Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1903-11-21
A THANKSGIVING AFFAIR.
BY Lou ELLEN TETERs.

BY LOU ELLEN TETERS
Another cup of tea. Jennie?' askec
the hostess, from the daintily appointed
table in the corner where IA vase of nod
ding La France roses made pretty YER
nal background for her brown head. Out
through the window one could see the
dull peTspectives Of the park, where
gaunt avenues OF trees stretched III
bleak. leafless outline. Jenne Forshay
turned quickly to the radiant room,
aroused hy the musical tinkle of 4 silver
spoon against Seyres cup.
Drown your sorrows, cried her host
esq. Come. the idols you nave loved ~
long have done your credit in mems eyes
much wrong-so drown your sorrows il
a shallow cup, and sell your reputation
for a popular song with apologies TO
Omar What's the matter? Was your
soup ruined last night, or did your dress
maker forget to put two darts in the
waist of your new silk dress
'Jennes conscience is prickling her,
put in Mary Goodson from an easy chair.
above the back of which her hat showed
like a demure flower garden with its
mass of pale blue roses. "She has no
doubt just refused another man and
stepped heavily on his heart"
"l--?" Miss Forshay retorted. "Aly
by even a man caller nowadays. Delight
full animals. | have always preferred
them to cats; cats are real luxuries-
they eat so much cream"
"And-men?" Nora Tracy, her hostess
asked quizzically.
We'll" said Jenne. ''the genus homo
is more tractable, and there's such an
endless list Of them. Cats are not so
extensive. OF course, they do make you
fapl pOn1 thpv doll .yht Ftyllty 10 yn1
just give them bit of meat-but | like
men better-for pets"
poor JENNIE" sighed Mary Goodson.
Another lump of sugar, DEAR Nora
inquired.
''No, I'm in horrid mood, beyond any
sweetenng. I've been staring markedly
at my past all day long, trying TO put
some patches on some old grefs so | can
manage TO stagger through another yenr
of it, and placing brand new monuments
over some old graves-where the head
stones tumhled down. | always forgot
to water these graves in my heart.
remembered this morning one that | had
intended keeping green, with bunch of
immortelles on it. l haven't even the
privileges of a widow to mourn for them :
| must go on wearing blue and red, and
keeping smile on my lips. But my
mrth is no deeper than the lips. am
really. truly lonely-beyond the aid of
cats even"
"Or men" one of the girls suggested.
No; that's just it. Girls, do you
know. I'm getting awfully tired Of having
such poor company as myself When |
look in the glass and see my own face it
nearly drives me mad. I'm so tired of
it. I'm tired of being alone. We are all
over 30, SO | can talk plainly. You
know how dreary life Mt my boarding
house is, where, like convicts without the
stripes, solemn procession of us face
each >other three times day in lu-
gubrious awe and politely try to ignore
the many masquerades OF the Sunday
turkey. Then afterward like helpless
piece OF cork in a tub, we drift into the
parlor, where there is an album contain
ing picture of the landlady's husband.
who was a policeman--and an easel with
the Thing enlarged on it. / always feel
as II | were going to be arrested. | do
respect the law, but my flesh is tortured
ny n remembrance of MI of my sins of
commission ut the sight of such remind
ers."
Il hope YOU haven't stolen ANYTHING.
Jcnne, they laughed at her.
And there's n lady there whose hus-
hand 'travelS'-she insists on telling ME
where she buys her undertaking in n
breathless whisper during dessert Tn,
consciously | have grown accustomed 10
and stockings with pumpkin pie. You
see the state of my nerves Then there's
z shop girl there, from the mouse trap
department of a large store, whose
grandfather came over in the Beethoven
ard who thinks George Eliot was the
''grandest man that ever lived. /
maven the heart to undeceive her; illu-
Slons these days are so rare, and | can't
make up my mind To bring an iconoclast
y UtAN+ "a ft,F,
INTO sonp- and discussion of the wealth
en- and probability Of hoop skirts this
winter; potatoeS-and how do | like
waists buttoned i'll the back, and do
pronounce the i in neither; salad-inter-
spersed with aphorisms on making mot-
choir cases, and do | think mustache
cups are not nice gifts for young men?
or would pale blue suspenders. emhroid-
cred IN torget-me-nots, be more proper;
dcssert-well, | am in Il hopeless tanglc
Of knotty questions by that time, and in
Il collapsed state listen to rhapsodies an
NaIenciennes lace by bolt, beading. and
bow many you can buy for IS. And
THANKSGIVING next week. Ugh" she
endrd with tragic wave of her hand
@S II she were protesting against some
jiSplraSiEg picture.
We'll, how can you cure it," asked
Mary Goodsun as she slipped her ten.
-FOUR i"t lSh any worse than mine.
rye mornings a week behold me in "A
shabby hlue famcl waist hearing the
gohlusation Of French verbs. | even
nate the sound al de voS alme--je vos
adore. que VoulczvouS de plus Ii man
even should say it to me now | GER
family believe | Should redress the af-
tt7t ~ q police court"
And ], said Nora "paint such i'm.
possible dauhs for uneducated people
VINO don't know any better than to bay
lacm and thus encourage my vice. /
am The only one that knows what big
humbug | am. And what is Thanksgiv-
ing to me. Simply an arrangement. n
happy compromise Of the governor and
the calendar and hooking memory of
0ther days of thanks when | used to be
thankful"
ITS your own fault" Jenne inter
rupted. You should have married, then
gu of your pictures would have been
living ones. Think of the paint you
would have saved"
OF course | should have married. -
cried Nora, with one of her rare smiles.
why didn't you%"
\ flush ovcrspread the young woman's
cheeks. The man | loved did not ask
me, she said Il could not be SO untrue
10 myself as to marry instead the man
ha