FOUR
THE ALLIANCE HERALD, FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1922
HOME
GROWN
By FANNIC HURST
Owitf b. UM. J Tto WkMlii IfilMM, Ua
la Auguiit the Ketch hotel placed
tot la Its upper corridors and doubled
Ita rates. The loral Bison convention,
recruited from the Great 8outbwet.
rrlted with wives and stop-over-at-Chlctgo
tourint tickets; Little Rock,
Abilene, Kokomo and Poplar Bluff
rocked on the lake side of the veranda
nd exchanged population, sunburn lo
tion, cat stitches und ctgnra.
In the lialf-deiierird lobby the room
-clerk planed a blue aud white celluloid
button on his left coat lapel and prom
ised thirty-two dry towels end a mo
julto netting.
Miss Birdie Fink leaned serous the
counter and smiled Into the room
Clerk's eyes; her own were blue and
translucent as a summer lake.
"Say, Mr. Gilly after you've taken
the sag out of the bed In fifty-seven,
put an extra wardrobe In the Indian
polls grand master's room, prom
ised thirty-four a lake view and the
convention a inoHt populur lady con
tent and a potato rare, would you
bind ordering me up some Ice water
and telling me what's the earliest the
eight-forty-five flyer gets out of here
tomorrow T"
Mr. Gllly smiled at her until two
Hold molars showed the smile of
I'ierrot when I'lerotte peered over his
boulder and set the sides of the world
-shaking with laughter.
"Will I send you up some Ice water I
Say, look at nie like that again,
-"I Was at the Sea Lion for Thro
Ssasona."
Jueenle, and you can have anything
your llttla heart de-sires."
Tlnk Is the wsy they siell my nam
a the fly-leaf of the family Bible, Mr.
QUly F-l-n-k MIks Birdie Fink. It
tolwiga to the same language'aa tb
word fresh' ever bear Itr
"Relieve me, If I wasn't on duty.
Btrdle you wouldn't be chirping for
your key before ten."
"I wouldu't be too sure!"
"You, with the beach still warm and
path of tight lending straight up to
Mgta power moon, would make
combination that would stun a safe
blower. You only been here three
tours, klddo you don't wunt thut
lght-forty-Bve."
"If I'd known I was running Into a
family convention I'd stayed at home
nd took my vumtlon feeding the
wans In Central ,urk or took uu ocean
Voyage to Coney."
!"Aw, stick it out. Ms; things may
pick up and I'm off duty tomorrow ut
four."
"That don't mean anything In my
life P
"Stiy, l hot I've Been you down at
the shore !"
;"It was little me."
"I wua at the Sea Lion for three
seasons. I used to know ull the girls
from Iteutlcy's and Lungenburg's and
them swell houses that used to come
down im their vucutioiis."
"Sure, I chum with all that crowd!"
. ; Yhatta you know about that I"
, "Yep!"
"lYke It from rue, Queenle; there
ain't real class to these dumps out
here; there's only been one live crowd
lit re ull season, and they was the cigar
drummers. This bunch around here
wouldn't have a chance In a snail
XI a rat lion."
Miss Kink glanced about the lobby,
t tl.e wicker rockers, mostly empty
lid tilted slightly backward; at the
post-card and cigar stand, with a
Bleeping clerk, and above the counter
a string ol ., uagu&Uies Lung like
clothes from a line; at the Bison
bead above the dining room entrance,
fUss-ejed, and hung wltli the cheese-
- , i in ii ii if
cloth pennsnt
"(ice !"
"Cheer up, Queenlej tomorrow Tm
off at four."
"Well, look who's here I Well,
Pro ken, what hnve you got to say for
yourself) Why ain't you out with the
willing pnrty) Sny, ain't you the
greatest fellow for dodging the ladles!"
Mr. I'rokes loitered up to the desk,
planted an elbow on the counter and
flung one knee across the other so
that be leaned at an oblique. An Inch
cone of ashes trembled and tumbled
from his cigar down his waistcoat.
