The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-25
TIE EVENING STOR z


What the NeighBors Thought.
Mrs. Asbury stepped nimbly over
the low railing that divides the back
porch of her fiat from Mrs Futnam
and raped at the kitchen door.
Il came this way because L feaiIy
oughtn't to have come at all she eA-
planned, logically MY breakfast
work is waiting. but I had to run over
just to ask what you know ABOUT tlls
Marches-those people that nave
moved into the corner house
Il know she wears handsome gowns,
for one thing I'm sure I hope her
husbands made of money. Why re-
turned Mrs. Putnam, promptly.
"Oh, nothing; only my Dot mas JUST
come rushing in, all excitement over
Archie brakes wanting her to go doWh
to the museum with him this aLtel-
noon. It seems that he ana fduI
| Clover got up the plan and TINS queer
Mrs. March has promised to let her 1T
tie girl go with Paul. OF course, totu
! Dot she couldn't go a STEP
But you don't mean that they re
1 going alone? Those babies!
@That's the idea. Isn't it wild? 1ndt
long car ride, you know, ana W.
! transfers, to say nothing or the walk
at the other end. Archie and Raul are
nothing but babies, of course ana now
! any woman in her senses could think
/ of letting her little girl start off on
such a trip in a BIZ city, with tnose
/ tiny boys-it's queer, that's all! Why,
/ Dot tells me LOvey March IS ohls
years oldi''
s'I;m glad you told me. I've been en-
eouraging Evelyn to play with tnat
/ little girl and 1 thought d call on
/ her mother, but OF course if this IS a
sample of the bringing up the child IS
getting, think I'll go slow.
i yes. indeed; I shall, too Wen, /
faust fly back. knew you'd think II
was ridiculous
A. the rnorninp, wore on all the
small girls in the neighborhood, eX-
cepting Lovey March congregated on
| Dot Asbury's front steps. They were
talking over the queer museum plan
and the way their little tongues buzzed
was an imitation of their elders as
true as it was unconscious
'Archie asked me to go with him,
itoo,' said Evelyn Putnam, primly, but
couldn't think of it, of course" And
/ she shut her lips ,recisely as her own
mother had done a little earlier when
Evelyn had been teasing to CO. usL
think of it! A boy of an girl OF
6! An Lovey March is on'y 5! MY
mamma says Mrs. March must be out
| of her head--or awful queer!
That's Just what my mamma said,
too. when Archie asked me-" chimed
in Lottie Page. All the other disap-
/ pointed little maids told the same
story. It was a case OF very sour
grapes and the discussion lasted until
It was time for every one to go home
to luncheon.
Presently ? O'Clock in the afternoon
came and with it a ring at the bell Of
Mrs. Asbury's fiat. When she answered
it she found Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Page
and Mrs. Hooper outside the door.
We've come for a sympathy meet
ling" announced Mrs. Hooper, as they
futtered into the parlor. I'VE all think
Its so dreadfully queer for mother
to let a child of the age Of Lovey
March go down to the museum with
/ two babies like Paul Glover and Ar
/ chic Drake"
TT certainly is" admitted Mrs. As
''There must be something lacking. -
| mourned Mrs. Putnam. Maybe it's
only lack OF judgment. Then, again,
it might be she's so eager to be free
to do things herself that she dOesn t
care what becomes of her child"
"She seemed such "a 1adyt" sighed
Mrs. Page. But OF course one never
4 can telli'
Mammal" exclaimed Dot Asbury,
bursting into the room. "Archie and
Paul are sitting on the horse block.
not dressed up a bit, and they didn t
CO. and ] just saw Mrs. March out in
her yard and she lls; says Lovey 5 slek
abed and Paul Clover's never asked
her to go to the museum at all and
tof course she couldn't have gone, any
howl
Four astonished women stared. Then
Mrs. Asbury said: DOT, go straight
out and bring those naughty boys
here to me this minute
Dot flashed away and reappeared,
followed by two surprised-looxing
youngsters in diminutive knee trous-
ers and miniature sweaters. They
seemed small=rfdiculous1y so-and
chubby, and wonderfully innocent, but
/ Mrs. Asbury surveyed them without
Archie Drake" she began sternly.
what made you tell Dot that Paul was
going to take Lovey March to the mu-
scum this afternoon ~
HE was" insisted Archie, stoutly.
''but he isn't going to, after all, cause
he don't want to go 'thOut me an I've
asked every girl there is an none of
| EMIL CO.
"But, Paul, it was very naughty in
you to say you were going to take
L0vey when it wasn't so.
e Twas sol"
why. you bad boy! Mrs March
says she hasn't heard word about the
lplan and Eovey hasn't eitherl"
The guilty look which the ladies ex-
pected to see spread over Pauls and
Archie's faces did not appear They
looked straight at their accuser with
round, honest eyes.
That's so, Mrs. Ash ry," Paul ex-
planned sweetly, 'cause-don't you
see FL haven't told Lovey was goin'
to take her yet, cause I don't want to
dfs'point her if Archie found he could
not get a girli"-Chicago News.
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