The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1915-07-06


Ing, In going over her cIornaa wnrrn
needed attention after the week ~
the steamer There was a button OF
her shoe. rip in too narrow skirt.
and spot on Warren's dinner coat
Then she made a list OF the solled
Clothes for the laundry. She would
took mp one outside. hotel lanndrfae
toiiet water she conI0 nave crlen
with sheer irrftabflity.
Ii was not often that Helen gave
way to a temper. but now her eyes
filled with angry tears Her head
thrObbed-she was wrefched.
That her first day in London
should be spent like thisi All the
way over she had wondered what
changes the war had made I'm the
streets and shops. She had planned
her first excursion through PiccadiIIy
and up Oxford street.
And now she had wasted the morn
Ing fussing over her clothes and hair.
She had given herself q sick head
ache and spoiled the whole day.
wad OF paper lay on the rug be-
fore her. II had served as a wedge
to tip forward the mirror. and had
s-o11cd out when she moved the
dresser. AS she picked It up to re-
place it. she caught tina headlines:
Reads her husbands name among
those killed. then wanders through
streets insane
Mrs w +. Edwards OF AZ Buckfng-
ham road. was found wandering the
streets in a pitiable condition Her
husband. lieutenant in the Third
lancers. was killed at the siege Of
The rest was torn on With a rush
there came to Helen the realization
OF her own petty irritability. Her
eyes we're still wet with temperish
tears She had worked herself up
over what?
How much she hadl How deeply
grateful she ought TO be-if only be-
cause Warren was coming back to
her at sevenl She thought OF this
woman, OF the countless women. TO
whom seven o'clock was now an hour
OF anguish How insignificant all
other worries would seem to them
IL only their husbands were home at
seveni
From outside came the sudden jan
Cling notes OF a hurdy-gurdy. The air
was God Save the King" Helen
looked down to the street below where
a weatherbeaten old woman was grind
ing out the tune from an organ draped
with an English flag.
Unmindful OF her vet hair. Helen
caught up her purse and stepped out
on the narrow balcony. The woman,
who kept an appraising upward glance
on the windows, saw her and hopefully
held out her apron
Helen had nothing smaller than q
shilling, but she threw IT down She
had saved four shfIlings by washing
her hair-and perhaps this old wom-
an had husband in the war.
AS she stepped back through, the
window ii dawned upon her that the
woman's husband, II she had one.
would be too old for the war. She
wa merely a professional organ grind
era foreign one. too. and the flag
draped organ was but n clever ap-
peal
Helen's eyes met their amused re-
Election in the mirror. How foolish
~ euotional she was.
A few moments before she had been
wretched because she had seen her
self with struggling hair in an unbe-
coming light Then she had been
swept TO an emotional height by a torn
newspaper item And now
Impatiently she shook back her
hair. She would stop dissectfng her
emotions and waste no more or the
day. II was Just two. her hair was
almost dry, her headache better. She
would still have time to see some
thing OF the London streets and shops
before seven.