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Show : f i """""" Ginger Ella I by Ethel Hueston Copjrrlaat. kr B.bb. M.rrtll Ce. '; Illustration! by lnvitl MyCTi . - -win tonic, 8T0RY FROM THE START la the usually quiet horn of Rev. tit. Tolllver ot Had Thruah, Iowa, bla motberleas daughter!, ' Helen, Miriam and Ellen "Oln-er "Oln-er Ella" ere busy "grooming" their alatar Marjory for participation partici-pation In tba "beauty pageant' that evening, with Eddy Jack-aon, Jack-aon, proaperoua young 'aimer, bar aacort, Marjory leavaa for tba anticipated triumph. Overwork Over-work baa affected Mr. Tolllver'a ! eyea to tba point of threatened blindness. tinned to bold out rose-colored Inducements, Induce-ments, so long would Ellen Tolllver, called Ginger Ella, follow the rainbow rain-bow trail. Barred from the comfortable living liv-ing room, occupied by Helen and Horace, by the unwritten law of a family fam-ily of sisters. Miriam, Ginger, and their father sat on the veranda. The; were thrilled and expectant The; must wait wait for the wealth ot prizes wait for Marjory shining, rapt, triumphant for fifty dollars In gold "Oh, father cried Miriam sudden held their breath as Miriam lifted the soft folds over Queer's sleek tittle bead. Cinger posed with great dignity before be-fore the mirror, practicing a slow bridal step. "Oh, Ginger, It Is lovely. Why, really, you"re quite pretty." Ginger paraded back and forth be fore ber mirrored reflection In a complete com-plete ravishment of delight "Uuw sumptuous J mean, scrumptious." she exulted "How dignified I ami Why, I look as old as Helen. Oh. I wish we bad a veil." Her face fell dlsap pointedly. Unfortunately, the family finances bad not yet admitted of the purchase of that ultimate bridal accessory. "Look In Helen's drawers. Miriam. She must bare something. Ton can't get the effect without a veil." Miriam obligingly ransacked the cedar chest, the dresser drawers, but In vala She did produce however a small circlet of creamy white flowers saved from the bat ot - previous summer, and these she twined prettily on Ginger's bead, admiring the effect. But Ginger was not to be pleased. '"But we've got ro have a veil. It looks like a nightgown, or anything, without a veil." i "Ton must wear white gloves. ly, "if we are Just slitlng-here waiting wait-ing for It and she should not get It she will feel bad about disappointing disap-pointing OS" Breathless wltb the horrid fear of tbua embarrassing their beauty, tbey rose simultaneously snd hastened upstairs, up-stairs, crowding upon each otber. ' "As If we care whether she gets It or not," said Ginger stoutly. Mr. Tolllver, wltb the courage ot hie conviction, went Instantly to bed. Not for worlds would be confuse a daughter of his wltb tbe thought that he expected her to bring blm money by ber loveliness. Bui tbe two girls, however much they might wish to spare their sister's teeilnga. could not entirely sacrifice their own. Tbey must see her they must I must catch CHAPTER II Continued s ... Eddy did not talk nonsense. He never stopped the car to leap out and pluck a wild rose to present wltb a flattering word, a soft look, and a aly touching of Angers. He did not quote poetry. He did not sing. He Just strolled blithely In wltb an offer lng of fruit from tbe farm, fresh vegetables, or a chicken ready for broiling, and announced that be would like company for a ride. Regular. Just Ilka fatber. That was Eddy Jackson. Ginger took ber responsibilities to tbe family wltb a great deal of solemnity. solem-nity. If only she could bold tbem In line, tbe twins, that la, for Helen was now Irrevocably lost to ber sisterly sis-terly schemes. ' Still, even Ginger found some grounds of Justification for Helen. She was getting old nearly twenty-three. And Helen was an even-tempered, nnexcirahle, unro-mantlc unro-mantlc type Perhaps after all It was Just as welt She regretted that tbey could not afford money enough to adorn Marjory's Mar-jory's beanty In a fitting manlier. Ginger was not very patient. And It did seem hard to wait, and keep on waiting, for Marjory's hour of triumph tri-umph at the side of the romantic figure fig-ure dispensing countless millions