Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1897-01-14

surprised 10 see me as tney ulu.
"'Why, Mrs. Van Kleyver! You here,
and all that sort of thing, you know.
They patronized me as if were n
child. | thought Mrs. Amalgamated
Brown would take me under my arms,
lift me into Il chair and offer me pic
ture book to play with"
"Not really" exclaimed Miss De Ko-
rus.
Mrs. Van Klevver made gesture of
despair
You're hopeless case, Nancy. Never
mind. If you don't say something be-
sides Really when | finish my story
I'll declare our friendship adjourned
sine die. Now, listen! | didn't care
about being patronized, so | sat down
in one Of the middle seats and let them
alone. don't know who all the wom-
en- that came were. They seemed to
know Mrs. Van and her crowd, at least
by sight, and | found out from what
overheard that most Of them were club
iiends. ! suppose that was the reason
| didn't know any of them. The first
thing | knew Mrs. Federated Jones was
on the platfol asking some one to
nominate n temporary chairman. She
hadn't the words out of her mouth
when Mrs. Smith piped up Mrs.
Browns name, and Mrs. Van seconded
it, and the women in front said aye
and Mrs. Brown got up in the chair be-
fore you could wink.
'Humph.' said woman back of me,
they've got things fixed all right. Trust
Mrs. Amalgamated for that
"'Wonder who they'll put in for
PRESIDENT the woman with her whs-
pered.
THAT Mrs. Van, I'll bet anything
said the first one. You see. they won't
have Mrs. Brown, cause they've made
her temporary chairman, and the other
two want to be secretary and treasurer.
You can see that
81 began to be interested. | listened
to the reading of the constitution and
all that sort Of thing, and when they
asked those who would like to join to
come up and sign their names | went,
and put mine down with the rest. Mrs
Organizer Smith had charge of the
book, and when it came my turn to
sign she pretended to be immensely
astonished.
"'What,' she exclaimed not Mrs.
Van Klevver! Well, what neXtT
Mrs Van Klevver paused and smiled
81 flatter myself, Nancy" she resum-
ed, "that | astonshcd her even more
by what did come next. When we had
all taken our seats again they counted
the names and announced that there
were thirty-nine signers to the constitu-
ton, and that they would proceed to
the election OF officers, twenty votes be-
ing necessary to a choice. Mrs Brown
said that if there was no objection the
election would be by a-well, by your
saying yes or no. | don't know what
they call 1t. At any rate, that was
where they struck the first rock. A
woman back of me objected. She want
ed the vote to be by ballot. That's
where you write a name-oh, you know
what it is, do you? Well, first they said
they would eject n president, so some
one got up and nominated Mrs. Van
Klubber, and it was seconded.
al told you So said the woman back
Of me.
Someone else got up and nominated
that frimpy Mrs. Caucus and that was
seconded, too. In the meantime the
head women had been tearing paper
into slips, which they sent around
through the audience, with bits of pen
ellis, which you passed to your neigh
Dor. | was waiting for a pencil to get
to me, when heard the woman back
Of me saying:
"'How do you spell her name, any
wayT
"I don't know said the woman be-
side her
Some one touched me on the shoul-
der.
GLOW do you spell that Mrs. Vans
name? the woman whispered.
"'Mrs. Van'sY l said.
eyes
'K-le-v-v-e-r,' whispered.
"'Oh, l thought it was Klubberv
"'No, Klevver.'
"Why, katherine, how dared your"
81 dare do anything that becomes a
Van, and | guess I've just as much
right to the name as she has! But wait!
heard great whispering all along the
line behind me.
"'That isn't right! It's spelled
K-l-e-v.'
"Aftcr while someone came around
and collected the ballots and took them
up to the platform. | looked as inno-
cent as the babe they. seemed to CON
slider me, but kept sharp eye on Mrs.
Federated Jones and Mrs. Organized
Smith. They were the tellers. Oh. my
dear! If you could only have seen
them" and Mrs. Van Klevver threw
back her head and laughed. Mrs.
Smith picked up a slip and looked at it.
She puckered up her forehead and
squinted n little closer. Then she un.
hooked her glasses and took another
look at it. Gradually smile stole into