The Havre herald., 1908-09-16
A PARTY WIRE
MUDDLE.

> l
! phone need to exercise caution.
ii The party wire in a certain location
took in four families, the Alstons, the
! Hammonds, the Winstons and the
Chapins. 1t SO happened that all were
Rcquaintances and the first three
4 friends. The Alstons and the VIM
} stons were especially intimate. In
i deed, Mabel Alston was engaged to
\ Herbert Winston. The Chapins and
/ the Hammonds were cousins. There
] was also growing intimacy between
Mrs. Chaplin and Mrs. Hammond.
\ One day Mrs. Alston wished to speak
i with Mrs. Winston. "Helo, central!"
\ she said. Give me 1920 L!'
I "Your letter, please?'
\ "My letter is L.
] There was a good deal of buzzing
J and bur-r-r-ing, accompanied by airy
voices, then suddenly well defined
woman's: II am Mrs. Winston. Who
J ore your
"Oh Is that you, Clara Chaplin!
I'm Dora Hammond. I've been trying
to get you for some time. These party
wires are perfect nuisance. Yester-
! day 1 had to wait half an hour while
! somebody was giving instructions t~
\ her dressmaker."
Mrs. Alston's sense Of honor led heI
to drop the receiver; but, recognizing
] herself in this somebody her sense
\ Of honor was not strong enough to
I bear the strain. She listened.
\ EYES," replied the other, we're go
! ing to have our telephone taken out
/ It's singular how little regard some
I people have for other peoples rights" :"
/ "What I called you up for was to
inquire if there is any truth in the
\ report of the breaking Of the engage
! bert Winston"
J IT haven't heard such report"
\ "Haven't you? Everybody is talk
ing about it,
\ II always considered Herbert too
good for her. She's nice enough little
\ body, but no style about her. Herbert
Is one Of the best dancers l ever saw"
! "Mabcl is very plain.''
"Herbert is handsome as picture,
\ What do they say is the cause of the
break?"
\ "Herberts attentions to his cousin, a
i Miss Meriweather.''
\ "You don't mean 1t! I've met her.
j She's very pretty and stylish. You
\ see, she wears the right kind of cor
:. set No woman can have a figure in
, the present fashion without a modern
corset That's the trouble with Mabel
\ Alston; she wears some kind Of a
: waist"
"And studies Greek. Ha, ha! Just
! think of itr'
'"That's the folly of sending girls to
college. 1t takes away all desire for
social advancement"
"By the bye, have you decided how to
have your new pink silk made up?"
"Only as to the neck, which is to be
cut square"
y Mrs. Aston listened for forty min
utes while the dialogue proceeded, but
: since 1t was a wardrobe discussion she
became tired and dropped the receiver.
i She repeated the dialogue she had
Z heard pertaining to the broken engage
4 ment to her daughter, who assured her
that there was no foundation for It, at
q the same time gently chiding her for
eavesdropping
4 The next day Mrs. Alston, with a
light in her eye and a cold look about
her mouth, stepped to the telephone
and called up Mrs. Chaplin.
'Ts that you, Clara? I'm Dora. I
want to tell you that I've made inqui-
! ries about the breaking of the engage
ment of Mabel Aston and Herbert
7 Winston. 1t isn't broken at ALL"
"You don't mean it! How did you
] find out?'
II went straight to Mabel's mother"
did you tell her who told you2"
'Yes. l had to. She said If I didn't
Z she'd never forgive me. It's very un-
fortunate. She told me that the next
time you met her you needn't trouble
yourself to speak to her, for she had
] no further use for your acquaintance
Dear me! Upon my
! Mrs Chaplin heard no more, for there.
was click, and she was cut off. Then
Mrs. Alston called up Mrs. Hammond:
"Is that you, Dora? I've called you
\ up to say that I was mistaken about
that breaking Of the engagement be-
tween Mabel Aston and Herbert VIM
Y ston.' 49,.
\ "Yes?" 80.
II may as we'll confess that I made
D it all up out of whole cloth"
"For lands saket'
"Afterward I became conscience
stricken and went to Mrs. Aston and
told her what 7 had done; also Of our
v conversation about it. She promised to
D forgive me IL ia tell her what you
said, so told her"
d ooh, my goodness gracious"'
"She said If her daughter didn't have
d made up modern figure she had a
natural symmetrical one and some
q brains in her head besides, which was
more than you or l have. She told
me to tell you that you needn't return
% hnr last call G0odhV -