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Show Bxsnsc) BY FLORIDA PIER fe- then straightening her shoulders with a competent, businesslike air, she said: "Well, if this isn't a case for charity. Do you know that I've got a mother in my flat that makes shortcake so like yours that you couldn't tell 'cm apart if you was to sec them side by side. Why, wc had one last night, I bet if I hadn't had sausages for my lunch you could smell the shorttake on my breath this minute. You want it so it crunches a bit, not sweet like a cake, and no fool whipped cream on top; say, I know the kind all right. You come right home with me and I'll get ma to make us one tonight." to-night." The old gentleman was in a pitiable state; he was shocked, incredulous, weak with joy and rendered speechless by the combination, lie stuttered: "Young woman, I cannot accompany you to your flat," and the next second he- chanted, "With the juice running down the sides; do you mean it'" Finally the little milliner, seeing that he was unable to act for himself, took command com-mand of the situation She demanded the address of the hotel, and as soon as it. had issued from the lips of the bewildered old gentleman she started to propel him in that direction. and off they started on the last lap of their trip. 'When they were only a block away the old gentleman felt a J twinge of caution coursing down his diaphragm; when j they came within sight of the shabby apartment house and she pointed out the windows of her domicile the old gentleman noticeably lagged. Shortcake became a j shadowy, unimportant thing; convention and the re- ', spectabilities of life loomed large; the chattering that ! still went on at his side was something to flee from, ij lie had almost stopped when a violent push was given 4 his elbow and the laughing voice said: "Say, get a move on; what do yon think you're doing, walking j backwards? I want to get ma started in on that short- i cake." j It was useless, he had to go on; where, where would heend? She skipped up the steps, pulling him after I her. He put down his umbrella and a wild light ap- j pea red in his eye. j "The pusher's broken; I've got to use my key," came 1 to him through his daze, and as she bent down and 1 fumbled at the key-hole, the old gentleman gave a bur- 1 ried look arnund, tip-toed softly down the steps, piled into a passing cab, and panting ' Drive" collapsed on f NOT cake, you know, with whipped cream on top; no, I said not cake. Hang it all. I don't want the whipped cream ; now, now, will you listen to me for a minute.'' The old gentleman reddened to danger point and swallowed rapidly to sac himself him-self from instantaneous combustion, then holding the waiter's attention on the point of Jus fiery glance, he waved his pudgy hands in the air and began: 'It must be like a rich biscuit, not sw eet ; now mind what I say. t's not to be piecrust or anything of that kind, but a rich biscuit with the berries crushed "so that the juice runs down to the edge and over the side, ami you hold on the arms of your chair to insure proper decorum until you arc served; now do you sec what I mean, and" here the old gentleman became positively threatening, threat-ening, "have you got it?" ' O yes, indeed, sir; get it for you at once!'' "Young man, I'd trust you more if yon said no Remember Re-member I've been looking for strawberry shortcake like that going on fifteen years now and I know it's not a thing about which to expect chrcrfuH alacrity; however, how-ever, you go and see what you can do. I'll wail." The waiter started and was stopped at his second step. ' Young man." The waiter winced at this and seemed to resent his waitcrdom being stripped from him and thus exposing to explicit directions his shrinking, unwilling un-willing manhood. Yon make the cook understand under-stand that it's got to be like a rich biscuit; all right; all right; if you think you have the idea you can go, but no mistakes, mind," and finally the waiter was allowed al-lowed to rr off, but with t lie importance of his order wilting eery inch of him, even down to his black broadcloth broad-cloth coat-tails. over the edge with its varying shades of red and its thick, succulent prophecy of delights to come; but this it is impossible to admit as actual memory, for it was not until such years afterward that he recalled these virtues and he is even now adding to their details. de-tails. The undramatic truth is that at the time nothing of any importance happened unless one wishes to except ex-cept the amount of shortcake which he ale but .is he was just fifteen, on a rare visit lo a farm, and hot from plowing, perhaps it would be narrow-minded and ungenerous un-generous tq speak of his appetite. Nevertheless he swears that under the table he ecstatically curled his bare toes and exclaimed, "Never, never shall I forget this shortcake." Wc allow him the toes; the remark wc refuse to accept When he was fifty-five wc realize that from fifteen to fify-fivc is an unforgivable jdinp in the life of a hero, but this talc is ungarnished in its truth he suddenly rMii inhered his aunt's shortcake and it rounded out bis life with a gratifying completeness. His period of forget fulness is, though at first inexplicable, really not so si range w hen cnc explains that he had been occupied occu-pied in earning his living, acquiring habits and taking on flesh. These arc all important things, thev all require re-quire time, and to an old gentleman of any pretensions whatever they arc absolutely necessary; at fifty-five he had an income, a fair amount of time on his hands ami the memory of that first strawberry shortcake was beneficently sent him. At once he was on the alerts he cultivated new acquaintances for the purpose of pumping pump-ing them; he refused dinner invitations for the purpose of trying