The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-07-17
For Pity's Sake,

US, we watch them on and out OF slghl
with our hearts In our eyes. There are 9TH
ers besides US girls who have noses out
of joint We don't want 10 go TO teas or
| receptions and dances now TO chat or
dance with mere unbraided, ungunned
men. Let them glue their eyes TO their
newspapers all they like-we don't want
them even TO look at US. For we are lean
ing out the window to look and wave after
the passing boys in blue, who, after all,
are the only men worth looking at IN
| the whole world at present; and they are
going away. George in his sailor suit and
white braid holds the center Of the stage
to the exclusion of all confectionery frock
| coats, Prince Alberts. dress suits, canes,
! and tall hats whatsoever. she wished
| that heaven had made her such man."
But as heaven did not see ut TO do so,
she will stay at home and think what
she can do to tighten the horrors of war
| which may come.
| l have sat in a circle of middle-aged,
gentle. proper-looking ladies. mothers of
! girls of my own age, and listened open
mouthed to the tales of their doings in
| the late unpleasantness." One Eeuld
never have dared to imagine half the ca
pers that some dign1ed matrons had once
! cut In the name of compassion. One would
never have dared TO confess TO their own
| indiscretion half as wild as any of their
| escapades for sweet PHYS sake. And yet
/ as they came TO compare notes of corre-
| spondence and interchange of photo
| graphs and tokens-forgetting l believe,
! the presence of a dsillusionized junior
among them-I CLEANED points and sugges-
| tions for future Improvement, which.
| dare say, will scandalize them when re-
| viewed impersonally a second time.
heard one white-haired dame, of whose
gentle blue eyes I have always had
vague suspicion, confess how she carried
| on a tremendous pen-and-paper Irritation
! with a young colonel, to whose chance at
| tention she had introduced herself by
| means of a round robin in the toe of
home-knit stocking. I heard her tell bra
zenly of his first reply TO her haphaZard
note of cheer, and how this was followed
up by a correspondence fast and furious
between them, which, however, came TO
naught when he begged to know her real
name and asked permission TO come and
see her when he got his furlough. But
here, she said, her courage failed, and
she dropped the correspondence. Yet
fancy, under any circumstances, my friend
Graces sedate little mother entering into
an anonymous correspondence with
strangerl They must both Of them have
been fairly weak-spirited, however. They
spoiled nice romance.
Then a second pTunes and prism ma
iron, the Judges literary wife, blushingly
acknowledged to having spread broadcast
leaves of sentimental verses, pinned into
the Wristbands of certain white garments
which her girlish fingers had prepared.
She told how she had to be careful lest
her mother should see her do it, "for
mother was strict" but how she managed
to send a tender postscript with every
piece of her handiwork. But as she dared
not sign name or address the reception ac-
corded these was as she said, merely
conjectural." Just what one would expect
of the Judges wife. How tame! l shall
improve on their recipe.
Several Of the girls grew quite excited
over remembrances of the novel which
they had cola borated and sent bulkily
to a favorite company of volunteers, leav-
ing that body to complete the last chap
ter to its own taste. The names of the
characters, it seems, were also left blank, |
to be filled in by the young officers accord |
ing to their individual taste There were |
four girls who wrote. and four girls in the |
story. They told also how this last un- |
finished chapter. half written at mess the |
day before had stopped bullet from |
reaching the Captains breast on the field |
at Gettysburg. And the Captains wife |
blushed as she added: II have it now in |
my desk at home. And my name is the |
first word of the chapter
Mrs. Farley must have been an extreme |
ly pretty girl in the last war, for she still |
retains the soft coloring and pale gold |
hair which make her brown eyes seem |
all the darker She had been scraping lint !
at the town hail. she said, and when a !
large box was ready to send she con- |
ceived the daring idea Of inclosing some
thing from herself TO the recipient. She |
had nothing to send but her own photo |
graph, and, accordingly, she slipped the !
same into an envelope, wrote an assumed /
name but her correct address under /
meath, and begged the one who received |
it to reply in kind. 1t was not many
weeks before she found among her mail
the photograph of a handsome young Of
fcer who, with earnest compliments to
the lady of the photograph begged for
correspondence, saying that he was woun-
ded and not expected to live, the letter
having been written by his friend. OF
course she replied (''Of course" mind you;
this was Peters mother who was speak
ingD and after that she heard from him
every week. Then for some time there
was no news and she believed he must
be dead. She wrote to him again, but re-
ceived no reply, and, she confessed, she
began to feel badly-how badly the color
of Peters mothers cheeks now attested.
At last one Afternoon she saw some one
in uniform coming down the road. his
arm in a sling. his face pale. Without
half understanding why, she went out,
down the garden path. TO the gate to meet
him. Here she paused. Well is that
all?' some one asked eagerly. Yes, that
is about ALL she answered. "Of course,
it was Major Farley" I ventured to sug-
gest disappointed that the result was so
conventional
well, no." she said with twinkle in
her eye as she looked at me. NO. 1t
wasn't Major Farley" 1 pricked up my
ears, seeming a sensation. You see, this
man had not sent his own picture. and he
was homely. He had red hsir-and his
name was Bicycle. 1 went back into the
mousse"
But it was Major Parley's picture you
had?' l persisted.
Yes; Major Farley had written the let
tiers for him, and Bicycle had sent the Ma
jor's picture for fun. l learned all this
There was one maiden lady in the circle
by the way. we were all hemming cooks
aprons for the regiment service She had
been listening to the last story with deep
interest. flush Of excitement on her usu-
ally pale and sallow cheeks. She was the
last person one would suspect Of having
a romance. and Of coquetry We believed
her absolutely Incapable. But she spoke
when Mrs Farley had finished.
Il did almost exactly the same thing
with my photograph" she said gently.
and I was a pretty girl then
And what happened 70 yoursE' laughed
one Of the other ladies' lightly. Did YOU
get one in return. and did II turn out 20
be a fraud. ike Mr.. Biggle'sF'
No" said the spinstsT, 1T was his own.
He came and I saw him once. But after
that We heard Of Bail Run; ard h never
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