The Press., 1918-02-28
Genevieveand Georgiana
 &
 By OsbOrn JOnes
By OsbOrn JOne'

~ thrust for the climax of their little breakfast table spat that morning. There were no tears In her eyes nor tremors in her voice, but her pulse was running high and her cheeks were aname.
 '.NAl, it isn't fair to say things like that. Of course l don't love her bet ter. I love her in an entirely different way. And the whole point is that in- vited her here for Thanksgiving 'way last Fourth of July, and if didn't have her she would he disappointed. It isn't that it would make any special difference to me personally"
 But if you didn't tell me you had invited her, how was to know? If you had told me you had invited your mother"
 ''I don't see why you always call her my mother. Why don't you call her mother the way Dot does Ted'S mother? You act as if she WAS no relation to you and. to her face, you called her Mrs. Bradford the last time she was here"
 GUE SltS lSu ny AlNb4ASA '''''' J''N can't say mother to her"
 .She is your mother" snapped Tom.
 "Oh. I don't see how you can say so at all. Mamma is my mother and 1t would he just dreadful to call your mother, mother
 But you needn't call her Mrs. Brad ford.'"
 "wen, what shall I call her, then? You don't call my mother anything. You just say 'you' when you talk to her." Then, after sch, ''Tom, I think it is just shameful for us to he scrap ping this way about our mothers"
 .sRut how are we going to settle it if we don't talk it over? You want your mother to come for Thanksgiving and I want mine"
 "And. of course, we couldn't have them together" put in Nell. andr as Tom muttered an "nf course not" she added with mock cheerfulneSs and a smile that was only lip deep: At least we agree on one thing. It would he too much to ask them to come together. They haven't an interest in common and they would he perfectly miserable. Tom. if you have any good reason why vorr mother should come instead of mine I'd really like to hear it."
 'In the first place. she's lot older" began Tom.
 "Oh, Tom, how can you say that. Perhaps she Is In years, but my poor mamma isn't as strong as yours is."
 Tom snorted. "Frail, and weighs moro than dol"
 'aTom, how can you be so horrid:"
 'sWen. suppose the only thing to do is to draw lots about It," said Tom. ''You know, before was married. l thought maybe it was going to be so could make a home for mother here with us, and now don't even feel free to invite her here for Thanksgiving"
 "I am sure don't see why you should have your mother here any more than should have mammal"
 "And, of course, we couldn't have them bothI"
 "Oh, of course not. They would never hit it orr"
 And wisely, as they thought, the Bradfords stopped here on the one point on which they agreed and with something of an Rrmistlce. Tom Brad ford went to his office.
 No. there was nothing at all, in the common acceptance of the word. con- genial about Mrs. Bradford. ST., and Mrs. Cole. Mrs. Bradford. at sixty -grna hon ,ohfldra, had urporx-p nm opd made families for themselves, had grown so used to playing the role of "old lady" that, In spite of her active body and nimble mind, she felt that her proper sphere in life ought to be in the inglenook of some sons or daughters fireplace, her task that of mending other peoples; chlldren's stockings or putting patches on their outworn clothes and her proper head gear a sheer white muslin cap, topped with ribbons of faded lavender color. Yet, at heart, Mrs. Bradford was still the active. energetic woman she had been when. during the lifetime of Ma i0r Bradford, she had led social activi- ties in thriving army posts and, through her tact and more than ordi- nary discretion, had held her place as social arbiter and leader.
 Mrs. Cole was of the housewifely type. She was more interested in ketchup and mustard pickles than dln- ner parties and after-dInner small talk. At sixty-Odd she was better able than ever to do just what she had to do all hAr ,4kN -k. fnF # youngsters in health and happiness on the maximum income. Her husband had been a small professor in a small town, and experience had made her ex- pert in the art of thrifty housewifery. And just when she felt herself most able, she found herself dispossessed of her life job and life interest. She, too, felt the fitness of the lavender bowed white muslin sap of old-woman hood.
 So, you see, the mothers of the Tom Bradfords, were distinctly different, and one would think that the only ties that could possibly have drawn them together were the facts that their chil- dren had married each other and tha they happened to live in tho same large city
 \ week after Tom and Nell had had their breallfast-table scrap-several had followed since then, and Nell was, losing sleep and Tom was losing mothers chanced to meet at the counter of a department store inl the shopping section of their town, some hundred miles from the place where Tom and Nell made their home.
 At first they bowed and smiled asI women whose children have married usually do-and with more effort at poIiteness than actual cor diality. i
 Mrs. Bradford was buying lavender ribbon and when she saw Mrs. Cole, ! she, too, was buying lavender ribbon. It had come to both the women that ribbon of that shade would better suit their roles in life than the pink and -fk 8haE