Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1915-04-28

Copyright 1916 by the Mcclure Newspaper syndcate


basin and hung about the room.
Then came the dreaded task of
washing her hair, which was clinging
and sticky from the sea air. On the
wall by the telephone was the sign:
Ladies' hair dressing parlor on first
boor. Shampooing four shillings;
facial massage, five shillings; mani.
curing, two shillings.
But much as Helen hated to wash
her own hair, she felt that she should
not spend four shillings to have 1t
done.
In her own bedroom, with the spray
and every convenience, it was hard
enough, but here, without even run.
ming water, she found it a torturous
process.
Every time she changed the water
she feared the heavy bowl would slip
from her soapy hands. When they
were here before Warren had dropped
one on the slop jar. She still had
visions of that crashing catastrophe
STOPPING over always made her
head ache, and when she Strengthened
up from the final rinsing water, she
was sick and dizzy
The mirror reflected her pale face
and dripping, stringy hair. Why did
the English invariably place the
dresser in front of the window? The
glaring light from the unshaded up
per sash would make anyone look
hideous.
With a sudden resentful strength
she showed the dresser from before
the window, topping over a bottle of
toilet water. She could have cried
with sheer irritability.
1t was not often that Helen gave
way to a temper, but now her eyes
filed with angry tears. Her head
throbbed-she was wretched!
That her first day in London
should be spent like this! All the
way over she had wondered what
changes the war had made in the
streets and shops. She had planned
her first excursion through Piccadilly
and up oxford street
And now she had wasted the morn
ing fussing over her clothes and hair.
She had given herself a sick head
ache and spoiled the whole day
A wad of paper lay on the rug be-
fore her. 1t had served as wedge
to tip forward the mirror, and had
dropped out when she moved the
dresser. AS she picked it up to re-
place it, she caught the headlines:
Reads her husbands name among
those killed, then wanders through
streets insane
Mrs. w. F. Edwards of AZ Bucking-
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 off. With a rush
there came to Helen the realization
of her own petty irritability. Her
eyes were still wet with temperish
tears. She had worked herself up
over what?
How much she hadi 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
if only their husbands were home at
| seven!
From outside came the sudden JAM
Cling notes of 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 wet 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 a
shilling, but she threw it down. She
had saved four shillings by washing
her hair-and perhaps this old wonl-
an had husband in the war!
AS she stepped back through the
window it dawned upon her that the
woman's husband, if she had one,
would be too old for the war. She
waG merely a professional organ grind
era foreign one, too, and the flag
draped organ was but a clever ap.
peal.
Helen's eyes met their amused re-
| Election in the mirror. How foolish
ly emotional she wasl
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 torn
newspaper item. And now
Impatiently she shook back her
hair. She would stop dissecting her
emotions and waste no more of the
day. 1t 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.