The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1905-03-31

! ~, Il was not asserting that girls wish
10 be men,
Wen then'-his tone implied an
amlable desire to please-"ever hear of
the little buttercup that insisted that if
was daisy in spite of appearances and
me testimony Of its yellow petals?
wen, that's like the foolish little girls
VINO want to be judged by mans stand
! ard"
Two slender hands were claimed
noiselessly, but their owner enumerated
with some heat: How would YOU like
TO oe woman yourself and be put up
Oh and-and snubbed ana forever
taunted with the fact of your inferiori
W: Oh. not in so many words" she
went on hurredly, lest he should inter
| rupt her speech. Not that. of course.
but by being told that you couldn't I'M
derStand. being patronized. having al
loWances made-'Oh, well. she's only a
woman! Just tell me, honor bright,
how would you like it?"
The man chuckled. The vision of
himself in the predicament suggested
was not without its humorous side. The
hgure of speech he had used a few min
utes earlier came back to him with
new force. 1t was like being caught
under a net, though the meshes were
silken.
"Well|' she demanded, with a ring
of triumph in her voice.
Il don't suppose | should like it," he
admitted between puffs but that
doesn't prove anything, you know" he
went on hastily. That's because I'm
man" Then, as an afterthought,
when you're once used to being wo-
man-er-I should think you might get
used to it-grow to like it, Mans good
angel, you know, and all thatw
But what if one wearies of the role
OF good angel-what if one longs to be
just oneself? For my part, l don't
see why man shouldn't be woman's
good angel for awhile-he's so strong
and brave and, above all, SUPERIOR
Her voice was deceptively hooking.
dark at that. he had no way of know
ing that her eyes were dancing mis-
chievously and she was wondering if
he were horribly shocked. What he
did know, however, was that the voice
with its youthful, almost boyish treble
was the sweetest in the world to him,
that he would rather be Knocked and
tlounted by those lips than fattered by
any others. Still he had point to
prove, and he tossed the dwindled CT
gar off into the bushes that thanked the
porch, squared his shoulders aggres-
sively and demanded:
Would you propose to a man if
er-you loved himY'
His listener gasped. This was car
rying the war into the enemys country
with Il vengeance. Propose to a man
she loved. Not for rubies and dia-
monds-not for municipalities and pow
ers. One might propose to a man one
didn't love, but TO the man-never.
NO" came the answer in voice
grown suddenly small and meek.
And she talks about wanting a
mans rights he groaned to some in
visible person. and she hasn't the
nerve to do little thing like that.
My, oh, my!
I'm afraid you'll have to stay in the
good angel business awhile yet-until,
for instance, you can stand up and tell
man You love him. l don't see any
other way"
There was a pause, in which he wait
ed for her to speak, but she said moth
ing. Then he leaned forward, and in
the gloom she could see the shining of
his eyes. He, too, must have seen
some secret thing in her face, fo", with
a laugh-soft, eXultant-he took her
hands in his and pressed them fervent-
ly to his lips.
You are such funny, helpless, ride
ulously superior creatures" We're her
last words upon the subject Il little
later, that l suppose it will have to
be-yes."