The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-31
EVENING STORY
Little Pie Lady.

street of that old town True enough.
| it was a spectacle for which farming
folk from the adjoining county, and
perhaps some folk from larger cities,
as well, journeyed to old Stantown.
| But other companies just IS splendid
! ly drilled and equipped as Company
! had left other old towns, just as
proud as Stantown; so there was moth
/ ing exactly unique in that procession.
The really remarkable procession
was the procession of pies; or rather,
| the procession Cf the pie-laden ladies
of old Stantown II ru the main streets
an hour or so earlier than the march
| ing of Company 3. As a last farewell
/ to the boys of Company B, a feast
was to be spread on rough, i'm
| promptu board tables in the largest
| hall in the town. Tho a caterer had
| been summond to supply the main
courses of this feast, it had been de-
eided that the ladies OF Stafitown, for
/ generations noted for their crisp, de-
! licious apple pies, should contribute
{ the sweet course of the banquet
! And so the pies came. They were
| baked brig and early the day of
/ the banquet, and scarcely had they
! cooled before they were on their way
| in the hands of their housewifely
| bakers, maids or children to the hall
where they were Liter to be devoured.
To carry one pie is comparatively
easy, even when it is still warm. But
to carry two,~or even three, pies re-
/
gait thai could not fail to mark its
possessor that morning as pie con-
/ tributor. Most of the pies were de-
livered at the hall without mishap,
but he-e and there a seal ring of
| cris pie d. Ugh and apples that sent
up a tempting savory fragrance, even
in its ruin, showed where IEishaps
had ccurred.
Two belated pies were carried IN
1 the outstretched hands of Madge Mad
Il rr~igT
and flushed with the excitement of the
| great spectacle that the day had in
/ store and her own wonderful part in
/ it. For Madge, tho 20, had had few
/ breaks in the monotony of her life
/ with her old maiden aunt and older
grandmother. Now, though she knew
none of the boys in Company B, she
| looked forward with a thrill to the fact
4 that she was one of the fifty pretty
I girls who had been selected to wait
| them al table. OF her own volition,
she was also one of the 200 house
wives who had volunteered to make
apple pies for the 600 boys who were
i expected to eat them.
She walked very gingerly from her
/ grandmother cottage on the outskirts
of the town, hoping and half expect
ing to meet some one she knew with
an automobile who would transport
| her and her pies safely to their desti-
nation. She even thought she might
d
! empty handed who would relieve her
of the burden of one of the pies. But
no such luck befe1Eher. The only per-
son who appeared on the road that led
to town was a man in the khaki un.-
| form of Company e. Madge would
have liked to ask the man in uniform
TO help her with one pie, for it was
| slipping in her hand, and the string
that tied it was 1oosening.
/ Of course, her impulse to ask the
~, 1-I71 Ii toy nr11xr
fleeing, for Madge had been warned
/ against these men. Tho her grand
mother had consented reluctantly that
| Madge help wait on them at the ban
quet, she had warned her emphatically
4 not to smile at them, even If they
smiled at her. Her aunt warned her
especially not to speak to them, ex-
cept of course, as it was necessary
in waiting on them, and then but
briefly.
| when the tall, weIl-built man in
Khaki stood beside her with out
stretched hands to take it just as it
would have slipped to the dusty
ground. Madge had to smile, and be-
fore she knew.i it she had thanked the
4 man. and they were walking together
toward the hall as if they had known
each other always.
AS Madge and 81 her companion
; walked thru the streets in town she
, bors and townspeople who saw her
walking with one of Company B. Now.
she was like the other girls who really
knew and could talk to one of these
brave soldiers.
You have been very good to help
, me- I've liked talking to you. too
said Madge simply, as they neared the
hall where she supposed she and her
soldier would part forever. because
I don't know any of the other men in
Company B, and it makes me happy to
have talked to one of them Cd the eye
/ of departure"
And l don't know another young
: lady in Stantown. That's why I felt so
. out of sorts when 1 had to come out
why, that's stranger commented
Madge Il thought all the men in
Company B were from this section"
Company B-yes, so they are"
agreed the man in khaki, and then
, changed the subject as he followed
Madge into the room where the pies
had been received.
A near neighbor of Madge's. who
was receiving the pies, eyed Madge
, narrowly, and then the man in khaki
= guess the cause of her confusion
you're thinking that those ladies
will wonder who 1 am. and perha ps
you are wondering yourself. May 1
present myself? I'm Bob Fairfax" 1t
was just in time. The critical neigh
! Dor had eyed Madge with such dis
.. approval that Madge turned ner newly
. acquired information to account and
introduced her companion. adding
i with a pretty little laugh. Mr. Fair
fax was just walking out the lane to
see my aunt and grandmother when
! he met me with the pie. and I'm so
F glad. for 1 never could have managed
! ! alone"
Somehow the usually timid Madge
mustered up courage enough to ask
, her soldier to come home with her
for luncheon. and while she left him
on the front porch she had a hasty
/ interview with her aunt: explained
| how they had met and the reason she
| had introduced him to the critical
neighbor. and it was for that reason
| perhaps that she received the young