Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-03-07
THE EVENING STORY.
NOT LIKE FICTION.
Copyright. 1914. by W. weruer>

Copyright. 1914 by W. wernerD
When Fred Laufet departed from the
small town wherein he had grown and
Elsie Fraser said between sobs that she
supposed he would forget all about her
and fall in love with some smart city
Girl as soon as he got rich. Fred vowed
with all the vowing power of twenty-five
years that he would not Not much!
As If any girl in the whole world of
cities could equal Elsie! And he be-
lieved it. Elsie was the prettiest girl in
town and five other young men had
reviled him for beating them to her af-
fections She had curly brown hair and
big brown eyes and she knew how to
dress and all the other girls in town
waited for her to interpret the styles.
II guess not" said Fred. scornfully,
TO himself as he stared ON the car
window at Elsie, left nournfully upon
the station platform. .'as il any city
girl could come up to Elsie. ! see my
self getting rich and famous and cold
shouldering that dear girl when l come
back to see father and mother. And
Fred. being imaginative. had full sized
picture of himself. some eight inches
broader of shoulder and chest. carrying
two massive expensive suit cases. wear
ing an imported overcoat and a glad
loving smile. and huge emerald scarf
pin. jumping off the train to gladden.
Esie's waiting heart by an embrace that
testified to answering affection.
As soon as he got to the city, though.
he decided that imagination was an al
together super1uous article. 1t Is irk-
10
able to imagine what you could buy for
Al cents 1t is worse to have . cents and
conjure plainly what Is cents will pur-
chase. And 1t is anguishing to work for
IS week when you can imagine YOUR
self holding SIS position. Fred for
got that he had ever dreamed of getting
$50 week And after he pawned his
suit case in order to have clean collar
to wear the next Monday he forgot the
prosperous broad-shouldered vision OF
himself reassuring Elsie as to MS I'M
changing affection.
But he wrote Elsie cheerful letters,
and he wrote his parents, who would
nave liked to help him. but who were
waiting lonesomely for him to send
word that he could help them, that
charged. and got another place. and
was laid off. and got another. and
another, until finally he was blue
as any one could be. That was when
he answered an advertisement to clerk
III a small grocery store for his board
and So a week. He was radiantly happy
when the old white-whiskered owner
picked him out of ten applicants. Hts
board was included! Eight dollars so far
hadn't included a satisfying amount of
board.
That night for the first time in weeks
he thought of Elsie with some degree
of satisfaction. Before she had been a
rehabilitation. He wrote more glowing
letter than the circumstances justified;
but he persuaded himself that it wouldn't
he more than a year till he was taken
into partnership.
Sometimes we get more than we are
expecting in this world. Fred did. He
had expected enough to eat. in mod
crately cheerful family. He found that
Marjorie Wense, the daughter and house
keeper of the white-whiskered owner,
was a dainty cook and charming little
girl. She was not pretty. He realized
that her brown hair and pleasant blue
eyes had nothing in common with Elsie's
beauty. But he liked her and liked his
employer. And in very short time he
was feeling SO much at home that II
anything had happened to dislodge him
ne would have been Mortified with grief
Still, he always thought of Elsie and
he kept her picture on his dresser, and