The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, October 12, 1921, Image 9
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VOLUME XXXVII. LAURENS, SOUTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1921.
,(Continued from Last Week.)
SYNOPSIS.
PART ONE.
Proud possessor of a printing press, and
equipment, the gift of Uncle Joseph to
his nephew, Herbert Illingsworth Atwa
ter, Jr., aged thirteen, the fortunate
youth, with his chum, Hlenry Rooter.
about the same age, begins the publiva
tion of a full-fledged newspaper, the North
]lnd Daily Oriole. Herbert's small cousin,
F'lorence Atwater being barred from
any kind of participation in the enter
prise, on account of her intense and nat
ural feminine desire to "boss," is frankly
annoyed, and not at all backward in say
ing no. However, a poem she has writ
ten is accepted for Insertion In the Oriole,
on a strictly commercial basis-cash in
advance. The poem suflers somewhat
from the inexperience of the youthful
publishers in the "art preservative." Her
not altogether unreasonable demand for
republication of the masterpiece, with its
beauty unmarred are scorned, and the
break between Mins Atwater and the
publishers ,of tje'. Oriole widens, - -
L!erbert, frowning with the burden
of composition, sat at a table beyond
the official railing, and bin partner was
engaged at the press, painfully setting
type. This latter person, whom Flor
4
"Herel Didn't I and Herbert Tell
You to Keep Out o' Here?"
ence for several months had named
not once otherwise than as "Thnt
nasty little Henry Rooter," was of
strangely clean and smooth fair-haired
appearance, for his age. She looked
him over.
is profile wa's of a symme'try he
had not himself yet begun to appre
c late; his dlress wvas scrupullous and
'modish ; and though he was short
nothing outward about him explained
:the moi'e sinister of Florence's twvo
adjectives. Yet she had true occasion
for It, beause on the (lay before shte
b tegan Its long observanco he had made
hier uneasy lest an orange seed she
had ewallowe.d should toke root and
grow rip within her toe a alze inevi
tably fatal. Then, with her cousin
Herbert's stern assistanice, Fiorence
had realized that her gullibility was
not to be expected 4n anybody over
seven years old, after which age such
legendls are su1posed to be encouna
tered with the derision of experienced
people.
11er fastilousness aroused, she tde
cided that Hienry Rooter had no busi
ness to 1b0 talking about what would
happen to her insides, anyhow ;.and so
Informed him at their next mneeting,
adding an explanation which absolute
ly proved hlim to b)0 no gentleman.
And her opinion of hinm was still p~er;
fcctly plin in her expression as she
mado her present intrusion upon his
working hours. He seemed to re
ciprocate.
"IHerc I Didn't I and Herbert tell
you to keep out o' here?" he demand
ed, even before Florence had devel
eped the slIghtest form of greeting.
- "Look at her, Herbert i She's back
again I4
"Yeu get out 0' here, Florence,"
said lierhert, abandonming his task
with a look of paUin. '"How often weo
hat to tell you we don't want you
around here when we're in our omlee
like this?"
"Ire heaven's nntro I" fienry Rooter
luns, perhaps my time is of some
value, myself I"
The lack of rhetorical cohesion was
largely counteracted by the strong
expressiveness of tone and manner; at
all events, Florence made p rfectly
clear her position as a perhon of
worth, dealing with the lowest of all
her inferiors. She went on, not paus
ing:
"I thought, being as I was related to
you, and all the family and everybody
else goin' to haf to read your ole
newspaper, anyway It'd be a good
thing if what was printed in It wasn't
all a disgrace to the family, because
the name of our family's got mixed up
with this newspaper; so here I"
Thus speaking, she took the poem
from her pocket and with dignity
held' it forth to her cousin.
"What's that?" 1ierbert Inquired, not
moving ai hand. He wdis but an ama
teur, yet already enough of an editor
to have his suspicions.
"It's a poem," Florence said. "I don't
know whether I exackly ought to have
it in your ole newspaper or not, but on
account of the family's sake I guess I
better. Here, take it."
Herbert at once withdrew a few
steps, placing his hands behind him.
"Listen, here," lie said, "you think we
got time to read a lot o' writin' in
your ole handwritin' that nobody can
read anyhow, and then go to work and
toll and moll to print it on the printin'
press? I guess we got work enough
printin' what we wrote for our news
paper our own selves l My goodness,
Florence, I told you this isn't any
child's play I"
Florence appeared to be somewhat
baffled. "Well," she said. "Well, you
better put this poem in your ole news
paper if you want to have anyhow one
thing in it that won't make everybody
sick that reads it."
"I won't (1o It I" Herbert said, more
firmly.
"What you take us for?" his partner
added, convincingly.
"All right, then," Florence respond
ed, with apparent decisiveness. "I'll
go back and tell Uncle Joseph and- he'lL
take this printing press back."
"Ie will not take it back. I already
did tell him how you keep pokin'
around tryin' to run everything, and
we just worried our lifes out tryin' to
keep you away. He said he bet it was
a hard job; that's what Uncle Joseph
said. So go on, tell him anything. you
want to. You don't get yor ole poem
in our newspaper 1"
"Not if she lived to be two hundred
years old I" Henry Rooter added.
Then he had an afterthought. "Not
unless she pays for It."
"1 [ow do you mean?" Herbert asked,
puzzled.
Henry's brow had become corrugat
ed with no little professional impres
siveness. "You know what we were
talkin' about this morning," he said.
"How the right way to run our news
paper, we ought to have some adver
tisements in It and everything. Well,
we want money, don't we? We could
put this poem in our newspaper like
an advertisement; that is, if Florence
has got any money, we could."
