Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-02-19

n rOV. 29.-l have the constant fear,
M Diary, that my daily chronicles
Il ' are so imbued with the spirit of
petticoat rule that you will get the no
ton in that parchment skull of yours
| that 1 have developed womanish traits,
and am learning how to knit and am
reading Emerson, and doing other
things which women seldom do till
they have become resigned to age and
spinsterhood, and have ceased strug-
Cling.
But how can l write of business af-
| fairs when the years l spent in the
office have so sickened me l am glad
to turn over everything to my assist
ants and never enter the office door!
am surrounded by women, and II
my confessions to you contain express
sions of admiration and criticism of the
sex, am l TO blame?
No man knows what goes on around
his home till he is forced to spend his
time there. The man who is down
town from Monday morning until Sat
urdav night, and is compelled by sick
ness to spend rare day at home, is
both surprised and shocked by the air
of possession with which strange wom-
learns they are the washerwoman, the
| sewing girl, or the cleaner ana that
they have been coming there for years.
1 have been staying at home so long
now that the grocer boy no longer re-
CARDS me as an interloper, and II the
milkman catches glimpse OF me II IL
with a nod of recognition The nrst
time he saw me he thought l was
burglar.
In short, l am becoming acquainted
with the mechanism of my own nome
an acquaintanceship never formed by
men in fifty years if they continue In
| business downtown
When l tire of my books in the Ii
brary, l follow Richards around to tax
| about Manette, and have become so
| spoiled by the air of welcome which
| greets me all over the house Can, now
| few. men know what that means) that
| I sneud many hours in my housekeep-
er's little sitting room, and one day
when what Manette calls "a big rail-
road maggot" called to see me, he found
me sitting on the kitchen table listening
| TO the cooks story of her lover back in
| Ireland who fell into a well and was
|
ing him. though she has been married
i three times since.
These folks who have been married as
often as three or four times always in
terst me. l told the cook l should feel
like a rented house if l had had as
many as three wives; that should fear
there was something the matter with
the plumbing or the drainage in my
heart if it's tenants didn't stay longer
than that, but she didn't agree with
me.
| She says that marrying is all that is
going on in most folks lives; and per
haps she is right. l know there has
been little going on in mine.
/ But when 1 began. Dairy, to explain
why my stories to you are so full of
homely details, it was as a prelude to
the description OF our Thanksgiving din
ner There were 30 at the table, and
Manette. all in white. and happy and
gay because she was to have the sum
usual privilege of staying up to a dance,
sat at the end opposite me-
When we were all seated. there was "a
pause, and then this most blessedest
! child closed her eyes, bent her head,
| and said: Dear Jesus, this is just
little prayer by a very little girl who
doesn't know much. and can't talk nice
words like big folks. But she wants to
say thank you, and please bless Uncle
Max. Amen"
| saw Tompkins, who sat al her right,
brush away tear and when | caught
Richards eyes they were not entirely
dry. Those two good souls, who shared