The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-03-12
The EVENING STORY
They Were Very Prlnn.
by Clara Inez Deacon.I


synonymous. These two people could
have been prigs just as well as not,
but they weren't. They were merely
prlm-very prim- They were born
that way and couldn't help it. Mr..
rochester was a bookkeeper i'll a saw
lngs bank, and there was no rule
against his being rather jolly in con-
| Versatlon and a bit careless about mis-
neckt1es, but after five years had gone
by no one could recall that he had
ever forgotten himself for a single
moment. Even during a memorable
run on the bank he had been prinl,
although some of the officers used
| reckless language and had taken their
coats off. All honor to Mr.. Rochester!
Let man be one thing or the other
| prim or unprim.
Miss Frayne had also been born pri.n
AS a girl she had never skated on the
sidewalk, slid down hill or chased
| pad boy around the block. At Is she
| might have had a beau but she kept
her modest eyes on her toes and dis
/ couraged him. After three years more
no one on earth could have got her .
climb a tree, even to rescue her lost
| canary bird. She was in the millinery
business Some of her patrons thought
| her rather too prin, but others said
it was better SO than to find her CHR.
nlng with half dozen drummers at
once. At any rate, what was said for
or against made no difference. Miss
Agnes went right along with her prim-
ness. All honor to her, also.
Mr.. Rochester and Miss Frayne hac
to take the same electric car to get
to and from their work They had
often noticed each other-not in a Bold
raced, but d prim way. They had not
! been introduced, and what could they
DO but sit side by side and stare out
or the opposite windows. On one oc-
caSlon the car crashed into too con-
1dent milk wagon and scattered bro
ken glass and splinters of wood about
ana the mllkman got a broken leg aud
his horse broken neck. There was a
panic, with shouts and screams and
questions, but amid all the alarm the
two prims never lost their primes.
They scarcely turned their eyes from
the straight line. They were not CON-
pllmented by the other passengers. A
man asked Mr.. Rochester if he was a
human beer bottle and a woman asked |
Miss Frayne if she had a human heart |
but there was the satisfaction of real
izing that they had preserved proper
form
Again, while a fat man was looking |
was picked up and hurled over the !
fence, and there was a ripple of |
laughter from the passengers at the |
way he spread-eagled himself. All the
laughter. Those two never uttered a |
hawi hawi Their primnesss caused |
a man to ask Mr. Rochester if even |
the death of his mother-in-law could |
fetch smile to his frozen face, but |
it was an impertinent query and he |
did right to ignore it. A woman pas
senger also had a remark to make.
After signing long sigh she shook
her head and said:
81 have been told that the hyena has
no sense of humor, and now l see it's
truei'
This primness had gone on year
and day. The day is mentioned be-
cause both the bookkeeper and the
diaries, and the little books agreed.
Twice a day for a year and a day, and
they had not spokenl They were wait
ing for the introduction that never
came. Even an introduction would
not have swept the primness aside for
many weeks. There would have been
questions to ask and answer.
There must be a climax to all things.
bureau bespoke fair skies with it's
usual confidence, it rained. The wind
came down from Hudson's Bay and
froze the drops as they fell. At home
Neither Mr.. Rochester nor Miss
Frayne were shod tor the fray They
did manage to get to the car, and all
the way out they sat wondering how
they could get to their homes from the
terminus. They were the only passen-
gers when the car slid to the end of
the track, and the conductor looked
to see Mr.. Rochester offer him arm to
been made it would have been re-
fused.
.'That Jars me- said the conductor
10 the motorman, as the two prims
went sliding away into the darkness; ,
but there were more jars to come. Miss
F'rayne had gone just seven feet and
1ine inches when her heels took a /
shoot and down she sat. 1t was not
Nv H1az faTzl
vas following when down he sat. 1t i
vas hard, if not prim.
Miss Frayne hardly expected to be
assisted to her feet by 4 man who had
lot been formally introduced: Mr. ,
Rochester hardly expected to offer his !
The lady got up after several efforts
ind progressed a few feet more and !
gain. The gentleman did a little bet 3
er He didn't sink, but came down \
With a thud that ratified his teeth.
The car was waiting it's schedule
ime before starting back, and the con- I
fuctor and motorman were watching
What is it, William" asked the
notorman after the third fall
ut N isn't t. moving pictures?" n
Cant be. There are no cowboys in f
eff it was mellerdrama there'd be b
NUNS" n
''Sure.''
~If I was a gent" continued the :.
I was a gent with pat =
nt-Ieather shoes and no rubbers on
nd the street was like glass-if was
hat kind of a gent and there was a =
ady sitting down on the ice not three
Get away from me-
Miss Frayne got up and c1awed the g
ir and uttered little shrek and 81
ettled down again. Mr.. Rochester 81
erformed the same antics, with the 81