The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-04-16
EVENING STORY
Miss Leida's Man.

least, was the comment that was cur
rent in the offices of the Indian Mis-
! sion society in the big city where she
| sat for seven hours a day over her
| desk helping to run the motor that.
| in the far-off western reservation.
supplied the energy for the little In
dian chapel amidst few struggling
| redmen's habitations.
! Miss Leida enjoyed the jest much
as any one, but at heart she was very
| serious about the matter. 1t was her
ambition to carry on the mission work
| in a field even more remote than the
| one now supported by the mission So
| ciety. She had offered her services
| as head of a mission house such as
| she dreamed about, but the board had
| assured her that the perils of life in
| so remote a region would be those
| that no woman ought to face alone.
The board told her it would further
| her plans if she could find man who
| would cooperate with her, strong,
| muscular sort of man, who could
! show with his muscle, rather more
than in subtle argument or fervent
pleading, the superiority of the mis-
Sion'S teachings.
Miss Leida Gray was thirty and to
herself she seemed middle aged. The
prospect of accompanying some mus
| cular young college graduate-such
an enthusiast as she hoped would pre-
sent himself for the cause-alone
into the wilderness never for once
struck her as being in the least I'M
| conventional She had, however,
| hoped that the candidate would be
married-young missionaries usually
were married.
There had been several prospects"
in the way of men. Several who had
| heard of the work and applied had
| turned out to be SO puny IN muscular
development that Miss Leida regret
fully had to turn them down. Others
more substantial in build appeared.
but the prospects of living in so re-
| mote a region with only Miss Lelda
as associate made them withdraw
their applications. But MISS Leiod
was not discouraged.
Daily she read and thought of the
needs of the handful of Indians scat
tered over the mountainous regions
and daily she heard the voice calling
out to aid them. She knew that the
man with courage and muscle would
present himself before long. And
when the scholarly dominic associat-
| ed with her in the mission work asked
her to become his wife for there was
a very appealing femininity about Miss
Leida in spite of her middle-aged ways
and seriousness-she didn't even con-
slider it, 1t would interfere with her
am bitiOn.
| And as she thought of the needs
of the wild men she forgot the needs
of the men and women around her.
She saw the wan faces of the chill
dren in the streets but as in a dream.
The real children calling for mercy
were the little red children of her
mountain fancy. And she would hurry
at night from her office, stepping thru
| the busy, traffic-swarmed streets al
most in maze.
! 1t was one evening when she was
particularly preoccupied thus that Big
Bill Duncan, six feet two and as
weatherworn, virile and strong as a
! forest oak, put out one large hand of
/ his and gently guided her thru the
traffic that challenged those who
crossed the streets at the time the
mission office closed. The next night
he paused from his work of directing
traffic and stepped to the curbstone to
escort her thru the crowd. A smile of
gratitude went up to him as she
thanked him.
Its a bad time to cross, for a slip
of a lady like you, ma'am,'' he said,
and from that time every night when
Miss Leida crossed the street the big
policeman was ready to escort her.
| Little by little they became ac-
quainted, tho it took time, as all their
conversation had to be carried on in
the brief snatches of talk that could
be caught in these trips across the
street The policeman told her more
about himself, perhaps, because she
seemed to be IN a different world than
else. He told her he was lonely. His
sister, who had been his lifelong COM
panion and whom he had supported in
a little uptown fiat, had died. He was
on the list for preferment in the po-
lice department Perhaps soon he
might be lieutenant of the precinct
but, with the sister gone, there didn't
seem to be much use.
Miss Leida told him that she, too,
had had disappointments.- though she
didn't tell him about the dream of the
mission that didn't come true. She
lent him some books. He read them
with eagerness. Then they went to
| some lectures together, and after the
| policeman had told her that she had
| taken the place in his life, only very
differently, that had been left vacant
by the sister, she thought of her plan.
He was muscular, he liked adventure
and he courted danger every day. His
heart was golden, and he had said
| himself that he liked to be with her.
She had enever thought of her man as
coming in the blue uniform of a po-
| liceman; but why not?
So Miss Leida asked him to meet
her one day in the sitting room of her
own wee apartment. She wanted to
present her plan to him away from
the distra actions of the office.
But Bill Duncan got ahead of her
with a plan that had been brewing in
his mind.
L am not exactly your sort, L
know he said, But my sister was
your sort at heart, and we were each
others sort Do you get me? Only
you are what a sister could never be.
OF course, you think of me as just a
traffic cop. Well, that's all, but I'm
proud of it. It's like fighting in an
army. Only to me it is better than
fighting to kill as in war, because we
fight to save folks from being tramp
led under foot, little kids and women
like yourseuf. That is why l have
stuck to the force and not tried to
get out. And I'm up for promotion. If
L get another medal I'll be at the head
of the list for lieutenant. 1 don't want
4 to be conceited, but 1 just want to let
you know that a traffic cop can be a
brave man if he isn't exactly swell