Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-31
THE DAILY STORY.
PEACE CONGRESS.
Copyright. 1914. by W. werner1


so to the meeting of the Womans Club.
She had been a member for whole year
and had not missed more than one meet
| ing. and that the last. Each meeting
was an event. the event of that partiCu-
| lar portion of her colorless life. and
| Harriet gave it great thought and prep
aration. She had put on her second best
| dress. a dyed and ,nade-over dress, but
stylish enough for ordinary occasions, she
! considered, and her best coat and her
new hat. which had a pink rose upon it
| Harret's hat was an extravaganza, but
she felt that her position in the WON
ans Club warranted it. She wished to
look nice as other people and she be
| lieved she did.
| The Woman's Club had completely met
| amorphosed life for Harriet Bailey. She
| had been snatched UP by it just i'll time
| to save her from the despair of a long
| monotonous wedlock with husband too
| old for her. very stingy and addicted to
| home and his pipe. She had been enticed
| into new interests, new conception of
| her own being and usefulness. and had
seen a horizon wider than any she had
| ever dreamed of. \ year had changed
her. indeed. beyond her own believing
How much it had changed her may he
perceived by the fact that she had
dared ask her Andy for new hat
straight through. That she had got the
hat was proof absolute of her new power
to command.
1t was the first time Harriet had worn
the hat, and she stood before her bureau
upon which she had placed a Kerosene
lamp. prinkng to her hearts content.
A box of cheap talcum among her
toilet furnishings was responsible for
the unusual wilderness of her nose. Har-
riet was a very Good-looking woman of
the thin. delicate, dark eyed type. and she
looked particularly well as revealed in
the depths of her old glass
When at last there seemed nothing
more that she could do to herself she
blew out the light, lifted the shade and
raised the window. In doing so she saw
what was going on in the next house
not twenty feet away. The woman who
lived in that house was putting on her
hat before her bureau and making some
thing of cernony of it, too.
Now. If there was ono person whom
Harriet despised above all others it was
her neXt-door neighbor this same LILY
Strait. Lily was young and giddy and
she was married to man who earned
considerable money and allowed her to
enjoy it as she would. Lily had pink
roses whenever she wanted them, and
she wanted them frequently. Harriet had
had one in the course of her whole life.
To Harriet's mind there was one definite
difference between Andy and Harold
Strait-Andy was not generous enough
and Harold was too generous. Yet in
her heart she envied Lily her freedom
to acquire and enjoy. Outwardly she
despised her as n frivolous. meaningless
trife. Even Lily's youth was no excuse
for her Had not Harriet been young and
at the same time serious? Harriet felt,
moreover. that her hard life of subjec-
to
the Womans Club. Even If Harriet's
whole life had taught her but one thing.
that one thing stood her in good stead
now. for she had learned the precious
ness of money and the frugal handling
of it that she might act upon the finance
committee acceptably to her compeers
and with credit to herself. 1t would take
the flight of a more agile fancy than
Harriet's to imagine Lily Strait in such a
position and this knowledge lifted her
to vast heights above her childish little
neghbor.
Lily had never been asked to join
the Woman's Club but it was evident
that she was going somewhere now
at the same time Harriet was. But.
then. Lily was always on the wing. and
there was the moving picture theater
calling constantly to such as she. Har-
riet had never seen a moving picture.
and she scorned Lily's habit of constant
portance, and with new-found assurance
she went out of her room to kiss Andy
goodbye and hasten to her meeting.
Andy was reading and smoking. He
merely grunted she touched her lips
dutifully to his faded forehead. But
by the time she had reached the door
he glanced at her. What time you be
back, old woman he demanded.
Harriet flushed at that. Andy always
called her old woman, as if she were
one. She wondered sometimes if he
would not have liked her to be older
than she was-as old as he was, in fact
Il don't know when II be back. dear,
she replied. I'm come as soon as
can.
Andy grunted again. And Harriet went
out into the glimmering night. Some
body came out of the Strait house and
followed close behind her. She knew
it was Lily. She hurried faster and still
faster. but Lily always was just behind.
When she came to the moving picture
theater she felt certain that she would
lose Lily. Contrary to her expectations.
Lily. instead of going in. kept at her
heels. Harriet turned in at last to the
stairway that led to her rooms where
the Woman's Club convened. She looked
over her shoulder. but Lily was lost to
view.
Just for a moment Harriet had had
the fear that Lily was coming in there
and she felt relieved. At the head of
the stairs some Of the members spoke
to her. And in a moment she had for
gotten all about Lily.
The meeting opened auspciously.
Harriet as chairman of the finance com
mittee read her report in trembling
voice and then sat down. glad that it
was over Other business was attended
to and then the president announced that
the candidates for initiation might be
admitted.
The door was opened and in walked
Lily Strait Harriet stared Al her I'M
believingly Yet it was Lily, and she
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