The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-06-11


Howells pities her, too, in his delight
fully impersonal way. Anyway he
makes his dear old Boston gentleman,
who has never seen her, and has only
OWNED her from half-confession q
the young hero pity her with the most
delicate and Intelligent sympathy. The
others seem rather to think she will get
over it all right Even her mother who
is such a pathetically natural type of
the mother who mas never been able to
indulge herself In the luxury of spoil
ing her children and whom a bitter ex-
perience with the injustices and in
eQualities of life has taught to resign
even her own daughters happiness
with fortitude and patience realizes
that poor Essie Il have decided that
she was Essie), can do nothing but en-
dure her suffering and humiliation as
bravely as possible. 1t seems so per-
fectly natural to her that the hetress
should have what she wants, even to
the lover whom her own daughter
wants, she has so much money.
Mr.. Howells does not give you to
understand that what the young man
cares for is the heiress' money, and
as I said before, know that If he
does care for that he does 1t uncon-
sciously. He would not think of
marrying a girl for her money, but all
the same il is her money that ne is
in love with. Else why shouldn't he
have loved poor Essie? Essie is just
as pretty, and although she doesn't
wear fine feathers, she gets herself up
in the smart limitations Of the pre-
vailing modes which poor girls man.
age so cleverly. Her manners are
quite as good as those of the heiress,
who is undeniably crude and western
and so somewhat inclined to the 'nou-
veau richie type, although everyone in
the book, including the dear old Bos-
tonian, is in love with her beauty and
her good nature and her general air
of magnifcence. But Essie is quite
as Iowa BILE, or would be If she lived
aft h. TaT IN F. af ire NJ in n
Harlem fat Even as it is, the hero
finds the temptation to make love to
her Irresistible If Essie were the
heiress and the heiresS were ESSie and
their persons unchange the hero
would have found himself comparing
to the detriment of the latter her big
voluptuous figure, her rich, brilliant
cOlOring. her responsiveness and indie
pendence with ESTES clingfng help
less feminfnity and dainty Dresden
style of beauty. Don't tell me that
the hero didn't love her for her
money! He may not have known il,
but he would never have thought of
her without it-and he didn't think
any too much Of her with it. 1t was
her setting, her clothes, her position
not her position with respect to New
York society. because she had none
but her position with respect to him
self and the Iowa standard-the fnde-
pendence which her money gave her,
and the fact that it might have made
her unapproachable if she or her
family had chosen to look at it that
way; these were the things he was
in love with I know that he and
suspect that Mr.. Howells himself
thought it rather splendid of the
heiress to ignore the fact of her
money and his lack of it and love him
in spite of his poverty, but 1 was not
especially impressed by it. She had
plenty of money-she could afford to
scorn mercenary motive; and YOU
must remember that she had been in
New York all winter and he was the
only good looking and attractive
young man she had met. If there
had been a foreign nobIeman or so on
her trail, smart New York clubmali
or two Following her about, young
western congressman with a political
future, or even, since she had no
brains of her own she rather fancfed
talent in others, mere successful
himself on the altar Of her money, I
would have been more inclined to
marvel at the romance of the affair
But as 1t was, could see nothing
in 1t but the usual rather sordfd and
unlovely mating which is the result OF
propinquity rather than affinity. Of
accident rather than eternal design.
And I insist upon being sorry Tor
Essie-was her name Essie 80
However the housewife may pride
herself upon the dullness and eenu-
ineness Of her rugs and the brilliant
woodwork, with summer there comes
a longing for different foorings. The
rugs look heavy, and are banfshed to
the cedar chest in the attic The
CLEAN of the polished wood tires the
eye, and she sallies forth in search of
foorings which will suggest greenerv
and woodland retreats.
Her thoughts turn naturally to mat
ting, ana in this field of summer floor
ings she finds herself bewildered by
the array of textures and coloring
For covering entire floors, the Amerf-
can mating, made from crex or grass
fber. and the japanese mating, made
from rice straw, are leaders in Dopu-
larity, while in rugs OF vegeta BILE fiber
Algerian weaves take precedence
Crex, or grass mating. is woven
from rush fiber with warp of strong
cotton The crex wool is always one
tint-a soft, greenish white-but the
warp shows green, red and blue to
suit various tastes. The combination
of the dull blue with the greenish tint
of the crex is particularly odd. vet
restful in warmly tinted room.
The crex mating comes in three
widths, from the ordinary thirty-six
inch strip to nine feet, just the width
for small summer cottage room. It
is also woven in small rugs. with the
warp knOtted into a fringe on eth er
end, and these sell from A cents 1p
according to size. Tt is made in varI-
Gus qualities for various purposes. and
in the finer grades is almost as soft
as the imported mattings, but less
pliable.
The Japanese mattings are as soft
as silk. and crumple in the hands like
crepe. Fascinating designs show IN
defined squares. each having as its
center a floral piece in exquisite color
ings-roses, orchids, chrysanthemums
and cherry blossoms, in natural tints
and doub1a or treble their natural size