Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1910-12-27
THE Man and
THE HOUR
And the Sin of Omission Alice
Charged Against Herself.
BY KEITH GORDON.

fsa'h'i ipi TIC hist UlDc III her iifS
WAS icUkinc The future Sluarcly i'm the
eye. Hitherto She had been content to
nihhlc at ne. launching away content
edly enough. satisfied with the 10Y of
the monent. Aud she might have gone
CA 50 FOR an Indefinite time had it not
been FOR the occurrence OF the Sd OF
June
New Years day IS significant only
because then. by common consent.
time moves IN number. This partic-
ular June : made an udcliblc impress.
Sioa on Elinor'S mind because ON that
day she bcSm Ia br thirty-iwo- began
at the very beginning. OF course. but
SIN She began
II shall say I'm thirty-oue all this
year anyway" she announced defiant
ly - that ether self thar receives our
dearest condolences. Its such bad
form To say you're thirty-oue years
and two months old. az whatever it
may happen Ia bc. And IL have To
write IL III make 1t thirty-one in round
numbcrS-no even ihirty-onc plus"
All of which. as the reader can see.
was very Inscriptions
However. as she found. by far the
worst thing about beginning TO bc
thirty-two was the fact that YOU
couldn't forget it, The harder YOU
tried the better YOU remembered IT,
We'll. what IL ann"
This was the remark that our hero.
inc Sluug into space when, after II
week Of torment. she sat down with
her chin resting on her hands 10 have
the thing out What If am? So
are plenty OF other gir-women. I
mean. Alice is thirty, Mary thlriy-onc,
Mabel twenty eight"
She paused I'm her enumeration. struck
10y the thought that all these friend,
We're married. Matrlmouy WAS sub
jcct t0.which she had given the mini
mum Of Thought. she supposed she'd
come To it some time, bul she WAS in
no hurry TO enter that narrow pasture
80 long aS there was pleasant browsing
To be had outside
When She had thought OF II nj all IL
had seemed g, mean chiefly a tiresolnc
round OF housekeeping chat resulted i'm
nose, a memorandum Of worry that she
secretly determined to avoid as lon. ~
possible. Bui NOW that she was be
ginning 10 be- thirty.iwo the thing was
different
Conld II be- ~hc asked herself. that
she had rlnls MISTAKE after an and
that those three in4Sivc lines were ~
much of an honor as an officers bars?
Could it h" that there Was 4 point
when one began Ia bc thirty two. for
instance. when hccomingnoss demand
eel that ON" should lay aside Miss"
Just AZ 81 required that one should
stop wearing pink:
She faced her plgh, with sim up.
per lip, realizing that she had no ono
but herself 10 blame There had been
II number Of ncn--thC mischicvous dim
pie at the corner of her mouth danced
into sight for u second al the thought
Of how many who had done their best
To stop her in what she now recognized
for the first time her mad career. She
had declined their offers kindly. but
with certain royal carelcssne>s that
rocked moi Of possible dariS hours to
come. When did any woman born to
the belief i'm the divine right oS queens
ever foresee reinforcement?
She had inadvertently lived over"
as size had once heard It quantity
phrascd There was no doubt about Il.
she was an old maid. She repeated it
aloud in I'll its brutal truth. scorning
such cuphcuiSms oS "Spinstcr' and
bachelor Woman"
You're ~ old maid Just - plain old
maid" she said audihly. Eu, il sound
ed like q iol.c- like one ~ those things
too bad g." hr rI1'. Sic W"ul "ol"
bly, wake up aftur a biz 90 l.Ld .a,..
she had hccu mui"d since l"r ci&H'.
ccnth year and l"d - ~.n really G." oH-
Ter coll"a" md Ct daughter uI'u g."
make her o"hu.
No such l"prI HNaarI.l- '..Jy.