The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-10-14
EVENING STORY
A Modern Dante.
(By Jean trimmings.

When Paul came home from col
lege, he discovered a lamentable fact
his home town and the home peo-
pie were deplorap1y behind the times.
Their outlook was so narrow. The
mighty problems of the day interested
them SO little and there seemed no
one with whom he might discuss the
things he had learned
In his greed for knowledge, Paul
had somehow missed grasping the
simple, wholesome little grain of
truth that could 1eaven the whole
lump of learning into a useful posses
sion-the realization of how pitifully
little Of all there was to know any one
atom of humanity could ever hope to
discover.
His elders smiled indulgently, know
ing it was merely a stage of develop
ment thru which he must pass pres
emily to emerge with a much humber
and saner conception of his own inn
portance even in that small COM
munlty, but Elsa, who had learned to
love him when he was just a freckle-
faced farmer boy, grieved over him
sorely. While she could not help ad-
miring his improved appearance and
quired, she mourned the loss of the
dear, simple bOy-andgirl cOmrade-
ship that had been theirs before he
went away.
Circumstances had not offered her
the same advantages but Elsa: was no
dullard and her quick wit, persever-
ance and good practical course of
home study in spare hours, about
which she had said not a word to
any one, had given her also something
to show for the years they had been
separated. But somehow, in the pres
ence of the new Paul she felt so shv
and tongue tied that he in his con-
descending superiority saw only what
~ L.
pretty but commonplace little country
girl who blushed good deal and
seemed to find it difficult to discuss
even the weather and the changes
around town intelligently with him.
Paul had had uncomfortable misSiv-
ings whenever, during his college days,
he had remembered the childish
betrothal pact existing between them.
The cleverness and style of the girls
he had since met had gone far to dim
Elsas sweet lovableness. and now,
after seeing her again in her plain
little homemade gowns, he felt more
than ever that he had outgrown his
puppy love- as he called it tic himself.
He did not mean to be a snob. He
was just trying to be honest with him
self. Love would not be enough for
him now with his broadened outlook.
He felt the need of intellectual COM
partnership as well, he told himself.
Elsa kept out of, his way as much as
possible, too hurt and proud to try to
hold her own. She was an orphan and
PauPs invalid aunt. who was fond of
her, had taken her as sort of a COM
panion and to help with the Younger
children. PauPs home since his moth
er's death had also been with his aunt,
so he and Elsa could not avoid seeing
more or less of each other, but the old
tender intimacy was gone and neither
made any attempt to resume or to al
Jude to their former relations. 1t hurt
cruelty, but Elsa managed to assume
an admirable pretense of indifference.
One day. while busting the library.
she came across marked copy of a
| weekly journal in whose columns
readers were invited to discuss mat
tiers of scientific, instructive or general
interest. Along one margin were
pencilings in Paurs handwriting and
infolded inside was a half sheet which
she saw at glance was his written
opinion in answer to one of the cor
respondents. He had signed it, using
as a pen name. Dante" and Elsa
smiled rather wistfully as she saw it
was a discussion of the +ime-worn
topic. "Platonic Affection
She saw, too, with quick little sta b
of miserable jealousy, that his cor
| respondent was a girl calling herself
| Judith. Suddenly her face flushed
and a defiant CLEAN came into her
brown eyes.
''Alrs fair in love and war" she told
| herself, and deliberately, in spite of a
guilty shrinking, she read both the
printed letters and his written answer
| through. Then, with bent head and
| flying fingers, she, too, covered half a
sheet of note paper Once she stopped
to consult an encyclopedia on a nearby
shelf.
Paul's letter was printed the follow
ing week and the week after ar
answer to 1t from new writer was
published which gave rise to a spirited
debate between himself and his new
correspondent. 1t pleased his sense of
the fitness of things to note that she
signed herself Beatrice after the
| famous platonic friend of Dante
| Thereafter poor Judith went unread
and neglected, and there was never
an issue of the paper in which some
matter of mutual interest was not dis
cussed between Dante and his new
| found Beatrice.
| Presently. also, the sharpening of
wit against wit gave place to senti
ments that favored of other than the
strictly platonic. Paul was completely
carried away with this girl with
| mind so in tune with his own
IT don't care what she looks like"
he told himself. ct is her inner self
that matters 1 must meet her some
| way. She is the girl for me-
Feeling in honor bound, h went to
Elsa before letting the matter go
farther, and awkwardly asked to be
released from any mistaken under
standing that might exist from the old
| days.
| Her all-too-ready acquiescence did
not flatter his vanity. She, too, had
given her heart elsewhere, she told
him, with a beautiful, quick color in
| her cheeks and n happy light in her
eyes. He was surprised to notice how
lovely girl she was growing to be:
also that her dainty silk blouse and
| tailored skirt had a chic smartness
that was new to the old Elsa and was
! immensely becoming. A sudden I'm
reasonable pang IF regret went thru
mis- heart at having relinquished his
hitherto undervalued right of way.
| Perhaps it was the forgotten dimple
at the corner of her mouth that re-