Show JTZVIDCE TArES Miss Allegretto and the Pie 3y Ellis Parker BuUe Author of Pigs is > Pigs Etc DJJJSTRATED By PETER NEWELL Ono of the kindest hearted ladles In Ilctzvlllc Is Miss Allegretto 0 Spads who Is naturally kind to man and beast but there arc times when kindness ceases to be a virtue and becomes a nuisance and Miss Allegretto Alle-gretto reached tho conclusion week before last that one of those times had come For over tIll eo years a tramp Seattle Se-attle Jnmes by name has made Miss Allegretto hack porch a placo of rendezvous whereat to moot a strawberry straw-berry pie and although Miss Allegretto Allegret-to has a heart second to none In size she grow tired of Seattlo James n wool ago last Tuesday For tho first year Seattle James mot one of Miss Allegrettos strawberry pies every year and for tho second year ho met one of her strawberry pies once u month but this year he started In to eating this one and he meant to eat It or die In tho struggle Somotlmni he held it down with ono foot while he chewed nt It and sometimes he crushed it up against the side of the houso whllo ho bit at It snappishly and once In awhile ho would staggei off u few feet and lie on his back and pant for u few minutes whllo ho gathered gath-ered now strength for tho attack Miss Allegretto said she watched and waited with bated breath for she felt that her whole future careen hung in tho balance If Seattle Janet hold out she was condemned to everlasting ever-lasting plo making but If tho plo held out she would bo freo It looked II if the strong nature of Seattle Jninrs would triumph in tho end for nftei each defeat ho arose with renewed vlrur and tackled tho plo again and Miss Allegretto had about lost hop r tai + 1 H ° e If t tit m kp 1 s l I 1I c z I forNewEu And Sometimes He Crushed it Up Against the Side of the House While He Bit at It Snappishly meet a strawberry plo onco a week and It vexed Miss Allegretto Miss Allegretto is properly proud oCher oC-her strawberry pins and she HUes praise and tho best praise Is tho eating eat-ing them but when Seattle James began be-gan coming every Tuesday and also began sending another pie loving hobo ho-bo for each other day of the week Miss Allegretto began feeling that she was becoming a moio plefuctory and that it was interfering with her duties as ono of our lending social lights No lady can turn out a continuous stream of large circular strawberry pies day after day and week after week and still do her duty by the Betzvlllo Sewing society And yet Miss Allegretto had not the heart to turn a poor plo hungry hobo from her door with cruel words For several weeks she brooded mournfully over tho situation nail she was losing flesh rapidly when a complete solution of the matter camo to her at n meeting of tho Hetzvlllo Sowing society Uncle Ashdod Clutc himself said the solution was one of thoso strokes of genius that como to a person once In a lifetime like a lash of lightning out of a clear sky Mis Allegretto was sewing away and brooding and didnt know what In time world to do when sho noticed that her needle was a little dull and she reached Into her sewing bag and pulled out her emery bag to sharpen her needle a little Her emery bag like every other emery bag In Iletz vlllo was shaped llkn and looked liken like-n ripe red strawberry and tho moment mo-ment sho saw It the solution camo into In-to her mind Without a moments hesitation she gathered up all tho oniery strawberries In the Sewing society so-ciety and then excused herself and went home and tuado a strawberry pie out of them When tho pie was completed It was one of the best lookIng look-Ing strawberry pies Rotztf had overseen I over-seen turned out by Miss Allegretto 0 1 Spuds und without a word she set It on tho kitchen window sill to cool Half an hour Inter Seattle James wandered up with his sweet smile and when ho saw the plo resting peacefully peaceful-ly on tho window sill he grinned joyfully joy-fully and reached for It Ho opened his mouth and took n bite Miss AI Icgretto buys nothing can describe tho struggle that followed but the meeting meet-ing of an Irresistible forco nmi an immovable im-movable obstruction At the first hate Seattle James looked pained and surprised sur-prised but ho was game and bit again Then a glare of anger clime Iro Ills eyes and wrapping his arms around tho pie ho lay down und hugged it while ho chewed nt It angrily Ho roomed to feel that his whole future strawberry pU life depended on his when a factor sho had not considered camo into piny Tho tireless spirit of Seattle James remained unwearied but his teeth were fading away Every Ev-ery time he bit Into an emery strawberry straw-berry the emery sharpened his teeth a little more nnd the sharper and finer his teeth became until at length they wore away entirely In less than half an hour ho had worn his teeth entirely off and when he realized that tly wero gone ho uttered a long sol racking cry took n last bite at the pie with his toothless gums and started north on n dead run Nothing more has been seen of him since As soon as ho was out of sight Miss Allegretto took the plo and nailed It to the front gate where It still remains re-mains Once or twice n day n tramp wanders up to the gate but the moment mo-ment ho sees tho pie nailed there ho utters a loud yell of consternation and lopes down tho street holding his tooth with his right hand Uncle Ash dod Cluto says that if there was only some way of rigging up the pie so It would chase the tramp there would be no stopping tho tramp until he hopped off Plymouth hock anti drowned himself In tho salty waters of the stern und rockbound coast but up to tho present ho hasnt discovered dis-covered how to make a strawberry pie follow tho trail of n tramp t Copyright 100 I by W G Chapman |