The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-12-26
They Are Often Home Makers
to the Topeka Homeless
As Well rs Mothers to the
MOtherless Here.
TYPES At BOARDING HOUSES
Early Risers, widows, Cranks,
JOkers. Love Sick Ones, Etc.
The Average Landlady Has
Them All With Her.

IN every city of any size in the coun-
try there are hundreds OF women VINO
are home makers for the homeless ana
mothers to the motherless. Tnls Is
e-pecially true in Topeka where nun
dreds of Santa Fe employees, college
students and men and women IN other
walks of life come from afar to seek
employment and make their homes in
boarding houses.
All OF these are fed and cared for
sometimes tenderly cared for-Dy
women who often do much more imam
the 81 or IS per week they receive cans
for. These women are the landlaoies
wl.oso board and room signs greet the
passerby on nearly every street In the
city.
And il the truth were known, much
Of the success Of the boarders ana
many of the things making life worth
while until success is attained come
unsolicited from the woman VINO
punches your ticket at meal time ana
who, between times while Worryln.
about what the boarders will like,
lets her thoughts stray out 10 the III
terest Of her little family"
A Typical Boarding House.
In a typical boarding house the life
Of a landlady is made up OF many
things besides the sampling OF tasty
foods and the collecting Of the per
week board bills.
vet day" For there is Mr.. Jones who
works at the shops and must have his
breakfast early. and his noon luncn
packed for him to take with him
whether the landlady feels like getting
up or not.
Maybe she has been kept awake the
night before by late returning board
ers. Maybe she has a headache or IS
not feeling very well in other ways.
But no matter. Jones must be at ms
work on time. Then. too. maybe she
has spent part of the night caring FOR
a sick roomer-for a true mother is a
mother to every one, and the average
landlady has children of her own ana
in the rush of her continuous toll the
thought filters through her mind that
things for her own boy who may be
in distant city.
The early breakfast disposed Of
there is likely to be a Mr.. Smith who
clerks and who is most particular
about his food. His own especial
chair and place must be kept for him,
and woe to the bOarder who dareS to
usurp them, His paper must be laid
at a certain angle and certain spot by
his plate or he will lose his appetite
and likewise his temper. Then there
is Miss Johnston, the steno. who has
worked late the night before and
doesn't "feel at all WE'LL" and who
must be looked after. But Miss
Johnston is appreciative and tells the
landlady she is so kind when the
thoughtful woman hastily gets up
some tempting dainty for "Dearie."
The Love Sick Ones.
And then comes the love-sick cou-
pie. Not for the world would the
sympathetic woman separate them so
far that they cannot hold hands under
the table cloth. And likely as she CO.
verify watches them from a crack of
the kitchen door, she signs and thinks
of her own dear old long ago, when
she was young and never dreamed
that she would keep boarders for a
living. Like other human beings,
doubtless the average landlady is
much given to bluffing a little. lying
a little-in public-and crying a little
and signing a great deal-in private.
Any way. she is usually "all things
to all people," There is the boarding
table comedian at whose jokes she
laughs whether they be funny or not.
II his early morning humor and ag-
gravating cheerfulness Jars, she does
almost always at a boarding house the
widow-grass or natural-who has q
sad past" 1t is she who daily pours
out her troubles to the long hearing
and long suffering landlady. 1t il she
who tells her Of her hatred for men
and her filtration with the newest
boarder who seems such a nice young
man."
BY the time the G. w. or the N. w
has dawdled through her breakfast, all
the others have eaten and gone. And
among them Of course is the one who
gulps his meal, the one who Fletcher
lies TO the Nth degree. the one who
says that this board is Citing bum
mer' every day. 1 won't stand for it,
the practical joker who is always put
ting salt in the old maids coffee-whc
often is a man hater in talk, but really
has the kindest Of hearts-and OF
course there is the dreamer whom the
landlady encourages as he confides his
IDEAS OF stories or inventions.
And Others, Too.
And there are the homeless, discon-
ISOLATE ones, to whom the landlady II
mother. Likely as not, she doesn't
realize it. but who knows what desper.
ate act she saves him from in thu
CHASTITY loneliness OF Saturday night'i
inconsistencies for the home that is M
inorer
This is just a tribute to our land.
ladies. they who rejoice with thos,
who do rejoice. and weep with those
who weep" Here's to the landladies-
God bless them.
Rcadjustment.
business is readjustins itself, bu
alonE new lines
How So"