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Show INDIGNATION MEETING BY JAMES HARDING. "Well, wouldn't that make you tired I" called Mrs. Drill as she cams out on her back porch and slammed tho door sharply behind her. Her nolghbor, Mrs. Graves, lookod up In surprise, for Mrs, Brill was of a most unruffled demeanor ordinarily. Sitting back on her heels in the grass, she abandoned her pursuit of dandelions long enough to inquire sympathetically, "What would?" Mr. Brill's prettily frilled dust cap fairly stood on end with Indignation. "I'vo been trying to Ret Raymond's Bchool by telephone for at least half an hour. You know my sister and her little boy are coming up for the day. and, of course, Raymond wants to stay at home. Well, he's In tho entertainment en-tertainment next week and I wantod to tell hla teacher ho'll bo absent today to-day and I wanted to find out about his costume. Hut do you suppose I could get that school? No, lndoedl And I tell you, Mrs. Graves, the phono service wo have hero now Is something some-thing awful. There Is a phone at the school, for I saw It ono day. There Is no number In tho book and all I could get out of those .girls was 'Wo hnvo no record.' I toll you our Improvement Im-provement association ought to get after tho phono service Instead of putting up any more fancy street lamps." "Now, Mrs. Brill," expostulated the woman two doors away, who had suspended sus-pended operations on her clothesline to listen and who stood drooping gracefully over tho fence and rattling tho clothespins In her apron pocket. "It Isn't tho fault of tho telophono at all; It's the schools, or tho school board, or something. Listen to what happened to mo tho other day. "I wantod to go down town early nnd get at tho sales before tho bargains bar-gains wcro all picked over," related tho woman two doors awny, "I hurried hur-ried so that I forgot to take tho pigs' feet off the stovo that were cooking for my husband's suppor. Ho likes 'hem onco In a whllo and they have to bo fixed Just so In order to suit htm. These were awfully nice ones and I wanted to cook them as long aB possible. possi-ble. On the car I remembered that I hadn't removed them, but tho gas was turned low, so thoy couldn't burn Tory soon. Well, I hurried to tho nearest phone to call up Bobblo at his school and tell him to run over nt recess time and turn out the gas. "But do you suppose I got any satisfaction? sat-isfaction? Well, I didn't. Oh, I was mad! Hero I had planned on thoso sales for a month, you know, to get some furniture and hangings cheap for the porch. I didn't halt look at what they had, Just bought somo things In a hurry and then rushed homo. I was hardly In tlmo olther, for thoso pigs' feet were scorched. "Then my husband got mad. You know, John Is aw fully particular about whnt ho eats. And I had to send tho furnlturo back becauso It wasn't at all what I wanted." Sho paused a moment for breath ,nd to enjoy the sympathetlo com-n'onts com-n'onts of her nolghbor. Then, with a coquettish toss of her head, she continued: con-tinued: "Well, I Just told John how It all waB. You seo, my husband knows tho superintendent of this district real well. They go down together on tho 7:45 train real often. So he'll Just fix It up at headquarters. The idea of not tfelng able to phone to one's own child in a city of this slzol" Mrs. Brill nodded emphatically at Mrs. Graves, who had gone back to hunting dandelions. Though ostensibly osten-sibly talking to the woman two doom away, ahe directed her next remarks straight to Mrs. Graves, whom sho considered more or less a party to the misdemeanors of the city school, because be-cause ;Mrs.r Graves had once taught in them. "That's Just it," declared Mrs. Brill. Now, In Splashvlllo, whore my sister teaches, you can phono to anyono in any school at any time about anything. any-thing. That's how It should be. Suppose Sup-pose somebody should dlo suddenly, or break an arm or something. You couldn't get word to the child In any way here." Mrs. Graves answored tho accusation accusa-tion aB she picked up tho mutilated dandelions preparatory to going Into tho houso. "Surely, overy kind of mos-sago mos-sago should be given and to every one of tho thousands of youngsters In tho schools Just becauso somo ono might dlo somo tlmo, It would tako Bovoral clerks Just for that and (ho classes would bo continual! disturbed dis-turbed but what of thnt?" "Well," pouted Mrs. Brill, "wln't do wo pay taxos for?' ' "That's right," Insisted tho neigh-for neigh-for two doors nwny "Anyway, my husband's going to seo about It." Chi-:ago Chi-:ago Dally Nows. |