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Speaker 1: But once a year by r O'Grady, a shabby little

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woman detached herself from the steadily marching throng of the

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avenue and paused before a shop window, from which solid

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rows of electric bulbs flashed brilliantly into the December twilight.

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The ever increasing current of Christmas shoppers flowed on now

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and then it rolled up like the waters of the Jordan.

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While a lady with rich, warm furs about her shoulders

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made safe passage from her car to the tropic atmosphere

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of the great department store, warmth and the savory smells

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from a bakery kitchen wafted up through the grating of

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a nearby pavement, modifying the nipping air. The shabby little woman,

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only half conscious of such gratuitous comfort, adjusted her blinking

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gaze to the brightness and looked hungrily at the costumes

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shimmering under the lights. Wax figures draped with rainbow tented

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filmy evening gowns caught her passing admiration, but she lingered

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over the street costumes, the soak lined coats and soft

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warm furs, elbowed by others, who, like herself, were eager

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to look, even though they could not buy. She held

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her ground until she had made her choice. With her

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wistful gaze still fixed upon her favorite, she had begun

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to edge her way through the crowd at the window

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when she felt, rather than saw, someone different from the

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rest close at her side. At the same instant, she

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caught the scent of fresh cut flowers and looked up

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into the eyes of a tall young girl in a

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white plumed velvet hat with a bunch of English violets

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in her brown mink fur. As their glances met, the

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shabby little woman checked a start and half defensively dropped

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her legs. The smile that shone evanescently from the girl's

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corridial eyes had aroused in her a feeling of something

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unwanted and strangely intimate. There had lashed over the immobile

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face beneath the velvet hat, a look of personal interest,

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an unmistakable impulse to speak. The thrill of response that

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set the woman's pulses throbbing died suddenly. The red that

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motteled her rayish cheeks was the red of shame. Through

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the window, in a mirrored panel, cruelly ablaze with light,

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she saw herself, her made over turban, her short pigeontailed

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jacket of a style long past, and her old otter

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cape with its queer caudal decorations and its yellowed cracks

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grinning through the plucked and ragged fur. One glance at

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her own image was enough. The little woman pushed determinedly

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into the slow moving crush and headed toward the nearest

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elevated station, to be carried on irresistibly by the army

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of pedestrians. She caught a last glimpse of the tall

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young girl coming in her direction, still watching her with

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that same eager look. But what of that? She knew

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why women stared curiously at her. By the time her

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station was reached, the occurrence had assumed in her mind

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a painful significance which emphasized the sordidness of her evening's routine.

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She made her way along a narrow, dimly lighted street,

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walking with the aimless gait of one who neither expects

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nor is expected, but loiter as she might. She soon

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reached a neighborhood where rows of narrow brick tenements brooded

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over dingy cluttered basement shops. Here she found it necessary

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to accelerate her pace to make way for romping children

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and bare headed women hurrying from the shops with their

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suppers and paper bags. In spite of the wintry chill,

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the section had an air of activity all its own.

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Neither did it lack occasional evidences of Christmas chair. In

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the window of a little news and fruit shop, against

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the smeared and partly frosted glass, a holly wreath was hanging,

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and within stood a rack of gaudy, tensiled Christmas cards.

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The woman hesitated as if about to enter the shop,

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then abruptly passed on. She ascended one of the stops

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that were all alike, Standing in a blur of reddish

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light that filtered through the broken glass above the door,

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She looked back the way she had come. For an

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instant her poses quickened again, as they had done on

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the Avenue downtown. At the corner, a tall girl with

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a white plume velvet hat was smilingly picking her way

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through this warming element so foreign apparently to one of

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her class. As the white plume came nearer and nearer,

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the tremulous little woman regained her self control. It was

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but one of the whinsis lenses of the city. She

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told herself, turning resolutely away, The door slam shut behind her. Odd,

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she thought, as she groped her way through the dimly

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lighted lower hall and the complete darkness of the upper,

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that such a girl should be living in such a neighborhood.

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Then with an effort she dismissed the matter from her

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mind to find a match and lengthest buttering gasp required

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but very few steps in her tiny box of her room.

