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Roaldus Richmond
35 School Street
Montpelier, Vt.
BOMBS DROPPING
"This place is a mess," the woman said. "I just moved
in today. I'm going to have my shop in the big front room,
and live in the back part. There's plenty of space, you see.
I wasn't in the block that burned. Just decided to move,
that's all. The other girl and I decided to split up. We got
along all right, but I wanted a place of my own. The equipment
was most all mine anyway. This is a pretty good location, don't
you think? Just off the square here. L_tI'fl llk lb fine.
And I know most of the old customers will follow me up here.
was-thethat drew them, you know, --They all 4estew-EA-la-i-they
clidnItlmord-tlae-otha,r,gjr1..,",
"Well, where's your husband?" the man asked. "The last I
knew you were married."
"Which husband?" Lila asked, laughing. "I've had threes
Married l I Fuess I've been married. i-lA_mueh,7
marrte,d-womanr-Arrtiaux6.. But I'm single again now. And glad of
it."
"You're still looking pretty nice," Arthur told her. "Still
young and fresh, Lila. How do you do it anyway? Look at me, I'm
getting to be an old man now."
"You've still got your hair and you're not fat, Art. You
look pretty fit.
You haven't been 1,ound here for a long while,
have you? Oh, lots of people ask me how I keep so young -looking.
2.
But I'm not so old, you know. I'm only thirty-four, Art."
"Is that so? I thought you were older than that, Lila."
"Well, I've been around a long time, ,_rt. I was married
when T was seventeen; the first time, I mean. Just my daughter's
age now. You wouldn't think I had a girl seventeen years old,
would you? There's a picture of her. Isn't she a sweet kid? She
graduates from high school this year. And there's my picture
beside hers. You wouldn't think that was mother and daughter now,
would you? Looks more like sisters. Lots of people take us for
sisters when we're out together. Yes, she looks like me all right."
Lila was tall and well -formed, with a manner of easy com-
posure. Her speech was frank and brisk like her walk. It was
impossible to imagine her ill -at -ease under any conditioivrHer
skin was wonderfully clear. Only in her eyes and about her mouth\
did her age, and experience, show at all, and she was undoubtedly,
older than thirty-four. She liked men and she liked liquor but
dissipation had not marked her. There were no false pretenses
about her. Arthur regarded with her admiration.
"Oh, it helps to have a beauty shop of your
own,"
4,1k
said.
A
"I'll admit that. It makes a lot of difference when you take all
kinds of care with your skin and your hair, and not spend a lot cr'
A j
money doing it. A woman needs a lot more care than a man. Look
at lots of women my age, even younger. They get married and let
themselves go. They get fat and sloppy. They spread all over the
place. They think because they got their man that nothing else
matters. Then they wonder why their husband steps out on them/
You can't blame a man for stepping when his wife get like that.
3.
Well, I never let myself go, but my husbands used to step out
on me just the same." Lila sighed. "I guess all men are that
way."
"You used to do a little stepping yourself, didn't you?"
Arthur inquired slyly. "Seems to me you used to cheat a little,
Lila. Remember when you were waiting on tables in the hotel?"
Lila laughed. "I wasn't living with my husband then,
Arthur. Sure, I cheated if you want to call it cheating. If
a man can't support you why be true to him? I was making my own
living. Well, I lost that job because the men paid too much
attention to me. That old senator what was his name? I can't
even remember it, or where he was from. Up north somewhere. He
was quite an old sport6)44440mm4 He used to spend money like a
Guess he had. plenty of it. He sure threw it around anyway.
It was really on account of him I lost my job. I couldn't help
it. I couldn't get rid of the man. He was after me every minute.
Then I worked down to Montpelier in the Pavilion. He followed
me there. Old Hafer said I was the last young waitress he'd ever
hire. I guess he's never hired another young girl. The ones .ac's
got in there now are old enough to die. They can just about move
a round. Soup gets cold while they're bringing it in from the
kitchen,"
"Did you marry that lieutenant you used to go round with?
He was an engineer on that East Barre Dam. He was a pretty good
boy, I thought." cL,
"Yes, I married himl-L-ttn—sa+d—ecrol—fb-i-etferl., °God, but he
was a good-looking manl He was the last one, Art. It didn't
4.
last long. He was too damn good-looking. How the women went
for that guyl He was the last one and there won't be any morq50
We used to have some good times with Eddie though. He was a lot
of fun. Remember the week -end we went up to Gallagher's in
Phillipsburg?
That was a time. We started for Montreal but didn't
get beyond Phillipsburg. Yes, we did too, we got as far as St.
