The San Francisco call. [volume], March 05, 1910, Page 6, Image 6

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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6
THE STORY OF THE DOLL WHO HAD A BANK ACCOUNT
LAURA CROZIER
DTD you ever hoar of a doll that
had a real bank occount,in ft real
bank nnd kept grown up men
looking for her for 10 years? There
was such a'fdoll, and her name* was
Lucy— Big- Lucy.
/ : She .'lived In Massachusetts nenr Bos
ton. It was in Groton, or most fltkely
East Groton, or Groton Corners — for
"down oast" 'the villages have a way.
of straying along and the only, way
you know that you have left Korthump'
ton for Easthampton Is by "the sign's
on' the stores.
Biff, Lucy belonged'; to kittle and
\u25a025 atnioAllls °h aml .'Uved with them In
n w.hl,tc house with green blinds and a'
sreen' sloping lawn; She was named
after Aliss^Luoy next door, who was
quite the loveliest und sweetest young
•lady Urn Kittle "and Kathio pvcr.ex-;
peeted to know. They couldn't decide
which, they liked best— the summer
Miss Lucy in her frilly, plrik and blue
'dresses or tiie, winter Miss Lucy in
the gray fur coat th.it grave out sparks
tvhen you stroked *lt— almost. -'."**
"; The summer Miss Lucy, had blue eyes
;;n'<e^h^r.*dresses nnd 'the winter Miss"
eyes' like her (;c»at. but
" .her'ihaivpwas; always, yellow and her
cheeks we're always pink and her .feet
were always aching to run. The twins
\u25a0knew that Miss Lucy's feet had never
''grown up with the rest of her— you
could t£]l by looking at tliem— "and they '
-wore alwa.vs tempting her! : ";
' . ; '.'Oh. Miss Lucy, j 1 " can beat v you to.
: the corner I" Kathie would call " from
hfi front porch. '
"So can I, Miss Lucy," Kittle would
And' so they would run,; but Miss
*Lucy always hold: out her:: hands^ to
them and they ilways took hold; of
them-;" arid , so,' somehow,"' they all got
'there together. \u25a0 J
They each had a doll named for Miss
; Lucy, but-.when the big doll^came,; the
. Christinas. that they; were 8,- tlieycoiild
,thin,kv of ;no, better, name for. her than
Lucy. , / - ; ' ~ ; ; "' ''" "
-"Ifj/ Aunt Eliza had '• only sent two.
little' dolls!" • said mother to father.
r,"lt's'plain: to be- seen she . never had
.-•.twins!,. '\u25a0'-. . * , .* " .-: '"\u25a0>.**
.._ But Aunt Eliza had. never had even
'one little girl or a .husband, so. how
'could " she . know that when there are
tworof you everything must^ be divided
.Into two «exactly equal parts. 1 She had
.sent a , doll big/enough to" wear the
twins' baby clothes and save' sewing, 1
v she'explalned. 1 / ' /
- It was. Miss Lucy who finally ar
rangrd^matters.. •"\u25a0'\u25a0 \u25a0 , :~-Z \u25a0\u25a0•:. ..' : .
./'Til let the new doll be named after me
provided you never never quarrel over
: her,".; said gray eyed Miss Lucy, firmly,
.on^Christmas afternoon when she came
over to see the twins' tree, all; popcorn
and \u25a0. cranberries and glitter. '"If I ever
-hear of your quarreling over her I shall
change her name to^-oh, Cassandra!
She was. a prophetess and had a very
hard time," she finished vaguely, ,
,' "In case you have to change her
j-name) to, Cassandra; and she becomes a
' prophetess," said father" gravely, "do
yousuppose she could "tell Fred any
thing he, might want to know?"*". *
/ Then , the twins looked at Miss Lucy,
• because, they, knew that Fred; was Fred
Gray, who worked in father's bank and'
.walked home with Alias Lucy from
-church and choir practice and. lectures.
v "I'm afraid , not," said *\u25a0 Miss JLu'cyi
with cheeks pinker, than -her pinkest
dress, "and we'll never know because
I'm sure I'll never have to change her
name, will I, girls?"
And the twins said "No, Miss Lucy,"
very earnestly, because they didn't
quite know what.wasexpected- of them.
"Poor Fred," said father, and,every
body laughed, and Miss' liU'cy went home
' through the side gate.
But the twins remembered, and moth
er only hud to shake her head and say
'"Poor Cassandra!" to big; Lucy~"if they
argued over whose dresses she should
wear, that day, or' who j should, put her
to bud.
'. "Oh, mother," Kittle would v say, "we
weren't quarreljng-^only Just talking!"
