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Show 1: "Experienced ' ;; I 1 1 : ' ; Only" ;-'-;-- I ! By HZ LOUIS RAYBOLD . j (CopyrlKht l T RADLEY IUCTIARDS did not realize, that, at the time he left Dlghtonville for the : city, he was greatly looked up to;, by all the small girls in town. , ...... ' Ills reputation as the star' football man on the local high school 1 team, the swagger way -In which he strode about the streets, his charming profile pro-file as seen at" the movies' or Sunday school entertainments, : bad enshrined him In a dozen youthful hearts, the most faithful of which was Sally Marbury's. Five years In the city "modified Bradley's swagger but did not change his profile nor erase bis memory from Sally's dreams. Not, however, that be remembered Sally I Even when she wa3 most worshiping from the side lines or across the aisle, he bad been unconscious of her. very existence. exist-ence. His success at football had not followed fol-lowed him In business. One job after another bad been tried out and he was embarking on his fifth venture when the letter telling of bis uncle's sudden death back in Dightonville reached him. "Now he has left you," wrote, his old friend and lawyer, "the bouse he was born and . died in and the store that gave him bis living."' lie got out of Hie Dightonville train the following afternoon. . His throat tightened when he crossed the threshold thresh-old of the old'white house. After all, It had been his home for years. It was when be went down to the store, however, that he was seized by an idea. He hadn't made good in the city. Suppose he took over this down-at-the-hcels emporium with Us out-of-date stock and cobwebbed windows and tried to make a success of It. To be sure, he knew nothing about tlie drygood3 business. He would have to have an experienced clerk.' Next morning there appeared In the Dightonville Star an advertisement: "Wanted A clerk In Richards' Dry-goods Dry-goods Emporium.- Experienced only need apply." That afternoon a special delivery letter reached him. It read: "Dear. Mr. Richards: "I am applying for tlie position of cleric In your store. (By the way, don't you think It w?ould sound more modern to call It a Department Store inslead of an Emporium?) "If you will hold this position open for three days, or even two, I will, be at liberty and will call on you. "I am sure you are going to be a success. "Yours tiuly, "S. MARBDRY." That afternoon Bradley went across the street to the one other store in town handling the same sort of stock as his uncle. Bradley's old classmate, Dick Endlcott, uow owned and ran it and Bradley was anxious to strengthen strength-en relations before any spirit of rivalry should affect It. He was leaving, after a pleasant chat in tlie ollice with Dick, when he passed a strikingly pretty girl looking look-ing up at him from her typewriter. Their glances met and the girl blushed furiously. Three days later she walked Into his store and applied for the Job as clork. She said she was the S. Marbury who had written to him. But Bradley shook his -head. "I'm very sorry," he said, . and meant It, "but I don't want to start business by lilting my neighbor's clerk." For a moment Sally seemed startled. Then nt a loss vfor what to say. Finally, "I was going to leave anyhow," rhe declared. "Mr. Endlcott Endl-cott knew it. I assure you be will be glad rather than sorry!" Somehow or other, Bradley got the Idea from the tone of her voice that she had been discharged. The thought gave him a fellow-feeling of sympathy. sympa-thy. He had been discharged and knew how she felt. lie gave her the Job. In the days that followed Bradley frequently putted himself on tlie back for having had sufficient perspicacity to hire a clerk with "experience." Insilnclhely. she seemed able to gunge the needs of her townspeople and to ad. ise Bradley In his buying accordingly. But not until Sally bud been working work-ing for him for some time was he able to pin her down a3 to the extent ex-tent of her experience. They were standing one day In the doorway of the store and from some neat by garden drifted the scent of lilacs. "How long," asked Bradley, "did you work for Dick?' She didn't answer for n minute. Then, "Three days," the said meekly. "Three days'." "Oh. I'll explain! When I saw your adverthemeut I made up my mind to land the Job. I hadn't a speck of experience ex-perience but Dick married my cousin and I teased him into letting me work three days for him so that technically I could be eligible. Bradley regarded her curiously How lovely she was! But why had she, an only child of a well-to-do father, fa-ther, been so anxious to work for him? "Sally," he said Impulsively, "what say we try something more romantic than drygoods partnership? 1 I love you, Sally!" And blissfully Sally saw her girlhood girl-hood dream fulfilled. |