Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-10-05

be desired Is IL not the eternal cry OF the sex?
Emmy attributed the outspoken homage these men
paid her to her figure, hence her frank admiration
Of it, nightly She meant to follow her fathers adj
vice, to marry but she also meant to pick and choose
to marry we'll " as the matCh-makerS put it-and
her experience had already shown her that her
wares were marketable in a far wider and more
appreCiative circle than that represented by the
gum-chewing youths who nightly worshiped at
Katies shrine
No doubt she was mercenary, but life, as it existed
about her, had made her so. She did not believe
that love, in ITSELF the great panacea for all
human ills She had a very distinct idea that it
only a romantic illusion, and one which yearly
slew its tens of thousands. 1t was her constant
endeavor to be honest with herself Hypocrisy she
despised Possibly, in striving for truth, she fell
into the morass Of materiaism, but at least the fight
she made against sefdelusion a creditable one.
The town of Gainesville, Ohio, is distinguished
principally by being exactly like every other small
town in the Middle West. 1t is on the main line of
great railroad. 1t has a union station. Its
streets are paved with vitred brick. 1t boasts of
brewery, a glass works, a structural iron plant, a
brick factory, a soldiers and sailors monument, and
at least two large department stores, where New
York styles may be had at about the time that
New York is beginning to abandon them for those
to which Paris has just accorded the same treatment
There is also the hotel; in fact, there are several
with signs to that effect but the Borden House is
and the travelling all stop there.
In such place able to study life, as it
were, in miniature. In great metropolitan Centers
it becomes so complex as almost to defy analysis
but here we have it, in drop OF water fixed the
microscopes slide ready to show us all its phases in
their simplest and most easily understood form.
Without difficulty discern that dim and unhappy
borderand between the upper and the under worlds,
where the battle between responsibility on the one
hand and utter SubmersOn on the other goes Cease
lessly on; where Poverty stalks openly, preparing
his victims for the sacrifice while from both above
and below his twin brother Vice, stretches forth a
bony but silkcn-covered hand.
Emmy, caught thus between the upper and neither
mistones, grew to dislike all men, The sort above
her. the she desired she feared because she knew
that to them poverty spelled opportunity The
Others she feared less, but more openly despsed,
because of the Crudity Of their methods They were
a precocious Notwithstanding, pool-playing lot,
proud of their Conquests of women, Boosting of them
loudly, regarding themselves very devilish fellows
indeed. The result of their operations may be seen
after dark, Crowding the night life Of our big cities
drab, hopeless creatures, who laugh at love because
ii has come to them in the guise OF a destroyer.
Between these two classes Of men Emmy found
a third class decent honest sef-respecting workers
who knew women but slightly, and feared them
accordingly. These came but seldom, squirmed I'M
comfortably on their chairs, Conversed in monOsvl-
ableS, chiefly about the weather, and their way
unregrettcd Thus Emmy came to be very much
alone, is usual with women who have aspirations
beyond their class. With Katie, however, it was
different. She had aspirations beyond the secur-
ing OF a sober and industrious husband.
The young man who had OF late spent most of his
spare time and money on Katie Moran was a clerk
in the hardware department OF James Borden &
Companys store. He was tall, and somewhat ane-
mic in appearance, with sandy hair, prominent