The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-11-26
THANKSGIVING DINNER
tBY LOU ELLEN TETERs,


nal background for her brown head Out
through the window one could see the dug
perspectives of the park. where gaun,
avenues of trees stretched in bleak leaf
less outline, Jenne Forshay turned quick
ly TO the radiant room, aroused BY tbs
musical tinkle of a silver spoon against
d SevreS cup.
Drown your sorrows" cried her hos
tess Come, the idols you have loved 50
long have done you credit in meas eyes
much wrong-so drown your sorrows in
a shallow cup, and sell your reputation
Tor 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?"
Jenne's conscience is prickling her put
- Mary Goodson from an easy chair,
above tho back of which her hat showed
ike demure flower garden with its mass
OF pale blue roses. She has nc doubt
Just refused another man and steppe i
heavily OF his heart"
-" Miss Forshay retorted MY
dear. YOU flatter me I am not honored
by even man caller nowadays. Delight
them TO cats; cats are real luxuries-
they eat SO much cream"
'And-men?' Nora Tracy, her hostess.
asked quizzicaIly.
Well" said Jenne, the genus homo
Is more tractable and there's such an
endless list of them. Cats are not 50
extensive. OF course. they do make you
feel good. they purr so Delightfully."- if you
Just give them a bit of rneat-but I like
men better-for pets"
Poor Jenne, sighed Mary Goodson
Another lump of sugar, dear?" Nora
inquired
No, I'm in horrid mood, beyond any
sweetening. I've been staring markedly
at my past all day long. trying to put
some patches on some old griefs so / can
manage to stagger through another year
OF it, and placing brand new monuments
over some old grayes-where the head
stones tumbled down. 1 always forget
10 water these graves in my heart l
remembered this morning one that l had
Intended keeping green. with a bunch of
immortelIes on it. l haven't even the
privileges of a widow TO mourn for them:
1 must go on wearing blue and red and
NANNf'AA'e q SiiiiAt b4l my Ups. But NY
rnirth. 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 1 look
in the glass and see my own face it near
~ 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 at my boarding house
Is. where. like convicts without the
stripes. a solemn procession of US face
each other three times day in lugub-
rious awe and politely try 20 ignore the
many masquerades Of the Sunday tur-
key. Then afterward, ike helpless
piece of cork in 4 tub. we drift into The
parior, where there is an album contain
ing a picture of the landlady's husband. /
who was a policeman-and an easel with |
The Thing enlarged on it. l always feel
as if / were going to be arrested. I do I
respect the law, but my flesh is tortured /
by n remembrance of all of my sins of /
commission at the sight of such remind (
ers"
II hope you haven't stolen anything, /
Jenfe, trey iduEDc1 at nel-
And there's lady there whose hus- !
band 'travels'-she insists on telling me /
where she buys her Undertaking. in /
breathless whisper during desert. Tn /
l have grown accustomed to /
q ssociating rice pudding with lingerie. /
and stockings with pumpkin pie. You /
see the state of my nerves. Then there's (
q shop girl there. from the mouse-trap /
of a large store, whose grand /
father came over in the Bellflower, and /
who thinks George Eliot was the grand /
est man that ever lived ! haven't the /
heart to undeceive her; Illusions these (
days are so rare. and I can't make up my /
mind TO bring an iconoclast. Really my
existence is simply resolved into soup
and a discussion of the weather and .
probability Of hop skirts this winter: po
how DO l like waists but
toned in the back. and DO ! pronounce the
Il in neither: salad-interspersed with
aphorisms on making mouchoir cases and (
do I think rnolsstache cups are not nice /
gifts for young men? or would pale blue
embroidered in forget-me-
nots. be more proper; dessert-well. 1 am
In q hopeless tansle OF knotty questions
by thar time. and in Il collapsed state
listen to rhapeodias on Valcnciennes lace
by bolt, beading. and how many you can
buy for s.. And Thanksgiving this week.
Ugh" she added with a tragic wave OF
her hand as if she were protesting against
some displeasns picture.
We'll. how can you cure it?" asked
Mary Cioodson. as she slipped her tea.
''Your loss isn't any worse than mine.
Five mornings a week behold me in a
shabby blue flannel waist hearing the
con jugation Of French verbs. even hate
the sound Of Je vose aime-je Vos adore
que voulezous de plus If man even
should say it 70 me now / certainly be
lieve | should find redress the afuront a
police court.
Ind l." said Nora, paint such i'm
possible daubs for unoducated people w.o
don't know any better than 10 buy them
and thus encourage my vice. I am only
the one that knows what big humhuE
| am And what is Thanksgiving t. me
Simply an ARRANGEMENT. a happy com
promise Of the governor and the calendar
and hooking memory of other days
Of thanks when 7 used - b thankful.
Its your own fault Jenne interrupt
I'd You should have married. then al
Of your pictures would have been living
ones. Think Of the pain; you would have
saved"
''Of course, I should have married
cried Nora. with one OF her rare smiles.
why didn't you?
A flush overspread the young woman's
cheeks. The man loved oil not ask
me- she said. Il could not be So untrue