In charitable enterprise and looking well after the Tolllvers, also. In the meantime. Ginger quite burned to do something on ber own account It was not that she bad not tried. What Indeed, had she not tried? She bad bought, from her per- tbe first thrill of ber voice feel tbe first touch of ber quivering lingers. They took off tbelr shoes, making pretense, and thrust their feet Into their shabby old mules. This was to prove that tbey were utterly tndllTer ent to the outcome, practically In bed and asleep. Then they sat on the bed and waited a while It seemed a long time to tbem. , "She won't be here for hours and hours." mourned Miriam. "But If we go to bed we may fall asleep," protested Ginger. "And she would come borne In whispers, and It would be morning tefore we knew what bad happened." This was too hopelessly awful even to consider. They si u red at eacb other disconsolately. Sheer desperation finally drove them op tbe corridor, beyond the twins room, to the one which Ginger shared Walt." Miriam ran noiselessly to the bathroom, and returned wltb a pair of shapeless wblte canvas ones which Marjory kept there In reservt for her Infrequent turns of dusting. She tucked these effectively Into Ginger's hand, bnt Ginger would not be distracted dis-tracted from the quest. "Miriam, think we must have some tiding. Look I The cortalnslH Forgetting the sacred gown, she swung herself lithely up to a chair by the window, but was quickly drawn from danger of disaster by her sister. f'Glnger, be careful Come awny I'll get It." Balancing berselt on the chair, she removed one of the kng thin curtiilus from the rod, and shook It carefully out the window to remove the dust Then, with a nice regard for effectiveness, effective-ness, she attached It by pins to the wreath In Ginger' hair. Ginger treni bled with delight. son a I allowance, at Iowa rates, copies of Sunday editions of all tbe Chicago papers, for tbe sake of the advertising advertis-ing section Column after column she had studied, ad lifter ad she bad answered. But these, although in type they seemed to promise such lav-Ishness lav-Ishness of reward, turned out most disappointingly. Tbe one about addressing ad-dressing envelopes for Instance, In the advertisement It bad seemed a rosy road fo )rtune, borne work, quiet, easy. And Ginger bad to try It be-I be-I fore she realized bow very, very long It took to address a thousand envelopes, en-velopes, and how very, very Utile remuneration re-muneration was sixty cents for this expenditure of time and Ink. , The plain sewing had turned out to be the complete manufacture of over alls at fourteen cents apiece, and Ginger Gin-ger ruined three of them and wus obliged to pay for tbe materlul before ahe would confess herself beaten. One magazine's private rood to for tnne, she discovered, proved to be via the taking of subscriptions, and this was not Just the thing for a minister's daughter In a small town, where parishioners felt obliged to do what- wltb Hilen. Helen, In spite of tbe excitement attendant upon tbe beauty pageant, bad been putting some last tender touches to ber wedding gown, and had left It carefully spread out across her bed. "So slinky," cooed Ginger. "Real lace." exulted Mlrlum. "If only it were tne prince of Wales Instead cf Horace Laugley." "But Helen loves Horace "So dumb of her." Tbey lapsed Into mcody silence. Ginger broke It at last "It's not that I'm altogether opposed to marriage, mar-riage, you know. But people should marry somebody that Is somebody, if they're going to marry at all. Vou must admit that It is silly of Helen to marry s common school teacher who doesn't earn a cent mere than father does. She's not gaining a thing by It, not a thing. She's glvlnj, np a rollicking rol-licking good time wlib us Just to shui herself up alone wltb one mathematical mathe-matical man. Vou have to admit It's dumb." "Money doesn't mtke happiness." "No. But It keeps It from starving." Oh, Miriam honestly I'd marry him myself. Think of walking into church like this." jYou must walk slowly and look very sad. Brides always look sad To keep from laughing, I suppose" "Can't I have your white slippers, Miriam?" Ginger cast a