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When that was accomplished, she could think of nothing more

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to do. Her little taste of excitement had spoiled her

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zest for any of the homeing rights which at other

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times formed the biggest events of her day. As she

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sank down upon the cot without removing her wraps, she

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was grated by the usual creaking of rusty springs. Her table,

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with its meager array of dishes, its coffee pot and

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little alcohol burner, sat as ever in its corner, inviting

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the preparation of her evening meal. But to night she

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did not want to eat. She had not visited the

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big shop on her way home. She had not even

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bought her daily paper, the corner stand where the postcards

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were those gay Christmas cars that bring new greetings from friends.

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As she slowly removed her turban, her jacket and fur cape,

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and without getting up, tossed them across the chair against

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the opposite wall. The dull ache of dissatisfaction in her

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heart grew slowly to a sharp pain and desire. She

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wanted to do something, to have something happen that might

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break the sordid routine of her existence. Still, habit and

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environment would continue to force at least a part of

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this routine upon her. She glanced at her fingers, staying

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to an oily, bluish grime by the cheap dye of

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the garments that furnished her daily work. Mechanically, she rose

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to wash, while her hands were immerged in the lather

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of rankly perfumed toilet soak. There came a gentle knock

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at the door. Come in, invited the woman, expecting some famine,

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pressed neighbor for a spoonful of coffee or a drawing

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of tea. The door opened slowly a tentative aperture, May

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I come in, asked a voice that was sweeter than

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the breath of violence that preceded. The collar into the room,

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with the towel clutched in her dripping hands. The woman

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flung wide open the door, then hastened to unload the

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chair which held her wraps. Her only chair. Thank you

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don't bother, urged the visitor. I should like sitting on

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the couch. There was a melody of enthusiasm in this remark,

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which the complaining of the cot, as the girl dropped

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easily upon it, could not wholly drown. The woman, having

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absently hung her towel on the doorknob, stared dazedly at

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the visitant. She could hardly credit her eyes. It was.

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It was, indeed, the girl, with a white ostrich plume

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and the bouquet of violence in her brown made fur.

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I feel like an intruder, began the girl, and do

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you know? Her appraising glance, directed to the old fur

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collar on the chair, was guiltily withdrawn as she spoke.

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Do you know I've such a silly excuse for coming?

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She laughed, and the laugh brought added music to her voice.

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The woman, now at last recalled from her abstraction, smiled,

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and the weariness passed from her face. She seated herself

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at the extreme end of the humpy, complaining cot. I'm

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sure you'll understand resumed the girl. At least, I hope

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you'll not be offended. I heard that is I noticed

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you had a rare fur piece. Her vivid glance returned

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to the pile of wraps on the chair. And I

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want to ask a very great favor of you. Now.

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Please don't be shocked. I've been ransacking the city for

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something like it, and with a determined air of taking

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the plunge, I should like to buy it, of you

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buy it, scorned the woman, with a sun dull red

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staining her sallow cheeks. I can't see why any one

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would want to pay money for such a thing as that. It.

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It's a rare pattern, you know, broke the girl, her

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sweet tones assuming an eloquent, persuasive quiver. And and you

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don't know how glad I'd be to have it. The

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indignant color faded out of the woman's face. If you

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really want it, then abruptly, she put her bizarre possession

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into her strange visitor's lap. If you really want it,

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but I don't see yearning crept into her work, deaded eyes,

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a yearning that seemed to struggle with disillusionment. Tell me

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she broke off? Is that all you came here for.

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Apparently oblivious to the question, the young woman rose to

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her feet. You'll sell it to me, then, she triumphed,

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opening her gold bound purse. But see here, demurred the woman.

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I can't, it ain't worth. The girl's gloved hands went

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fumbling into her purse, while the old fur cap hung

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limply across one velvet arm. You leave it to me,

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she commanded, and smiled, a radiant, winning smile. Impulsively, the

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woman drew close to her guest. Excuse me, she faltered,

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But do you know you look ever so much like

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a little niece of mine back home? Do I? That's nice?

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The visitor looked at her watch. A note of abstraction

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had crept into her beautiful voice, but still held the

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caress that invited the woman's confidence. Yes, my little niece.

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Excuse me, I haven't seen her for twelve years, most

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fifteen years. I guess she be growed up. But I

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thought when I saw you downtown, Oh you remember me?

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Then forgive me for following. The girl ceased the woman's soaked,

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reddened hands in a sudden, fervent clasp. I understand, she breathed,

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you must be lonely. I have tried to see you again.