> Sometimes, out behind (he barn, or
under the bed clothes where mother
couldn't hear they wondqred" whether,
if big' Lucy became & prophetess, she
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALTJ, SATURDAY; MARCH 5, tQIO.-THK ; JUNIOR; -CXkL
could;really tell people like Fred Gray,
things they 'wanted' to know. But they
were" afraid of losing". big Lucy,and so
- they never dared to try letting her be
come a Cassandra,
. Perhaps it was -out behind theibarn
that 'tliay caught diphtheria.- It was
not quite spring and not quite, winter
the, last day they played outdoors,. and
there was a big puddle behind the. barn
. where Kathie got her feet wet.
Anyhow • they had it, and for' two
weeks they lay in their, little beds up
stairs and day and; night 'were just
alike; because In both there were only
Novelties in Motion Pictures
"Now that the novelty of the moving
picture ;, has worn •> oft," % - said a man.
whose business is to think up now ideas
for the film makers to a". New York
Evening Post writer," "it requires a
gdocfVdqal I of 'ingenuity to show the "'.
public something it, hasn't seen before.
In the ; early, days of, the business there
were one or two. simple: tricks' that
never failed : to fool the average audi
ence. But nowadays . the old tricks
won't do. i .. ; ' r - , \
a "For insta.nco, one of the first stunts
was to take a roll of pictures and then
run . it off backward , on , the machine.
You f would see regimental of : soldiers '
marching backward, down,. the g street
and dlBappearinK.: in the? distance, or
there wa^ ; that old standby, the water
sports flint, '\u25a0"which,", when run the wrong
way, showed men 1 rising feet ffirat from
the water, turning 'somersaults and
llnally landinggracefully on th» spring
board overhead. ,
"Another reversible film which kept
many people guessing a long, time was
one which first* showed amass of clay,
and. then to take form and shape itself
Into the likeness of George Washing
ton. - How was it"- done? Simply by
taking a wax image, of the father of
his country and slowly melting It while
the photographs were being ticked off.
Now, when , we ran the film backward,
the melting process was reversed. But
as I said, theae things don't go down
any longer. ' .
"you'd. be surprised to know how re
sourceful some of the photographers
are today. There is a film which has
lately been sent out all over the coun
try that marks the climax in the art
of motion picture faking. I don't be.
lieve one man in a thousand who sees
it will have the least idea how it was
done. It represents the flight of the
children of Israel and gives the scene
where Moses waved hit* wand and the
Ked sea parted.
'The man who took that picture spent
12 hours on the Red sea* section alone.
He singled out a spot on the shore of
Long island where there was a uandbar
which was out of water at low tide, and
under water at high. He started at
high tide and took, say, a score of pic
tures of the sea as it looked then.
After 15 minutes he reeled off another
shaded light, and mother and medicine!
Then they began to get better and
jday and night got back," into their
proper places, and sometimes at night
there was darkness, and finally mother
even slept a little. '
But there was always medicine! At
first they were' too sick \u25a0 and their ,
throats were too-sore to taste [t. But ,
as they got better the medicine some- .
how 'got worse, until ""finallys.orie day
Kathie simply couldn't swallow hers.
She cried and mother cried.
Then- father took a hand. , He , was
quite a stranger these days, but he
» '20, and 15 /minutes later -he did the
same. Thus at the end of six hours he
had a fllmwhich filled all requirements
of, the subject."
The Pronunciation of "Iron"
The London Ironmonger for. October
16. says: "A discussion has been, going
• on in a daily paper, as to, the correct
pronunciation of the , word 'iron,'
whether it should be 'i-urn' or 'i-ron.'
The only -answer that one can make
is that by long usage 'i-urn'. has come
to be accepted by educated people gen
erally as the right way to pronounce
the name of the metal. In the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, according to
Doctor Murray, the word was frequent
ly written i-ren' and doubtless uo pro
nounced. What seems to have hap
,. pened In . this, "Ss in many other cases,
.is that the spelling has undergone cer
tain changes while the pronunciation
.has .remained fairly constant. At any
rata, it is .too late in the day; now to
expect Englishmen to revert to so pe
dantic' an utterance as 'i-ron,' 'and in
.all probability, therefore, 'i-urn' it will
continue to be as-long as the language
and the metal endure."
The editor of the Bulletin has fre
quently heard southern gentlemen, par
ticularly Virginians, say "i-ron," a pro
nunciatlpn which undoubtedly is In
herited from their English forefathers.
—Bulletin of Amerloun Iron and Steel
Association,
Fairies' Recall
While the blue Is richest
In the starry sky,
While the softest shadows
On the greensward lie,
While the moonlight slumbers
In the lily's, urn.
Bright elves of the wUdwood,
Oh! return, return!
