Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-01-05
Living Up to
an Ideal

building" remarked the e1ghth-grade
teacher to the sympathetic friend,
whose interest in the new principal
last year was purely professional.
"The first of the three was Miss
Smiley, who recently had become en-
gagged to what she called the best
and dearest man in the whole wide
world the second was Mrs. Allen,
who had a worthless husband to sup
port, and the third was Miss Ball,
who is now instructing the children
of the boys and girls to whom she
taught the alphabet at the beginning
of her career.
"The rest of us, however, being
young and free from serious entangle-
ments, couldn't be expected to ignore
the fact that the new principal was
handsome and under 80, now, could
WEI"
"Of course not" murmured the
sympathetic friend.
But isn't it astonishing" continued
the young woman who presides over
the eighth grade, chow easily some
girls can modify their tastes and opin-
ions to accord with those of a more
or less attractive member of the op-
posite sex?"
ct u.s." agreed the friend, until we
remember that it is one of the surest
ways of arousing the interest of the
average man."
"That accounts for it, of course"
said the eighth-grade teacher.
"At any rate" she went on, mo one
had any trouble in discovering just
what this particular young man did
and didn't admire. He was just out
of college and stood ready to de-
liver a well-formed opinion upon any
subject you could mention, from van
ity bags to vivisection.
"The very first week of school he
proclaimed himself an ardent admirer
of Wagner; whereupon, Miss Flicker
sham, who had been in the habit of
dismissing Wagner's music with the
remark, Difficult, yes, but why should
one want to do it?'-forsook Italian
opera on the spot and declared that
it would be a good thing for real
music if Caruso should lose his voice
permanently Some women positive
ly have no opinions that an attractive
man couldn't undermine in five min
utes! But of course the young man
was pleased; they used to discuss
Wagner by the hour!
"A few days later, the first primary
teacher, who had passed her entire
vacation on the links, heard him say
that he didn't approve of athletic
women; so she promptly concealed
her golf clubs, reformed her swinging
stride and began to apply to her nut
brown face and hands every bleach,
cream and lotion known to the beauty
columns
"Then Miss Smith happened to see
two or three reproductions of Paul
Hel1eu's pictures in the principals Of
flee and, as somebody once had told
her that she was the perfect image
of the 'Helleu GIRL she concluded that
all she had to, do was simply to exist
but she's that kind of. girl anyway.
"The girl in the room next to mine
actually bought $28 worth of false
braids and puffs, just because he
made a remark about abundant
tresses being woman's browning
glory" 49,
How absurd" murmured the SYM
pathetic friend
II must admit" continued the other,
"that he talked very interestingly on
some subjects and one is always glad
to be set right. OF course, wasn't
suffragette, but 1 did think that wom-
en- ought to vote until heard him
talk about woman's true sphere and
how much more influence she might
WELD through-well, in other ways
and then l saw that had really been
open to conviction. I think it's i'm
portant to keep ones mind in a re-
ceptive state"
ooh, very important" declared her
friend. 'Well?" she added, expect.
antly,
"Oh," replied the eighth-grade
teacher, che was perfectly lovely to
all of us-even to old Miss Ball-but
he was married at the end of the
summer vacation to girl he'd known
since they were children"
Have you called on the bride?"
asked the friend, after brief silence.
after a proper interval" was the
reply. II didn't go too soon, because
that would look as though I was try
ing to show that didn't care, and
didn't wait too long, because that
would look as though 1 did care"
81 suppose you were curious"
''Not in the least. You see, we all
knew exactly what his ideal was
slender, with a mass of dusky hair
and very feminine and devoted to
Wagner"
"And is she"
mo! She's short, with tight lit
tie wad of lightish hair and she
doesn't know the first thing about
music, and she's crazy about every
sort of outdoor game-the house is
so full of cups that she's won that
they use them for sugar bowls and