The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-18
EVENING STORY
In "King's Castles"
BY JAMES NEWTON

/ in for economies and sociology. When
he was graduated and started in law
| studies tho he did not dub himself a
socialist still he persuaded himself
! that in the management of the rather
Ecomfortable estate left him by his
grandmother he would fall into none
| of those errors of SelfiShneSS that too
| frequently-as he was convinced
| chara cterize the dealings of men OF
| capital with those who labor Tor
them. And altho he decided to leave
| the management of the large uptown
apartment house, preteptiouSly dubbed
| kings Castles" that constituted one
| of his most remunerative investments
| in the hands of his fathers office force
| until he had finished his law course,
he made it perfectly clear that he
sought no profits from that undertake
| ing that might be made at the eX-
pense of fair play to the folk who
worked under the spacious roof or the
| apartment house.
| Maybe there isn't any eight-hour
| law for women in this state,''' he said
to his father. Maybe there isn't
we haven't come to it in law lecture
ought to be asked to work, and I tell
you right here that I'm not going to
have any woman work longer than
| that who works for me-"
| The genial elder man looked up
with a smile, the serenity of which
4 rather annoyed Yates. She is nice
little girl he said with an emphasis
on the verb that seemed to betoken
| that Yates knew to whom the pro
| noun referred.
| Il guess at your age I'd have had
the same ideas about working hours
for women, especially if the only
woman 1 employed happened to be
| eighteen and as fresh as snow apple.
She is a nice girl, isn't she %
IF you mean Miss Sarter-yes. She
seems to be a lot better than you
usually get to tend an apartment
| house telephone switch board. That's
got nothing to do with the fairness of
making her work nine hours day or
keeping her at the switchboard on
| holidays"
But, man alive, she wants to do
1 it, explained the father.
No girl of spirit likes to show her
unwillingness to do what she's got to
| do pronounced the son with the air
Of one who felt that he possessed keen
\ insight into feminine psychology.
| Well, you've got a lot more sense
| than some boys your age" was the
father 3 only retort. IF you take a
| fancy to = pure-hearted country girl
| like Abby Sarter instead of some
empty pated, over-dressed society girl,
you're all right
Yates had taken a fancy to Abby,
| but for some reason he did not like to
have the fact taken for granted. He
| could only explain to himself just why
his fathers remarks that morning
| proved so irritating.
AS time went on Yates developed
| Keen interest in the management of
his apartment house. He loved to
think of the time when-his law
| course ended-he would take over the
entire management of the place him
| selt and not actually needing to net
the largest possible income from it.
strive to run the house along ideal
| lines. he even thought of putting the
girl at the switchboard on a six-hour
schedule, but somehow he never
thought of Abby Sarter's continuing to
sit at the switch ard when he put his
plans in workiH order.
| Meanwhile Abby Sarter SAT at tho
| switchboard in the corner of the snaci-
Gus, many-rnirrored, much-begiIt en-
trance of Yates's uptown apartment
mouse, for nine hours a day, and never
| thought of having a holiday other than
sunday Sometimes she came in for
a Few hours even on that day of rest
TO Yates that entrance hall was NOT
entirely satisfactory. He could see the
cheap plaster behind the thin veneer
., marble on the walls The colors of
~ heaVy plush rugs that Law on the
| tile floors looked cruder to him every
time he saw them. The lights that
| blazed forth from the Chandeliers and
were reflected again and again in the
long mirrors were glarish and smote
|
| 1t was that spacious, garish hall that
attracted tenants and made them
willing to pay good rents for small
apartments, and he realized that he
woCid De benefiting no one but him
| self If he toned down the garishDess to
| suit his own taste. He had no Way of
knowing at first how resplendent 1t
| looked to Abby-Abby, who basked in
the. effulgence of a dozen bright lights
now, and in the days on the farm had
l mi hn rrl0
| lamp as she sat in the farm honse Sit
| ting room. To her the entrance of the
| apartment house was the sum total of
| urbane luxury and elegance and the
| the hall and were bowed to by the
hall attendants in proportion to their
most recent gratuity were to her
| among the favored ones of the earth.
| She did not know that her share
| OF one of the farms at home would
| put her into the possession of a bank
! account several times as large as that
held by any of these cliff dwcllers
Abby knew none of the tenants
| well. Why should they bother their
anyway? But with the curiosity and
powers of observation bred in the
country, she had made for herself
vivid pictures of each individual in
the house Sometimes there were
weddings or receptions, dinner parties.
| or even little dances in the apart
ments, and then Abby s, eyes would be
| even brighter than usual and her
| pulses would quicken as she felt the
proximity of so much merriment and
| gaiety.
One of the personages that came
under her constant observation was
young Yates Barlow. To her he SEEM
ed, as the owner of all this gradeur,
veritable modern prince. Whenever
he came to the apartment he stopped
and chatted with her in a rather shy
| but friendly way. asking vague aues-
| lions about her wark.
After each of his chats with Abbey.
| Yates Barlow was more than ever
| convinced that she was overworked.