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Show PROSPECTIVE JOYS I His nose was red and his hands were stuffed into the pockets of his shabby overcoat and he stumbled a little in his thick shoes as he edged up to the young woman who was going down the avenue at a pace induced by the arctic arc-tic atmosphere. "Say," he gasped, "wh" time is it?" "Well," said the young woman, judicially, ju-dicially, "I should say it was somewhere some-where around 11' o'clock. Why?" "Ma's going to take me to a show at half-past 11," he explained, accommodating accommo-dating his step to hers. "It's down at Thirty-ninth street. You goin' to it?" The young woman looked regretful. "Dear me!" she said. "I don't believe I am. I've another engagement for this morning. Isn't it loo bad!" "Uh-huh," agreed the small boy. "It's goin' to be great. Say, ain't you walkin' awful fast?" "Excuse me," said the young woman, wom-an, slowing down. "Of course, they expect me on time, but I can explain that important business detained me." "Huh?" asked the small boy. "Where y' goin'? Another show?" "Not exactly," admitted the young woman. "Just a language class where you study, you know." "Gee!" said the small boy. "On Sat'day, too! Guess you'll be glad to be late! "Me an' m' brother've be-en savin' up to go to the show," he went on. "I got 79 cents an' m' brother, he's got over a dollar, but he found a 50-cent piece. Once he found a stickpin, too, but that was because he was walkin' in the gutter so's he could splash in the puddles. M' brother, he couldn't save much. My sister, she' ain't goin' to the show because she spent all her money an' didn't save a cent, an' she has to stay home, ma says, an' my next sister " "Good gracious!" interrupted the young woman. "How many of you are there in your family?" "Six," said the small boy, casually. "There was ten, but four they died. My twin had whooping cough an' it "Tilly, She Had Measles." went to his lungs and one of the other twins lived just 25 minutes. Yes'm. The doctor he did everything for it, too, but it just died. It was a perfectly beautiful child. What's the matter now?" "I often choke that way," said the young woman, hastily. "Don't mind me. Please go on!" "Well, we're both goin' on, ain't we?" he demanded. "Tilly, she had measles an' my ma was so tired out she let Mrs. Eckmau you know Mrs. Eckman?" "No," said the young woman, apologetically. apolo-getically. "I don't believe 1 do!" "Mrs. Eckman lives next door,'' said the small boy, in surprise. "You don't know many people, do you? Mrs. Eckman. Eck-man. she said she'd take rare of Tilly so's my ma could sleep, and Tilly threw the covers off an' got a chill an' just died. Mrs. Eckman, she felt awful aw-ful bad. She said it was a a dis penshun of pr-prodivunce. They was more flowers n' could be put on the casket. Some had to be leaned against the wall. Ma just got mad every time Mrs. Eckman came near her an' wouldn't speak f'r the longest time. Mrs. Eckman makes dandy cakes. Is it half-past 11 yet?" "I don't think so," said the young woman. "What is mere time?" "Huh?" asked the small boy. "M' sis ter can't go with us to the show because be-cause she didn't save any money." "You and your brother have so much money you might take her," said the young woman, severely. "Don't be selfish:'' When they reached the corner the young woman turned to him and said: "1 turn down here." "So do I," said the boy, skipping beside be-side her. "You'd better go to the show. Here's where I live right next to the laundry!'' "I hope you have a good time at the show!" called the young woman after him as he scrambled up the steps. But he was whistling shrilly through two fingers at another boy in the window in cap and coat, who was beckoning violently for him to hurry. Chicago Daily News. |