Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-03-02
The Man and
the Hour
BY KEITH GORDON

the moment. ANA Sle might pave gone
on so for an indefinite time had it not
been for the occurrence of the Sd Of
June
New Years day is significant only
because then, by common consent,
time moves up a number. This partic-
ular June made an indelible impress
sion on Elinor's mind because on that
day she began to be thirty -two-began
at the very beginning, of course, but
still she began.
Il shall say I'm thirty-one all this
year anyway" she announced defiant
ly to that other self that receives our
dearest condolences. ITS such bad
form to say you're thirty enc years and
two months old, or whatever it may
happen to be- And if have to write it
I'll make it thirty-one in round num-
bers-not even thirty-one plus" All of
which, as the reader can see, was very
INSCRIPTIONS.
However, az she found, by far the
worst thing about beginning TO be thir-
ly-two was the fact that you couldn't
forget it. The harder you tried the bet
ter you remembered it.
"Well, what If / am?"
This was the remark that our heroine
slung into space when, after a week of
torment, she sat down with her chin
resting on her hands to have the thing
cut What il ! ana? So are plenty of
other gir-women, mean. Alice is
thirty, Mary thirty-one, Mabel twenty
eight"
She paused in her enumeration, struck
by the thought that all these friends
were married. Matrimony vas q sub
ject TO which she had given the mini
mum of thought. She supposed she'd
come to it some time, but she was in
no hurry to enter that narrow pasture
so long as there was pleasant browsing
to be had outside.
When she had thouglt Of II at all II
nad seemed TO mean chiefly a tiresome
round of housekeeping that resulted in
three perpendicular lines just over the
nose, a memorandum of worrY that she
secretly determined to avoid as long as
possible. But now that she was be-
ginning to be thirty-two the thing was
different.
Could it be, she gskal nersell, that
chs haa made q mistake after all and
That those three incisive lines were as
much of an honor as an officers barsa
Could it be that there was a point
when enc began to be thirty-two-for
instance, when becomingness demand
ed that one should lay aside Miss"
just as it required that one should
stop wearing pink
She faced her plight with stiff up
per Zip, realizing that she had no one
but herself to blame. There had been
q number of men-the mischievous dim
pie at the corner of her mouth danced
into sight for a second at the thought
of how mary-who nad done their best
10 stop her In what she now recognized
for the first time her mad career. She
had declined their offers kindly, but
with certain royal carelessness that
rocked not of possible dark hours to
come. When did any woman born to
the belief In tho divine right Of queens
ever roresee dethronement?
She had inadvertently ''lived over"
as she had once heard it quantity
phrased. There was no doubt about IL,
she was an ola maid! she repeated il
aloud In al its brutal truth, scornlng
such euphemisms as "spinster" and
"bachelor woman"
you're an old maid-just plain old
maidr' she said audibly. But il seund-
ed like . ioka-iiks 9ne Of those things
TOO bad 10 he true. She would proba-
bly, wake up after biz TO find that she
had been married since her eighteenth
year and had a son ready to enter col
lege and a daughter about to make h9r
debut.
No such happg awakening came.
however, and with desperate phlloso-
phy she decided that since she was
an old maid she would enter into the
role for all it was worth. At least
she would avoid the error OF bong
kittenish.
I.itile by little her ptanest gowns
were brought inte requisitlon. Certain
little graces and frivolities of the toilet
were one by one abandoned. She timld-
ly asked Alice, her closest friend, ",
teach the children to call her .;sGntie,"
a thing which she had hitherto forbid
den under the penalty Of sudden
death TO the cherub that should first
Se guilty OF 1t.
what Is the matter with youT gasp
ed Alice, with n stare Of amazement.
"And what have you been doing with
your hair, and why are you wearing
that ugly old dress. with all the hand
some things that you have"
"I'm Just wearing the things suit
able to my age before the dear friends
have chance to point them out to
me-" was the answer, and that night
her friend confded to her husband,
with thoughtful regret. that Ellnor was
becoming u regular old maid.
Another OF her friends and comrades,
Max Anderson, also noticed the subtle
change Theirs had been sort of
brother and sister friendship of long
standing. For years he had scolded
and criticised and bullied her The
one thing that he hadat done was to
make love, ana Ellnor had long since
given up trying to make him.
Haven't you ever been In love,
Max" she had asked him once, with
genuine curiosity in the gray eyes that
had been more than one mans un-
doing, 4 duh rrlsh came up into his
face, and he looked at her strangely.
YES" he answered shortly, 81 have"
Beautiful night, isn't it," he went
on after a moment, and thoro was n
touch of mockeey IN his voice that
made the questloner vince After that
she asked him no more.
whats upT" he demanded, survey
Ing her cynically as she came dow:
to receive him one evening, with re-
nunclation speaking from every line
of her plain gown and her smooth,
parted hair. rs IL some sort of lay
sackcloth and ashes? What particular
sin are you mourningV
"The great sin Of omlssion! she an
swered demurely as they sat down op-
credulous. lie had not known her If
teen years for nothing.
Commission, you mean," he said
dryly, with an air Of remembering
things.
"No; omission! I'd tell you about It,
only you're never any comfort to a
person. You're just like stone, Max
/ don't know how I've endured you SO
long