The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-15

I
coquetry and that her mouth turned
up at the corners in that appealing
smile But then Mardy didn't have
much time or inclination to look back
at that mirrored image.
Does the picture look like a girl
that knows a lot about cooking and
keeping nouse?" she asked
"Oh, no, not at ALL" answered the
photographers clerk in surprise.
Mardy gave one last lingering look
at the proofs and then quite deliber-
ately tore them in two. Let me have
! the bill and then destroy the plate,
she said. THAT picture won't do;
! I'll have to buy picture. of a girl
that does look as if she wrote rec
| ipes."
! So it was that the picture that ap-
peared with Mardy's daily talks on
matters culinary was that OF calm
eyed young hausfrau, and the readers
were delighted. 1t was just the sort
| of person they had expected to see.
/ You could tell to look at her that she
! could bake a cake to a turn and keep
/ down the butchers bills. Several
readers wrote and told her in spirit
of confidence, that the picture pleased
them. Mardy was not surprised, Tor
! she had had such confidential letters
before. But she was a little sur
prised when she received letter from
! the editor out in the west who pub
| lished the paper telling her that ne,
too. had been charmed by the picture.
L
for had a very different impression
| of what you were to look like. l saw
that the picture was not from a
photograph-but from a painting. 1t
| has reproduced very well, however,
and is a decided addition to the talks"
! Mardy answered this letter, and be-
cause she felt little lonely the day
she wrote she told the editor little
more than she otherwise would have
done about her life and ambitions in
off 10
picture, except to say that she was
glad the readers liked it. Perhaps 1t
flatters me" she wrote, but it was
painted some years ago" As matter
of fact, Mardy knew she looked young
er than the calm-eyed lady in the
picture.
Within a few days the editor wrote
again. He found an excuse in Mar
dy's letter for a reply, and he put an
excuse in his for her reply in turn.
And so it happened, as such things
sometimes do, that the correspondence
ripened into friendship and became
one of the most worthwhile things in
Mardy's rather barren existence.
Then /the editor man told Mardy
that he was going to New York on
business and would call at her of
flee" and from time TO time on the
day that the editor was coming Mar
dy spent minutes trying to remove the
home touches from the little work
room where she ground out her copy.
She really didn't want the man whose
friendship she had won thru her let
tiers to know that those rooms We're
all that she knew of home The rec
ipe lady, of course. must have a home
and a kitchen, or how would she
know so much about cooking?
But even when the editor knocked
the old brass knocker that Mardy had
fastened to her studio door, Mardy
had not quite decided how she would
explain about the picture. She trusted
that she would not mind making the
explanation when she saw him. If
the attachment that he had told her
in her letters he felt for her depend
ed on the picture, rather than on her
clever letters, what was she to do ?
She knew that she was prettier than
that picture, but perhaps it was Just
that type of face that had attracted
him.
But before the first ten minutes OF
the call, during which Mardy felt that
she had been becoming reacquainted
with her best friend-for such the
writer of the letters seemed to her
Mardy forgot the picture. Then she
caught the keen eyes of the man
studying her face. She knew it was
time for an explanation.
You see, 1 suppose. that that pic
ture is fake" she confessed. Il don't
picture taken especially for you," she
said, but it didn't look the part" She
laughed nervously, and waited for the
man to make the next remark.
No" he said; you don't exactly
look like the staid young housewife OF
the picture. You're not that type. eX-
actly. But where did you get the pic
ture that you did send?"
Il had to get something" Mardy
began her confession. $50 1 asked the
photographer to get a picture that die
look the part. He had a hundred OF
so pictures-some of them of profess
sional models and others pictures OF
paintings they have photographed. He
said there was no copyright on the
|. one I decided to take, so L didn't hest
tate"
NO. it wasn't copyrighted" said
the man. You see 1 painted that pic.
ture. l used to dabble in that sort OF
|; thing, you know That was then tc
me a picture of the ideal I had never
meta housewifely SoIt of girl thai
thought only of her own home. She
D was still my ideal when you sent E
. | copy of that picture to go with the
talks. 1 suppose the photographer.
got the photograph at the time my
. pers wanted it. 1t took a prize OIL
!, something at an exhibit, L believe"
And it is still your ideal?" asked
Mardy- I'm sorry that 1 appropriat
ed livery sorry"
NO, it isn't now" exclaimed tn,
man, for since 1 have known you il
the letters and since have seen vol
here l have found new ideal-a wo
, man that has as many ambitions anC
as many disappointments as a maj
might-not that complacent, smu.
little OuSewife-tho my ideal coul(
do all that sort of thing, too, if sh,
had to. But she has more spirit
Don't you understand? Dear littl,
: recipe lady,~-you are my IDEAL and
came on from the west to find you
4 / T
And the little recipe lady, because
was so long since she had had SOM
, one to trust buried her little head il
: the arms that were outstretched t,
her, and whispered her answer to tn
question that he asked her.-(Copy
right. 1911 by the McC,lura News