- , |
Round the forest fountains,
On the river shore,
Let your silvery laughter
JScho yet once more, '
While the joyous bounding
Of your dewy feet
Hings to that old chorus;
"The daisy is bo sweet." •'
—Felicia Hemariß
came tip and stood in the doorway with ,
Big Lucy in his arms.
"I've brought you a callor," he snld.
"who can take medicine with a smile."
He poured some into a spoon nnd when
he turned round again, nure enough.
'Big Lucy was as smiling as ever, nnd
: the medicine was gone — but Kathie
still cried.
*~"T can't!" sho said. Kittle began to
cry, too, and mother suddenly went out
of the- room.
"I'll tell you what I'll do," salJ
father. "I'll give you each .' cents for
every spoonful of. medicine you take
with, a smile. Mother can keep track
of*tiie smiles and I'll, put the money
In the bank for you. Let's see who
gets the most. Wo won't tell mother
about the money, nnd then wo can buy
her a present.
Kathie stopped crying. "Will you*
give Big Lucy 5 cents, too?'
Father looked nt Big Lucy, who
smiled^ baok at him reassuringly.
".yes, 1 * said he, "I think she'll have
*. tho most of anybody."
At the end of tho week father
brought home three bank books. They
read, "Miss Katherlno Curtln Allison,
$2.35"; "Miss Kathleen Cramer Allison,
$2.15"; "Miss Lucy 8ig,'; 52.53."
Kathie was sicker than Kittle, so It
was harder for_Jier to smile, but Big
Lucy had never failed once. Father
had had to call her Lucy Big on the.
books to give her a real name, but at
home she was still Big Lucy. In the
end she had almost $20. Kitty had
almost $18 and Kathie almost, $13. They
spent all their time alono talking
about mother's present.
They had had their first walk out of
. doors and tho big red sign was down
from the front of the house when
father "came down" with 'diphtheria.
The twins knew nothing about it, be- \u25a0
cause Miss Lucy took them and Big
Lucy? who had been baked in the oven,
on the. train to grandma and grandpa's.
There they had a new .little lamb and
Peggies last' kittens to. play with, as
well as Big Lucy. And pretty soon
mother came — alono. -
Late.ln the year Fred Gray, who was
; cashier of the' bank in- father's place"
and who ..must havo 'found. out what he
..wanted, to know because he-was going ;:
to marry Miss Lucy — wrote and asked 9
for the twins' bank books. Mother
sent the two, but not Big Lucy's .be
cause she didn't know-anything: about
that and the twins didn't like to; tell
he"r because Kathie had lost it in the,
hay mow. Theythought they had lost
the money, and pretty soon they forgot
all about it.
Ten years can make a lot of differ
ence? but the greatest change may very \
well be the one In people's ages. When
Kiltie and , Kathie were 8; and Miss
Lucy, was .18 there was all the differ
ence in the world in their ages, >but
.when they were 18 and she was 28 '
they, were about the same age, or at
least- it seemed 'so to Miss Lucy^* and
that was how they happened *to come
back to visit her in Groton Corners.
Sho' wouldn't let them call her Miss
Lucy any more, which shows^ that. she ,
must have felt younger, though she.
said it was because she wasn't Miss
Lucy any more. How could she be
when she had a little«£.ucy and a baby
Fred of her own?
It was the. little Lucy, just as old as
they had been when they left Groton
Corners, who brought their childhood
brfbk to them most clearly. • They *
played with /'her' and told her stories
just as her mother^had played with .
them. Finally, one night, at the dinner,
table, Kathie commenced to tell! lier
about Big Lucy. \u0084' v .
'"She was as big .as Little Fred,"
Kathie began. "And. she had hair that ,
would .really comb and eyes that would
really open and shut, and she had a
reul. bank account. My father put
money, in'the bank for her, just as he
did for us for taking medicine. He
had to give her v a last name, so he
called her Lucy Big." s
"What's that about Lucy Big?" Fred
Gray stopped talking to Kittle and
leaned across the table. "Did you say.
you knew Lucy Big?"
,8o then they, told him all about the
medicine, and' how Kathie lost the
bank book In the haymow. And ho
told them how for 10 years the money,
had been on the bunk's books watting
for Lucy Big to come and claim it. It
was not |20 any more, but almost $30, .
because the Interest had never been
touched.
And then Kittle and Kathie had to
go to court and stand up before the
judge and take an oath that their, story
was true. Then Fred Gray paid them
the money," and with some of it they
bought little. Lucy a doll.
They had thought of sending home
for Big Lucy for her, but Kittle told
Kathie that they must not take even
the smallest chance of giving Little
Lucy diphtheria. But in their hearts
they knew It was because they couldn't
bear to give Big Lucy away!