new restaurants where there lurked a possibility possi-bility of the exigence of the one and only kind of shortcake. He became in lime an authority on slraw- certainly be necessary. Il was; a concoction of such mcssincss was put before him that he gave his customary cus-tomary snort followed by the "Hah." and, declining to descend to a taste, he slapped down seine money with such violence that the waiter upset the shortcake on the floor and stalked from the place. Now a stalk is invariably impressive, especially from the "side and rear views, but it is seldom comforting to the stalker It leaves him with a hollow feeling in the small of his back a sense of damp misery that if extreme drives one to immediate and opposite action. That is why, after having slammed a door (even if you only do it mentally) and stalked from the house, you arc so apt to give a coin to the first beggar you meet. This is purely selfish and is merely done to take the laste of the talk from your back. The old gentleman having hav-ing talked with great earnestness, felt the need of n.aking some one instantly and noticeably happy, and i.c.ng the old gentleman he was, he decided to limit his comfort to himself It had started to rain while he was in the restaurant, and he now stood eu the corner peering discontentedly out from under his umbrella um-brella and wondering how he could best wipe out the stalk. He looked up the street and the glistening wet pavement only made him think of possible rheumatism. He looked down and caught a glimpse of his club, which added to his misery, as it was only Inst night that he had struggled unsuccessfully with the club chef. The resultant shortcake had aged the old gentleman considerably. Really there seemed nothing to do; a wind had come up and il Was necessary to fight with jt for the possession of one's umbrella, almost for the ownership of one's legs. The old gentleman fought and managed to hold his own; then jn.t as he was beginning be-ginning to realize the absurdity of standing on a windy corner battling with an obstreperous umbrella 'there M mjimi YA m l JJ "YES, THIS is a bad night for THE ORPHAN' CniLD" v Mf il ,q - ' ....... .... 7 - i "JUL W.UILR UI'SET TUt SUOKICAKS ON Tll ILOOP. was a whirl of skirts, a little scream, and a young wounn was not only standing under his umberlla and holding on to his arm, but she had the added audacity to smile up in his face and exclaim: "Gee, this is a bad night for the orphan child." Then, as the old gentleman gentle-man said nothing, he was naturally too shocked to breathe, she insisted cheerily, "I say ain't it?" "No doubt; no doubt,""1 hi managed by the greatest effort to puff out, 'but if you will excuse me, 1 am not an orphan." "Oh, sure, neither am I, but we couldn't be any wetter wet-ter if v. e was, could we?" and here she shook her monstrous mon-strous hat so vigorously that it spattered drops of water in all directions, one going into the old gentleman's wide open eye, whereat she shrieked with pleasure and shrilled: "Ping, right in the peeper, hurt?-' ' No, naturally not. Young woman, will you have the, goodness lo tell ine where you were going when vou intruded; when you, I may say, when you honored mc with your presence under my umbrella." "Say. you're hospitabk-all 'right, all right. Well, to tell the truth, I wasn't quite sure where I was going, but when I saw you I thought perhaps you could tell mc. I'm trying to deliver this." This proved to be a large bandbox, which until now the old gentleman had not noticed, though for some moments past he hail been conscious of an unpleasant, obtrusive corner that had kept digging itself into his plump side. Now he really felt that his good nature was being imposed upon; to shelter a girl with a hat of prodigious size and a bandbox as well, it was almost too much; the old gentleman felt a justified rage. "Deliver it. deliver it. and to whom? I trust you do not. think I w ant it " "Of course I don't; now, I say, do try and keep cool I wouldn't have come under your old umbrella if I'd known voj was so crusty." Here she looked accusingly accus-ingly pathetic. "Shall I go out in the rain again?" He could as soon have sent a kitten, and knowing it made hun sternly severe with them both. "Stay where you are," he commanded. "Now, tell nic about the bandbox." Ami he elrew his eyebrows together and shook his head to give a properly fierce impression. "Well, you sec I'm a milliner by trade and I promised, personally myself, to get this hat to the touslcr what's going to wear it by seven o'clock, but, my goodness, I can't find the hotel where the old girl lives. It's the St. Mark's Do you know where it is? That's what I wanted to ask you in the beginning; that's what I really came under your chummy little umbrella for." The St. Mark's; it was dimly familiar to the old gentleman ; he thought a minulc, discreetly not noticing the hand that still lay on his coat sleeve, and presently St. Mark's cleared itself in his brain. He had heard only this afternoon that once upon a time the St Mark's produced strawberry shortcake that a person t of taste might eat. The old gentleman mellowed "It just happens," he lxiomed kindly, "that I do know where the St. Mark's is, and I I am rather wanting to go there myself; in fact I 1 will walk with you to the hotel door." "Oh, naughty, naughty," the big hat was bobbing with fun, "always tell the truth; you're going to the St. Mark's to hold your umbrella over little mc; you're going to keep mc from getting wel. Now 'fess up; you're just a plain, good-hearted old dear, aren't you?" "Nothing of the sort; don't mislead yourself. 