disapproving look at ber clumsy old mules. Mercy I Wbst on earth Sudden discordant clamor pierced the stillness of the night, snd brought a sudden pause to their oilschlef. Ginger stopped In her peacock plum lng, and tilted her small bead under th creamy flowers and the fllmcur tain, listening Intemlj. Downstairs. Helen and Horace also heard the un uccustomed uprour, mid went to the front window to investigate Mr. Tol liver heard It, and sat up In hed, won dertng. regretting his helplessness In his own home.. But bis life Alth four gay daughters had accustomed blm to accept strange experiences without much question, aud he subsided quietly. The mud medley of noises presently detached Itself Into riiFtlnrt and recognizable rec-ognizable consonants. There was on overtone of excited girlish laughter, h chorus of admiring hut. "Marjory!" The big car careened dizzily up to the end of the flagstone path, and figures, many figures, disentangled themselves from running boards, fenders fend-ers and hood. The dark shadow of them surged across the lawn, and standing out utalust M, laughing, pale silk, dull gold, with cream-white face In absolute depths ot desperation, although the slightest touch upon the shlmmery whiteness ol the gown was strictly prohibited. Ginger lifted It up. carefully, and held II agnlnst her own slight figure, smiling st her reflection In the mliTf-r. "Oh, beautiful," she sighed rapturously. raptur-ously. "It would be ultnost worth attaching at-taching a tiusbi.nti lus' to get to wear It. Miriam, listen, rtieie Isn't a thing to do she won't he home for hours ever the minister's daughter asked, and then were aggrieved, at her for asking. Very nearly bad (ilnger become a raiser of ginseng. She had reud a 'simply thrilling account of how one could take an absolutely negligible amount of ginseng seed, and set It out In a small shady corner of the garden, where In practically oo time at all the produce would attain a market mar-ket value almost unbelievable. She bad wrltteu, fevelshly, for the prom Ised details, and while awaiting their receipt unwilling to allow one unnecessary un-necessary moment to elapse between ber effort and the market value, she went to work on the shadiest spot Id the garden. She dug. she hoed, she raked. And long before the details arrived In Bed Thrush, her garden spot was ready, and subjected to most Inquisitive and Ironical comments from ber sisters, who teaslngly wondered won-dered If she had prepared the soil for and arms glimmering In the moonlight, moon-light, wus Marjory. The wailing siren had fallen to sudden silence, only the twanging discordancy of the ukulele proclaimed her triumphant return. "On, Margie," cried Helen, as she ran to tho door to greet her. "Uow wonderful I How lovely 1" Like moonlight MurJory tripped Into the dull old house, with her shadowy train of admirers glimmering moonlight moon-light (TO BE CONTINUED.) and hours and she wont come up while he's there 1 I'm going to to try It on." Miriam's start was one ot abject horror but she listened, frowning. An J she showed Interest. Still argu lng against It, she held the gown care fully nlgb from tie floor, while Gin ger slipped out of het modest little frock and Into Its silken slip. Gig- gling ecstatically, nervously, both girls " ----- l"-l''.u i" evil L ui manna from Heaven. When the letter of details at Inst arrived she carried It, In quivering expectancy, to her attic studio, her sanctuary, only to find that there was an original outlay for seed, for especially es-pecially prepared soli rich In humus, potash and phosphoric acid, for particularly par-ticularly recommendad lath frames to supply artificial shade The entire expenditure amounted to not more than forty dollars, from which, within an amazingly short ' time, according to the printed matter, but what to Ginger was not less than a five-year eternity, fortune was guaranteed. Ginger reluctantly sowed flowers In tbe garden spot, and laid In a fresh supply of Sunday papers. In her pursuit of profitable exercise, exer-cise, she was an Insatiate Alinough she chafed at her Inability to turn effort Into cash, she did not despair. As long as the Chicago papers con |