The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1918-01-31

them. I was always having dinner
with thcm-rithcr out In Rogers Park,
where they lived, or nt queer, terrible
little restaurants downtown. They
were always game totry anything, once.
He's the longest, %lcaneSt. %angularcst.
Observation-Disclosures chap in the world.
And just about the best. And his wife
fits all his angles. She writes. too.
oh. you're sure to like them They're
going to be out here for months. he
says. He's going 10 specialize" in
women aud he's come back here where
they get the vote, to make h%cadquar-
tcrs. It's great, / haven't had II real
talk with anybody since he went away,
over Il year ago"
Then, at the sound Of the bell, he
cried out: There they are! 20 and
dashed down into the hall ahead of
the parlor maid, as eagerly rs "A
~Schoolboy anticipating Il birthday pres
cnt.
Rose followed more slowly, and by
the time she had reached the landing,
'iiN i'utih iihl Sihl'lhiS i"il w NV
back and shaking both hands with
Jane, and trying to help both OF them
out Of their wraps at once.
When the greetings were over and
they were OF the way upstairs again,
he said: II told Rose we weren't go
ing To dress, but she explained she
didn't put on this coronation robe for
,.-,, I,,, Ga, - .~.e g.. ,. lf.,. \
tclcphoncd, and hadn't time to change
back
And when Jane cried out. rs they
entered the drawing room: Good
heavens, Rodney, what a house," he
answered 1T isn't ours. We rented
it for n year In some sort Of hcnry-
mo0n delirium, | guess. We don't live
up to it, Of course. Nobody could but
the woma who built t."
The gaicty in his voice clouded n
little rs he said 1t, and his grin, for
n moment, had a rueful twist. But
for n momen only. Then his untem.
pered delight in the possession of his
old friends took him again.
They talked-heavcns, how they
talked! II was like the breaking up
of n log jam. The two men would
rush along. side by side, in perfect
agreement for n while, catching each
others half-expre1sed ideas. and hurl-
ing them forward, and then suddenly
they'd meet. head on. In collision over
some fundamental difference Of opin-
ion, amid n prismatlc spray of cpl
gram. Jane kept up n sort Of obliga-
to to the show, inserting provocative
witticisms here and there, sometimes
as Rodney's ally, sometimes as her
husbands, and Turing them, when she
could, into the quiet backwuter of
metaphysics, where she was more
than Il match for the two of them.
But the main topic of the evening
got launched when Rodney seized the
advantage of n pause to say:
"A series of articles on eh !
What are you going TO 10 to them?'
With that the topic of feminism
was on the carpet and It was never
thereafter abandoned. After half an
hour of 1t Jane turned to Rodney.
But what do you think about it,"
she demanded. you've been %grinnlng
away there all this time without say
ing II word. Are you for it?"
For whatT" Rodney wanted to
know.
For what women want" said Jane.
Economic independence equality,
easy divorce-all the new stuff"
I'm not against it," Rodney said,
amy more han I'm against tomorrow
being Tuesday. It's going to be Tues
day whether | like 1t or not. But
that conviction keeps me from crusad-
ing for IL very hard. What I'm Curl
Gus about Is how it's going to work.
you suppose they're going TO want
what they get?"
81 knew there was something dead
~ about your grin" said Jane. "What
are you 50 cuntankerous about?'
"Why, the thing" said Rodney,
that sOurs my naturally sweet dis
position Is this economic indcpcnd-
encc. I've been hearing it at dinner
tables all winter. When | hear IA
woman with five hundred dollars
worth Of clothes on-well, 40, not on
her back-and anything you like in
jewelry, talking about economic indie
pcndencc as If II were something nice
jam on the pantry shelf that we men
were too greedy 10 let them have II
share of have 10 put on the brakes
In order TO stay on the rails.
1--WE men have To fight for economic
independence from the time we're TWEEN.
~, more or less, til the time we die.
It's u sentence TO hard labor for life f:
that's what economic independence is.
How does that woman think she'd set
about It., to make her professional
services worth n hundred dollars IA
day-Or fifty, or ten? What's she got
that has II market value? What Is
there that she can capitalize? She's
got her physical charm, Cf course,
and there are various professions
where she Il make 1t pay, Well, and
what elsef"
"She can bear children" said Jane.
she ought Ia he paid well for that"
you're only paid well" Rodney re-
piled, FOR something you can do ex-