The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-09-11

ne melancholy days once more
Have come TO give us pain;
The summers savings all have gone
We mourn for them in vain;
And from vacations strenuous days
Man cometh to recoup;
sad, sweet note through nature reigns
The oysters in the soup.
X x
The opponents of Secretary Taft as
sert that he is simply an echo of Presi-
dent Roosevelt. Up to the hour Of
going to press. however. this depart
ment has not noted any pronounce
ment from the war department de-
nouncing race suicide
THE TRAGEDY.
There was tragedy in town yester-
day-several of them, probably. They
were not the kind of tragedies that get
into the news columns under top
head, with pictures, but they were
veritable tragedies just the same.
Bessie started to school along with
Harold. her playmate. Mother has had
a hard time realizing that Bessie is
Growing Up and that she is no longer
baby. Mother has dreaded the time
when Baby Bess viii be a baby no
as long possible. Not so with Bess.
She has ambition. She wants to be
Big Girl. For weeks she has longed
for school to begins for that meant a
new epoch in her life-the turning
point from babyhood into a Person of
Some Importance. She was up early
yesterday morning and so excited that
she could hardly wait for Mother to
take her to school. For while she has
now arrived at the dignity of being a
Big Girl, she was not quite ready to
venture to school with only the other
children. but Mother had to take her.
1t was a sad day for Mother. After
she had combed the tangles out of
Bessies curls with unusual tenderness,
and put on her second best little frock,
and taken her to school. and told her
to be a good girl as she kissed her
gOodby. Mother went home oppressed
with a sense of loneliness. The house
seemed so silent and still. No childish
voice sang lullabies to the neglected
dolls, sitting still and forlorn in the
corner, nor reprimanded tn EN- for not
saying their prayers better. Mother
greatly missed the almost intermina BILE
questions that sometimes made her
frantic. nor did she have to stop her
work every few minutes to cure the
while she would wonder how it would
seem never to hear the baby voice
again, but she would hastily Danish the
terrible thought as she swallowed hard
and repressed the tears that continual
ly welled up in her eyes. What
great relief it was when the little girl
came bounding into the room after
school. her heart and mind so full she
could scarcely talk! With what pride
and importance Bessie displayed the
knowledge she had CLEANED from her
new primer! And how many things
she had to tell! There was the little
girl who had smiled at her. zen 1 yist
smiled back. an ZEN we wuz good
friends. and the little boy who had
made a face at her. bringing down on
him-dire punishment-a reproving
word from Teacher. There was a sor
row to tell Mother. too. The older
boys had made fun of Harold at noon
for walking to school with a girl"
and when they came home at night he
would not let her hold his hand but
had Jagged along behind so the big
boys would not think he was walking
with her The Perfidy of Man!
And so the prattle of the new life
with its Great Events kept up until the
tired little eyelids closed in sleep Then
Mother sat down and covered her face
with her hands as the tears course1
down her checks. She realized that
her Baby was gone, never to return.
The Tragedy was complete.