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Newspaper Page Text
XETTY By Seth Monroe. "Anthony? You mean Jim Anthony "who used to cover this territory for King & Co.? Whyhe has another route now, and he airi't-traveling for King & Co. any more, neither. And Letty you remember Letty, who used to be in service here. Well say, I'd best start right at the beginning. "Letty was the housemaid at this hotel when Anthony was King & Co.'s best salesman. Her mother had m His Grouch Began to Clear Away. brought her up very strict, and when she died Letty was only eighteen and knew about as much of the world as a child does. The house was worth about two thousand, for property had been going up for a long time; but Letty couldn't live on nothing while t was on the market, so she came to .he 'tavern' as second housemaid. In those days sei vice of that kind wasn't considered anyways lowering in Vpkefleld. "Anthony was staying over night. It was a small town on his route, and he hadn't made many sales that year, and he was naturally a bit depressed. But when he saw Letty sweeping down the hall he brightened up a bit. Anthony always liked a pretty face. So he comes up to her. " 'Hello, kid, you sure are a peach,' he says, and kisses her. That done, he goes into his room, thinking no more about it. "Letty was flabbergasted'. She had always been taught that to kiss a girl meant you wanted to marry her, and here was a perfect stranger who had kissed her the minute he set eyes on her. The little fool put down her broom and began to cry with happi ness. Anthony was about forty and rather fat and flashily dressed, but'he was all gold in Letty's eyes. "Next morning Anthony, having re newed his grouch, went out of his room carrying his suit case. He met Letty, who had been waiting on the stairs. 'Morning, miss,' said Anthony, and passed on, leaving Letty still more flabbergasted. "I guess she cried all that day, but when night came she had made up. her mind. Of course a fine gentleman like Anthony wouldn't want to marry a girl in service. Her little head was full of romances. She had read about men being true to death, and all that, and she made up her mind to make herself worthy of Anthony. "She took her savings and went to night school with them. By the end of the year Letty was a fair stenog rapher and bookkeeper, and, as the young woman who kept books for the 'tavern' was leaving to get mar ried, Letty stepped into her shoes. The salary was a dollar less than her wages had been when she held the broom, but she was mighty glad. "At the end of the year Anthony comes- on his route again, and when Letty looked up from her books and baw him standing, waiting to register, her heait beat so tnat she couldn't speak.