El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-29
A DIFFIDENT CREATURE

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II met her at the boarding house where
) Jack and lived before we started house
keeping" she said. ''She was such a
quiet, demure creature, and after a cou-
pie of months l really grew to like her
wonderfully She was a travelling DEM
onstrator for Chicago firm, and she
was at the various department stores
here in Washington for more than four
months. She had lovely way about
her and was so companionable. although
quiet, and she never spoke very much Of
herself. She was about %, should say.
She seemed to be extremely diffident with
respect to men, She would lower her
; eyes and look rather i'll at ease in their
presence. When she saw that they were
admiring her hair and complexion-her
/ hair and complexion were wonderful
she would actually shift uneasily In her
seat and look terribly embarrassed
! that | often felt sorry for her.
well, you can picture my surprise
when she came up to my room one even
, ing when Jack was out and bashfully
! held out her left hand for my inspection.
1, of course, didn't understand what she
meant by the movement until I saw the
solitaire on her engagement finger flash
ing under the gaslight. OF course. 1 hug
ged her then and told her how glad
was. pinching her at the same time for
having been SO extraordinarily secretive
about it
=" But I didn't really know until today,
when this came. and a letter. she said,
holding out her hand with the ring. L
had refused him quite often, you know
And she blushed all colors.
"Of course, I asked her who him was,
and she told me- all about him. He was
a rising young board Of trade man in Chi
cago. and she had known him ever since
she was Il little girl, she said. She de-
xx-if hos <aI
In general as IL she didn't feel delighted
over her engagement to a rising young
Chicago board of trade man.
Il could shake you,' ! said to her.
Why, don't yon enthuse and talk about
your dresses and the rest of your trous-
seau. all girls do when anything 50
momentous as an engagement happens to
them?'
% But it is all SO strange she replied,
and then ] laughed at her again and be-
gan my usual flow of wisdom with refer
ence to the married state. l tremendously
enjoy telling engaged girls about the pit
falls they've got to steer clear of, and all
that sort OF thing. 1t enables me, you
know. to sort of even up with all of the
gloomy. pessimistic old things who ladled
out tons of advice of the same sort to me
when the announcement of my engage
ment to Jack was given out.
well, 1 told her how ruinous it would
be for her after she was married to let
her husband see her hair in curl papers
and how she should always look neat
around and fight against the temptation
to look slattcrnly after the honeymoon
wore off. Then l told her how fright
fully vain men are and how fiattery Is
the breath of their nostrils; advised her,
Ii she wished to have her husband wor
ship her and give her the very incest
things TO wear purchasablc for money. to
make him think that she thought him
about the most extraordinary male crea-
ture that ever consented to live on top
of the earth-to tell him how strong she
thought he was and how liberal in his
views. and so good looking. too. and so
utterly, completely different from other
mem
The poor things. l told her, can
stand the most phenomenal doses of fat
terry from their wives without ever even
wincing or suspecting that they are be-
ing worked into complacent frame
of mind, and it is part of a sensible wife's
business to make her husband believe
that in her opinion he ought to be a
"leader of men" or a great executive !
chief or 4 towering figure in the
worlds affairs" or some such funny thing
as that. if he only had half the opportu-
mites that the successful men have had
Then, of course. ! warned her against :
the danger of telling him too much that /
didn't exactly concern him: said that it a,
wasn't necessary for some husbands. es- /
pecially those of a jealous disposition, to
know too much concerning their wives |
affairs and endeavored to impress upon |
her the value of silence in these matters; |
told her, for instance, that if her hus- !
band forbade her from taking luncheon
with a woman that he didn't like for
some foolish reason or other. and she just
wanted to take luncheon with that wom-
an. why, to go right ahead and take
luncheon with her. but to say nothing
about it to him; that it wasn't at all nee
essary for him to know.
These wives who run to their hus-
bands and tell them every little blessed
thing I said. are always getting them
selves in trouble. and lots of thanks they
get besides. for their candorp
''Oh, my yesi l just did more than
exude wisdom to that quiet, demure girl
And she just listened to me as if were
n whole symphony orchestra and redden-
ed so girlishly over my remarks and OBJ
viously seemed to think that so many of
the things that ! said We're queeri Oh.
there's doubt in life that she must
have gone right up to her room after
she left me and stuffed the bedding into
her face and just shrieked. and she must
shrek every time she thinks of all that
wisdom ] impaired unto her right down
to the present moment-I know she
must,''
tron fell suddenly silent and thoughtful.
why" two or three of her cronies at
the luncheon asked her at once, should
she have thought it all so funny?'
oh, nothing" replied the young Co !
umbia Heights matron. "only / found
put after she left Washington to 60 to
Chicago to get married that she had