Booth Tarkington

“ The interview had taken place in the front hall, and Mrs. Mears watched the lively little figure for a moment as it was silhouetted against the ardent sunshine at the open doors; then she turned away, smiling, and for the rest of the morning her serene thought of Daisy was the picture of a ladylike child playing quietly near the walnut tree in the front yard
Daisy skipped out to the gate, but upon the public sidewalk, just beyond, she moderated her speed and looked as important as she could, assuming at once the rôle she had selected in the little play she was making up as she went along. ”

“ A child is a player, and an actor is a player; and both “play” in almost the same sense—the essential difference being that the child's art is instinctive, so that he is not so conscious of just where reality begins and made-up drama ends. Daisy and Elsie were now representing and exaggerating their two mothers, with a dash of aunt thrown in; they felt that they were the grown people they played they were ”

“ In this easy way prodigious events can be produced at the cost of the most insignificant exertion, as is well known by people who have felt a temptation to step from the roof of a high building, or to speak out inappropriately in church. Daisy still behaved rather properly in church, but several times she made herself prominent in Sunday school; and she stepped off the roof of her father's garage, merely to become more prominent among a small circle of colored people who stood in the alley begging her not to do it. ”

“ I never get time to even sit down, my dear!”
Daisy shook her head ruefully. “Well, goodness knows the last time I sat down, my dear!” she said. “My fam'ly say I got to take some rest, but how can I, with all this terrable shopping to do?”
“Oh, my dear!” Elsie exclaimed. “Why, my dear, I haven't sat down since Christmus!”
Thus they enacted a little drama, improvising the dialogue, for of course every child is both playwright and actor, and spends most of his time acting in scenes of his own invention—which is one reason that going to school may be painful to him ”

“ Daisy said, “I jus' never get a minute to myself. Even my shopping, it's all for the fam'ly.”
“So's mine,” Elsie said promptly. “Mine's every single bit for the fam'ly, an' I never, never get through.”
“Well, look at me!” Daisy exclaimed, her hands fluttering in movements she believed to be illustrative of the rush she lived in. “My fam'ly keep me on the run from the minute I get up I declare I don't get time to say my prayers! Today I thought I might get a little rest for once in till after I go to bed. But no! I haf to go shopping!” ”

“ Nothing could have been more evident than that Daisy and Elsie had definite affairs to transact in this “café;” the air with which they entered it was a conclusive demonstration of that. But the firecrackers made guessing at the nature of those affairs even more hopeless than when the pair had visited the barber-shop and the harness-shop. Then, as a closer report sounded, Laurence jumped. “Giant firecracker!” ”

“ The fat mulatto barber nearest the window was still massaging the face of the recumbent customer and continuing his narrative; the other barbers were placidly grooming the occupants of their chairs, while two or three waiting patrons, lounging on a bench, read periodicals of a worn and flaccid appearance. ”

“ She came out to the sidewalk, and the two turned toward the city's central quarter of trade, walking quickly and talking with an accompaniment of many little gestures. “I rilly don't know how I do it all,” said Elsie, assuming a care-worn air. “I got so much shopping to do, an' everything, my fam'ly all say they wonder I don't break down an' haf to go to a sanitanarian or somep'm, because I do so much.”
“Oh, it's worse'n that with me, my dear!” said Daisy. “I declare I doe' know how I do live through it all! Every single day, it's like this: I haf to go shopping all day long, my dear!” ”

“ Daisy said. “Wouldn't it be too provoking if they'd gone to lunch or somep'm!” And she tapped as loudly as she could upon the counter, calling: “Here! Somebody come an' wait on us. I want to look at some of your nicest unbeached muslin an' some orstrich feathers.”
There was a door at the other end of the room and it stood open, revealing a narrow and greasy passage, with decrepit walls that showed the laths, here and there, where areas of plaster had fallen. “I guess I better go call in that little hallway,” said Daisy. “They don't seem to care how long they keep their customers waitin'!” ”

“ Daisy was just preceding Elsie into a barber-shop.
“Do you keep taffeta or—or lamp-shades?” Daisy asked of the barber nearest the door.
This was a fat colored man, a mulatto. He had a towel over the jowl and eyes of his helpless customer, and standing behind the chair, employed his thumbs and fingers in a slow and rhythmic manipulation of the man's forehead. Meanwhile he continued an unctuous monologue, paying no attention whatever to Daisy's inquiry “I dess turn roun' an' walk away a little bit.” said the barber. “'N'en I turn an' look 'er over up an' down from head to foot. 'Yes,' I say. ”

“ As for an “ottomatick” or a “revolaver,” he knew that neither maiden would touch such a thing, for he had heard them express their aversion to the antics of Robert Eliot, on an occasion when Master Eliot had surreptitiously borrowed his father's “good ole six-shooter” to disport himself with in the Threamers' garage. ”

“ Daisy inquired. “I mean all about Henry's class an' usin' her mouth so full freely. Who was?”
“Run out!”' the barber shouted. “Run out!”'
“Well, I declare!” Daisy exclaimed, as she and Elsie followed his suggestion and emerged from the shop. “It's just this same way whenever I go shopping! I never can find the things I want; they act almos' like they don't care whether they keep 'em or not.”
“It's dreadful!” Elsie agreed, and greatly enjoying the air of annoyance they were affecting, they proceeded on their way. No one would have believed them aware that they were being followed ”

“ The man's became a squawk as another explosion took place; he added an incomplete Scriptural glossary in falsetto; and Elsie began to be nervous.
“That's awful big firecrackers they're usin',” she said. “I guess we ought to go home, maybe, Daisy.”
“Oh, they're just kind of quarrelin' or somep'm,” Daisy explained, not at all disturbed. “If you listen up our alley you can hear colored people talkin' like that lots o' times. They do this way, an' they settle down again, or else they're only in fun. But I do wish these people'd come, because I just haf to finish my shopping!” ”

“ A man owes it to himself not to git no forty-four in his gizzard by takin' and pushin' into a place where somebody's usin' a forty-four. A man owes it to himself to keep out o' trouble unless he's got some call to take and go bullin' into it ”

“ Well, I'll show 'em! They'll see before I get through with 'em! Oh, oh! Jus' wait a little: they'll be beggin' me quick enough to speak to 'em. 'Oh, Laur-runce, please!' they'll say. 'Please speak to us, Laur-runce. Won'chu please speak to us, Laurunce? We'd jus' give anything to have you speak to us, Laurunce! Won' chu, Laurunce, pull-lease?' Then I'll say: 'Yes, I'll speak to you, an' you better listen if you want to learn some sense!' Then I'll call 'em everything I can think of! ”

“ I haf to look at— Well, what do you haf to look at when we go in the stores?”
“Me? I haf to look at everything! There isn't a thing left in our house. I haf to look at doilies, an' all kinds embrawdries, an' some aperns for the servants, an' taffeta, an' two vases for the liberry mantelpice, an' some new towels, an' kitchen-stove-polish, an' underwear, an' oilcloth, an' lamp-shades, an' some orstrich feathers for my blue vevvut hat. An' then I gotta get some—”
“Oh, my dear! I got more'n that I haf to look at,” Elsie interrupted. ”