The Crosbyton Review. (Crosbyton, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, February 20, 1931 Page: 4 of 6
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T." ;-
pM#
if -
wm
and her
MPII
mSBm
wmm.
Mmm
mc where her mo-
except bemoan the
* "seen better days"
who works.in a
late. Maggie
family breakfast be-
out to her job in the
Cent Store.
new boy at the Five-arin-
He tells Maggie that
assigned to work a« *
in*the stock room. He se
Or. dumb, but Maggie helps him
•'Ogh his "first day at the store
jwd shares her lunch with him in a
y-hole of a place that belongs to
mattress factory next door to the
■%f-f *vft?and"Ten. ...
They were looking over some cheap
earths. One of them strikes
s fancy. "The; way t© begin
life is to begin." She and
"< taik about that and Joe is sur-
prised-that *the girl iiaar higher stan-
dards than he had suspected. When
he goes home that night he is think-
ing abput Maggie." And his home is
<the home of the owner of the Mack
3Five and Ten-Cent Stores," though
Maggie does not suspect thta he is
the boss' son. '
Maggie, at home, begins to suspect
that her mother's complaints are due
*o that lady's belief that happiness
depends upon material things, while
at the store she continues to sur-
prise Joe by her apprecation of the
realities of life.
Joe knew that Maggie was falliiig
Sn love with him before Maggie dis-
•cbvered it. But he was a little low
In discover}##—in turn, was
falling in love with Maggie. Bui he
admitted to himself that his admira-
tio* for her was growing, and the
3C*r in. the store began to notice
something different about heir.
Maggie's interest in her joh.jjJ.imu-
lates Joe's own.
perhaps it isn't bad after all to have
to work in the store. And he and
Maggie begin to-talk about love.
dNOW GO -0^ -Wttir THE STORY
"A person might like you a lot,
"Maggie, and wish all sorts of good
things for you," Joe said rather slow
ly "Without—without, J aay* haying
a crush on you!"
"Well, that'll be enough for me,"
she answered, still in the same au-
dacious, high-spirited key. "1 don't
want any kissin', *an' as for pettin'
parties."
"Now, look here, you little idiot,"
Jie said, half angry and half laugh-
ing. "don't think you can get -away"
"with that .sort of thing! When your
hour strikes, my dear, you won't be
so sure you ran get what you want!
^You'll" be sick for more than kisses,
then, Maggie, and afraid to take
them. The whole world will turn it-
self- into a sort of blur, with a man
in the centre, and when he speaks,
you'll answer, and you'll, say what
he wants you to say, too. Don't fool
iyourself. You and I are friends—
ifriends—friends—I was down and
Out when we first began to talk to-
gether, and you gave me right steer
•and it kind of made you like me. I
dike yoUc-J love you—I think you're
■& perfect^vkeen kid. But that kind
of love's different. You're too young
to know anything about It. Believo
3ne, it's got a lot of pain in it, ana
it leaves a scar—you don't get over
it—"
She had begun by laughing, boldly
But she sobered, to listen to him,
Jashes. ^ide, lips Slightly parted, lit-
tle felt hat pushed back to, show a
;jfilm of gold across her earnest fore-
head. colour had ebbed from her
r^ace, and putting her elbows on the
table* she had covered her face with"
lor hands—those small hard, red
. hands that Joe found so infinitely pa
vthefc.; . . — " -
it "^od help me, it's that way with
5* Mttfe now, Joe,!" she whispered, not
meeting his eyes.
They walked back to the store in
Jabaoliite silence.
One night in early February, it
ichanced that at the Merrill table
tliere were dining but three man ;
<JeorgeHowftrd Merrill, president of
*■ I the entire chain, of stores, his trusty
* JBK imanager, orfe Frank Flint, and the
son <rf the hotise, Joseph Grant Mack
HP*
son oi tne n<
:;'«nxie Merrill,
• nu._ t_-± .
The last named was included in
the party merely because he happen-
■ ed to be in the house, with no dinner
mMS-i 4>ria>na>< tnaht anil hMAi)M> a wild .vain
Hi
if#
t and because a wild tain
George Merrill .cared no
whether his son and heir came
" blindly idolized his son.
Joe had shown a la-
a«d
dispos-
es, id-
•ill ways
m
m
mpi
time in
IxtfiSi
that on this
seeing three:
at
id*aof
KftM'.
Inmily board, his father, scrowljtig
term gating the buttles
■god when the answer was that th? su
mm
ISIS
r
jflHMM
SS!S :
George
Merrill. "We "want to talk business.
But Mr. Joe's all right. He won't
hear a word we say!"
^ "I wish he would," Frank Flint, a
big, rosy, silver-headed man, said po-
litely, "We want that boy in .thejjus-
ineas, some day." - ■
Mr, Merrill responded .simply:
i'Frank, I don't know what he's do-
ing, or what he want to do! They're
too much for me,' nowadays. He's
busy about something—it won't last.
