The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-09-13
CALMLY TORE 1T DOWN THE MIDDLE.

DOWN THE MID DIE.
must say / don't. / think a law ought
TO be passed stopping them"
$50 do l." Mrs. Wellington amiably
agreed, and l hope they'll pass just
such law-after l get mine" Then
she ventured a little shaft of her
own. You don't believe in divorces.
/ judge you've never been married"
Not once!" The spinster drew her.
self up, but Mrs. Wellington disarmed
her with an unexpected bouquet:
"Oh, lucky woman! Don't let any
heartless man delude you into taking
the fatal step"
Anne Cattle was nothing if not hon.
say that nobody has made any violent
efforts to compel me to. That's why
I'm going to China"
Ito China!" Mrs. Wellington
gasped, hardly believing her ears.
MY dear! You don't intend to marry
a laundryman?
The idea! I'm going as a mission
ary."
"A missionary? Why leave Chica.
go?" Mrs Wellington's eye softened
more or less convincingly: "Oh, love
ly! How should dote upon being
missionary. l really think that after /
get my divorce l might have try
at it. I had thought of a convent, but
being a missionary must be much
more exciting" She dismissed the
! dream with an abrupt shake of the
! head. Excuse me, but do you happen
to have any matches?"
! Matches! / never carry them!"
| They never have matches in the
women's room, and I've used my last
! one"
! Miss Cattle took another reef in her
! tight lips. do you smoke cigarettes?"
! Mrs. Wellington's echoed disgust
with disgust: "Oh, no, indeed. loathe
them. l have the most dainty little
cigars. Did you ever try one?"
Miss Cattle stiffened into one excla-
nation point: Cigars, Mel"
! Mrs. Jimmie was so well used to
being disapproved of that it never
disturbed her. She went on as if the
! face opposite were not alive with hor-
ror: Il should think that cigars might
be great consolation to a lady mis-
sionary in the long lone hours Of
what do missionaries do when they're
not missionarying?"
THAT depends"
There was something almost spirit
ual in Mrs. Jimmie's beatific look: Il
can't tell you what consolation my
cigars have given me in my troubles.
Mr.. Wellington objected-but then Mr..
! Wellington objected to nearly every
thing l did. That's why / am forced
to this dreadful step"
"Cigars?"
/ Divorces"
'Divorces!"
We'll. this will be only my second
my other was such a nuisance. |
got that from Jimmie, too. But it
didn't take. Then we made up and re-
married. Rather odd. having a second
honeymoon with ones first husband
But remarriage didn't succeed any
better. Jimmie fell off the water
wagon with an awful splash, and he
quite misunderstood my purely pla-
tonic interest in Sammy Whitcomb,
nice young fellow with a fool of a
wife. Did you ever meet Mrs. Sammy
Whitcomb-no? Oh, but you are a
lucky woman. Indeed you are! Well,
when Jimmie got jealous, just gave
him up entirely. I'm running away to
Reno. l sent a note to my husbands
club, saying that had gone to Europe,
and he needn't try to find me. Poor
fellow, he will. He'll hunt the CONT
nent high and low for me. but all the
while I'll be in Nevada. Rather good
joke on little Jimmie, eh?"
"Excruciating."
But now l must go. Now l must
go. I've really become quite addicted
to them"
Divorces"
Cigars. Do stay here till I come
back. ! have so much to say to you"
Miss Cattle shook her head in de-
spair. She could understand a dozen
heather dialects better than the
speech OF so utter a foreigner as her
fellow-countrywoma Mrs Jimmie
fastened away, rather pleased at the
shocks she had administered. She en-
joyed her own electricity.
In the corridor she administered an
other thrill-this time 10 a tall young
mana stranger, as alert for filtration
as weasel for mischief. He huddled
himself and his suitcases into as fat
| a space as possible, murmuring:
These corridors are so narrow,
aren't thew"