John's. We stopped to dance there, and the girls tried to make
you men. We found out later they were professionals. That was a
tough joint, Art. 8,0; It's swell in Phillipsburg. Right on the
water there. Mississquoi Bay right at your feet. I remember how
the breeze blew in the window in the morning. Fresh and clean
off the lake.fAnd I had a hangover; oh what a hangoverl I don't
have 'em either. j The water was dark blue that morning and
r
there were white sails way out in the middle. That crazy Eddie
r
LH drank bottles of ale before he even got out of bed. What a man
6/) _
LIbat Eddie wasl... Say, Art, how come you never got married?"
"Never had time when I had the moneyo
4'
4Now I got all kinds of tine and no money. I'd look pretty ask-
ing a girl to marry me the way I am now. Forty-two years old and
broke. You know what I'm doing now? I'm working on WPA, a white-
collar job. Fifty-eight dollars a month. I used to make that
much a week. I used to make that much in one day. And spend it
in one night. Fifty-eight dollars a month! 'What can you do with
that? And Lila, you know what I was doing all fall? I was out
with a pick and shovel. Right on the old chain -gang. Well, it
put me in shape anyway. Took about four inches off my waist.
See how loose these pants are. This iE a tailormade suit too.
7.
or twenty dollars anyway. Now what have I got? Nothingtri--
--41ft*etrue-4mre4.68.-mr, I was checking up the other night. I've
only got four decent shirts left. I'm law on socks and under-
wear too. I only got this one suit. I need a new hat. Jiliww.
I've never been so low in my life. I'm right on the old rocks
for faira 35.1.4a-."
"Don't let it get you, Art," advised Lila. "Don't let it
get you down. You'll come back all right. They can't keep a
man like you down. You remember Helga Larsen, don't you? 4Yettsery
---ezier749-eder-ieritmrsers She's younger than I am but she's been
kicking round jttst as lone, or longer. -44se-aza.c...gplagma=2.„,vaaim..e
-.4iter,-14etriterrarrb--45iteIi
fr‘n Helga always went for married men. Well, Helga
just got herself married.
4;1144/'.411"Irilical945treNt"1.116/Whibifea". Of course the man is
from out of town. RoAo APow P4a.cai.144mee-iIrrierantret,e14.4evoioaaigift
ifellow. I went out with him myself. He's a big tall guy, over
six feet,
Ifore they
But she got
and handsome. I was out with him n just a few nights be
were married. Nobody thought he took Helga very serious.
him all right.
Everybody says she hooked him quick
before he found out about her reputation. He's kind of a funny
fellow. I mean he's moody. Sometimes he'll sit there smoking
his pipe and not saying a word. Sometires he won't talk to any-
body. Then again he'll talk and laugh and tell stories, be a
lot of fun. He's c-ot a swell job, makes good money. But he's
kind of tight with it. He's a hot-blooded man too6
.140.tiatexima.4
vela looks awful since she got married. Blue circles
s.
under her eyes. I never could stand that girl. She always
thought she was better than anyone else, and she certainly
wasn't. I know plenty about that girl. I've seen her in action
with my awn eyest? 4'414 miumilmwww
--Yon-
cff
"There's another girl from that crowd going to get married,
they say. This dumb young lawyer is going to marry her. No-
body else that lived round here and knew her would marry her.
She's the one that fixed Doc Carter up last winter, and she
gave it to a boy in I:ontpelier too. Doc gave it to Velma Burke,
and she passed it around. The town was plastered with it all
winter. They say the whole Ski Club crowd had it. I don't know
about that, but I know quite a few of them gave up skiing all of
a sudden, and quit drinking too. Now the girl that started it is
going to get married, the sweet little thinglidIim an awful cat,
aren't I though? I'm no angel -nd never pretended to be. 44m—
.4rtà But these girls that pretend to be so damned
nice give me an awful pain. This town is full of them. They
act so sweet and innocent. But you aught to see them when they
get with a man and have a few drinks in them. Innocent all rightl
Hot little sluts, all of them."
"I know the one you mean that fixed Doc up," said ,-_rthur.
"I went out with her once, but I didn't make any passes at her.
She looks pretty good."
"Good thing for you didn't, I guess," said Lila grimly.
"A wonder she didn't make passes at you though. Yes, she looks
all right if you care for that type. Did she show you her
scar. She's always showing her scar when she gets drunk. Ap-
______
9.
"How do you like the Christmas decorationso You know
the Granite City got a big writeup a few years ago in the Boston
papers. Praising the Christmas decorations. Some of the private
homes have some lovely things too. This town is quite livewire
in that way. They get out and do things here, you have to give
them credit. Y o, Ohricisman io comiiv ageth.. I feel kind of
old at Christmas time. The years go faster and faster. Christmas
doesn't mean much now. I always think of Christmases when I was
a kid back on the farm.