"I leave them things to the young
ones, Gllly. What's an old one like me
doing off on a party with tnarrleda and
s bunch of striplings) I been out hit
tin' a new trail through the pines that
I'll bet the original Indians hereabouts
ain't too familiar with."
"You ought to be able to find better
than scenery for company around here.
I'rokes, get acquainted with Miss Fink,
little girl from the big town."
"Ilow-do-do."
"How-do-do."
"Gowann, get acquainted and show
each other a good time. I'rokes Is the
Grand Mogul of Miami on the Miami.
Birdie, and the Heap Big Chief of the
Southwest Order of the Well Fed
Bison."
"(Jult callln me names, Gllly."
"He says Miami on the Miami's got
the Noo York water-front run clear off
the picture post-cards and that the
only and original hayseeds are grown
between Buttery and the Bronx. Get
together, you two, and leiume referee
the game."
Miss Fink smiled, dangled her black
earrings against her white neck,
showed the gleam of her teeth behind
her lips and raised her narrow shoul
ders, with the open-work blouse show
ing the mystery of pink ribbon
through It
"How-do-do, Mr. Trokes; what I'm
trying to get at Is this: If you're all
the things he says you are, what ain't
you)"
Mr. I'rokes extended a large, warm
hand; his sand-colored mustache re
treated a bit to reveal the damaging
gold evidence of small town dentistry.
"I I ain't noticed you around here
before, Miss Fink."
"He's stringing you, Queonle. For
all he knows you might have been at
the door to welcome him when he
came last week. He's got about as
much Interest In skirts as I have In
Miami on the Miami."
"If this young lady had been around
here, I'd have seen her all right."
"You can't Jolly her, I'rokes she
.comes from the town where they hand
it out like trading stamps. This hund
some young mun to my right, Queenle,
U as afraid of skirts as I am of hav
ing to spend another summer west of
Jersey."
"Don't you believe It, Miss Fink. A
fellow like me, when he gets to be fair,
fat und nearly forty, knows It's time
to take the flower out of his button
hole." "Not If It's a bachelor button,"
quoth Mr. Gllly, slapstlcklng repartee
' a merciless whack.
"If I thought 1 stood a show next to
my slick young friend here, maybe I'd
shake the road 'dust of Miami out of
my eyes, answer a hair restoring ad
vertisement, climb Into a narrow-shouldered,
in-at-tlie-walst coat and twirl a
flexible bamboo cans down Broadway
myself P
Miss Fink glanced at Mr. I'rokes
with the upward sweetness of Fra
Llppo Llppl virgin.
"Say. maybe you're right about the
original hay meadows laying between
Thirty-fourth aud Forty-aocond
streets; but, honest, Mr. I'rokes
honest, what Is Miami, breakfast
food or a disease)"
Mr. Gilly clapped his hand on his
polished thatch of black balr and
leaned across the counter with bis el
bows planted on the register book.
"That's right, go to It !"
"MI&.ol. Miss Fink, ain't one of the
breakfast foods that helped make the
Broadway electric algn famous; It
ain't even an expensive disease like ap
pendicitis or tnotorUis; It 'a burg.
J Miss Fink, that ain't even got dot
after It on the map."
"Thanks."
J "A burg with grass growing be
tween the bricks and story-and-a-half
J cottages with pointy roofs like the toy
houses they manufacture In the Cls
alplan Alps."
J "Hear hear!" cried Mr. Gilly. his
mouth turned upward In a crescent.
I "Every bnck porch In 'our town Is
, used for the two and sole purposes of
' supportln' wistaria vines and coolln'
j the famous pies that mother used to
make no vaudeville rural sketch is
I complete without the cotton-back satin
fluNh wistaria vine or the papier
maiiie tree stump, center left."
"No, we ain't got a swlmmlu' hole.
Miss Fink, the"
"That's right ; tecp It dark !"
"the river's rapid clear d v. n ns
far as Hamilton, but the Y. M. "". A.
j put a swell tank up In their rooms on
High street ten-foot concrete budn
ana water any temperature on the
thermometer."
