The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-07-22
THE EVENING STORY


Daniel Werner had decreed that
his daughters should be man-haters.
Marriage should represent to them
slavery. To this end. he selected for
each Of his daughters q career which.
in the estimation Of MT. Werner. was
the infailible antidots for romance.
To all OF this his daughter openly
subscribed-and inwardly rebelled.
For Margaret. who had q command
ing figure even at seventeen, and
full, mellow voice. be selected the
profession of the law. Har Margaret
been allowed to choose for herself. she
would have studied sociology and gone
down into the slums to save the souls
For Janet who looked like his
Uncle Ezra. a noted upstate physician.
he chose medicine. Janet crawled UNI
der the bed on Fourth OF July, ana
turned white and sick at sight OF
blood, but IL there was anything in
physical resemblance she would out
grow these foolish ideas and surely
she was her great Uncle Ezra IN petit
coats.
For Lucille, because Of her dreamy
nature and studious air, he chose
music. She looked the musician
and therefore she could become one.
He did not know that her dreams
were all woven around baby faces and
the one music for which she would
ever care was lullaby.
Having thus arrogated the pr1vi-
leges and responsibilities Of fate. he
proceeded to earn the money neces-
sary to provide the careers-and
Cupid sat back and laughed. This is
the sort Of task that appeals to Dan
Cupid.
Margaret studied law by day, and
by night read Janet's medical books.
Just before she graduated. she had "a
CALL" Oddly enough the same call
reached one James Borden-and to-
gether they went as missionaries to
the poor whites OF the south. where
Margaret's medical knowledge. gained
vicariously through Janet, proved ten
times as valuable as her training in
the law, which had come high.
Janet graduated and Obediently
| Joined her great uncle Ezra, for her
| father decreed that she should step
into the family practice. In q short
| time, great-uncle Ezra wrote that
Janets pies were the only ones that
| could touch the standard set by his
dear mother-and he was glad to say
that young Bernard Kelly, the newly
elected member Of congress from the
'steenth district, recognized a good
pie and pretty girl when he saw
them.
For all this treason Of her sisters
did Lucille pay dearly. She was sent
to the severest professors. who
snapped her knuckles and pinched
| noI urea arms Wnen ner interest IN
music tagged.
These professors all agreed that she
had the music temperament, the soul.
but she lacked technique. They did
not appreciate that 1t was simply the
womanly soul Of the girl seeking ex-
preston in chords and runs.
Patiently she made the rounds OF
studios, concerts, lectures and re-
citals. Obediently she read the
masses of musical literature which
her father provided for her delecta-
ton and advancement.
But when Harry Wall happened to
J meet her on the avenue-and this
happened more and more frequently
as the season advanced-she smiled
and forgot the miseries Of acquiring a
. career.
Harry Wall was nothing II no,
sincere-and in time he refused to
confine himself to chance meetings or
the avenue. He demanded the RICH,
to call upon Lucille under her fathers
roof, and was repulsed by the supreme
maker OF careers.
Lucille went to Europe to finish hel
: studies. She sailed on the first boa
scheduled for Hamburg after young
Wallis interview with her father. AND
she carried to Germany, not thu
} memory of a fathers blessing. but the
recollection of paternal frown.
Her mother went with her and set
tied her with a dependable frau" II
an Immediately kept home under
} the shadow Of the professors roof
The professor ranked first in tn,
musical world as a maker Of plane
} virtuosos.
!: And the world which had known Lu
ellie Werner. the world which had hels
} struggling American musicians, fretfu
} American teachers and callous Ameri
can critics thought of her only as ,
pawn on the artistic chessboard
which the great professor in the OBJ
scure German town was moving at hi
! will.
But all the while another great ches
t player, Dan Cupid, was putting hi
I skill against that Of the maker Of vir
e tuosos. For Lucille Werner was no
4 the sort of girl who forgets. In her on
! letter to Harry Wall from German,
. she wrote:
8 you must never write to me again
e So long as my father Is paying for m
8 education and supporting me, 1 shal
obey him. I will become a great must
e clan. By my artistic success will re
( pay him for all the money he has spen
r on me and the disappointment he ha
t suffered through my sisters. But whe
: am my own mistress, when I am
d great player, I shall marry you. Yo
n will be my manager. I will have tn
y career to please my father and a hus
i: band to please myself. II you do no
g hear from me. do not fret. I will b
y simply waiting"
d Over in the obscure little Germa
town Lucille was regarded as a prodi
gy. Never had the great professo
d seen such a capacity for work. He sen
o glowing reports to the maker of career
n who showed the letters to his wife an
e remarked with swelling chest that the
= had one daughter who took after he
It father.
e IT knew a career and such opportuni
J. ties as I am giving her would knoc
It young Wallis asinine romance into
e cooked hat"
n And what of young Wall?
10 He was making some talk in his ow
e world too The great electrical trus