practical Daphne month later
a