..,Alfewrillesaptim All the glamor girls come from the farm, you knowaW
-air•cs-riesida.t.libellravisn Now it only means drinking and dancing
at the Elks Club or some other place. The same guys, the same
gals, the same gags. You have to drink to stand it. If you
drink enough you think you're liking it. I don't drink an awful
lot though. I take it pretty easy. At my age it begins to show
on your face and figure. Remember that sons, "Stay Young and
Beautiful?" That's my businessimila. Make others beautiful
and keep myself that way or try to.
2
you see the big funeral procession todayeAdrie
An-
other stonecutter's funeral. I did his wife's hair& .v—iettew.
She'd never been in before. 44as—vmse 2 lovely little Italian
woman. She cried all the time, couldn't stop the tears.
didn't know who she was16)(4—owamasda. She didn't say a word. Most
of these women talk your ears off. She had a face that was sad
and noble, kind of. It made you feel like crying to see her. When
10.
she was leaving I said: 'I hope you'll come back again.' She
said: 'No, I don't come back again. I don't need to come any
more.' Afterwards I found out who she was. A stonecutter's
wife widow, I should say. Her husband had just died. I
wondered why she had her hair done. Somebody must have made her
0
come. She won't ever care how she looks any more@
y raise hell
but the women are straight. They're brought up that way. Italian
men dnn't stand for their sisters or daughters or wives playing
around. All Europeans make a laughing -stock of American husbands
anyway."
"1 guess they got a ri7,ht to. Most husbands here are scared
to death of their wives. I know plenty of them that get tight
or something and don't dare go home. I almost got married when
I was in the army. One of those sweet southern gals with a
mother who might as wellIve carfied a shotgun. That's when I
was down at Camp Wadsworth, ipartansburg, North Carolina. I
enlisted at Fort Slocum, New York, you know. I was one of the
first men from round here to join the army in 1917. I was just
a kid... Well, one night this old southern belle came in and I
was with her daughter. We were mussed up maybe but nothing had
happened. All innocent, see? But the old lady was going to
have us married right away. Well, I never called on that baby
again!
"In Spartansburg there was a military school and the boys
h -d uniforms that resembled our officers uniforms. In the army
you salute the uniform, not the man. That's the understanding.
11.
Well, these kids used to get a great kick out of standing on
the streets and making the soldiers salute them. But we got
wise to those tin soldiers. One night we ganged up on a bunch
of them, rushed 'em down an alley and did a good job on them.
After that they weren't so cocky."
"I was supply sergeant. Yes, I got across but I didn't
get into action. I sailed from New York to Brest on the Levia-
than, and I think it was the only troopship that went across
unconvoyed during the war. It was originally a German boat, you
know, a prize ship. I think there were 10,000 soldiers on board.
And about 200 or 250 died of influenza on the way across. We
flew the yellow flag all the way, the plague flag. They were
dying right and left like flies. The 57th Pioneer Infantry, an
all Vermont regiment, was on the boat and lost lots of men.
"We went into rest camp at Brest; then to a reclassification
.camp at Le Mans. After the Armistice I was stationed at the
Central Records Office in Bourges. Central Headquarters was in
Chaumont. In Bourges there's a cathedral with two towers, that
they call the "Butter Towers." Peasants sold butter to pay for
them. I picked up a girl in Lyons and took her down to Nines,
1
which is near Montpelier, the town our capital was named after.
I remember there was a bridge in Lyons dedicated to Woodrow
Wilson. This girl stayed with me fourteen days. She didn't want
any money for it either. All she took was an American dollar for
a souvenirs That was about ecuivalent to six francs at that time.
She kind of wanted to get married too, and come back to the
United States to live. But I couldn't see it that way, Lila.
12.
Those French girls thought all American soldiers were rich. The
American private drew a dollar day, while the French poilu drew
about two cents a day. As supply sdrgeant I drew about three
eighty a day: so I was really in the money, see? And of course
we scattered francs around like they were nothing at all,
"I spent some time in Paris. Stayed at the Hotel Continental
there. I remember the Crystal Palace where Jack Pickford's wife
died and there were naked dancing girls, and the soldiers and
girls promenaded on the make for each other. It was a great war
but not for the poor guys 11D front in the mud and blood. And what
a crime it'll be if they start fighting over there again now. What
a slaughter. I mdan if they really start fighting on land on the
Western Front. Phillip Gibbs says the Maginot Line is practically
impenetrable and could be taken only with the most awful slaughter
you can imagine.
"Well," Arthur said finally. "I kick on being over here
on the WPA. And you kick about going round to the same places
with the same crowd. But I guess we're both pretty lucky at
that. What kind of a Christmas do you think it's going to be for
most of the people over in Europe?" At least the people on ':;PA
can have some kind of a Christmas, not much)but something. And
no bombs dropping down chimneys instead of Santa Claue9-ny--