n was Next, for he always removed the Mole when he was touching up
the Negative. In the Photograph the Broad Girl resembled Pauline Hall,
but outside of the Photograph, and take it in the Morning when she
showed up on the Level, she looked like a Street just before they put on
the Asphalt.
But never you Fear, She thought She had Julia Arthur and Mary Mannering
Seventeen up and One to play, so far as Good Looks were concerned; and
when it came to the Gray Matter--the Cerebrum, the Cerebellum, and the
Medulla Oblongata--May Wright Sewall was back of the Flag and Pulled up
Lame.
The Down-Trodden Man, whom she had dragged to the Altar, sized Her all
right, but he was afraid of his Life. He wasn't Strong enough to push
Her in front of a Cable Car, and he didn't have the Nerve to get a
Divorce. So he stood for Everything; but in the Summer, when She skated
off into the Woods to hear a man with a Black Alpaca Coat lecture to the
High Foreheads about the Subverted Ego, he used to go out with a few
Friends and tell them his Troubles and weep into his Beer. They would
slap him on the Back and tell him she was a Nice Woman; but he knew
better.
Annyhow, as Bobby Gaylor used to say, she became restless around the
House, with nothing to do except her Husband, so she made up her mind to
be Benevolent to beat the Band. She decided that she would allow the
Glory of her Presence to burst upon the Poor and the Uncultured. It
would be a Big Help to the Poor and Uncultured to see what a Real
Razmataz Lady was like.
She didn't Propose to put on Old Clothes, and go and live with Poor
People, and be One of Them, and nurse their Sick, as they do in
Settlements. Not on Your Previous Existence! She was going to be
Benevolent, and be Dead Swell at the Same Time.
Accordingly, she would Lace Herself until she was the shape of a Bass
Viol, and put on her Tailor-Made, and the Hat that made her Face seem
longer, and then she would Gallop forth to do Things to the Poor. She
always carried a 99-cent Lorgnette in one Hand and a Smelling-Bottle in
the Other.
"Now," she would say, feeling Behind to make sure that she was all
strung up, "Now, to carry Sunshine into the Lowly Places."
[Illustration: THE BROAD GIRL]
As soon as she struck the Plank Walks, and began stalking her prey, the
small Children would crawl under the Beds, while Mother would dry her
Arms on the Apron, and murmur, "Glory be!" They knew how to stand off
the Rent-Man and
|