Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 54: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

629 of the cloth are left hangmg outsade. Into the bow] of the cloth is placed a goed sized handful of pounded coffee. Boiling water is then poured over the powder until the coffee-pot is nearly full. After a minute or two of simmering, the four corners of the cloth are gathered in the left and right hands and the real coffee-making cam- mences. The trick consists in twisting the two ends of the rag in opposite directions uatil the ovoffee is confined an the center and can be squeezed and wrung until all the deep-brown fluid is pressed out. But not a grain of coffee myst be allowed ¢o escape. The result is, a pot full of coffee that is as black as ene can wish for, but clear as if it had been filtered. It ts— coffee. Not a cafeteria demi tasse of boiled, over or under reasted beans, but sun-kissed coffee that the percolator seldom percolates. After Julie had been initiated into con- trol of the coffee-rag, she thought that one so wise might also have some magic way of disposing of the small, but populous in- habitants of her hut. In turn she pointed to the ants scurrying busily about the sandy floor, the lizards alert-headed on the tops of the walks; the red beetles that came and warmed their toes at the driftwoed fire. Ajl she got was a shrug cf wender that she should bother about such not-to- be-considered trifles, and in the wisdom that comes with time, Julie learned that with things that cannet be avoided or chased, one gives up shuddering and no more than occasionally indulges in a shrug. Later she fownd there is a song, a chanted prayer as it were, that the women of the huts sing to the red beetle. The burden of the song is a polite plea that the barata will kindly refrain from eating one’s clothes. She also discovered that the only really efficient way of disposing of a tar- antula is to swipe him with the weapon the housewife uses to chase a cat. A breom is the primitive swatter par excellence. A frying-pan or a shee are dadgeable and quite. useless as a macans of putting a period to the sidelong amd backward jumps of these funny spiders. They can move faster than many men can dodge taxes. The bodega woman was Julie’s informant in a matter touching her personal interests. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Strangers give us details of eur most in- tamete affairs, c debonair, whistling, ireckle- faced messenger on two crank-driven wheels brings as a slip ef paper bearmg terse no- tification of birth, death or a wedding; far- tune or misfortune. We tip bun and tune aside to hide our laughter or owr tears. From this weman julie had learned seme- thing else. The manner of the telling had been mostly in dumb show; but nome the less clear and unmistakable. The women had taken her left aad, pointed to the ring on Julie’s third finger, and led her to the door. She had then pointed to 2 ahip far out at sea, waved her hand with a Sut- tering motion indicative of flight, and ned- diag at Julie, had directed her f to the floor. Then she had dolefully shaken her head and emitted a meaning sound eug- gestive of grief. ‘Your husband hes gene away. Yeu stay here.” As plainly as if spoken in English, jue had gathered the woman's meaning, but with that curious pride that prevents a wifes open acknowledgement that deper- tion is her portion, Julie had acted a smiling part. Artie Was an unwaated and an emba- rassing husband, but the query big in the bodega woman’s face was tured aside. Julie had been scared and conscious of an inner, sinking feeling at being left to fae the future alone; but she had modded and shown her small white teeth in brave meke- believe that she had known all the time that Artie had gane away. She had eves comtrolled herself so far as to laboriously make sign that he was coming back. The fiction did net deceive the bodege- keeper, but being a lady in her commons kiaship of womanhiness to the girl, she pre- tended to accept Julie’s demonstration of There are gentlewomen who have newey won a paw of shoes with Lomis Quimse heels, who have never sSen a zeal bath- tub, who cannot write their own name; yet _ who possess fundamentals of a fime and considerate courtesy. The rade, the unfael- ing and the beorish are oftener found ia the cities than in sparsely populated back- of-beyond wilds. Constant centact with comichooks.conn