Omaha daily bee., 1916-02-29
By ADA PATTERSON.

They should have been called Sun
shine and Tempest and would so chris
ten them were 1t not that a pair of bon
ME young dancers, one dark-haired, the
other fair. appropriated that title.
Both are between 90 and 20 years old.
Both are working women. The last sum
mons will doubtless find them both at
their work, and warrant each pursu-
ing their lifetime habit. Sunshine viii
be smiling. Tempest will be grumbling.
The grumbler seems TO have little
the best OF 1t. She is handsomer. health
Ter. has a larger circle Of friends. Ma
ture was kinder to her than TO the
other. Her vanity is soothed by the re-
marks she hears on the street. What a
fine looking womsn!" How well pre-
served" What lovely hair That is
ambrosia to her. The other woman never
heard such remarks about herself. No
one ever said It of her. Even the man
who married her could not have said It
and kept his self-respect and his reputa-
ton for veracity In his neighborhood.
The first time / saw her thought
had never seen so ugly a woman. She
was little and brown and weakened. and
some one said of her that she looked
like a monkey. but acted as a squirrel
does. But years have flown since then
and wonder how could ever have had
such thoughts about her. Now she is
one of the most pleasant sights I'm all OF
beauty loving and beauty showing New
York to me. while the woman I and
everyone else had thought handsome has
grown palmer and palmer TO our sight.
The difference between them Is more
inward than outward. 1t Is In their
habit Of thought. One groans because
her lot has been that OF q working
woman. The other thinks Il a blessing
vouchsafed by her Maker that she was
endowed with the strength and ability
to earn her living. She rejoices that she
was not a dependent. One accepts the
bounty of rich friends and bitterly COM
plains because she has not as much OF
comfort, as much OF luxury as they.
The other has rich friends and patrons
too. and she giows with the pleasure OF
her brief business visits TO their homes
at their kind words, at their interest In
| her.
Both are widows. Both had two chill.
dren. Death made them both childless
One laments that she is alone. The
other talks with Frightening eyes OF the
happiness her loved ones gave her while
they lived and when she returns from
a visit to their graves she smiles as she
tells how we'll the sexton cares for ths
graves. and how beautiful are the flow
ers that grow above them. One com
plains that life is hard. The other ad
mits that so It has been. but she she II
grateful that her last days are days OF
quiet content. One scolds because she
has TO mingle with the crowds in hel
daily work. The other says they are 81
interesting One has a dropping spine
the other an upright one. They know
each other. these strangely unlikl
women. They are friends. asked th'
smiler why she could not infuse SOM
Of her own blessed cheerfulness into tn,
other She answered in her chirpy lit
tie voice:
''T try. But / can't do much. No on
can do much now. You can make lif'
harder for yourself. or you can make 1
pleasanter. It's a habit and you hav
10 form the habit while you're young.
The end Is not far off for both. II q
not their years that tell us that. Year