Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-03-11
The Man and
the Hour
By KEITH GORDON
Copyright. 1905. by Frances Wilson

Elinor for the first time In her life
was looking the future squarely I'm the
eye. Hitherto she had been content to
nibble at life. munching away content
edly enough. satisfied with the Joy Of
the moment. And she might have gone
on SO for an indefinite time had Ii not
been for the occurrence of the Sd of
June.
New Years day is significant only
because then. by common consent
time moves up 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
~ to that other self that receives our
dearest condolences. It's such bad
form to say you're thirty-one years and
two months old. or whatever it may
happen to be. And If have to write 1t
I'll make II thirty-one in round num-
bers-not even thirty one plus" All of
which, as the reader can see. was very
INSCRIPTIONS.
However. rs she found. by far the
worst thing about beginning to be thir-
ty-two was the fact that you couldn't
forget it. The harder you tried the bet
ter you remembered it.
"Well. what IL l 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
out. What If am? 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
We're married Matrimony was a sub
Ject to which she had given the mini
mum OF thought She supposed she'd
come to 1t 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 thought of 1t at all II
had seemed TO mean chiefly a tiresome
round of housekeeping that resulted In
three perpendicular lines just over the
nose. 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 asked herself. that
she had made mistake after all and
that those three incisive lines were as
much OF an honor as an officers bars?
Could 1t be that there was a point
when one 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 q stiff up
per lip. 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 many-who had done their best
to stop her in what she now recognized
for the first time her mad career. She
had declined their offers kindly, but
with a certain royal carelessness that
rocked not of possible dark hours to
come. When did any woman born to
the belief in the divine right Of queens
ever foresee dethronement?
She had inadvertently ''lived over"
as she had once heard it quantity
phrased. There was no doubt about II,
she was an old maid! She repeated 1t
aloud In all It's brutal truth, scorning
such euphemisms as "spinster' and
bachelor woman"
you're an old maid-just plain old
maidv' she said audibly. But It sound
ed like a joke-like one Of those things
too bad to be true. She would proba-
bly, wake up after bit to find that she
had been married since her eighteenth
year and had q son ready to enter col
lege and daughter about to make her
debut
No such happy awakening came.
however, and with desperate philoso-
ply she decided that since she was
an old maid she would enter into the
role for all 1t was worth. At least
she would avoid the error OF being
kittenish.
Little by little her plainest gowns
were brought into requisition. Certain
little graces and frivolities of the toilet
were one by one abandoned. She timid-
ly asked Alice, her closest friend, to
teach the children TO call her "auntie."
a thing which she had hitherto forbid
den under the penalty Of a sudden
death to the cherub that should first
be guilty OF 1t.
what is the matter with your" gasp
ed Alice. with 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 a chance to point them out to
me-" was the answer. and that night
her friend confided to her husband.
NTH -O..ro@ %Rot I-ltnor -.