The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-06-19
THE MOST
POPULAR GIRL.
IN TOWN
TT WAS one of those situations
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BY FANNIE HURST

Ut WAS one OF those situations,
which, beginning the size of q
i pea, gathered moss at such an
astonishingly rapid rate that
presently all those connected with it
were aghast at the magnitude of what
they had done.
The Midtown Gazette, on which
young Tom Powell was a reporter and
to which Miss Amy Stricken sub
scribed, had started popularity con-
test, the winning young lady to be
the fortunate recipient of tour
around the world.
OF course, off-hand one would have
told you that Amy Stricken, so blond
in her beauty, so bland in her blue
eyedness, so tender In the springtime
quality of her youth, was the most
popular girl in town. But popularity
in the town Of Orlando was one thing
and popularity in a state which con-
tanned at least six cities of far greater
population and size was another. In
any event, before the township of Or
lando realized it and with interest and
competition running high, here was
little Amy Stricken, nineteen, assistant
librarian in the towns somewhat
makeshift library. piling up votes in
a fashion that fiabbergasted and de-
lighted the amazed and amused cou-
pom clippers.
OF course, the fine hand of Tom
Powell was to be detected behind
much of the activity. From the mo-
ment that the Midtown Gazette an
nounced it's policy of staging the con-
spicuous and dramatic contest, this
young fellow, alert, up-and-coming and
full of the fine fettle Of young journal
ism, carried on his campaign for plac-
ing the victory in the hands of his
lovely fiancee, Miss Amy Stricken
For three months, with comparative
ly no local competition, but with dam
gerous runners-up from the larger cities
of the state, the war for popularity
waged and circulation climbed. Miss
Stricker's little desk at the library
became the mecca of turbulent, cou-
pon-clipping scenes. The little frame
house on Ludlow street, where she
lived with a married sister, sharing
tiny room with two half-grown
nieces, was electric with excitement.
In fact, the only calm aspect of this
frenzied fight for the spectacular re-
ward was the small, beautiful blond
figure of Amy Stricken. She was as
radiant as lovely morning, her blue
10 xr,b;
er. They said Of her locally that she
was Mary Pickford, at Mary's zenith.
Youngsters adored her and followed
her in little clumps. Old ladies tod
died to the library for the benefit Of
the gentle manner she had with them.
Amy had more beaus than there were
chairs in the Ludlow street house to
accommodate them. Tom Powell, who
had worked his way through North
western, university, was regarded the
luckiest fellow in town. He wanted
Amy to be the luckiest girl in town.
On the day of Amy's victory Of eight
thousand votes over her closest COM
petitor, the town went wild. 1t was
miniature Lindbergh day. Factories
and business houses blew their mid
ly suspended for the hour that Amy
Stricken, mounted on a paper float
rode through the town, bowling her
sweet Acknowledgements to the plaud-
it's of crowds that were almost entire
~ composed of men, women and chill
rryhn hn hod
No royal bride was ever more pomp-
ously prepared for ceremony than Amy
in those weeks preceding her depar-
ture for the first lap of her ninety -day
munity's interest, the community's
pride, the community's responsibility.
Ladies' societies met for the sole pur-
pose of sewing Amy's travelling things.
Local shops We'd with one another in
supplying Miss q. S. A. with para
eager hands to the bone, so to speak,
seeing to it that the whole general
picture was one of magnitude and
scope worthy Of his fiancee.
And then there entered into this pic
ture aspects Of the human equation
which were to shock and disappoint
the community beyond anything that
had ever happened in its midst. A
momentary shock, 1t Is true, which
later was to be superseded by home
~ kind of feeling of affection for the
misdemeanor of which Miss Stricken
4
Two weeks before Amy's cOntem-
plated departure on a fiower-decked,
bunting draped train, Tom Powell,
seated in her stuffy little parlor one
evening, caught her in his arms and
told her that he could not bear to let
her go, that he was sure to lose her
to a vast and admiring world, that he