The Washington herald., 1917-02-04
TYPES
Value VS.. Cost.
BY SARA MOORE,

ooliudy HlBht silt SOtAAS''
murmured the red-headed maid" An
alwuz JUS as friendly as that"
Real ladies amt never friendly,
observed the sleek haired girl, tying
together pair of carriage boots and
hanging them on a hook with a white
ermine scarf.
You can't tell by her meanness jus
how real lady is" shifted the Titan
beauty. 'Of course, the real ones
mostly has way of treatin' a girl as
II she was a piece of thin air. An
some that is richer than they are real.
sort of act as il everything that's
wrong with the world is a poor. hard
workin' maids fault But this Satiday
nighter-I can't dope her out"
Huh. she's probably one of those
birds in gilded cage" sneered the
brunette. She had been attached to
the cloak room only two weeks. The
cloak room was attached to a popular
cabaret. Already the worm of cynicism
had eaten into her 1S-year-old soul
until her trust in human kind was
as full of holes as Swiss cheese.
The red-headed one, during the six
months she had checked coats and
scarfs and furs for jeweled patrons.
had grown more kindly in her judg-
ments. Besides. she rad once worked
for a fashionable woman's club and
ndu ItdSOn 10 suspect lHdl tht
colonel's lady and Judy O'grady were
sisters under their makeup. She was
given to saying that this here Kip
ling person needn't have bothered TO
go any deeper than talcum.
NO. She's all right" insisted the
older girl. Gave her real name
once, when she asked me to send up
muff that she had forgotten to call
for the night before. An she has
plenty of money-but-she's sure
awful friendly to us girls. Not that
the only women that gets confidential
in the cloak rooms is women that only
servants associate with
In the rush of arrivals they forgot
to speculate further. Twice during
the evening the pretty object of their
interest came into the room for re-
pairs. Once it was to have n bit of
net stitched together-it had been
torn in the dancing crowd that swirled
and pushed and hoped about in a
space between the tables. Once it
, was to have her nose and chin re-
stored to a sufficiently powdered state.
The third time she came through the
curtains the maids saw that she was
staggering. They got her into a big
chair and wheeled it close to an open
window. No other patrons fingered in
the place. because the sensuous
rhythm of the music indicated that
the Hula Hula dancers were about to
perform.
her nostrils. The other ran for a
preparation of spirits of ammonia,
Both worked silently. without fuss
without words. Cloak-room maids are
trained to emergencies of this sort.
/ After a while the woman smiled
weakly and pushed the smelling salts
away.
I'm all right. girls" she said. Il
haven't been drinking. 1t was just the
heat and the crowded dance floor. 1
knew that hating this place would make
me too sick to stand it-sOme night"
The girls looked at her curiously. One
was refastening her opened dress. The
| other was bringing hairpins and a hand
glass and a comb.
"But-you come every Saturday" muir
INJURED the older girl.
"Oh yes. And-I'll just-just keep on
coming" murmured the other. bitterly.
Then she went back into the dining
room and was lost in the mist of cigarette
smoke, the odors of food and wines and
heavy perfume and the maddening music
| thrcbbing that marked the newest
animalistic dance.
That night the little maid wrapped the
woman into the ermine scarf with some
thing of pity and envy-pity for her
languor and envy for her beauty and her
furs and jewels and lace.
AS she knelt to tie on the carriage
boots she looked up at the lovely lady
with admiration that was like the wor-
ship of little girl.
''fou-are so pretty-and your things
are so lovely she said wistfully; then
daringly. Everything you have is so
just right for you. All your furs and
your pretty dresses look as if they cost
an awful lot
Quizically. the beauty looked down, then
she laughed
They are costly. You don't know how
costly" she smiled. But l am going
to show you. Come here, to the door.
Do you see that man, standing near the
entrance? No. the short. greasy one with
the greedy eyes and lips and the figure
like Humpty Dumpty? Well, take good
look at him and you'll understand more
about the high cost of luxures. They are
high. They are bitterly costly. You
see-he gives them to me. He's my
husband"
(Copyright 1917