The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1917-06-22

4 them. / was always having dinner
\ with them--either out In Rogers Park,
| where they lived. or at queer, terrible
i little restaurants downtown. They
were always game to try anything once.
He's the longest, Ieanest, angularest,
Observation-Disclosures chap in the world.
And just about the best. And his wife
fits all his angles. She writes, too.
oh, you're sure to like theml They're
] going to be out here for months, he
says. He's going to specialize in
women and he's come back here where
! they get the vote, to make headquar-
tiers. It's great / haven't had real
talk with anybody since he went away,
over year ago."
Then, at the sound Of the bell, he
cried out: "There they are r. and
dashed down into the hall ahead of
/ the parlor maid, as eagerly as
schoolboy anticipating birthday pres
emit.
Rose followed more slowly, and by
the time she had reached the landing,
she found him slapping Barry on the
back and shaking both hands with
Jane and trying to help both of them
out Of their wraps at once.
When the greetings were over and
they were on the way upstairs again.
ne said II told Rose we weren't go
ing to dress. but she explained she
didn't put on this coronation robe for
you, but for treat for me before
telephoned, and hadn't time to change
back" 4
| And when Jane cried out, as they
entered the drawing room: "Good
heavens, Rodney, what house" he
answered: 1T isn't ours. We rented
1t for year In some sort of honey
moon delirium, guess. We don't live
up to 1t, of course. Nobody could but
the woman who built it."
The gaiety in his voice clouded a
! little as he said 1t, and his grin, for
moment, had q rueful twist. But
for moment only. Then his untem-
pered delight in the possession of his
old friends took him again.
They talked-heavens how they
talked 1t was like the breaking up
Of log jam. The two men would
rush along, side by side, in perfect
agreement for q while, catching each
others half-expressed ideas, and hurl-
ing them forward, and then suddenly
they'd meet, head on. In collision over
some fundamental difference Of opin-
ion, amid prismatic spray of epi-
gram. Jane kept up sort of obliga-
to to the show, inserting provocative
witticlsms here and there, sometimes
as Rodney's ally, sometimes as her
husbands, and Turing them. when she
could, into the quiet backwater of
metaphysics, where she was more
than match for the two of them.
But the main topic of the evening
got launched when Rodney seized the
advantage of a pause to say:
"A series of articles on women, Ell |
What are you going to do to them?"
With that the topic of feminism
was on the carpet and 1t was never
thereafter abandoned. After half an
hour OF 1t Jane turned to Rodney.
"But what do you think about it?"
she demanded. you've been grlnning
away there all this time without say
Ing word. Are you for it?"
"For whatT Rodney wanted to
know.
"For what women want" said Jane.
Economic independence - equality,
easy divorce-all the new stuff"
"rm not against it, Rodney said,
"any more than I'm against tomorrow
being Tuesday. It's going to be Tues
day whether / like 1t or not. But
that conviction keeps me from crusad-
ing for 1t very hard. What I'm curl
Gus about is how It's going to work
When they get what they want, dc
you suppose they're going to want
what they get3"
II knew there was something dead
ly about your grin" said Jane. "Whai
are you so cantankerous aboutT
"Why, the thing" said Rodney
shat sours my naturally sweet dis
position is this economic independ
! ence. I've been hearing 1t at dinner
tables all winter. When hear 4
woman with five hundred dollars
worth OF clothes on--well, NO, not OF
her back--and anything you like il
\ Jewelry, talking about economic indie
' pendence as If 1t We're something mic,
J. jam on the pantry shelf that we meI
were too greedy to let them have /
share off, have to put on the brakes
in order to stay on the rails.
S 1--WE men have to fight for economi
independence from the time we're TWEEN
u ty, more or less, till the time we die
o that's what economic independence is
How does that woman think she'd Sc
e about it, to make her professional
e services worth hundred dollars
day-or fifty, or ten? What's she go
g that has market value? What i
there that she can capitalize? She
,r got her physical charm, of course
and there are various profession