Flick, flick!

Oh, look, they’ve put her face, all by itself, on the screen.  My! what a big face she’s got when you see it like that.

She’s in her room again—­she’s taking off her jacket—­by Gee!  She is going to bed!  Here, stop the machine; it doesn’t seem—­Flick, flick!

Well, look at that!  She’s in bed, all in one flick, and fast asleep!  Something must have broken in the machine and missed out a chunk.  There! she’s asleep all right—­looks as if she was dreaming.  Now it’s sort of fading.  I wonder how they make it do that?  I guess they turn the wick of the lamp down low:  that was the way in Robinson Crusoe—­Flick, flick!

Hullo! where on earth is this—­farmhouse, I guess—­must be away upstate somewhere—­who on earth are these people?  Old man—­white whiskers—­old lady at a spinning-wheel—­see it go, eh?  Just like real!  And a young man—­that must be John Holdfast—­and a girl with her hand in his.  Why!  Say! it’s the girl, the same girl, Madeline—­only what’s she doing away off here at this farm—­how did she get clean back from the bedroom to this farm?  Flick, flick! what’s this?

  “NO, JOHN, I CANNOT MARRY YOU. 
   I MUST DEVOTE MY LIFE
   TO MY MUSIC.”

Who says that?  What music?  Here, stop—­

It’s all gone.  What’s this new place?  Flick, flick, looks like a street.  Say! see the street car coming along—­well! say! isn’t that great?  A street car!  And here’s Madeline!  How on earth did she get back from the old farm all in a second?  Got her street things on—­that must be music under her arm—­I wonder where—­hullo—­who’s this man in a silk hat and swell coat?  Gee! he’s well dressed.  See him roll his eyes at Madeline!  He’s lifting his hat—­I guess he must be Edward Something, the Roo—­only a roo would dress as well as he does—­he’s going to speak to her—­

   “SIR, I DO NOT KNOW YOU. 
    LET ME PASS.”

Oh, I see!  The Roo mistook her; he thought she was somebody that he knew!  And she wasn’t!  I catch on!  It gets easy to understand these pictures once you’re on.

Flick, flick—­Oh, say, stop!  I missed a piece—­where is she?  Outside a street door—­she’s pausing a moment outside—­that was lucky her pausing like that—­it just gave me time to read EMPLOYMENT BUREAU on the door.  Gee!  I read it quick.

Flick, flick!  Where is it now?—­oh, I see, she’s gone in—­she’s in there—­this must be the Bureau, eh?  There’s Madeline going up to the desk.

  “NO, WE HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE,
   WE HAVE NOTHING ...”

Pshaw!  I read too slow—­she’s on the street again.  Flick, flick!

No, she isn’t—­she’s back in her room—­cupboard still empty—­no milk—­no sugar—­Flick, flick!

Kneeling down to pray—­my! but she’s religious—­flick, flick—­now she’s on the street—­got a letter in her hand—­what’s the address—­Flick, flick!

   Mr. Meadowlark
   Meadow Farm
   Meadow County
   New York