But wjrile.it keeps him out of mis-
chief-—or out of jail—" — ••
"I'd be glad enough to have him
get interested in the Mack. If he
seems to catch on to anything to-nite
as w« talk, Frank, see if you can.
draw him out.' " r
"Sorry to be. late," .said Joe, at this
point, coming in.
You're not late," his father assur-
ed him ungraciously. Sometimes, in
th: course of the last few years, his
disappointment in this boy has risen
almost to actual hatred.
But just of late, ever since, ifa fact
that terrible scene when his mother
had called him a "commoner, without
cne single gentlemanly instinct in his
mind or soul," and when he, his fa-
ther, had shouted at Joe that he was
not better than a pickpocket, there
had seemed to be a queer change in
the boy.
"Tired, Joe?"
'I beg pardon?"
"Say you look tired, my boy. Re-
search—'' said George Merrill, with
wink at his general manager.
"Nope. Yes, I am a little tired.
Not much," Joe ^aid-unsatisfactorily,
falling upon his soup.
Then Joe said mildly, in a pause:
You say that it's the ruined. stock
that costs in-the -Mack Stores—not
the labour. . I've thought of that. It
seems to me that every day enough
He"begins^TcMsi'ink collars and writing paper and candy
and toys and socks fall on the floor
and are trampled on to set up a se-
"Where'd >ou get this, Joe?" ask-
ed his father.
I went into—Number Seven, I think
it is,'' said Joe.
'"On Eighth?"
"About there." >■
"That's Number Seven. Good for
you! I hope you got service," said
Flint.
"They have a great staff there,"
said Joe.
"That's a good store. That's a good
store," Flint agreed.
"What occured to me,' Joe said TeP
surely, "was that you—we, 1 might
&ay—could handle all that small stulf
v"fery rfiuch beter with an automat.
"Thats an idea, Joe, but unfortu-
nately it's not practical," his fath
said genially, comfortably.
Then his eye and the eye of his
general manager met.
"Why isn't it practical, Frank? It
works all right on the food—they're
opening those damn nickel-in-the-slot
places all over town," George Merrill
said. "They're practical."
"We-ell—" Frank Flint hesitated
Joe broke in:
"Take the whole back wall of a
store, and handle the five-and the ten
cent stuff there. Let 'em drop pen-
nies for their spools and soap and
ink and pencils and can openers and
hairpins. You could have a girl thfere
to change their money.
"I'm not at all sure, Joe," said his
father explosively. "I'm not at all
pure that you haven't given us an i-
dea."
"I could look into that, Mr. Merrill"
Flint said. "It might—catch on, Mr.
Merrill. It would be an exclusive
Mack feature, you know."
"Frank, the more I think of that,
the more I suspect that—there's—
something—in—it,"* George Merrill
drawling his words portentously, said
slowly. "When could you see Burke?
"See him to-morrow."
"Take that up with him, will you,
Frank? Find out who makes that
machinery. We might as well look
into it ,any way. —-
Joe wanted to keep that look in his
father's eyes, tat proud, vindicated
look that said: "This boy of mine
isn't —such —-fool, after all!"
An hour later, he was reading in
his room when his father came, ra-
ther shyly, rather awkwardly in. The
boy had taken the trouble to come
upstairs, Joe reflected, gratified.
"Joe, see that girl that sings that
'Mouse-trap' thing, in the Revue?"
"Yes sir. Saw it opening night."
"Ive got 2 seats,' George Merrill
displayed them deprecatingly. "I
was going to .take. Klint,' he said.
"I'd like to see that darn show a-
jrain,' Joe said.
Fifteen minutes later they left the
house together. It was the first time
Joe Merrill had gone to the theater
with his father since the day of his
fourteenth birthday .treat
m
"Workeff it out together/ nothing!
Tjju began it, it was "entirely your
idea.' • ' '
1." 'But what's the difference, as long
as one of us gets the credit?" she
nsked innocently. \
Joe could only laugh uncomforta-
bly. . '•
#jVhen he went- downstairs an hour
he* jslbow. .. ^ .
Everyone , in the room was bitterly
bored: guests,, waiters, musicians.
Millicent asked languidly:
"When are We going to announce
it, Joe ?—-Don't interrupt me, Marion"
she said to another girl, who leaned
across the table for a hysterical con-
fidence. "I'm proposing to Joe G:
"It can't be done, i- tried it my-
self, didn't I, Joe?" said a third girl
handsome and big.
"I don't seem to remember that,
Carrol," Joe said, eating. "But some
night when I've had too many cock-
tails one of you girls will get me, and
that'll be that." <
There were sHrie^s of laughter, and
then the conversation suddenly died,
and nobobdy could thiflfc~Of anything
to say. ■ . • •
Conversations we:re_ entirely.* perso*
nal, usually firSt-personal at that.
