The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-03-26
The Ways
Of Alice

I'm distressed half to death about
her." sighed Mrs.. Clinton. She
glanced out OF the window ct her
daughter, who was seated on the front
porch deeply engrossed In . book. Il
never was interested In books 70 the
exclusion Of everything else, and
can't see why my daughter should b..
And for = girl not to care anything
about her trousseau 10 positively ab-
normal"
Mrs. Chnton's pretty face quivered
with mental agony. Alice doesn't
care bit whether she has any clothes
or not" she declared. bitterly. when
I told her that she simply must decide
on her wedding gown she Just looked
up at me with a dreamy. far-away OF.
preston and said: Why must | have
wedding gown? Why can't Frederick
and just 90 down to the chapel some
day when We get ready and be mar
ried without any fuss?'
Did you ever hear Of anything 20
preposterousf Why, / was simply out
Of my mind for weeks before was
married. thought Of nothing but my
clothes. struggled with them all day
and dreamed Of them all night, and
that's the normal. natural way for .
girl to feel"
Mrs. Henderson, aunt Of the repre-
hsusible Alice. laughed. why don't
you let Alice do A. she pleasss?" she
inquired.
Mrs. Clinton frownsd. Now. l sup
pose you're going to take her part"
she said. But 1t isn't q particle Of
use. She's the only daughter l have,
% this 10 the only wedding ! shall
ever have in my own family. and |
am determined to get some fun out Of
II. You won't believe me-" barking
back to her grievance. but the other
day when asked her she'd like to
have you 90 with VI to select her we'd
ding gown she looked more interested
than I'd seen her for weeks. That
would be lovely she said. But do
| you think there's any necessity for my
going? Why don't you and Aunt
Florence 90 by yourselves!' l could
have spanked her"
A few days later. ~ they left the
stati0ner's shop. after ordering the in
| vitations and announcements, with
Alice presumably somewhere in their
rear. Mrs. Clinton said in a tone Of
satisfaction to Mrs. Henderson,: Nov
We can devote the rest Of the morning
to the wedding gown.
SHOW US some Of your bridal satin,
please" she said to the clerk . few
minutes later. That's an exquisite
piece" she continued. as he held up
the soft. shimmering fabric which fell
In graceful folds over his arm.
1T Is beautiful, isn't IT." said Mrs.
Henderson. And It certainly IL rea-
sonabls. doubt II you could do any
better"
1T IL pretty" said Mrs. Clinton re-.
hectively. but, Of course. I'm not
going to take the first thing l see"
The clerk displayed bolt after bolt
Of material and was rewarded at the
end Of his labors BY hearing Mrs.
Clinton say: Thank you very much.
Now wen 90 and look at some Of the
lighter materials.
81 haven't quite decided what the
bridesmaids ought to wear" she re-
marked . short time after. - she and
her sister examined piles Of soft. DELI
cate chifons and fairylike silk mus
tins. IT they wear chiffon. don't
want Alice to. Of course. and think
champagne chiffon or yelling over
messaline would BE- lovely for the
maids, but intend to decide positively
before anything IL said to them.
Now, we'll 90 to Blanks and look. y
she said oomplacently. when they had
examined every possible material in
the nrst shop. I'm going to 80
everything before I decide"
Some time later. after they had vis-
tied every possible depository Of wed.
ding gown material and had examined
/ - many things that they could hardly
have distinguished brocaAs from
chessseloth, with tired faces and dis
hsvslsd locks. they returned to the
FIRST shop and bought the piece Of satin
which they Aad FIRST looked at when
n had been cut OF Mrs. Clinton hsavsd
. sigh Of relief.
"Now," she said. Alice, you must
90 right up to madame's and let her
take your measurements. There's no
time to ~ wasted. for drsssmakers
are 20 provokingly SLOW"
She paused . moment. but recsiv-
ing no response, she inquired: Don't
you think It's lovely, childi"
There was still no answer. Turn
ing. she found that she had been i'd
dressing the empty air. There was
no Alice anywhere near She looked
ct Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Hender-
son looked At her. Then the two
gasped In unison. Alice was distinctly
not present.
Feverishly they retraeed their steps
~ nearly as possible to every shop
and every counter In every shop which
they had visited. Neither Of them
could remember when they had last
seen the prospective bride.
Finally. as q last resort, they re-
| turned to the booksellers shop where
they had ordered the announcements
There. tucked up in q corner. so deep
" engrossed in her book that she was
unaware Of their presence until they
had stood. speechless. IN front OF her
! for several seconds. sat the unregen.
| crate Alice. She greeted them with
the sweetest OF smiles.
| Did you get the dress?' she asked.