Herbert frowned. "If her ole poem
isn't too long. I guess we could. Here,
let's see it, Florence." And, taking
the sheet of paper in his hand, he
studied the dimensions of the poem,
though without paining himself to read
it. "Woll, I guess, maybe we can do
it," he said. "How much ought we to
charge her?"
This question plunged Henry Rooter
into a state of calculation, while Flor
ence observed him with veiled anxi
ety'; but after a time he looked up,
his brow showIng continued strain.
"Do you keep a bank, Florence-for
nickels and dimes and maybe quar
ters, you know?" he inquired.
It was her cousin who impulsively
replied for her, "No, she don't," he
saidl.
"Not since I was about seven years
old I" Florence added sharply, though
wIth dignity, "Do you still make mud
pies in your back yard, pray?"
"Now, see here I" IHenry objected.
"Try and be a lady anyway for a few
minutes, can't you? I got to figure
out how much we got to charge you
for your ole poem, dlon't I?"
"Well, then," Florence ret' d,
"you better ask me somep'm aL aIt
that, hadn't yolt?"
"WVell," said Henry Rooter', "have
you got any money at home?'
"No, I haven't."
"Have you got aoy money with
you?"
"Yes, I have."
"How mutch is it?"r
"I won't tell you."
Henry frowned. "I guess we ought
to make her pay about t~vo dlollars and
a half," lie said, turning to lis part
ner.
IHerbert felt deferential; it seemed
to him that he had formed a business
association -with a genius, and for a
moment he was dazzled ; then he re
membered Florence's financial ca pac
ities, always wuell known to him, and
he looked depressed. Florence, her
self, looked indilgnant.
(To be Continued.)
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(oe-OatyMn Goods.
II
ht 1921- by the B Styndicatelnc.
thought fit to n(ld. "Can't you qiuit
runming up and down our oflice stairs
once in It while, long enough for us to
get our newspapier work done? Can't
you give us a little peace?"
The piinkiness of FIoreie's alter
Ing complexion was Justified ; she had
not been near their old oflice for four
(lys. She stated the fact with heat,
ldding: "And I only came then be
cniase I knew somebody ought to see
that this stable Isn't ruined. It's ily
own uncle and aunt's stable, and I
got as much right here as anybody."
"Yu have not !" Henry (looter pro
tested hotly. "This Isn't, either, your
ole aunt and uncle's stable."
"It Isn't I"
"No, It is not I This isn't anybody's
stable. It's my and Herbert's news
paper building, and I guess you
haven't got the face to stand there
and claim you got a right to go in a
newsmpa'er building and say you got
a right there when everybody tells
you to stay outside of it, I guess I"
"(li, haven't I?"
"Ni, you haven't-jl" Mr. Rooter
maintnined bitterly. "You just walk
downtown -ind go in one of the news
paper buildings down there and tell
'em you got a rJght to stay there all
day long when they tell you to get out
o' there I Just try it I That's all I
ask I"
Florence uttered a cry of derision.
"And pray, whoeyer told you I was
bound to do everything you ask me to,
Mister Henry Iooter?" And she con
cluded by reverting to that hostile
impulse, so ancient, which in despair
of touching'.n antagonist effedtively,
reflects upon his ancestors "Jyou
got anyti.Ing you WW sIt,"you go
ask yaor grandmotlhe'l"
"Here I" ~Herbert sprang to his feet,
outraged. "You try and behave like
a lady I"
"Who'll make me?" she inquired.
"You got to behave like a lady as
long as you're in our newspaper build
ing, anyway," IHerbert said ominously.
"If you expect to come up here after
you been told five dozen times to
keep out-"
"For heaven's sakes I" his partner
interposed. "When we goin' to get
ohr newspaper work done? She's your
cousin ; I should think you could get
her out I"
"Well, I'm goin' to, ain't 9?" Her
bert protested plaintively. "I expect to
get her out, don't I?"
"Oh, you do?" Miss Atwater in
quired, with severe mockery. "Pray,
how (10 you expect to accomplish it,
pray?"
Herbert looked desperate, but was
unable to form a reply consistent with
somo rues of etiquette andl gallantry
which lhe had begun to observe (luring
the past year or so. "Now, see here,
Florence," he said. "You're 01(1
enough to know when people tell you.
to keep out of a place, why, it means
they want you to stay away from
there."
FlIorence remained cohl to this rea
soning. "Oh, poet I" she saidl.
"Nowv, look here I" her cousin re
monstrated, and wvent on with hIs ar
gument. "We got our newspaper wvorkc
to do, and you ought to have sense
enough to know newspaper w'. like
this newspaper work .we got on our
hands hero isn't-well, it ain't any
child's play."
Ills partner appeared to approve of
the expression, for lhe noddled severely
and then used it himself.' "No, you
bet it isn't any child's play I" lhe said.
"No, sir," Henry Rooter again
agreed. "Newspaper work like thIs
isn't any child's play at all I"
"It isn't any child's play, Florence,"
said Herbert. "It ain't any child's
play at all, Florence. If it was just
child's play or something like that,
why it wouldn't matter so much your
always pokin' up here, and-"
"WVell," the partner interrupted, ju
dlecidhly, "We wouldn't want her
around, even if it was child's play."
"No, we wouldn't; that's so," Her
bert agreed.
"WVe wouldn't want you around 'Dy
how, Florence." Here his to be
came more plaintive. "So, for mercy's
sakes, can't you go on~ home and give
us a little rest? What you want, any.
how ?"
"WVell, I uess it's about time you
was-aakin te that," pho said, not uin
reasoraably. "If you'd asked me that
in the first place, instead of actin' like,
you'd never been taught anlythlug, am'l
wasB only fit to associate with hood