"My dear, I—well, I—well—if you
later, he managed his own way
through the moving river of the de-j
paitment employees of the Mack, and' ^ ^e—I couldn't—I told Mother-
I—she and I—but it isn't that I—ex-
actly. I couldn't—I simply—if you
found' himself beside her.
"Why so fast, Maggie?''
She raised blazing eyes to his.
'How dare you speak to mel You
ought to be ashamed to speak to me!
hate you!"
"For heaven's sake, what's the mat-<
ter?" oJe stammered aghast.
But-she went quickly on, shabby
litle untidy head held high, and dis-
appeared in the crowd before he could' cigarettes.
could have seen me—"
"Marjorie, did you see Mrs. Madi-
son?"
"My dear—wasn't that terrible!"
"Oh, well, my dear, if she would
bring that impossible girl—'
"Well, exactly!"
More lip-red, more powder, more
catch her again.
oJe walked briskly toward his car.
got into it, and drove toward Goat
Hill.
"My gosh, I never say her like that
before! I wonder what the deuce Ive
done?" he kept; saying aloud as he
went.
The dinner was at the club tonight;
it W£s for pretty Katrina FairchilcL
Millicent, nex^to Joe—was beating
powder into her rather coarse-pored
colourless skin with violent jerks of
"Of course, Mother felt .dreadfully
about it.','
"\Vell, but, my dear!"
"Well, exactly—that's- what I said
to mother."
"Listen, Maggie, you can't keep
this up. Sooner or later you'll have
to make it up with me and tell me
what the trouble is, so why not now ?
Joe pleaded.
She was in the hardware depart-
ment, and was attempting to straigh-;
a jerk, her cheeks crimsoned, and I
tone was cutting, if a trifle shaky,
she said :
"You brokd my heart. But it does
not matter. Please get out of myj
way. —"r . ;:r\ •'
Jbe was honestly staggered.
"How, in the name of St. Pete, did
I break your heart?"
"We'll not—" she was being mag
nificent—"we'll not discuss it/ said
Maggie.
We will discuss it,' said Joe. "i
haven't done anything, and I object
to your acting this way.'
• 'Oh,'no—no!" she said, in a low,
trembling voice shaken with anger.
"Oh, no. You didn't take Paulo Yon-
ger. to lunch, and pay for her lunch,
at our, place—al our place!—and then
walk with hesr, and have all those
horrible girls at the lampshades mak
ing fun of me, and saying that Paulo
had gotten you away from me."
"Now, listen, Maggie—that's utter-
ly ridiculous. In the first place, I
went
lunch at the Old South Tea Room—
but I swear to you I- went in there
a? and wiped them on the soggy length
of the exhausted roller toweL
Her.face burped, her hands were
icy, her confused mind was only a
blur and her heart one heavy, pnen-
durable ache. —
It had been pretty bold of her to
question him, to rebuke him about
Paute Jfounger, After all, it was .
Joe's affair.
Her thoughts burned, stung, writh-
ed together. The one unbearable „
.thought was that the half-past five
o'clock whistle would sound, and Mur-
phy begin to close the big jointed
iron grills against the world, and
that she would have to go home—
what else could she do ?—broken-
hearted and alone, and bear thg week..
end with Joe "mad" at Her.
He had already been elevated to
the of ices, which were placed in a po
sition of some dignity and seclusion,
on a mezzanine deck at the far rear
of the store.
•ounicUi«caf
brought in a defective, article, Maggie
had to guide her upstairs to the win
with no idea that Miss Yonger was'dow marked "Complaints," and once
lunching there than you had! I saw
her at an empty table—the place was
packed, and naturally, I sat with
her."
"Oh, naturally!" Maggie said, trem
bling, beside herself.
"Well, would you have me cut the
girl ?" Joe asked, warming in his
turn. "I sat with her, and later I
paid the tip, twenty-five cents, and
our bill for two sixty-cent lunches.
There! If I'd known that you-ex-
pected me to ask permission—"
"I'll never speak to you again," she
"gritted between her teeth.
She had finished her task now, the
or twice these errands had taken her
at the offices. But she had no ex-
cuse today.
She turned the knob, of t,he glass
door rather timidly, and saw Joe
standing at the window in the back-
of the room, with Simmonds, a buy-
er, both intent upon the inspection
of some sort of material.
"What is it?" Simmonds asked her
"Excuse me," Maggie faltered, And
Joe—as she saw with sinking heart
—easually turned away and began to
study. a bloated, bursting book of
"swfttchcs/*
CONTINUED NEXT WEEK
HIP
FLOWERING SHRUBS
SHADE TREES
FRUIT TREES
EVERGREENS
BERRIES
GRAPES, Etc.
It will be a pleasure to give information and to help yott select
the proper varieties in any order.
Mrs. M. Curry
T AP A T ArrMT 17A
LOCAL AutN l r vJK
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Curry, W. M. The Crosbyton Review. (Crosbyton, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, February 20, 1931, newspaper, February 20, 1931; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth242897/m1/4/: accessed June 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Crosby County Public Library.