The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-17
EVENING STORY
Margaret stands by ~The Cause"
(By Jane Osborne. }

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 vile. So when
| Blackstone Loomis's mother wrote to
her son that she was coming to New
| York from her home in a middle
western metropolis for a short stay at
| a hotel of nationwide fame, he was
I not altogether saneuine in his antici-
! patton of the meeting of these two
| women so important in his life.
How would the .housewifely and
| farm bred mother regard the city and
! office-bred 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-
periences 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 ge of Is, Margaret, too,
| would have been as keen about the
| housewifely tasks was his mother.
Would the elder woman be shocked
at the younger? Would the younger
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 OPP
portunity or the means to take the
eastern trip so soon, or he might per-
haps 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 little toe
advanced and progressive IN her
views. 1t 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 ex-
expected arrival, don't let the mother
know that you are a feminist.
Blackstone had planned to make
this request at the outset of his call
on Margaret in her little uptown
apartment, where she kept quarters
with two other young women who
were employed in downtown offices
But it hadn't been so easy as he had
expected, and the quick flash that
came from Margaret's eyes made him
realize that his misgivings had not
been ill-founded.
Margaret was outspoken and she did
not mince matters at all now. Con-
ceal from his mother that she was a
suffragist, feminist" as he calls 1t
why, he was asking her to be a
traitor And what good would 1t doE
Wouldn't the truth come out some
time? Did he want her to act lie )?
Then came the masculine appeal for
nationality. Don't be silly, Mar
garet," 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 any
thing about it at all.
But doesn't Jour mother know that
you are a suffragist?" queried Mar
garet.
Il can't say that I have ever told
J her-no" Blackstone had to go
cautiously here, for he was well aware
, of the fact that his conversion to the
cause had been one of the prerequi-
sites of their engagement AT flrst
Margaret stormed and sputtered a
good deal over the request, but finally
She acuuiesced and gave him to I'M
derstand that, unless the subject were
brought up by his mother, she would
) not volunteer any information con-
corning her own convictions.
The next morning early, when Black
: stone went to meet his mother, their
first connected words We're directed to
the subject of Margaret, whom the
mother was to meet that evening at
> dinner in Margaret's little apartment.
l The other girls had agreed TO go out
? for the evening so as to leave her sole
hostess for this little family party.
Blackstone WINGED a little when one
of the first questions the mother asked
was this: II don't suppose your Mar
: garet is a suffragist? 2"
What makes you think she could
be? ?" he evaded in way not alto
s gether worthy of one who was a
( convert. Just because she works
in an office and hasn't had the adj
vantages of having been brought up
t in the seclusion of her own home is
Z 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 noncom-
initial point of view, for Margaret had
agreed on silence on the subject only
so long as the mother did not in
, troduce it.
Although Margaret had protested
against agreeing to silence of this sort
e she was really not especially eager to
+ impart to the lady who was to be her
mother-in-law the fact that she was
4 leader and president of the stenogra-
e pliers suffrage organization in a large
= downtown district, or that she had
firmly made up her mind that after
her marriage she should call herself
r Mrs. Margaret Loomis," and by nc
n means Mrs. Blackstone LOOMS. She
6 | realized as well did Blackstone
that the circumstances in which she
e and his mother had been reared had
o very much altered cases and she was
n no more anxious to hurt or shock the
!, elder woman than was he to have
u her do so.
s That night at dinner first impress
n sions were as favorable as first i'm
=. pressionS auspiciously may be, and in
. order to prevent the conversation
from taking a personal turn Black,
Il stone monOpOliZed it to an unusua
, extent He had made up his mine
" not to leave the two women alone and
y not let them guide the converse ton
II So he went into needless details re
a garding his latest law case, explained
the meaning of professional term.
e that were quite beyond the ken OF
e interest of either of the women, anC
= gave a resume of a brief in which
he had been recently engrossed.
For week things went on thus
n and the only times that Blackston,
d feared an open expression of opinion