The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-03-22
EVENING STORY
Jenny Comes Back.
(By Osborn Jones.

| in plenty and it would come again.
But the wedding was but ten days off
and there were more important Things
to do than to pass the time in lovers
| dreams. There were time tables to
| consult, there was furniture to buy
| and there were trunks to pack. And
all this had to be done after 5 o'clock
at night, for Jane as well as Samuel
| believed in sticking to work till the
We y eve of the wedding
Samuel and Jane had been boy ana
| girl together back at Blair'S Corners,
and Sam -el always assured Jane, and
no doubt believed himself that way
| back in the days when he used to pun
| her braids of auburn hair and trade
| chestnuts that she could not climb to
get for apples from her uncle's or
| chard he had been in love with her.
| He liked to think about it way
as a long secret romance. She was his
saint, to whom he had dedicated all
his sentiment from childhood And
| even if Jane did smile a little as ne
| m de these protestations to her, and
| tho she did recall the raven-dressed
Nell and the cherub-faced Molly that
| had come and gone in those country
school days, she was cons1derate
| enough not to mention them
But she knew that the first time
| Samuel really accepted her as the
saint who should occupy the niche IN
| the shrine of his heart was after she
| had come to the city. He had come
| cityward because B1air'S corners old
| n 1t seem to afford him opportunity
for the making of a living, and when
James uncle and guardian mad dleo
she, forgetting Samuel for the ume'
also came to the city, dug up cousin
for a chaperon and found position
as a stenographer. The fact that Iate
led her to find her first employment
with the concern for which Samuei
worked was the real crux of the mat
ter And the fact that she came Just
at the time when Samuel was most
homesick, made him greet with espe-
cial warmth the girl that hled from
the Corners"
first went to work, and so there had
been leisure enough in the unfolding
of the romance and time enough Tor
the deliberate feathering OF the nest
in the shape of a small uptown apart
ment, They had just picked out the
dining room set, and they sat shop
weary in the concourse OF the pig de-
partment store while Jane checked OF
from her methodfcal little list the
items that they had bought AS she
checked her eyes noticed those OF
Samuel following the little figure and
exquisite plumage of little city bird
that strutted by them in the crowd.
Striking girl. isn't she?" suggested
Jane. 1t was James way to refuse to
let Samuel suspect her of jealousy.
striking yes agreed Samuel, a |
bit annoyed with himself and just
trifle piqued that Jane should willing |
ly see his eyes follow another woman.
He didn't at all see thru James meth
DDS. Striking little girl, yes; but
not the sort of woman a man wants to
marry"
why, Samuel, she looks perfectly
respectable, I'm sure. 1 don't see why
a man shouldn't marry the kind of
woman he admires. Most men do
You don't understand Often Sam
uel liked to assume a much deeper and
more intricate knowledge of human
nature than Jane could have. You
see a man of my temperament may
admire that sort of a girl in one way,
but he knows that it is the quiet lit
tie country mouse, that most men
don't notice in a crowd, that will
make him the best wife,
Jane didn't in the least admire be-
ing called country mouse, especially
as she had rather extrava gantly in
vested in a new hat and suit that
were the quintescence of city sophis-
tication. Besides, Jane knew that
men did notice her. She liked to be
noticed and she knew that Samuel
enjoyed seeing other men admire her.
But Samuel went on:
It's always been the memory of
the little Jenny I used to know and
the fact that you are still that little
Jenny that has made me think of
you even when those other women
may have attracted my passing no.
tice.'
Jane especially hated to be called
Jenny. In the city she was Jane, and
she frankly liked the city better than
the country. And that reminds me-
Samuel went on, after we are mar
ried 1 am going to ask you to be more
like that little Jennie and less like the
Jane of the city. 1 am going to like
to see you dressed in the simple frocks
you used 20 wear, with your hair
parted neatly, and no cosmetics but
pure fresh water. To feel that such a
wife is waiting for me at home will
be greater happiness than to think of
a gayly decked city bird of paradise. |
Even if I do watch them, as no man
can help doing, 1 shall always have
my heart with the little country
mouse Samuel looked at the hat
that Jane was wearing. "And after
we are married I am going to go shop
ping with you and choose the sort of
things you are to wear That hat does
not exactly suit your type, dear. I can
imagine a little floppy hat, such as
you used to wear, as being much more
suitable for my little Jenny
Jane laughed. And / can imagine
my dear little Sammy in the dear old
overallS as he used to wear them when
he did chores back in the Corners
and I'm going to have the barber part |
his hair in the middle and plaster it
down the way it used to be in Deacon |
Jones's Bible class" Jane laughed
and then in a tone more to SamuePs |
liking she added: 81 know what you
mean, and if you really want me to be
Jenny, why of course / SHALL
1t was when Jane reached her
cousins and before she had put aside |
the new sophisticated hat Samuel had
reached her on the telephone. "A big
buyer from San Francisco has just
come,'' he told her Doll up and do
your worst. He's going to meet me at |
at the Palma and 1 thought between
you and the cabaret show we could |
land some pretty big orders. OF course,
I'll tell him we are engaged-that will
explain why you are with me. But a
girl like you can handle a man like
that better than I can. So doll up to