The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-09
TIE EVENING STOR r
ONE WONAN,S STORY.

ONE WOBEAN'S STORY.
People liked to look at Selma. Inc
fair blonde beauty which mad Desll
hers as a girl in Sweden and which mao
brought her admirers in plenty when
she came to America had not dlsap-
peared in the six years she had peeh
married to John. If its placidity was
tinged with a hint of patience ana
resignation, they but proved an added
attraction.
The tenants of the big fat building
of which John was janitor had grown
fond of his wife. after a fashion. There
was something in the unconscious way
her hand, showing signs of hard work,
fingered on the tow head of young Jonn
when she sent him off to school OF a
morning that held the beautiful es-
sence of motherliness. And any one
searching for Mrs. john who was an
adept at any sort of toll, usually fouhu
her busy in the laundry over some e1-
ira washing, her face pink and damp,
little curls Of her corn colored mar
waving at her temples, baby hanging
to her skirts, happily certain of no I'M
patient words repulsing its cl1ng1ng ana
burdensome little hands. And the
wOmen's eyes, turned on whoever m
terrupted, were as deep wells of hope
not happiness.
The only salvation of a woman mar
ried to John was to hope. For the
careless young fellow whom she had
preferred among the many she might
have chosen had proved a laggard IN
energy and a shirker of responsibility
Gayety and careIessness in a lover are
charming, but in a husband with a
family on his hands they are torture.
Particularly as owners of buildings
have such a businesslike way of con-
sidering only visible things and not
taking into account the fact that a
man may sometimes neglect his work
and yet at heart mean well.
For John was falling a victim to
drink. Nobody knew the number of
times his WIFE, with a sob in her
throat and suffering in her eyes, sat
up through the long night so the out
side lights of the building should be ex-
tlnguished promptly at O clock and
the coal shoveled into the big furnace
when the fires died down, while John
lay in stupid slumber, unheeding.
At first he had the grace to be asham-
ed Of himself when he came to, and
awkwardly to tell the tired woman So.
After she came to realize that promises
did not mean reformation she ceased to
flush with renewed confidence and at
last she turned YEARLY away. Once she
had flashed out: IT'S only for the chi
dren's sake Z do iti''
But with it all she hoped. One could
not help loving the memory of what
John once had been.
Yet her constant vigilance and will
ingness to do any of Johns work her
self which he overlooked were not Suf-
ficient to keep things always running
smoothly. 1t was only the regard the
tenants had for his wife that prevented
complaints to the owner when porches
went unscrubbed, bells got out of order
and stayed that way, or steam heat was
not forthcoming. Her eagerness to find
and attend to his neglected work was
pathetic in its self-sacrifice.
Then new tenants moved into fiat 6.
They were the first new people to enter
the building for over a year. The man
was tail, with thin liDs and an air of
always being right. His wife was color
| less. At noon he informed the ianitor
that his goods would be there at 8
o'clock. And they were.
But instead of being easily taken into
fiat by the freight elevator they re-
NAMED scattered on the ground while
I the van men said things and the new
| tenant looked as though he would like
to. For the freight elevator was locked
! and John had the key and John was
away somewhere, drinking. With her
head on her arms Johns wife sat and
shuddered and the baby for once tugged
at her skirts unsmiled at. This was the
worst yet and she could do nothing to
help matters. It meant trouble.
Finally when she could bear it no
trembling, to fiat s. to whose Alpine
height the van men were struggling
with impossibly huge furniture. She
scarcely knew what she intended to
say. but other people had been so kind
and possibly she could convince these
new ones that John meant well and
would do better. The thought of her
children drove pride to the winds and
she humbled herself; she begged
gaspingly that they would not COM
plain to the owner of the building.
The thin-lipped man, his nerves
rasped by the labor and oaths of the
van men and the needlessness of it all,
turned on her.
II, .,-~ VI n 10
husband the ianitor? I shall certainly
report him and have him discharged
He-he is a drunken loaferi"
ssHe ought to be discharged de-
clared the thin-lipped mans wife, as
her pet mahogany chair was banged
against the stair. DO go away
you're in the mems way; can't you
see?"
SO Selma went. blindly.
The thin-lipped man was true to his
word and John was discharged with
no recommendation.
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