The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1918-10-19
The Appeal
of Khaki
C>0
BY JANE OSBORN
Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)

81 shall shriek-I certainly shall
shrek If 1 come to another khaki
hero" H. b. Stanley mumbled this
rather to herself than aloud as she sat
before her high piled desk in the ed
itorial offices of 1.-THE Purple Book;
all-story, five-cent weekly" II. P.
Truman, the remainder of the editorial
staff, laid a gentle hand on his bald
head and looked over his shell-rimmed
s%pectacles at his colleague on the
other side of the room.
He looked just in time to see Miss
Stanley dash off her own shell-rimmcd
]spectacles, lean suplnely back in her
swivel chair and at the same time
emit a stiied yell.
"There, l said I'd do It, and I did.
The very next manuscript I turned to
began right in the first paragraph with
Her head dropped on his khaki Shout
der. Good-by, she whispered and
pushed him away and then at the
end: If 1 thought you were there
waiting for me 1 could fight a thou
sand Huns They are all like that. If
the hero isn't in khaki he is in sailor
blue and half the heroines are
nurses"
WAS that what made you make
that funny little shrieky nOise?" asked
Mr.. Truman, obviously relieved.
Certainly, why shouldn't I? Every
blessed story that comes in is the
same. How 1 am going to get enough
possible stories for you to make up
the magazine out of here l am sure 1
don't know. They are all alike. The
contribs have lost their balance. They
think that all they have to do is to
bring in a little trench slang, a lot of
mush and twaddle about broad kha-
Xxi shoulders, blinking spurs and
that sort of thing and their story is
sold"
Mr.. Truman suggested that posi-
bly, the readers of the Purple Book
liked blinking spurs and khaki Shout
ders; there were a good many men in
the camps who read the magazine and
they should be catered to.
ITO be sure" agreed Miss Stanley,
Sitting the next large envelope that
lay before her and unfolding the man
uscript mechanically. "But I've found
1t out. There are only about seven
days a soldier can fall in love, and
we've used each one of those plots
at least five times over. It's mo-
%notonOus. There is the man who
doesn't know he loves the plain lit
tie girl 1T home till he gets away
In the trenches, and there is the girl
who doesn't know she loves the awk-
ward, frank-eyed, broad-shOuldered
hero till he gets away. Then there
is the girl who wants to be a suf-
fragette or something and won't marry
the man till he's gone and then she
gets an idea that she ought to keep
the fire burning and she sends for
him or something and"
eyes, I know" said Truman, who was
rather bored than otherwise at his as
sistant's Analysing tendencies. There
were times when she was delightful,
really too delightful for his own peace
of mind. But in this mood she was
trying. "Well, please don't Shrek
about it next time-you gave me quite
a scare. I thought you were having
a fit or something"
IT told you I was going to-" argued
Miss Stanley.
81 thought you were testing. Sup
pose instead of doing that you whistle
..joyously when you come to a hero out
of khaki? Really 1 quite agree with
you that we do need some really
gripping stories of q nonmilitary ma
ture.' Then Mr.. Truman went back
to his editorial work, and gradually
there began to creep over him a pleas
urable consciousness. He had had an
u~ndercurrent of conviction that his
colleague disapproved of him because
he had not enlisted; he had feared
that it would be necessary as a means
of winning her permanent esteem for
him to don the khaki or sailor blue.
But apparently he had been mistaken.
She could not have spoken as she had
about broad khaki shoulders if she
had admired them as much as most
young women were reputed to do.
Suddenly Mr.. Truman started in his
chair so violently that his spectacles
fell off from his nose. Miss Stanley
had emitted a whistle so piercing and
sharp that it had violently agitated
his d~elicately strung nervous organ
ism.
"That," she announced, twas to let
you know I'd found the gripping story
you were wishing for. It's a thriller
and the hero is an Argentine cowboy,
and there isn't n reference to war.
I'm going to accept it without wait
ing for you to read 1t. Pm so sure 1t
is what you are looking for"
"You might tell the young woman
that wrote it that we appreciate not
having the hero in khaki and would
like more in the same vein," smiled
Mr.. Truman as Miss Stanley hailed
the diminutive stenographer from the
next room so that she might at once