Evening star., 1912-11-17

grinned or giggled, according "as they
had a mind to-
Oh, yes, it's real serious old world
but it has it's off days.
A huge automobile whizzed up the Ave-
nue. with its load of orphan children, who
were having treat.
And another child who was walking
in plush coat and plume-wreathed hat
stopped to look wistfully after her less
fortunate little brothers and sisters.
The handsomely gowned woman who
walked ahead turned to shrill out:
Miriam. do come along-whats the
matter with you?"
Nothing, mamma was just looking
at the good times those children are hav-
ing"
Then the little girl dutifully followed
the handsomely gowned woman who was
her mamma, and the oldish, dyspeptic
man, who was doubtless her pa.
i x x
woman had ordered her luncheon at a
cafe and was congratulating herself at
having a bay-window table to herself
when another woman came up, hesitated
and then pulled out chair and sat down.
She was plan, wholesome looking per-
son with no frills to her, and really
beautiful pink came into her middle-aged
face as she explained that she couldn't
seem to relish her eating unless she
could look out OIL doors.
i've always lived on a farm, miles
from the next neighbor, till / came up to
help out my married daughter l reckon
you read about her husband getting
killed last month; 1t was all in the pa
pers and / don't see how she's going to
keep up with those two children, both of
them babies, you might say unless | can
get her to go back home. | always tell
her / can't eat in her little cuddy of
dining room-you know what fla.s are
So / take my plate and cup into the
kitchen, where. anyhow, / can look out
of the window and see down on the top of
a tree
The woman already in possession veri-
fled the prologue with a welcoming smile
and when she got a chance put in a
small-szed remark to the effect that she.
too, had a weakness for windows and
farms.
why, fresh air is just as much to
me as meat and drink. I'd gasp myself
to death if / had to keep on In that fiat.
but daughter. she's just the other way.
She likes it because the waters always
hot and you don't have to bother making
fires. but as l tell her. when you've got
a wood pile and plenty Of chips, there's S
no call to want for either. All she's fret
ting about is she's afraid she can't af-
ford to keep It, but. between you and me-
hope she can't. I've got 400 acres
down at my farm; part Of 1t is woods
and there's right smart swamp land down
toward the ''crick," but there's a good
living out of it and all the fresh air you
want. I've got an artesian we'll that
money couldn't buy from me, and a half
acre fruit yard full of trees. I've been
trying to persuade Alice to give up try
ing to get work and go home with me.
1t would be a heaven on earth for those
children--I don't see how the poor little
things can drink the milk they get here,
bottled up like medicine, but Alice says
she can give them more advantages in
the city. Our congressman promised to
get her a place where they clean offices
in the Treasury, but when she went to
see him about 1t he sent word she'd have
to come again, and when she went he had
left town
Think Of it, will you! There's an Alice
in our midst who prefers charring to
mother and home!