The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-04-18
EVENING CHAT
BIZ RUTH CAMERON.

Did anyone ever, I wonder, wait at
a meeting place for tardy friend,
without passing through three distinct
states of mind?
The first state of mind is one of ir-
ritation. ''She is always Late you
think as you consult your watch; i
will never promise to meet her agaiIs.
I suppose she'll have some story of the
cars being slow, for she always does.
There's no sense in it. She ought to
allow for that when she starts
How long this state of mind lasts all
depends upon your previous expert
ence with your friends capability fol
hardness. In ordinary cases it would
endure from five to ten minutes. AT
the end of that time. irritation gives
place to an entirely new feeling.
This new state of mind. as of course
YOU know if you have ever waited for
anyone, is a growing wonder if you or
she could have made any mistake ir
the time or place appointed for meet
ing. Gould she have said RS instead
of S's?" you question yourself we
used to meet at RS. No, I'm sure she
said SIS, for 1 remember thinking that
they had such a nice waiting room III
here" Gould it have been half past
3 instead of half past 2?'' is the next
question. NO" you assure yourself,
because she never could have expect
ed us to get all we planned done, and
get out to Cora's at 5. Still that would
be Just like her. I've a good mind tc
telephone. But if 1 go away from here
she'll be sure to come and think I've
given her up. oh, dear, why must she
always be later"
The third state of mind sets in ear
Iier or later according to the temper
ament of the waiter. But half an hour
of waiting almost always brings to the
average person the apprehension that
something has happened to the missing
one. Gould she have been run over.
These automobile accidents are so COM
mon nowadays. Can she be sick? Can
it be that her mother is worse? She
looked real miserable the last time 1
was there and she's liable to these
sudden attacks. Dear me, wouldn't 1t
be terrible for Lucy if anything SHOULD
happen to her mother. She depends on
her mother so much-os runs the
current Of your thought, and SO pro-
bable does this entirely groundless
hypothesis of yours seem to you, that
Won have almost come to regard it
as a fact, and are proportionately re
lieved when you see Lucy familiar fig
ure hurrying towards you.
your car broke DOWN." you respond
to her GREATNESS explanations. Lucy,
you do have the worst luck. L was
getting real worried about you. Non
sense? Well, guess you wouldn't say
so If you were me. L felt that some
thing must be the matter. l never
waited quite SO long before. How's
your mother?" so you greet your re-
caIcitrant friend. much more warmly
on the whole than you would have,
had she come in that first 10 10
minutes.
Is the moral to be half an hour late
If you must be late at all? No. If
there's any moral, it's Just this-you
haven't made a mistake in the time OF
the meeting place; she hasn't been
run over or taken suddenly. i'll; no mem
Der of her family has died; she's Just
late, as she has been before, and will
be again. So next time don't fret ana
worry. Just sit still and read a book
or paper. and remember this little talk
and possess your soul in patience
Will do the same? I'll try to, my
friend That's the best can promise.