The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-12-12
EVENING STORY
Her Liberty-Loaned.
By HARMONY WELLER.


woman's committee of the local Lib
erty loan board. She tried conscien-
tiously to make her duty toward her
country the first and compelling
reason; deep in her heart she realized.
however. that there was a rival motive.
And that motive was. by name. David
Stapleton, chairman OF the committee
Of men. 81
Gladys Moore was a girl well along
in her twenties. She was quiet and
pretty. with one of those sweet per-
sonalities that attracted old ladies and
very young men. She had never gone
out much in the village after she had
returned home from boarding school.
what few of her old companions re-
manned in the home town.
And that was quite natural Four
years away from home in that impor-
tant time of development in girls
life make a wonderful change in her
tastes and habits and choice of friends.
Almost the only place she had gone
during the four years that she had
been at home had been to Red Cross
meetings. In this organization she
had worked untlringiy and now. when
the war was calling forth to the limit
of her capacity every woman in the
village. Gladys was one Of the most
dependable.
Then came the call for a woman's
Liberty Loan committee to supple
"But-Pve never done anything of
the kind" Gladys demufred,- when
they asked her to serve.
Neither have We" said the COM
mittee in unison.
And Gladys. having previously no.
ticed the name OF David Stapleton,
the cashier of the village bank, on the
list of men, accepted.
David Stapleton was a widower. He
had known Gladys as a girl in her
nd "a a uya va cd
| she had returned home he had seldom
seen her. His activities lay along lines
that did not include women. He
hardly ever saw woman outside of
| his own household, where there were
| a number of aunts and near-auntS.
This is my first experience in this
line" Gladys said to him when they
came face to face the first morning
that she appeared at headquarters to
begin work on the big drive.
This is our first war, you know"
David laughed, as he let her pass thru
the door.
And our last-I hope" Gladys re-
marked.
| David found himself saying as Gladys
busted herself arranging tables and
| chairs as part Of her work on the
committee ON headquarters decora-
| tions.:
ling you again"
| ! Gladys pretty white skin warmed
perceptibly, and David, inaccrstomed
as he was to observing feminine
charms. thought he had never seen
1 anything SO lovely as her cheeks.
/ Every day the two had work to do
together, and occasionally in the even
| ing Gladys found herself being es-
| corted to or from a Liberty Loan
meeting by David Stapleton.
l cd inv, i've ,,
| said to her one night on the way
home.
[ your QUESTIONABLE ?" she asked.
=, .IesEI'm in the draft. you know"
Ooh" Gladys breathed. Il :
you thought 1 was too old-now
confess ito
Gladys said nothing.
/. Didn't you?"
Perhaps 1 hadn't thought at all
about tho draft" she added.
| asked pointedly.
! :. Gladys nodded.
Il They drove on in silence. Both
were thinking in new vein.
+ When GLADYS stepped out of the
coy little runabout before her own
1 door she seemed to feel i'll at ease.
4 She could not explain her more or less
shyness with this man whom she had
Known always and yet with whom now
4 she seemed to be so strange.
=. Don't you want to steal an hour
away from your desk at headquarters
Tomorrow and have lunch with me at
q tea-house on the outskirts of the
iautump woods?" David asked. detain-
ing Gladys by very gentle touch on
her arm.
| Gladys caught her breath-and was
almost afraid he could hear her catch
it. What was the matter with her,
she wondered? Why did the touch
OF David Stapleton make her heart
GO xry4l \ HI -,
sound SO low and tender? :
81 After she reached the house she re-
membered having promised to go with
him on the following day. She could
have shaken herself for having acted
like a girl of sixteen instead of like a
woman nearly thirty at the mere invi-
tation to have a bit of lunch with a
man whom she had known all her life
On her desk the following morning
she found note. 1t told her that the
president of the bank had had an ac-
cident to his eyes the previous night
and would not be in the office that
day-the last but three of the loan
campaign. Therefore, that note went
on to say, David Stapleton would be
unable to leave his desk for SO much
as half hour.
Gladys did not know whether she
was disappointed or relieved. But
there was much work to do: the hui
man tide Of patriotic citizens flowed
and she had little time in which to
think of herself.
Not SO with the cashier-Dayid
Stapleton. His work had become SC
much a mechanical part of his every
day life that, tho his hands were con-
, stantly busy his thoughts were not or
!, Liberty bonds. On bonds they might
have been but
The telephone rang. "Hel1o-Mr
IStapleton?"
g"Yes-Gladys?" he said, recognizing
|, her voice at once.
. i've just received my CALL"
, "Cally' exclaimed David.
'Yes-didn't I tell you the other
night that you wouldn't be the only
one in France-before 1ong?"
''No-you did not tell me-"
4 To- y - r. = 4,