Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1914-05-30

hope that something sensational might
happen If they waited long enough
Motor after motor, carriage after
carriage, rolled up to the curb and
emptied its sober-faced, self-conscious
occupants in front of the door with
the great black bow; with each arrival
the crowd surged forward. and names
were uttered in undertones. passing
from lip to lip until every one In the
street knew that Mr.. So-and-So, Mrs.
This-or-That, the what-Do-You-Call-
Ems and others of the city's most ex-
elusive but most garishly advertised
society leaders had entered the house
of mourning. 1t was a great show for
the plebeian spectators. Much better
than Miss So-and-So's wedding. said
one woman who had attended the
aforesaid ceremony as a unit in the
well-dressed mob that almost wrecked
the carriages in the desire to see the
terrified bride. Better than a circus,
said a man who held his little daugh-
ter above the heads Of the crowd SO
that she might see the fine lady in a
wild-beast fur. SWEETEST funeral New
York ever had, remarked another, ex-
cepting one way back when he was
kid.
At the corner below stood two pa
troll wagons. also waiting.
Inside the house sat the carefully
selected guests, hushed and stiff and
gratified (Not because they were at
tending a funeral, but because the &C.
casion served to separate them from
the chair; they were the elect) 1t
would be going too far to intimate that
they were proud of themselves, but 1t
is not stretching it very much to say
u, -
able satisfaction and were glad that
they had not been left out. The real,
high-water mark In New York society
was established at this memorable
function. AS one after the other ar
| rived and was ushered into the huge
drawing groom, he or she was accorded
a congratulatory look from those al
ready assembled, a tribute returned
with equal amiability. Each one noted
who else was there, and each one said
to himself that at last they really had
something all to themselves. 1t was
truly a pleasure, a relief, to be able
to do something without being pushed
| about by people who didn't belong but
thought they did. They sat back
stiffly, of course-and in utter stiffness
confessed that there could be such a
| thing as the survival of the f1ttest.
Yes, there wasn't a nose there that
couldn't be counted with perfect Sc
| renity. 1t was a notable occasion.
MIS-. Wrandall, the elder, had made
| out the list. She did not consult her
daughter-in-law in the matter. 1t is
true that Sara forestalled her in a way
by sending word, through Leslie, that
she would be pleased If Mrs. Wrandall
would issue invitations to as many of
80 Ct H.
able. AS for herself she had no wish
in the matter; she would be satisfied
with whatever arrangements the fam
| lily cared to make.
1t is not to be supposed, from the
foregoing, that Mrs. Wrandall, the
elder, was not stricken to the heart
by the lamentable death of her idol.
He was her idol. He was her first
born, he was her 1ove-born. He came
to her in the days when she loved her
husband without much thought of re-
| speeding him. She was beginning to
regard him as something more than a
| lover when Leslie came, SO it was diff
| ferent. When their daughter Vivian
| was born, she was plainly annoyed but
wholly respectful. Mr.. Wrandall was
no longer the lover; heWas her lord
| and master. The head of the house of
Wrandan was a person to be looked
| up to, to be respected and admired by
| her, for he was very great man, but
| he was dear to her only because he
| was the father of Challis, the first
| born.
In the order of her nature, Challis
| therefore was her most dearly beloved.
Vivian the least desired and last in
her affections as well as in sequence.
Strangely enough, the three of them
perfected a curiously significant rec
ord of conjuga1 endowments. Challis
had always been the wild, hayward,
| unrestrained one, and by far the most
| lovable; Leslie, almost as good look
| ing but with scarcely a noticeable
/ trace of charm that made his brother
| attractive; Vivian, handsome, selfish
| and as cherries as the wind that
| blows across the icebergs in the north.
| Challis had been born with a widely
enveloping heart and an elastic con-
| science; Leslie with brain and a
soul and not much of heart, as things
go; Vivian with soul alone, which be
| longed to God, after all, and not to
| her OF course she had a heart, but 1t
| was only for the purpose of pumping
| blood to remote extremities, and had
/ nothing whatever to do with anything
/ so unutterably extraneous as love,
charity or self-sacrifice.
As for Mr.. Redmond Wrandal he