"Oh. you Miami P
"Come out on the lake with me.
Miss Fink, and I'll paddle you mt to
ward the moon and tell you some more
about 'our town'."
"Oh. Mr. I'rokes. ain't you kind)
Here I was ready to go upstairs, rear!
the time-table and cry luto my pil
low." "Com on, sister."
Forked lightning flashed from her
eyes.
I "I don't care If I do."
Then through the lobby with little
! Jumps like grace notes in their walk,
(and the screen door of the veranda
mren.a-. ...
dammed behind them. Next down
wooden stairs with their light feet
-ourhlng each alternate step; a brief
stretch of pravel wnlk, gloomy with
arching cedar, and Anally before them
the diamond bench In the diamond
white moonlight.
"Oh h-h P
"Some little nights we have out this
way, sister ain't they)"
"Look, the sand's all silver all sil
ver." "Yea, special process we have."
"And these are the canoes Malsle
ranted about say, ain't they cute)"
"How do you like that long one
there the shell with sides like a
greyhound she cuts the water like
knife cuts butter."
"Oh, Mr. I'rokes, I can't get In that
Mttle thing It'll turn over."
"Not with me gimme your band
there, sister easy easy no, In the
middle there ain't nothing to scream
about wait there oh P
They slid out Into the water like a
phantom shell that rides the lake
without even opening the bosom of the
water with Its keel ; then Mr. Prokes
dipped his paddle and steered straight
for the yellow path of the moon.
The dip-dipping of the paddle, the
rustle of water against the delicate
sides of the canoe the string of vil
lage lights the yellow windows of
the hotel receding receding.
"Life ain't much, after all. Miss
Kink, except water and afr and light,
und plenty of them, and the smell of
pine and a nibble on your line and
Hunrise on wet tree-tops and God and
ore In your heart; a fireside or steam
radiator o' winter and a pretty girl
with moonlight caught In her balr for
August and the heated spell."
"You sound like the Salvation army
gone Into musical comedy."
"Lay still there, sister a canoe's
like a nervous horse If you tickle Its
ribs. Anyway, when you lay there
like that, you look like a calendar we
got hanging In the kitchen called
'Comfort In a Kltchenoff Folding
Canoe'."
"Say, Mr. Prokes"
"Yes, sister."
"Keep yur face that way a min
ute, with the llsht on the side thrre
like that say say. didn't you ever
buy goods from Benson & Sons
Cloaks and Suits Kast Broadway)"
He dipped his Mist uneven stroke
and regarded her with his gray eyes
frankly wide.
"Say, sister, yon ain't Anna Eva Fay
doing the Middle West Incog, are you)
I've bought misses' cloaks and ladles'
cloth skirts from Benw.u's since be
fore they moved up from East
Elevetnh street. I'aw before me bought
from old man Benson long Lefore my
time, when they started up with two
sewing nui'-hlnps und a one-window
loft.' The Bed Trunk ain't been with
ot a line of Benson's goods tinea 1
can remember."
"I knew I'd seen yon somewhere
your face was as familiar to me as
my board bill."
"You ain't"
"No, but I used to be Benson's Is
the first firm I ever worked for I
started In when I was fourteen doln'
misses' models for him."
"Well, whatta youknowl To thlak
of my ever havln' bought olsters for
the Bed Trunk offn you a little pink
and white flower like you sproutln' In
Benson's."
"You used to come In with the early
September buyers. I remember seeln'
you more'n once In the little back
salesroom, with old man Benson offer
lag you a cigar every time you yanked
tn to the daylight to see how green
the lot 27 black ulsters were."
"And look at you now, living like
ft little lady vacation and all."
"I may be a bead lady at Rentley'a
Bow, but take It from me, Mr. Prokes,
It's a long and crooked lane from
Benson's and six a week to four times
six and green velvet floors on tha Ave
nue." "Bentley's Is one of them dead
look In' places, ain't It) with no sign
out and no show windows or nothln'
except a butler with leather calves and
white bloomers and a ribbon rosette
on the side of his high hat for a door
display."
