LETTER XV
IN WHICH I LOSE MY LOVER
Dear Mom:
I do hate to write such bad news but you made me promise I would tell you everything so here it is.
I have not got no job today and the worst of it is I am the only one that is not. I went back to the Elite Beauty Parlors this a. m. thinking I was to go on leading the strike but what do I see but everyone of them girls come up one by one and try to sneak into the place. I says, “What are you doing are you going to desert your union and your class?” And Adaire Huggins she says, “Mame, I am sorry but I have made a fool out of myself,” and Hotaire Schoenstein she says, “Mame I have got to eat,” and in they goes and back to work without no raise in wages and I am left standing on the sidewalk.
I would not go in if I was to die for it and anyhow I would only get kicked out because the madame she thinks I am the cause of that strike. But gee Mom aint it awful to think how the working-class will throw each other down and all they would have to do would be to stand together and they could get anything they want!
Well I go down the street to the La Princesse Beauty Shoppe but they have got no need for a manicurist, and then I go to the Betty Blue Rooms and then to the Rosamonde and the La Belle and the La Coquette and the La Charme and all the other ones that I have heard of but I think they must of heard about what I done because they have none of them got nothing. And gee Mom it is begun to rain and I am wetting my new clothes and my best shoes is in the slop and is getting wore down at the heel and I am so blue I could be made into paint. At last I am clean done up and come home and flop down on my bed and cry. I have got only three dollars in my pocket and here I was hoping to save up so as I could send a little to you!
The worst is I have lost Mr. Edgerton too because he will go to the Elite and that old she-devil will not tell him where to find me and I have never let him come to this house onaccount of his wife being so mad and all and I do not think he even knows my number and if I write to his home his wife will get it and he has told me never to ring him up nor to write to him to the big white house for fear the Spokesman or somebody might get in. What I am to do I cannot think but tomorrow I will have to look for a job in some barber-shop.
P. S. Well has been another rainy day and I have tried the barber-shops and gee Mom there was some awful holes where a decent girl would not work if it was to save her life but even so I did not find nothing. There was one feller that said he would give me a table for half what I earned but I would have to of had my own set and I have not got no set and no money to buy one. And gee Mom I see I should of saved some of my money but what it is I should of gone without I cannot see. And some fellers was rude to me and some called me sweet-heart and I would of liked to of batted both kinds on the jaw.
But please do not say anything to Pop about my troubles because it would only worry him and I am going to find some way out. My rent is not due till two days, and I guess I have got a few days credit with Mrs. Budd seeing that she had such a fine lot of gossip out of that time that Mrs. Edgerton come to bawl me out for going to dinner with her husband.
P. S. Again. Well I have went to about fifty hotels big and little and to a lot more barber-shops but nothing doing. And I have only et some milk and crackers because I am scared of spending my last money. But I had to buy a paper of course for I must not get out of touch with international affairs. And I see there is a great coal strike being threatened and the whole country will be without coal and nobody knows what to do about it and it says the Spokesman announced that He has took the matter under advisement and of course I know what that means He does not know what to say about it and He is waiting for me to tell Mr. Edgerton to tell Him what to say. I picture Mr. Edgerton rushing around frantic trying to find out where I am and maybe having to call in the secret service and so I am desperate and tonight I have wrote him a letter to the big white house and I have wrote it like this, Dear Sir, My father Mr. James Riggs wishes me to advise you that he has changed his address, and then I give the address of thisroom and I think that is not suspicious and I will come home early tomorrow and see if he has sent me a telegram or maybe a special delivery letter.
P. S. Another. Well Mom I have had an awful grief and you sure do get troubles when you go into public life it is more dangerous than any Western I have ever saw. I have been trying to get a job as a waitress or anything and about five o’clock I come home tired as a dog and who should I see going up the steps of the house but Walter. He is just about to ring the bell when I hollers and he turns round and in about three seconds more he is got me in his arms and gee Mom it is awful what muscles that boy is got packing crates all day and throwing them onto trucks. And there he makes a show of me in the street and pulls me to pieces and I am so excited that I am crying. And he tells me that the warehouse shut up for a day on account of the boss’s wife having died and it is Saturday and so he is got two days off and has throwed away all this money for a trip to Washington just to see me.
He wants me to go to dinner of course and I tell him to hold his horses while I run upstairs and powder my nose and so I go and when I come down again what do I see? Walter is still standing down on the sidewalk and up at the top of the step is Mr. Edgerton just about to ring the bell! You see how it is they do not know each other of course and Mr. Edgerton is come right at that inconvenient moment and there he is. When he sees me of course he lifts his hat and he says, “How do you do Miss Riggs?” he says. “Well I am sure glad to get in touch with you I have not had nobody to go to dinner with and I am so lonesome I do not know where to go.” He says that kind of jolly like he always is you know but he is got a pretty loud voice and there is Walter listening to every word of it and then looking at the taxi-cab that is brought Mr. Edgerton and his face is as black as the thunderstorm we had this morning.
Well a women that is trained to social life like me had ought to know what to do but I don’t and all I can say is, “Mr. Edgerton I have a friend that is just come to see me.” And Mr. Edgerton is rattled too because of course he don’t want to meet nobody. But there is nothing to do but go down the steps and I says, “Mr. Edgerton meet Mr. Rigley,” I says and Walter is not got sense to shake hands but just growls how-de-do and I am thinking as fast as a runaway express train.
