Putnam patriot., 1915-07-09
ROAST BEEF, MEDIUM
4 Business AdOenture of Emma McChesney

By EDNA FERBER


goes but girls of sixteen, and con- firmed old maids without brothers, and travelling men s wives. Matineei Say, would you ever hesitate to choose be- tween an all-day train and sleeper? It's the same idea. What a woman calls going to the theater is something very different. It means taking a nap in the afternoon, so her eyes will be bright at night, and then starting at about five o'clock to dress, and lay her husbands clean things out on the bed. She loves it She even enjoys getting his bath towels ready and put ting his shaving things where he can lay his hands on em. and telling the girl to have dinner ready promptly at six-thirty. It means getting out her good dress that hangs in the closet with a cretonne bag covering 1t, and her black satin coat, and her hat with the paradise aigrettes that she bought with what she saved out of the house keeping money. It means her best silk stockings, and her diamond sunburst that he's going to have made over into DuSlu6SS is better. She loves it all, and her cheeks get pinker and pinker, so that she really doesn't need the little dash of rouge that she puts on because everybody does it, don't you know?' She gets ready, all but her dress, and then she puts on kimono and slips out to the kitchen to make the gravy far. fha rbiolxap baNa11sa ba Oi Il rauea,. can get it as smooth as he likes it. That's part Of what she calls going to the theater, and having a husband. And if there are children"
 There came a little, inartieulate sound from the boy. But Emma quick ear caught it.
 No? We'll, then, we'll call that one black mark less for you. But if there are children-and for her sake I hope there will be-shes father and mother to them. She brings them up single handed, while he's on the road. And the worst she can do is to say to them, Just wait until your father gets home. He'll hear of this But shucks! Wbea he comes home he cant whip the kids for what they did seven weeks before, and that they've forgotten all about, and for what he never saw. and cant imagine Besides, he wants his com fort when he gets home. He says he wants little rest and peace, and he's alarmed # he's going to run around eve nings Not much. he isn't! But he doesn't object to her making special effort 10 cook all those little things that he's been longing for on the road Oh, thera'll be seat in heaven for every travelling mans gife-though at that, III bet most of 'em will find themselves stuck behind q post
 You're all right" exclaimed Emma McChesney's listener, suddenly How g woman like you can waste her time on the road is lznore than l can see. And-I want to thank you. I'm not st oh fooi--"
 haven't let you finish a sentence SC far, and I'm not going to yet. Wait a minute There's one more para graph to thls sermon. Ton remem- Der what I told you about old stagers, and the roast beef diet? Well, that apphes right through life It's all very well1o trifie with the little side dishes at fiut, but there comes time when you've got to quit fooling with the minced chicken and the imitation lamb chops of this world, and settle down to plain, everyday roast beef, medium. That other stuff may tickle your pal ate for while, bat sooner or later it will turn son you, and ruin your moral digeAtion. You stick to roast beet. me- dium. It Innay sound prosaic, and un- imaginative and dr7, but you'll ind that it wears in the long TUE. You can take ne over to the hotel now. I've lost an hours sleep, 5ut l don't con sider it wasted And You'll deblige ne by putting the stopper an any conver- sasion that may occur to you between here and the hotel. I've talked until I'm so low on words that HI probably have to sell featherlooms an sign Ian guage tomorroB.
 They walked to the very doors of I the Berger house in silence. But at ] the foot of the stairs that led to the 1