"Something like a morgue, yes. 1
says to Malsle the other day, f says:
'From East Broadway to that part of
Fifth avenue where they quit sell In'
dresses and begin to sell gowns only
ain't so far If you cover It In your
limousine, but when you get there by
way of a three-year stopoff In a Sixth
avenue cloak department and a four
year side-track In . a Thirty-fourth
street novelty shop. It's going some'."
Old-gold light lay on them am)
spurkled In the tiny crinkles of cur
rent they created; the gh0 3tly sail of
a pleasure boat moved across the
horizon ; a woman's voice, thin and
full of plaint, came from its direction,
and died on the water as smoke dies
In air. The far-off hotel windows
blinked out one by one the moon was
directly above them, higher, whiter,
smaller.
"You and Gllly got the wrong Idea,
Miss Fink; rushing through life Ilka
you do In subway trains don't give
you much time to see the scenery, does
It)"
"No, or to hear slngln' voices over
the water."
"I can show yon a story-and-a-half
cottage In Miami, with awnings to
keep the sun out and a back yard with
props under the trees to keep the fruit
from breaking the limbs, that would
(Continued on page 6)
Try our Special Sunday dinner.
City Cafe, 222 Box Butte. 28
Look! Look! Try Us First
Meat Values
At Melvin's Two Markets Patrons of Alliance
and Box Butte Counry Get the Benefit
THE ORIGINAL LOW-PRICE
MEAT MARKET IN ALLIANCE.
F. E. Melvin in charge,
rhone No. 263
Try Vs First
Big
f ; v
j MARKET No. 1
At 308 Box Butte Ave.
t
i
I
Remember
2 Big
Markets
MARKET No. 2 .
Corner 8th Street and Yellowstone
With Big Sausage Factory in Con
nection, and lady meat cutter.
Mrs. F. E. Melvin in Charge i
Thone No. 222
You Can Get Anything You Want And We Deliver it FREE
CHOICE FANCY CUTS OF BEEF, PORK, VEAL AND LAMB.
Clean Meats Are Best Meats
Our meat coolers are well iced at all times. The public is invited at any time to in
spect our refrigerators and sausage room. Everything STRICTLY SANITARY.
We Deliver City Orders
STARTING MARCH 6th
Please get your order In early so we can observe
this schedule.
FORENOON AFTERNOON
West Side 8 a. m. West Side 1 p. m
East Side 10 a. m. East Side 3 p. m.
Coupon Books Save 10
Get the habit of buying with our Coupon books.
You can save 10, and also can keep an accurate check
on meat costs.
$5.00 Book for $4.50 $10.00 Book for $9.00
Read Our Regular Prices For Choice Cuts
BEEF CUTS
Liver, lb. ...... .15c
Boil, lb. ...10 & 12c
Roast, lb 15c
Hamburger, lb. . . 15c
Steaks, lb 25c
PORK CUTS
Lalk Sausage, lb.
Link Sausage, lb.
Pork Chops, lb.
Loin Itoast, lb.
Spare Ribs, lb
Fresh Side Meat, lb,
Hearts, lb.
20c
2oc
25c
22c
20c
22c
-15c
VEAL CUTS
Veal stew, lb 12c
Veal roast, lb 18c
Veal Steak, lb 28c
Veal Chops, lb 28c
MUTTON
Leg of Mutton, lb. 28c
Mutton Chops, lb. 25c
Shoulder, lb 20c
Stew, lb. 15c
Special Tender Steak, lb. 18c; 2 for. . .35c
We sell Peter's Dairy Milk and Whipping Cream; Carnation Milk at 12c; Bread, Butter,
Cheese, Salt Fish, Choice Canned Goods priced to sell. Nice, White
Home Made Laundry Soap, 3 lbs. for 25c.
A Pleasing and Pleasant Place to Buy Call Us Your Next Order
QUALITY, SERVICE AND HONEST WEIGHT
M MELVIN'S MARKET;
No. 2
F. E. MELVIN, Proprietor
Market No. 1, Phone 263 Market No. 2, Phone 222