The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-17
THE EVENING STORY

(By w. r. Bryant

clared It a bore. a fad, and some
other things to which he did not give
vocal utterance in MabePs presence.
To Roy it was a matter OF supreme
Indifference whether women voted or
not, but II seemed to Mabel that 1t
was the vital question OF the hour.
She attended all the suffragette
meetings advertised, and even formed
suffrage club among the girls of
Cowdrey house; an establishment for
self-supporting girls in which she had
made her home since the death of her
parents.
The Cowdrey Suffrage club was at
best a fukewarm organization. The
girls had Joined for the fun of the
thing" and Mabel had to work hard
to hold her converts In line.
This prevented her from giving
| much of her time to Roy; and his
tural result. For five years he had
begged Mabel to marry him. but even
before the cry of Votes for women"
became a fashionable slogan. Mabel
had had pronounced ideas as to the
| independence of her sex, and Roy
| waited patiently while Mabel demon
strated her ability to earn her own
| living.
Then she had fallen under the in
| fiuence Of Mrs. Grace Brown-Hazzard.
and had been welcomed by the leader
as an addition 20 the cause. The ap-
proval of this famous woman had the
effect of making Mabel the more en-
thusiastic. and presently she was de-
voting every evening to the Cowdrey
| branch of the society, and Roy was
| left out in the cold.
1t was the rule that all lights were
/ to be out at eleven in Cowdrey house,
! but with the aid OF candles, Mabel
| wrote far into the night on the
speeches that Mrs Brown-Hazzard de-
| liyered. and dragged herself I'M
willingly to her work the following
| morning, sadly feeling the lack of
! sleep.
Mrs. Brown-Hazzard found in her
| new disciple valued assistant, and
her demand for speeches that offered
\ a departure from her own stereotyped
! thoughts was insistent-
The more she praised, the harder
| Mabel worked, until at last the newt
able breakdown occurred. and Mabel
was forced to resign her position and
| go into the country, where her scanty
savings rapidly diminished. The pile
| of manuscripts for her idol, however,
! increased greatly.
Mrs. Scarritt, her new landlady, was
much interested in the girl, and her
protests against the manner in which
| Mabel was oyerworking were loud and
emphatic.
| Better stop that foolishness,"
she argued. 'and put some flesh on
your bones"
"But the cause needs my work"
| cried the tired girl. Mrs. Brown
Hazard writes me that these speeches
| making thousands of converts. OF
| course she f1atters me there. for it's
her magnetic personality that counts.
1 merely save her the worry Of mar
shaling her arguments"
Mrs. Brown Hazzard?" unused Mrs.
Scarritt. ''Grace Brown married Ben
Hazard. You don't happen to know
what your friends husbands name is,
do your
1T is B. Henderson Hazard" re-
sponded Mabel.
Named after his ma" explained
| Mrs. Scarritt. His ma was Luella
Henderson. We always did say that
change of name and not of letter
meant change for worse and not for
better 1t was Gene Hazard that got
the worst of it. My. but he was hen
pecked! Lived over in the hollow.
Grace Brown lived right down the
road a pieee-that first red house on
your right as you go to the postoff1ce."
She never said anything about hav-
ing been born here" cried Mabel in
surprise. She did say in one of her
letters that she knew that Cadyville
| was a beautiful place"
"Grace Brown amt bra gging about
us. and we amt Dragging about Grace
Brown" declared the old lady. Grace
always was a fraud" she went on.
''She used to get me to write her
rows used to do her sums. She never
| did anything that she could coax some
| one else to do for her. l must say
| that she had nice ways about her.
She could coax even the teacher into
| giving her good marks, when she'd
| been kept in after school the whole
week"
"She is the leader in a great cause"
| said Mabel reve-ently. she has devo-
| ter her gifts to a great BATH and she
Al win fRr -
| before lone, and the name If Mrs.
| Brown-Hazzard will go down through
| the ages the woman who worked
| this great revolution in favor Of wom-
ans rights"
| Mrs Scarritt shifted scornfully, then
| she looked down into the deep blue
eyes glowing with the fires of enthus-
iasm Mabers cheeks were thin and
white. and there was a little culver
of the chin that bespoke nervousness.
Only the eyes betrayed animation. Mrs.
Scarritt laid her hand gently upon the
girls arm.
There's just one real right that a
woman has" she insisted softly.
That's the right to marry a good man
and have him love and protect her. If
she can get that she don't need to
vote OF do any OF those fool things.
She is content with her home and her
babies. It's when she doesn't get ;he
man she wants that she seeks the ak
citement of some fool crusade like
this.
"Tve lived SO years, my dear. 1
never voted. and 1 never wanted to,
and I guess Silas and I are about as
happy a pair of old fools as there are
in the state. I spoke of Ben Burrows
a moment ago. Grace loved him, but
she married Hazard because his folks
died and he came into all the money.
Grace knew that he would be easy to
handle, so she threw Ben over and
married Hazard. I'll bet she thinks
of Ben yet sometimes
Mabel shuddered as she recalled GER
tain times at Mrs. Brown-Hazzard's
when her husband had almost stagger-
ed into the room to cringe> under her
glance. Then there would come over
the woman's strong. rather masculine