The Press., 1917-12-27

A man who has any imagination re-
 garding feminine psychology must al
 ways look with something like concern toward the first meeting of his mother
 and his wife--Or the woman whom he
 intends to make his wife. So when
 Blackstone Loomis' mother wrote to
 her son that she was coming to New
 York from her home In a middle Vest
 ern metropolis for short stay at a hO-
 tel of nationwide fame, he was not al-
 together sanguine in his anticipation
 of the meeting of these two women
 so important in his life. e.
 How would the housewifely and
 farm-bred mother regard the city and
 Ofice-brcd fiancee? At heart Black
 stone knew them to be much the same
 sort of women. He consOled himself
 In thinking that had his mothers eX-
 perience and training been identical
 with those of Margaret she, too, would
 have wanted the ballot. He also be-
 lieved sincerely that had Margaret
 been married from a farm, as had his
 mother at the age of eighteen, Mar
 
 about the housewifely tasks as was his mother.
 Would the elder woman be shocked at the younger? Would the young CT woman be amused by the elder? Had he been too lavish in his praises of these women to each other? He had not. perhaps, thought that they would meet sO soon. He had never dreamed that his mother would have the opportunity or the means to take the eastern trip so soon, or he might perhaps not have written so glOwingly of the girl to whom he was to be mar ried. He might have somehow pre- pared his mother for the fact that Margaret was sometimes a little too advanced and progressive in her views. It was several years since he had seen this mother of his and he had not had an opportunity to chat with her about Margaret and letters had perhaps given a too One-sided view of her.
 ''Whatever else happens" he told the girl On the eve of his mothers AkN-ttt'tA 1lEIAkuit uOlA ltl tue IitltttE know that you are a feminist" .c
 Blackstone had planned to make this request at the outset of his call on Margaret in her little uptown apart ment, where she kept quarters with two other young women who were em- ployed in downtown offices. But it hadn't been so easy as he. had eX- Dected, and the quick flash that came from Margaret's eyes made him realize that his miSgivings had not been ill., founded. .~t=-
 Margaret was OutSpOken and she did not mince matters at aiI now.: Con real from his mother that. she -was d feminist" as he calls It. why, he was asking her to be tfaitsr. And what good would 1t do? Wouldn't the truth come out sometime? Did he want her to act a lie? --t
 Then came the masculine appeal for Don't be silly, Margaret" he said. ''No one has asked you to act a lie. You don't have to say that you are an anti, or anything like that; but you just needn't say anything about 1t at an." ~~',,' ,'v.a tss
 ''But doesn't your mother know that you are suffragist?" queried Mar garet. ..- .--. r.
 Il can't say that have ever told her-nO." Blackstone had to go eau- tiOusly here, for he was we'll aware of the fact that his conversion to "'tiie cause" had been one of the prereqlis- ltes of their engagement. At first Margaret stOrmed and sputtered good deal over the request, but finally she acquiesced and gave him to under stand thAt, unless the subject were brought up by his mother, she would. not volunteer any information cOnceTn- ing her own convictions. -. F. T
 The next morning early, when Black stone went to meet his mother, their first connected words were directed to the subject of Margaret, whom the mother was to meet that evening at linner in Margaret's little apartment The other girls had agreed to go out for the evening so as to leave her sole hostess for this little family party. l
 Blackstone winced little when enc of the first questions the mother asked was this: II don't suppose your Mar garrett is a srffragist?" -'&a ',
 What makes you think she could beg he eIaded in way not altogether worthy of one who claimed to be convert. Just because she works in ln office and hasn't had the advantages | of having been brought up in the seclu. sion of her own home is no reason why | she shouldn't be just as honey as as you are"
 Then he continued: "But of course | you won't discuss that sort of thing with Margaret, just for my sake" He wanted at least to make it easy for Margaret to maintain her nOncOmmittal IOint of view, for Margaret had agreed 'n silence on the subject only so long Is the mother did not introduce it.
 Although Margaret had protested against agreeing to silence of this sort ,he was really not especially eager to mpart to the lady who was to be her the fact that she was eader and president of the stenOgra- | downtown district, or that she had firmly made up her mind that after Ter marriage she should call herself Mrs. Margaret BoOmis," and by no means Mrs. Blackstone LOomis. She as we'll as did Blackstone that he circumstances in which she and1 ,iS mother had been reared had yer nuch altered cases, and she was no lore anxious to hurt or shock the eld- r woman than was he to have her do 0.
 That night at dinner first impress Ions were as favorable as first impress ions auspiciously may be, and In op- CT to prevent the conversation from lking a personal turn Blackstone lonopOlized it to m unusual extent le had made np his mind not to leave ie two women alone and not let them uide the conversation. So he went