Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-16
"The Disillusion of Annie"


her guests. That was where she found !
her mother every night To De sure.
Annie had no mother Fer while she
made pictures of the drawing room as
Miss Pendletcn entered It, the freight.
and tho brass teapot. and the look If
erecting on TIE face Of the white-hair-
cd mother. Every night she locked up
WITH the Same surprised and joyous
&elcoina az II Miss Pehdleton did not
come homo every, night Her hair was
soft. Her cheeks We're soft, too To
kiss; her eyes were happy. and her
hand warm and comforting to touch.
Almost always Annie lad had no
mother, yau see. Sharpl" she dropped
the tassel of the window shade, which
she had been lingering and turned her
attention to the day outside fearful
lest it had changed and she had missed
It, But it hadn't. Far over the city
one could see in the clear October day.
There was 4 b.ueness about everything
"A purple blueness Which covered
things and yet showed them more
clearly, too. Every window in every
building fer hundreds Of blocks pre-
scented Itself frankly to Annie for APP
probation. Mary blocks away WAS
Miss pendleton's mother-alWays wait
I'm, to be there when the day Was over,
making the city place Worth living
in.
The sky was the best tl1ing about the
day. ard extremely painful waa it to
Annie. 1t hurt Annie very much when
things were uneXplainaby lcsdtif1i.
lust beautiful irpersonally. with no
reason or purpose. unmindful OF who
should sec or care. She wanted to
scream out loud and tell every enc to +.
look She wanted TO do some thing with
the bea uty-to hold it and touch it and |
keep it and make il into other things. |
She knew no satisfactory thing TO do |
with it, 1t simply oppressed her. ard |
she wished fiercely that beauty need |
not be- The clouds out there We're long !
AMI transparent, and purpllsh pink a .
few soft white ones were there, too, .
ard Annie may have put another touch |
to the Astronomical picture Just mere, /,
and draped Hiss Pendleton 5 mother |
III purplsh pink scarf, hut chat is I'M |
certain. Annie never told any one. she
did not know that she had awning 10 /
tell Anyway, she knew that no oae |
could care - knew, for ali the other |
people in the WORT were busy thinking I
the real thoughts. the kind which she !
herself would suddenly tcgin to think |
some day, when ner cwn life began |
She had never been able 10 think the |
real thoughts of ctiidren. either. She |
knew that i was 81 she just thought |
her l.Nn thGughts-tile long, still Kind. |
His Awfulness came in; he was one OF
those who are practical. Miss Pendle- !
ton became very busy. Annie began t. !
run on errands, to file away letters, to
answer the telephone, and to look as i !
she were doing something with al het /
might OF course she wasn't. but no
body knew. She had seant braid
turned up with a large black ribbon at
the neck; it vibrated as she walked. Her
neat black apron added to the impression
that she was not only busy, but usefut
This vibratory motion had Won her her
position; it kept it for her. Blessed among
buffers are they who hide their views
with vibration, their nominations with
ribbon, Also she spoke Though rarely,
very briefly and to the point. She was
business-like to the square toes of her
high buttoned shoes And she was GO
ing to night school and would some day.
be even as Miss Pendleton, a secretary.
and leading life. She. would have APP
pealing eyes Though as yet she saw no
signs of them, a clinging skirt. and a
mother with-"well. I'll have some one
pouring tea, anyway" she ended lamel,
And she had come to that lame ending
so often-why could she not remember
that mothers do not come back.
When He Dictated.
And as his Awfulness dictated (the
word of words to express his customary
action. and. as Miss Pendleton gracious
ly allowed herself to be dictated to, and
as the capable young person in the hair
ribbon vibrated stiffiy here and there
Annie began her active days work. Be-
fore his Awfulness arrived was a fine
time for preludes, for idle dreams, and
for a general review of the situation
but not until things began to hum brisk
ly around her could she properly set her
imagination to work, and begin to 40 lie
things which Miss Pendleton had done.
Every day it was different: And the
charm of the thing lay in its uncertain
ty She never knew, when the first ticks
of Miss Pendletons typewriter We're
heard, where she might be found when
they eeased-sittng in the deep grass of
a field with her bare feet in the cool
clover, or draped in conspicuous box
at the opera The only essential of the
experience was that it included nothing
that she herself had ever done, then it
would surely be something worth doing
and something that Miss Pendleton had
done.
She had lust come in from a mad