The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-10-04
TIE EVENING STORY
Counted Out.
Rv Jeanne Loizeaux.l

OUTSIDE
from the window and turned her gaze
intothe dim, dingy order of her tiny
room. It was more than the unseaso1-
ably intense heat of the evening that
sent through her a gnawing misery
worse than physical illness-indeed
bodily pain would have been distrac-
ton from mental suffering. Now she
understood that Jim was never coming
any more Fiercely, against reason, she
had been hoping that on the street Or
from her place behind the counter she
worId see him coming lightly toward
her with that kind. eager, seeking
look on his rugged young face Night
after night she had stayed in her room
lest he call and fail to find her Now
there would be not even the nope OF
waiting.
She stood in the hot twilight and
the dusty mirror opposite threw back
to her a dim vision of great eyes ana
crown of bright hair. II all the
world were a series of arm-1n-arm
couples. two-by-two, through the sum-
mer night. with her alone counted OUT
it was no lack of beauty In her-not
that beauty mattered now For months
she had moved among her Workmates
hoping and yet dreading to near ms
name She was as pOwerlesS to ask
a ouestion as If she were dumb-no-
this evening from a passing girl, she
had overheard from the window these
/ words:
'sAin't it queer how Jim Mason's jest
dropped off the earth? Do you s'pose
that's why Mamie looks so lost and
thin? Sam says Jim quit at the factory.
paid up at the boarding house and lit
out without a word to anybody. He
never seemed that sort-steady sort,
thought and crazy about Mamie. L
= l. -, y f011f
, I don't" The words trailed off into
/ irdistinctness.
Then Mamie had drawn form the win
dew and stood silently gazing at her
image in the glass finally throwing her
self face down on the 1umpy bed and
wishing wretchedly that she could cry;
that tears would come and help her.
After hours of trouble she fell into
restless sleep and walked at the hot
dawn, still with her clothes on. Merci-
fully it was Sunday. so she undressed.
bathed and went back to bed. Despite
the heat she slept on and on. and was
awakened by sheer hunger late in the
afternoon.
AS she dressed for the street the old
misery about Jim assailed her and she
began mentally to resist It was not
right for her to suffer like this because
she had thought he loved her. She had
been so sure of it-for a year he had
been with her more or less, always an
open, friend, tacitly lover, though 10
word or touch of love had passed be-.
tween them. The girl set her teeth and
decided not to be miserable, not to let
hope be ground out of her life.
She went down a side street to a lit
tie cafe and ordered plenty of some
thing hot and satisfying, and while she
was waiting for it picked up a some
what battered newspaper and ran her
eyes down it's pages-murder, poltice.
weather reports, mmencements. SER
mons the human round of happenings.
Her food came and she ate hungrily,
untastingly. her mind elsewhere. She
still held the paper in one hand, and
when an inside sheet dropped out 20
the floor she stopped for it and on the
advertising page that she brought up
her eye caught this:
"Come to Wahwada and pick berries.
Good pay: beautiful country; camp out.
Try it, Write Ed Swan or take Cedar
car"
She read it again. Then she drank
her coffee. which was hot and wet, If
nothing else, paid her bill and went out
again upon the street. but instead of
going back to her room she took a
suburban car and rode as far as 81
nickel would take her. Sitting at the
open window she drank in the fresh
greenness of summer. the peace of it.
and a new resolve came to her to live
more freely.
1t was almost dark when she reach
ed her room, lighted her lamp, despite
the unscreened window and the moths
longing to SINCE themselves in SITS
flames and took stock of her belong
iGgs.
By struggle and deprivation she had
kept out of Cebt. She counted her
money and found that after she had
paid her room rent, due on the NOR
row, she would have about So left. All
her possessions would go into her
friend, and a battered suitcase with her
oldest clothes would do for the coun-
try. She had decided to go to Wah-
wada.
AS she moved about in the heat and
feverishly packed she felt like trap
ped thing gnawing its way to escape
This heat, this squirrel-cage existence,
underpaid, barely fed. hopelessness,
should cease. She would take the best
the present offered and LEI the future
take care of itself. With characteristic
thoroughness she wrote a note to the
de partment manager that she would
not be back and went down and paid
her landiady. Then she slept quietly
enough.
Noon of the next day found the girl
in a new world. With two-score others,
mostly women, she found herself in a
berry field under the scoFching sun.
Her back ached from the STOPPING, her
fingers were sore, her face was burned,
but she worked steadily on, filling the
wooden boxes with the TIpe scarlet
fruit. Despite her WEAKNESS a new joy
came to her-she was out of the tread |
mill; she was becoming human. tent
and a ramshackle cabin sheltered the
workers. and al lunch one of the women
made a roaring fire in the stove and
cooked what the others had bought at
the village Mamie found herself sit
ting on the grass with a big tin cup of
real coffee and a plate of hot steaming
food She was for the moment almost
a rrantherlx middle syed farm |