Walter he says, “Well I see you have a previous engagement,” and he turns on his heel and starts to walk off but of course I grabs him by the arm and makes him turn round and I says, “Look here Walter this is not what you think this is a business matter and this gentleman is a government official and I am doing important work for him,” I says. “What sort of work?” says Walter and you know that kind of pug-nose face that he has got it is already made up for a fight.
And of course I can’t answer him because Mr. Edgerton has forbid me to. So what can I do but put it up to Mr. Edgerton? I says, “Mr. Edgerton, Walter Rigley is my fyansay,” I says. And Mr. Edgerton says, “Oh I did not know you was engaged,” and I says, “I have never had occasion to tell you. But now Walter is got two days off from the job of packing goods in a warehouse and he has come to see me as a surprise party. And I think I have got to explain matters to him if you will please let me because he is a very good boy and a one hundred percent American and when he knows that this is government work that we are doing and that it is because we have got to educate the people and keep the Bolshivikis from getting a hold of them he will keep the secret and you can trust him the same as me.”
So Mr. Edgerton can’t do nothing else but say, “All right Miss Riggs I will take your word for Mr. Rigley.” And I turns to Walter and says, “There is nobody in the world but my mom and my pop that I have trusted with this but it is all straight and it will be explained to you.”
And then Mr. Edgerton says for Walter to go to dinner with us but Walter he says, “Not on your life I ast her first,” he says, “and if there is any dinner you will go with me.” So I says, “It will have to be that way Mr. Edgerton because I know this boy and he is only got one fault and that is that he is a mule.”
So Mr. Edgerton says all right and we gets into the taxi and Walter’s shoulders is so broad that there is no room for mine in the seat but he puts me on his knees and you can see he is not going to let me be in Mr. Edgerton’s way. And I am telling Walter about who Mr. Edgerton is and what we are doing and gee you can see that it is a hard lump for Walter to swallow he don’t know what to make of it whether I am kidding him or not but Walter is like the Spokesman in one way when he don’t know what to say it don’t hurt him none to say nothing.
Well the Greek restaurant is nearest and so we are prettysoon eating some more dinner cooked in mutton suet but gee Mom I could eat it if it was axel-grease I am so hungry. But I have got to play the social game and keep these two male animals from biting each other so I says, “Mr. Edgerton I have not had no chance to ask you but I can see that the Spokesman is in trouble because He does not know what to say about this here coal strike.”
And he says, “That is right it is a very great worry to Him, and what do you think about it?” And I says, “Well Pop says you can’t make no gas without coal and what would I do if I come home to my room in the evening and there was no light in it?” And Mr. Edgerton says, “That is true, coal is a necessity of modern civilization.” “Well then,” I says, “is a lot of Hunkies and Dagoes to be allowed to get together and hold a pistol at people’s heads and get any price they please for work? No Mr. Edgerton,” I says, “it is the duty of the Spokesman to take a firm stand and say that there will not be no such strike allowed.”
And he says, “I guess you are right and we will work it out on that basis.”
But I says, “Mr. Edgerton He must not go and say that unless He means to act on it.”
And he says, “But why not?” and I says, “Because it will not do.” And he says, “Well Miss Riggs but you cannot do business with the Spokesman that way because you would never be able to say nothing because He will never do nothing.”
But I says, “If He says He won’t allow the strike and then He does allow it, what will people think of Him?” And he says, “It will be like it has always been and when the time comes people will of forgot it.” “But that is nonsense,” I says, “it will be quoted against Him what He said at the beginning.” And Mr. Edgerton says, “By who? A bunch of cranks here and there? The newspapers will not say nothing because we have got them and what else does it matter?”
Well of course I don’t like that but I have learned that it is what you have got to do with the Spokesman so I says “All right.” But I have forgot about Walter and my God all of a sudden what do I see his face is got red and he is rose up and he says, “Do the pair of you really think I am going to stand for this?” “Why Walter what do you mean?” I says, and he says, “You are playing me for a sucker,” he says, “but you have got the wrong one.”
“Why Walter,” I says, “what on earth? You think thisis not the Spokesman’s Secretary?” “I don’t know who it is,” he says, “but you cannot make me believe that the Spokesman is no such poor fish as this.” “But,” I says “look at the papers to-morrow afternoon,” I says, “and you will see it all just as I have said it.”
And says Walter, “You want me to think that the American people is a bunch of boobs that you can string along like this?” I says, “Walter, I have told Mr. Edgerton that you are a patriot and a lover of your country and that you can be trusted with these great state secrets,” I says, “And now are you going to throw me down?”
But he looks at me and his eyes is flashing and his fists is clenched and I think he is going to hit me or Mr. Edgerton I aint sure which and he says with his voice trembling furious, “Mamie Riggs,” he says, “I thought you was a decent girl but I see you have took the easy road,” he says. “But it was enough to insult our love,” he says, “you needn’t of insulted my brains too. I leave you to your new gentleman and I hope he keeps you good and that’s all.” And with that he turns and walks off quick and I lets out a yell that scares the whole dining room and I runs to grab him but he is gone out the door and lost in the crowd and there I am standing and crying like Lucy Lonesome in “The Broken Love.”
Your miserable
Mame.