1 I am going to the St. Mark's Ix-causc I have heard that t stravvbery shortcake can be had there. The proper kind of shortcake, you understand like a rich biscuit, the strawberries crushed and the juice running ' down ' over the sides." '. "Sure, but can't you pet tVjt anywhere?" "Anywhere?. Young woman, I'vv been looking for shortcake like that for the last fifteen years, jtnd I haven't found it yet." The young woman's face suddenly sud-denly took on an expression of complete niothe r!ines and she patted the old pcntUmrn's arm fbothinHv hk a kindly nurse who coos, "docs it want its dinner," COPYRIGHT, 1010 The old gentleman settled back in iiis chair for what he knew would be a considerable wait. No one, in fact, could have known quite as well as the old gentleman how long such a wait could be, for no one else has ever taken a search after shortcake in so serious and dogged a way. He did it with the same fierce enthusiasm enthu-siasm that some men show in their yearly fortnight of shooting. The season came around and found him eager to begin. W hen the season was not open, so to speak, he collected data on good shortcake localities, be followed faint scents, applied the science of deduction deduc-tion to his hunt, tracked shortcake, angled for it, laid traps for the proper and only kind of shortcake with 1h? combined ardor of the collector and the wily craft 'f the hunter. Of course the old gentleman was a lachelor; these specialists always arc; they have lo be; 1'iey have neither time nor energy to both possess a family and follow a vocation, and if one is in the grip t" a great idea, one naturally is compelled to narrow town one's interests and concentrate on The Cause. It had all begun before the flood, as the old gentle-Man gentle-Man would have said, and then if he had wished to be explicit and he always did wish this he would have ?',lded, "or in other words, during the durk ages when 1 was in my fifteenth 'year." He had visited an aunt nr of those proper aunts who live on farms, excel in f?ttry, and so mnke aunt hood n triumph, ?nd she had f;"ite unwittingly set him astride of his hobby. Not 1-i.it he realized it then, though forty years aftcrwar ! ii. eloquent moments he drew vivid word pictures rf Low the strawberry juice looked as it lusciously trickled berry shortcake; he knew every deceiving menu that bore ' Old-fashioned Shortcake" in shameless black-lettcrs black-lettcrs on its front; he had interviewed managers, Ice-lured Ice-lured waiters, dragged chefs from their rightful places into the embarrassing glare of the dining-room. Once he had even made a tour of the smaller New England town in hopes that honesty and shortcake would remain re-main in.ict amid simple, bucolic surroundings. At another an-other time he had eaten two dinners in one evening for fear that a change would be made in cooks at one or other of the restaurants if he waited even a day, yet never, and here appears the unbelievable tragedy of our tale, had he found the shortcake of which he was in search; yet he was not discouraged nor had he been made bitter; it is possible that his nature lacked certain cer-tain sweetness, a calm that it would have had if he ha 1 mrt with success earlier in life, but otherwise the only difference was an ardor that increased with every year and a staunch philosophy that enabled him to continue his search in spite of nightly disappointments. The old gentleman now sat drumming his fingers on the tcblc and bracing himself for the waiter's return. He knew he was not to rdfeive anything lit to eat has it been mentioned that he always spoke so of the shortcake offered him and after the first damning taste bire out his words by refusing to cat mre and insisting insist-ing that every one else follow his example--so he got out his overcoat, pulled on one glove, and, sitting on the edge of the chair with his hat on his knee, would almost have gone home if it had not been that the bill was still unpaid and that an emphatic "Bah" would 'Gee whiz, I never heard of anything better arranged," ar-ranged," she chirped as she hurried him along. "The St. Mark's ain't two blocks from here, and wc don't live more than three blocks from the St. Mark's; think of my not knowing it and it almost a neighbor of mine. Did you ever? I'll just fling this bo is at the head bell-hop and be back under your little weather guard before you know it; then us for home and mother. ; Do you like a good deal of sugar in the juice? So do we. Pa likes it so wc can each have three helpings. No. never makes us sick. I bet you'll take four and never feel it." Chattering, jumping over puddles, protecting pro-tecting her bandlwx from the rain and always hauling the old gentlemn masterfully along, they finally d the hotel nnd in she flew, leaving her caplivr en the si.lew.ilk. He stood meeklv waiting her return. !imly praying that none of his friends would take it inio their heads to appear, and incapable of all thoughts oxeVp those that centered around strawberry shortcake. In a remarkably short time she was back at his side, the cushions, and for the moment gave up his pursuit . , of the strawberry shortcake. But he will resume it, and in the back oi his brain he knows he will. Some night at the hour of seven he will go to the little flat, and powerless in the grasp of Ins hobby," he will let "ina"' make him the one and only kind of shortcake, the one which for years has haunted his mind and which he as sought for unceasingly but with-out with-out avail. i Alas! for the poor man, few there be, either noted thef or efficient cooks, capable of making this most tk-lectable and palatable of cakes, the hisciousness of which lingers rn the tongue and recalls an enjoyment vhich is never quite forgotten: but the mother of. the little milliner will not disappoint him, and when the crucial moment arrives, he will sit at her table and cn.ioy a most delicious feast. T?ut. reader, this story has a moral: this it is; .That j vhen you have once, mounted a hobby, you had best ; vatch out where it takes you. ' |