The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-06
EVENING STORY
Help Wanted-And Found.
(Rv Catbaripa Cra1p1er

(By Catherine Creamery
But, Aunt Jane. if I marry, it
means that III have to give up my
anthropologicaf hobby
And if you don't marry it means
that you'll become the worst of all !
bores-an unattached old man with |
tiresome hobby" Mrs. Antes snap |
ped her knitting needles impatiently. |
Her nephew, tall and broad in his
well-fitting tweeds stood with an
gazed with a mans marveling at the
fast-growing gray sweater she was
knitting.
why, John, even at forty you are
becoming dangerously set in your
ways. You need a charming wife TO
give your mind quick shift from all
this serious study of dry subject
But, Aunt Jane, would a wife ever
give me chance to shift back to any
impersonal subject?"
you'll get back to such subjects
often enough, my boy. And you've
made such a wonderful record as a
lawyer, John; Now don't go and spoil
it all by becoming fossil
You're merciless, auntie; I'm act
ually afraid to go with you to your
Maysville cottage, lest you handcuff
me to some village queen and march
me off to the justice of the peace"
And it might be well for you if
did too However, the thing l have
!
| of fishing tackle and toys expressed
| in advance with my household, boxes.
That leaves only our steamer trunks
and hand luggage to bother with when
we 60"
Thank you; it's really because
you're such an efficiency expert in all
you undertake that 1 shiver when you
| try to induce me to marry.
My boy, you can't appease a world
ly-wise woman of sixty-four with such
1 f1ot+
| o'clock and 1 must go to bed But
I'm glad you abandoned your apart
ment in advance; it has been good TO
have you for a while in this big, lonely
house"
MaysvilIe was always enlivened by
the coming of Mrs. Antes to her sum-
mer home in it's shady suburbs. Her
| coming always meant one or more
| morning porch parties for matrons
and at least one garden party for
maidens learned of the presence in
| her home of her bachelor nephew,
4 they made due note of the possibili-
| ties thereby involved, and made so
many friendly overtures that the
| nephew took to the river bank daily,
whether he wanted to fish or to read
| anthropological lore.
THE persistent cordially of Mays
vile leaves us scarcely quiet even
ing" said John one evening, follow
girls and their ambitious mother.
i Il confess that it is preferable
sometimes to have ones house all to
ones SELF said Mrs. Antes as she put
aside her knitting Nnd laid her gray
head restfully against the back of her
chair
How did the impression ever get
out that your village maiden is a
symphony in simplicity as to dress
and manner? She's usually a carica-
n Sh re
too much and exercises too little for
her compleXions sake, and she de-
ponds upon the smattering of the in
tellectual equipment picked up in a
year at some boarding school instead
of doing bit of intelligent reading
every day. The result is. well-iust
! what we've had with US this evening"
Yes. John, and yet it is only nat
ural. 1t is not easy to get acquainted
with the world except through con-
tact with it, and you'll have to admit
Maysville's isolation from the big
things OF the world
But its very isolation should
quicken intellectual curiosity II a
latent spark of it exists. So far, 1
haven't struck az single spark among
the bonny bromides I've met"
The next morning John went off
early for a days fishing, but he was
annoyed to find his favorite haunt
under a big, elm occupied. He had
! he had come to regard the messy
seat on the rocks as his personal prop
i. erty, but here was an intruder, and,
worse luck, a girl. He stopped only
a few feet from her, but she did not
turn her head the slightest bit The
. truth was she had a fascinating nibble
at her hook, but John didn't notice
that. What he did notice was that
above the straight lines of her MILDLY
the girls dark auburn head was held
high in a queenly pose, that her skin
was dazzling clear and that her profile
| was the Ioveliest he had ever seen.
With quick movement the girl
| leaned slightly forward, gave her
| bamboo pole a whirl and landed a
four-pound black bass directly al
| Johns feet.
| "Bravo!" called John, promptly all
i annoyance at the intrusion having
) been replaced by admiration for the
intruder.
: mot bad beginning, is it ?" The
; smiling response came in a voice OF
1 natural sweetness.
In disposing of the fIoundering fish
e John and the girl fell into easy con-
versation which they afterward CON
tinued desultorily and in low tones as
they sat side by side with their lines
thrown far into the stream.
The quiet beauty here only empha-
sizes ones conception of the chaos in
France" said John, after rather a
\ long silence.
; Yes. and makes me question my
: right to stay here even for an hour
when 1 might be helping somewhere. -
l There was a yearning emphasis on
! the word helping"
, LAS I've sat here day after day.''
/ said John, haltingiy. I've thought out
/ a plan of what hope to do Wonder
t if you'd tell me what you think of il p
"Oh, do tell me about it, I'm SO
glad you're going to do something"
So he told her of his plan to oper
5 his mothers old colonial country
l house. which for the ten years since
: her death had been unoccupied, and
make it a home for as many war or
phans as it would hold. Then they
discussed it with enthusiasm until she
had to go to keep luncheon en-
gagement. Only as she disappeared
Jotr -aaIfzo