The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-10
The EVENING STORY
The Promised Land.
(By Virginia BLair.)

| (By Virginia BLair.)
Little Louise, arriving in the city,
/ went straight to the house where a
| friend had engaged rooms for her
The friend was an old maid cousin.
She at once took Louise in charge.
| There are Just three things" she
| said, primly, that a young girl must
| remember when she first comes to
| the city. She must be careful about
/ the friends she makes she must be
quiet in her dress. and she must re-
| frain from a loud manner
Louise, surveying the narrow room
| with its couch bed, asked timidly,
Are they all so dark"
The prim little lady gave her a
| pecking kiss on the ear. Now, my
dear, don't get blue In week o. SO,
| you'll find lots of nice things about
this house, and thank goodness. it's
! perfectly respectable.
You're to come up and have din
ner with me-" continued Cousin
| Agatha. Mrs. Smeed doesn't give
| meals. but 1 thought if you'd get a
age. Well divide expenses, and I'll
| cook our breakfasts and suppers, and
| you can wash the dishes.''
After Cousin Agatha had gone
Louise sat down on the bed Imply.
| This didn't seem at all like the
Promised Land of her dreams. She
had grown so tired of the quiet farm,
of the uneventful days; she had
Therein had lain the secret of her
rebellion. Jacob was a farmers son.
Little Louise had visions beyond the
monotony of country life. She wanted
color and brilliancy. and had finally
begged so hard that she might go to
! the city to work in one of the shops
that at last her parents, with many
! misgivings, had consented.
Little Louise had not dreamed of
| a prison like home of this sort. She
n he
with the blue sky overhead and the
long white roads leading toward end
ness vistas.
The supper in Cousin Agatha's room
was, however, a very coy affair.
It's wonderful said Cousin
Agatha, briskly, what a person can
do over one burner gas plate"
Little Louise was hungry, and it was
not until she finished her meal that
she spoke of the roses on the table.
Where did you get them?''
Cousin Agatha laughed. 1T was
wondering when you would notice
them. They are yours. my dear.
Miss Louise Otis Perhaps it's some
of your folks back home"
Louise shrugged her shoulders. cit
might be Jacob Cole if he had any
sentiment-but he'd more likely send
Who's jacob" asked Cousin
Agatha.
He wants to marry me. He has
an automobile and nice home, but
won't"
Cousin Agatha shook her head.
| You're a lucky girl she said, "to
have your lover ready to marry YOU
Mine was not. He was tied down by
responsibilities which made it impos-
sibIe. All these years he has loved
me, and all these years he has been
too poor to marry. And now he's old
and broken down-and he comes here
each Sunday. My dear-would you
mind If 1 sent him a rose?"
Cousin Agatha was wiping her
eyes. Little Louise kissed her i'm
pulsively.
The next day little Louise worked
as she had never worked before. She
came home at night with her head
throbbing and her ankles aching and
her eyes burning.
ct didn't eat any lunch,' she told
Cousin Agatha. 81 just couldn't
was too tired
Cousin Agatha chatted while she
made the milk toast and broiled a
slice of ham.
TT was box of violets today" she
said.
"Do you mean that more flowers
came ?"
yes" said Cousin Agatha, land it
seems dreadful to spend so much on
flowers, when we need other things.
Fruit would be lot more sensible
And, as if some fairy had heard
her words, the next day it was fruit
strawberries in March, Cousin
Agatha held up her hands
"It can't be Jacob" said little
Louise.
"As tomorrow is Sunday" Cousin
Agatha suggested, chow would it do
for me to make a strawberry short
cake, and invite Charles?'
Charles, it seemed was the name of
Cousin Agatha,s patient lover He
CI,a3 nv q
brought Cousin Agatha a tiny box
of chocolates.
Little Louise liked him very much.
She told him about the roses and the
violets and the fruit
Some one,' said old Charles, must
love you very much--to think so gen.
erously of you each day"
"Oh, lovet' Little Louise shrugged
her shoulders. There's nobody to love
me but Jacob
Then old Charles asked about young
Jacob, and Louise told him. and old
Charles said: .It seems a pity to
waste the love of a man like that"
That night little Louise thought of
the old lovers and their waiting She
wondered if Jacob-but she put the
thought out of her mind. The man
she would marry must be different.
The next day she met a man in the
store who dazzled her eyes. He wore
the right kind of clothes, and his hair
was fair and brushed back from his
forehead. He bought ribbon from lit |
tie Louise, and he consulted her about ]
the color. 1t was for his sister, he |
said, and men never knew about such |
things. |
But they know when they see a |
pretty girl he remarked.
After that he bought ribbons often, |
and always, he talked to Louise. And |
one day he asked her to go to supper
and to the play. At first Louise re- |
fused, but he begged so charmingly |
that at last she consented. She did
not tell Cousin Agatha
1t was not easy to find an excuse, |
t.,,t salectad evening when old L