The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-10-28
Wanted: A
Wife
TN
By OSBORN JONES
100, oy the Mcclure Newsna
per Syndicatel 'e"spa-

3 per Syndicate.) ''e"spa'
., as IS Paul Paul, Bolton glanced at the dozen
y. 80 freshly typed letters on his u Soe,.
Y S1@ata nve in the afternoon on N Ne~
tho eaf Sc eve he reflected that thew w ,,ss
me iast letters dated 1917 that he
o %uuiu ever sign. Therefore the m ns
wo",s act Of affixing his signature
Mouia De somewhat more moman,ons
:, t4a mo lnat performance usually wasW 1s
ano "ouiu De in some slight measure
epochal, because it registered ths I 10 ~
ing OF another year. THEREFOR e"I ho
r .otA the pen from the pen tray with
,a.ner more than usual care and dinned
- ~ the heavy glass ink bottle that 10 =
s seiure MN on his monster mahogany
uesk, Drawing the top letter on tbe
pi,e 70 MN he started to sign, but the
pen niaue no mark. Irritation imme.
uiateiy supplanted any interest that ba
nas nave felt in the signing II WINS
.n'ensely exaSperating. The ink hot.
TIE nad been allowed to 90 dry and
ohiy a gummy mass of metallic black
showed in the bottom of the inkweu
II was really almost pathetic. he 70.
hected' that he, the president of tha
great concern of Blank & Bridges-he
whose time was worth to thar concar,
some twenty thousand dollars a year
SHOULD nave to waste that precious
llhe lrettlng over empty ink wells
livery modern convenience of eficien-
cy ID business methods had been in
slailed IN his otiice-there were silent
typewrlters and automatic letter
! openers and girls lunch room and
employers insurance and annual
Dohuses-all the result of his desire
TO show consideration for his EN-.
ployees-and yet he-Paul Bolton
nad to fret himself day after day
about such things as empty ink bottles,
undusted desks and chairs, unwashed
drinking glasses and untitled water
bottles. He was tired from an extremely
trying week and so instead of rising in
wrath and storming at office boys, sec
retar1es, stenographers and every one
else within reach Of his voice-and
Paul Bolton was quite capable of hay
Ing expressed his feelings in that way
he was filled with self-pity. No one
really cared enough for him to spare
him those annoyances. He went to
stenographer's desk, found an inkwell
that happened to be filled and signed
the letters dejectedly.
Then he went to his nearby apart
ments where he reigned in bachelor
supremacy and his experience there
showed him again that no one really
cared. There were no fresh flowers.
Bolton especially liked to have yellow
daffodils and jonquilS in his rooms on
cold, raw winter nights and he had
told his Jap so On more than one &C.
caSi0n. The CRATE fire was not lighted.
The Jap explained that no coal could
be got. Well, the Jap ought to have
got skuttleful somewhere. If he
had cared for him as much as he
seemed he would have got SHUTTLE
full somewhere. And dinner wasn't
exactly what he wanted, and his slip
pers hadn't been warmed and the wa
ter was too cold. The Jap ought to
have known by that time that he
didn't like ice water.
So it was that the next day, When
Bolton began to think about New
Years resolutions, he registered two
resolves, brief yet important To get I
a really efficient private secretary-a
young woman who would care enough
TO see that the inkwells were filled,
and to get a wife. A wife would see
to the jonquils and the slippers he
was sure.
Before a month had passed Bolton
had achieved one of his resolutions.
He had obtained from an exclusive
agency young woman of unusual
nerit-Alice Blair-who had proved
herself to be worth considerably more
han the forty dollars week that she
,ad demanded. SO Bottoms days were
PASSED with an absence of confusion
md irritation. Miss Blair seemed to
rot inside his mind and find out just J
yhat he wanted done before he had
ime TO formulate it even to his own
and she always did things
With perfect ease. She didn't have TO
III the inkwells or dust the desk, but
what showed her forty-dollars-a'
week yalue-she saw to 1t that the !
,fice bows did. 1t was always that
v,y with her. She never seemed to De
busy and yet everything was
lone.
But Bolton still had no wife and the
an did not improve. Another Jap
ronld have been no better. Bolton
yas sure it was only wife who could
make his cup of happiness complete
md vet there were wives and wives
,ba wife he wanted was not like those
f any of his men friends. In the
ret Mace she would have to be COM
oniopable and sympathetic and slim
loting when he was weary from the
flee grind and then she would nave
, reqard her task of being his wire
nd home maker as seriously as he
pparded his business of being pres
lent of Blank and Bridges. Bottom
, ..,--;+ofionS IN dinners /