The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-07-29
EVENING CHAT
BY RUTH CAMERON.

But if We go over on the boat what
will we do about the carriage we or
dered to call for US ?''-First girl.
1--WE won't do anything. Just let
him come up. Wen be gone before he
gets here. Second girl
But he'll charge us just The same.
How can he if we are gone p
Second girl.
'Of course he can't. and he always
sends a little boy up ans those little
boys might just as well be riding
around as 1oafing in the stable
Third girl
That is a conversation among three
young girls which I overheard the
'' Yes. actually. OF course. haven't
it word for word, but that IS the sub
stance.
No, they were not ignorant. con-
scienceless creatures of whom you
might expect anything at all
On the contrary. they were well
bred, refined girls, college educated
and presumably in the habit of doing
what they thought was right
And yet only the decision not to go
in the boat after all prevented them
from cheerily carrying out the plan
outlined in that converse ton.
Isn't it extraordinary how often you
will find similar examples of COM
among well bred and intelligent
women?
The shampoo lady says that the mic
est Of her patrons seem 20 think moth
ing Of cance1ling an appointment so
late that it is impossible fer her to sell
her time elsewhere.
Dressmakers tell me mat they very
often lose a days work in this way.
| Everyone knows how women who do
not want to buy and yet dislike to say
\ mo" to the clerk will often have an
article sent out c.. o. D or on ap-
prevail without the slightest intention
of keeping it. If you told them they
were morally stealing P sum equiva-
/ lent to the expense of having the ar
| ticle wrapped and sent they would be
very Indignant And yet they certainly
are.
! There are many kinds of thieves in
the world. For instance. there is the
poor shoplifter who gets jailed for
stealing twenty-five cents worth of
ribbon from huge department store
and there is the wealth. woman who
| isn't Jailed for stealing one-sixth of
her poor dressmaker's weekly income.
Am I too harsh ?
| Perhaps SO. Perhaps the sex that
has known so little about business for
SO many centuries can not be blamed
for not having a keener sense of bust
ness honor.
And yet-well, surely our sex has
not been barred from a study of the
Golden Rule. and it seems to me that
an understanding Of ''As We would that
men should do to your and a sense of
business honor are pretty closely re-
lated.
But somehow just now I only reem
to be marking time. I don't like it.
The man who said that to me is a
young man of %. He is an unusually
successful young man. He has advanc-
ed rapidly in every way but just now
things don't seem to be moving as rap
idly as he likes.
And he is restless and unhappy.
do not think he has any right to
be.
Into each life there must occasionally
come these marking time years.
Into each life there must come these
seasons when one does not seem to be
progressing as one should.
Perhaps it's marking time yeag
with you just now, my friend.
| IF it is, are you allowing restlessness
| your heart? Are you chafing against
delay and cheaply and foolishly trying
to hurry conditions that cannot or
! should not be hurried?
Or are you remembering that the
greatest sccesses always come to MIN
I who learns to labor AND to waltz
1t can't be always either seedtime OF
harvest. One cannot be always either
sowing or reaping. One must some
times be simply waiting for the great
forces to work. the forces of nature
and Of life.
And one cannot hurry them in either
life or nature. 1t doesn't hasten thu
harvest any to dig up the seeds t
see If they are sprouting. Neither doe:
it do any good to rebel against the
| marking time seasons in life
But that does not mean that TIL
waiting need be entirely passive.
Not by any means
Does the farmer go into his house
and sit idle while he waits for tn
seeds to sprout2 Doesn't he rather FIND
quite enough to keep him busy in keep
ing the conditions right for the seeds