The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-11-13
The EVENING STORY
The Runaway Wife.
(By Donald AlIen.)

(By Donald Allen)
MARRIED only six months. and it
mas come to this!''
MRS. Horace Wareham had not mar
req ner husband from the stage. She
nau never even taken part in amateur
tneatrlcals, but she had seen melo-
dramas and other plays and she knew
mat as she pronounced the above
moros she must raise her arms over
her head in despair. She therefore
raised them. and looking into the mir
Tor at the time, she knew that the Of
feet was good.
We must separated"
mat was said with her arms down
an audience no one could have doubt
hand oo a.
Il shall run awayi"
me words came with a stamp of
the foot and a gesture of the arm, and
the villain realized that he had no
spring chicken of a girl to deal with.
Ihat Is, he would have realized it had
ne not been in an office three miles
away.
Miss Gertie Bascom was the daugh-
ter of widow. Her mother had g.
husband all picked out for her by the
Tune she was nineteen, but she re-
rused him, and at the age of twenty
married young Horace Wareham
Don't come back to me If he proves
raise and cruel and beats you with his
nsts! was the mothers warning. and
| the girl In love laughed as she thought
| OF the impossibility of such a thing
Horace had said that she was dearer
to him than life. He had looked
around for precipice to leap over to
show his devotion. He had vowed
that she should never know a house
, Wffely care, and when she told him
or sew on button, he had laughed in
, glee and called 1t romantic situation.
4 1t was romantic as long as he kept
his place and they boarded, but when
| he lost 1t and had to take another at
! less salary-and when he figured that
it was cheaper to get fiat than to
board-and when she burned the
steak and the potatoes came on un-
der-done-and when he asked who
the devil made that slop, referring to
| the coffee, why. her eyes were opened
| at last.
| The bridegroom had sworn at his
bride! She had shed tears and he had
not offered to wipe them away with
his napkin. OF course, there was no
more speaking to each other that
night Next morning he remarked
/ that he would look for a ten-cent
restaurant, and that man who mar
| ried wax-doll deserved all he got.
There was a crying spell after he left
the house, and all of a sudden the
young wife sprang up, dashed the
4
I've must separated"
! Her first idea was to go and tell her
mother. but pride came to block the
way. The mother would say that IT
was her duty to go back.
Wait-the morning paper!
| A moment later the young wife was
| reading the help wanted advertise
ments. One Of them was selected al
most at once. 1t was for a parlor maid
at liberal wages, and her course was
1 ole he ynr.11 he q ri of
| liberal wages, and neither Horace nor
her mother should know what had be-
come of her. They would shed tears
and their consciences would prick
them, but she would not relent. She
would be Lost Leonore" to them.
They would advertise: "Gertie W.
Come back. All Is forgiven. Very
anxious. Mother on her dying bed,
and husband almost a lunatic" and
| the police would send out general
alarm. but she would pay no atten-
ton to their walls.
The proper thing for a wife to do
when she leaves her husband Is to
write him farewell letter and pin it
to the tablecloth. The advertisement
had said that the parlor maid must
apply at once, but Mrs. Wareham sat
| down and wrote a six-page letter and
put in everything she could think of.
Then she tore 1t up and wrote a few
lines to say:
/
stay to be beaten. It will be useless
for you to try to discover my where
abouts. hope you will find that 10
cent restaurant and be happy"
That was enough-that and the
lonely fiat awaiting his return at
night. 1t was pinned to the table,
cloth at the very spot where he had
used that awful word devil and
| with something like tears in her eyes,
Mrs. Wareham stood in the door. took
MT
out It was two miles to the resi-
dence where the parlor maid was
wanted Not a doubt of her being
able to get the place and I'LL 1t,
her ring had been answered she was
conducted into the presence of grim
| old lady, who took long look at her
and asked:
''Have you had much experience
| Miss?"
sfWell-er-well, I have had fat"
was the reply.
Does that fit you for parlor
maid? ''
"How long were you in your las.
"Quite-quite some time"
land your references"
"rm honest and respectable.
Eyes, but I must have references. l
can't take your word for it. And l
must say there is something rather
peculiar about your coming here. This
| house has been robbed twice, and
Mrs. Horace Wareham arose ana
departed She was angry at herself,
at her husband and at the lazy. Sne
| had been fnsuIted. and it was Hor-
aces fault If he hadn't sworn at her
she would not have had to go out into
the world. She went to stationers
and read some more ads. One was
chanbermaid at most liberal wages
and little to do She found the place
a boarding house and the wages $500
per week and board. For the pres
emit. owing to the fact that there were
twenty-five boarders in the house, ana
twenty-two rooms for her to take care
| of, she would have to sleep on the
| tubs in the laundry. She demurred at
this and walked off and the landlady
called her chit.