The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-02-26
EVENING STORY
Irish Ewes.
BY. HILDA MORRIS.


pretty colleen. that nursemaid. her big
blue Irish eyes fringed with lashes as
black as her glossy braids of hair.
Little Bob idolized his Maggie, and
years afterwards, when she was but
a memory, the sight of blue eyes rim
med with black would recall her
dancing feet, her merry voice, her
tales of COLLINS and the wee folk"
He never hoped to see Maggie again,
of course, but he did hope, in some
vague, subconscious way, to meet eyes
like hers. in a face like hers, some
time, somewhere. All of us cherish
ideals whether we know it or not, and
most of them have curious founoa-
TONS No one could have been more
surprised than Bob Ellison at the sug-
gestion that. the ideal of the girl he
wished to marry was patterned after
the bewitching Maggie of his nursery
days. Nevertheless, it was So
Bob went thru school and college
with none of the love entanglements
from which his fellows suffered. There
were girls, of course, some OF them
very nice girls with whom he liked to
dance and swim and occasionally flirt,
but-none of them looked like Maggie.
The Irish ones were red haired, or
their eyes were brown, or they mad
too many freckles. 1t was not until
catch" that he saw girl with irish
eyes and blue black hair, a girl whom
even Maggie might have envied.
1t was at dance that he met her,
a debutante affair to which his
mother had babe him go with particu-
lar injunctions to meet Miss wayne,
the Miss Wayne of Boston" Bobs
mother was not unaware of the fact
that her son was clever enough and
handsome enough to marry whom ne
would, and she like to fancy an ALL
ance with some old aristocratic family.
After Bob had gone to the dance his
mother sat at home, picturing to her
self a daughter-in-law tall, distin-
guished, a little aloof and awe-in-
spring.
his mothers injunctions as soon as he
had left the house. Miss Wayne of
Boston, indeed. He knew all about
those Boston girls; he had had them
for teachers. They were mostly thin
and wore spectacles and liked to talk
about the English Essayists. He had
no intention of seeking an acQuain-
lance with Miss Wayne.
And as soon as he reached the ball
room he saw the. girl with the Irish
eyes. She wore blue, a misty floating
blue that matched the blue of her
eyes, and her sleek hair was black as
the twinkling slippers on her trim lit
tie feet Some one called her Mag
ing Irish namesi Some one intro
duced her to Bob and they danced off
together. Maggie-Rose Flynn! He
did not care who she was or where
she came from, except that she
seemed to have come from his land
of dreams, his shrine of ideals. She
danced divinely, and when she spoke
her voice was divine, too, a merry
musical voice such as only Irish maids
may have. She was his Maggie to the
Bob was entirely unaware. He had
forgotten Maggie, it was only her es-
'sence that survived to weave the ia
brio of his hearts ideal.
Maggie-Rose seemed to like him,
too. They danced together a great
deal that evening, they had supper to-
gether, they sat for a dreamy half
hour in the conservatory. She talked
a good deal, but Bob was not really
conscious of much that she said; it
chanted him. the curve of her red
lips when she smiled, the blue of her
eyes. If she told him anything about
herself he was not aware of it, she re-
manned to him mysterious fulfill
ment of long-cherfshed dream, be-
witching embodiment of all that was
most charming in women.
Later some one else claimed her for
a. dance and Bob watched her from
the shelter of a doorway until some
dancing with another girl. Reluctant
ly he turned away his eyes from the
graceful form of Maggie-Rose, and the
girl with whom he danced found him
very silent and stupid and a very bad
dancer; in fact, she said that he never
would look where he was going, but
insisted on gazing over the heads of
people if he were looking for some
one, which seemed to her very rude.
Afterwards he tried to find Maggie
ID et,1 r.. 4 ,sr-1, n
full shape in floating blue appeared
on the ballroom floor. that is, no
shape that was graceful according to
Bob's idea Maggie-Rose had appar-
emily disappeared as completely as if
at the stroke of ~, her fairy god
mother had changed her into another
form.
Whats become of that Miss Flynn,
the one in blue?' Bob asked several
of his friends, but no one seemed to
know. He hung about the place un-
n almost the last guest had departed,
bat there was no further sign of Mag
gie-Rose. Stranger still, no one SEEM
ed to have even heard the name.
Flynn they would ask. why.
no, I don't remember meeting any
Miss Flynn
Bob forebore to ask his busy hostess
"a close friend of his mothers. He
could do so later if he had to, but he
resolved in the meantime to conduct
his own search for Maggie-Rose
Flynn.
After Bob reached home that night
he looked up all the Flynns in the di-
rectory and marked the ones he
thought most likely to be related in
some manner to Maggie-Rose. Next
day he tried calling them up from a
public telephone booth, in each case
asking casually for Maggie-Rose, and
in each case being misunderstood,
maligned and disappointed. By mid
afternoon he had ascertained that she
did not belong to any of the Flynns
listed in the directory of his native
city. Perhaps she lived with an aunt.
or perhaps-horrible thought, she
had left town, gone back to some far
away place which she honored by her
residence. There seemed but one
thing to do-go back to his hostess of