The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-03-10
THE EVENING STORY
A Dogs Part.

crisp, new doctor OF philosophy de-
gree, accepted the post of professor of
romantic philology in Clayburn Wom-
ems college he had distinct idea of
what college girls as a class really
/ were. Half of them, he was cOnvinc-
ed. wore pince-nez glasses, and the
] other half wore spectacles. They were
usually tall and invariably had straight,
| neatly arranged hair. They wore
broad, fatheeled shoes and had the
admirable quality of being able to talk
| to any man, woman or child on any
| conceivable subject with perfect COM
| posture. Giggling, blushing, whisper
| ing, or least of all, flirting, practices
which he had sometimes observed in
! women who had not gone to college,
were positively out of their line.
With the perfect assurance that col
| lege women were built along these
lines Ansel though but % years old
and rather inexperienced in the ways
of women in general, accepted the ap-
pointment at Clayburn.
After his first day in the classroom
he withdrew to the privacy of his
boarding house bedroom to puzzle IL
out Was Clayburn college a real wo-
mems college, or, perhaps, had he lost
his way and was not really at Clay
burn after all? Or, perchance, were the
young women he had had in his class
room really not typical? Could it be
that the fact that he was new and
inexperienced have drawn only the
most frivolous to select his course of
study, or was there something in the
mere subject. Romance Philology,"
that had attracted them?
Ansel recalled the group of young
women he had seen that day. He re-
called the bright-eyed, pink-cheeked
little lady who sat in the front row
taking copious notes on everything he
said. He recalled that she was too
short for the chair and had to bend
her small feet downward to reach the
floor. How unlike the tall Minervas of
his dreams! Then there was the help
less little girl in the next row who
had dropped her notebook on the floor
and had blushed when he picked it up
for her. There was the round-eyed
brunette who wore blue ribbon
through her hair. She was Daisy.
Daisy had stopped to sharpen a pen
ell in the middle of his lecture, and
foolishly enough he had waited till she
was ready to take notes again before
going on. She noticed his kindness and,
instead of smiling her thanks COM
posedIy as the college girls of his i'm
agination would have done, she had
actually blushed-blushed, and then gig
gled to her next door neighbor. Later
in the day Ansel had discovered that
her name was Daisy when he had
heard companions calling her by that
name as he passed the tennis court
air to return her partners serve.
Daisy proved before many days to
be enchanting, and though her scholar
ship was not of the most promising
order Ansel convinced himself that
Daisy ought to specialize in philology.
Perhaps, he thought, as he let his
imagination wander, perhaps she
might after she had finished her
course, become his assistant. He hated
the idea of Clayburn without Daisy.
1t was two months later. 1t was the
day of the sophomore play, and Daisy,
under the responsibilities of her posi-
ton as property man and scene shift
ter, had had no head. for philolosy for
a week. Ansel knew this because he
had noticed that instead of taking
notes of what he said in his lectures
Daisy had been writing something like
this in her notebook: 'One sausage,
two candlesticks, one quill pen, one
pistol, one bottle of poison, one soli-
taire ring, one dog biscuit 1t was
a relief to Ansel when it occurred to
him that this was not inspired by his
lectures, but was simply a list of nee
essary properties for the impending
play.
Ansel would have enjoyed seeing the
play, even though Daisy was not to be
one of the actors, but the eyes of men,
even If they belonged to professors, are
never admitted to one of these produce
lions. So Ansel contented himself with
the prospect of spending the afternoon
in his office in the third floor of the
building that contained the little the
alter where the play was to be given,
two flights away from the Incompatible
Daisy. He wondered whether it was
hard work to be property man; whether
she had to roll her sleeves up to shift
scenery and whether she wore an
apron. |
Just then Ansel looked up from his
TNx,s -
of face, with sleeves rolled up and a
large apron tied about her young body. |
''Oh, Mr.. Baker," she said in haste |
"can you turn somersaults, and can you
bark? Please tell me. 1 tried to get |
the laboratory boy from the chemistry
laboratory, but he has gone for the |
afternoon and you are the only man |
left. Please come quickly if you can |
and I will explain as we go down. The |
play begins in ten minutes. We can |
go down the back way, and you can
get dressed in my locker, and no one
will ever know
Ansel followed in amaze.
You see, Mr.. Baker" she explained, |
1.-THE girl that was going to take the |
part has the mumps, just at the last |
and she has been learning how
to somersault for a month and none of /
the rest of US can do it in short notice. |
I almost can, but get stuck half way
over The dog has to come into the |
play and bark and growl, and then I
when the hero comes home from the
war he comes in and somersaults. Tt /
is one of the hits of the play. I'll tell
you just what to do before every cue.
If We didn't have the dog the play
would be failure
Two minutes later Ansel found him
self alone in a locker room under the |
little theater stage with a large woolly
dog, outfit before him, and which it was
his duty to don in all possible haste.
though not gigantic in
stature, Ansel was built along generous
lines and after Ire had got his legs and
arms into the encasement he found that
he could never get his head adjusted |
IA.,ie- l.