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I surely will goodbye. The girl was gone, and all

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at once the room seemed colder and danger than it

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ever had before. But the woman was not cold. As

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she sat huddled on the cot, warmth and vitality glowed

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within her, kindled by the memory of a recent kindly

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human touch. The following evening, after working hours, the shabby woman,

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wearing a faded scarf about her neck to replace the

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old fur collar, dividently accosted a saleslady of the sixth

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Avenue department store. She wanted to buy a brown mink collar,

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just like one worn by a figure and green in

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the window. It was an usual to sell expensive furs

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to such a customer, but people might send what freaks

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of servants they pleased to do their Christmas shopping, provided

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they sent the money too. In this case, the shabby

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little woman was prepared. She produced three crisp ten dollar bills,

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the fabulous sum which the girl had left in her

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hand at courting, and two dollars more from the savings

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in her born little purse. Then, hugging the big black

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box against the tight fitting bosom of her jacket, she

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triumphantly left the store in a sort of tender ecstasy.

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She dallied along until she came to a florist's window.

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As she paused to gaze at great bunches of carnations

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and roses tied with broad and streaming ribbons, the anxious

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look that attends the doubtful shopper returned to her face.

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Would it be of any use to go in? Since

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she must either keep moving or be came carried along

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by the crowd. She edged through the revolving door. English

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violets fifty cents for the small bunches clipped off the

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red cheeked sales girl. In reply to the woman's croaking inquiry.

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The perturbed shopper turned reluctantly away, hesitated, and then asked,

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but the roses? A single half blown rose twenty five apiece,

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replied the girl in the same mechanical tones, while she

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busied herself in rearranging a basket of flowers. Ay, I'll

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take the rose At the express office, where scores were

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waiting before her. The woman had ample time to untie

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her box and slip the rosebud beneath the tissue paper

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of the inner wrapping, then, having retied it securely, and

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stuck a do not open until Christmas tag in a

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conspicuous place. She took her stand in line. When it

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finally came her turn at the desk, a stump who

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worked like an automaton and greathed like an ox, tore

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the package from her lingering grasp and dashed across the

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wrapper the address she gave. She paid the charges, wadded

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the receipt into her purse, and turned briskly away. First

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crillers she took to her room from the bake shop,

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having bought them from a dark, greasy woman, whom she

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wished a Merry Christmas in a voice that almost sang.

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At dusk, she had coffee in her room. It was

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Christmas Eve, and she must begin early to get her

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full share of the season's peculiar indulgences. After she had

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read her paper for an hour or so by the

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recklessly flaming gas jet, she bustled about to brew another

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cup of coffee, and faced it upon crullers for the

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second time. At last, she filled a water bottle with

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tepid water from a faucet in the hall, and prepared

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for bed. The shill of the bedclothes upon which the

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tepid water bottle had little effect, could not touch the

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cozy warmth about the woman's heart. Neither were the happy

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memories of her strange and lovely visitor disturbed by knowledge

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of an incident that was taking place at that very hour.

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As she bounced into her cot, coming a little tone,

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she did not know that at a downtown theater, a

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popular young actress was just responding to an insistent curtain call.

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Nor could she have recognized the graceful young girl issuing

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from the wings in a new character part an extreme

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type of eccentric maidenhood, except for the plucked and ragged

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fur piece which formed the keynote of the performer's quaint attire.

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No knowledge of this episode disturbed the half drowsing, half

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blissful state which supplanted the woman's sleep that night. The

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incident cast no cloud upon her eager awakening, nor retarded

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her active leap from that when the voice of her

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landlady aroused her with a start on Christmas morning, eggs Press,

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eggs Spress a package from miss La Lore. Full chested

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and lingering, the call reverberated up three flats of naked stairs,

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and by the time the woman had donned her skirt

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and sweater and had merged into the twilight of the

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upper hall. Frowsy curious heads protruded from every door. She

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carried the bulky Christmas package to her own room, moving

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deliberately in shy, half guilty triumph, and placed it on

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the cot behind her closed door. She untied it, removed

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the cover, and smilingly bent down to draw an eager

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inhalation from the tissue paper folds. Then, with careful fingers,

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she parted the crisp in her wrappings and unearthed a

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wilding half blown rose from its nest in the brown

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bank fur end of but once a year by R.

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O'Grady