Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-14
Life'sProblems
Are Discussed
BY Mrs. Wilson Woodrow


Can you let me have some money
she asked as her husband finished
his coffee, folded his paper and rose
from the table.
That look Immediately appeared
on his face, composite expression
implying that her request has had
a blighting influence on him, and
has aged and withered him in the
flower of his years.
What's the especial need?" he
asks with restraint. She can see
him visibly regretting that he told
her the night before that the bus-
ness was going well.
"Oh, a lot of things" she made
haste to explain, useful things
shoes, my feet are on the ground,
and the children they are in rags,
poor dears."
He slowly lays some bills on the
table. Make them go as far as
possible" he says, and then draws
heavy sigh and departs.
How would you like to have
flashes as he goes out the door.
Don't talk nonsense" he replies.
She lets the money lie there on
the table. She feels for the mo-
ment as if she would rather die
tnan tOucn 1t.
Il wish you would give me an
allowance" she calls after him. II
made my. own money before 1 was
married, and I saved some, too.
Il am making sufficient to sup
port you and the children in COM
fort" he comes back to say. "All
1 ask is that you spend it wisely.
She looks rebelliously at his re-
treating back. who wants to
spend money at all if there's that
awful injunction over it to spend it
wisely?''-
She looked through the, window
as she made ready to go out. The
weather was horrid, and she felt
tired and depressed and discour-
aged. She had had a long period of
doing everything wisely, of keep
ing bills down and the table up, of
getting the last thread of wear out
of her own and the children's
clothes of making one dollar do the
work of two. Every fiber of her
ached for a bit of a fling. brief
holiday from the wear and tear of
always doing her best.
March roared like a lion through
the streets, but the florists windows
were full of limitations of Spring
daffodils, hyacinths, primroses.
of her spirit were well clipped, but
they fluttered a little and she real
lied that they could still soar.
The blizzard increased, the air
was full of whirling snow, but
Spring had pitched her tent in the
big steam-heated shops. The Win
ter suits and coats and furs were
all gone, and the windows were full
of sheer, shining, shimmering things
that coaXed the money out of ones
pockets before one knew 1T.
She got past by sheer strength
of will. And then--a milliner's
window, full of Spring hats. Talk
about the pipes of Pan, that still go
fiuting. fiuting, fiutipg to maid and
man! She was a child at the fair;
she was the old, eternal woman.
haunting the bazars.
Isa it necessary to say that she
was inside? A low-toned, softly
lighted room, with restful atmos-
phere. A smiling, gentle, pretty
girl seated her before a triplicate
mirror and removed her veil and
hat. She didn't intend to buy; she
merely wanted to look at them, to
get a general idea of the sort of
things that were going to be worn
and what she had better get at
Hats were brought up, one after
another, and she tried them all on.
1t was an enchanting adventure.
Finally, the girl brought up the one
hat, holding it at arms length and
twirling it about on her hand with
a little smile of pride. Then she
adjusted it?
Herself gave a little gasp. The
one hat! Every line suited her.
She looked perfectly charming.
The color rose on her cheek. She
had never had so becoming a hat.
1t was exhilaration, it was cham
pagne, it was the Spring wind blow
ing from the garden of youth.
"I'll take it," she said, and paid
for it and gave her address.
"You look really rested" said
her husband to her after dinaer
that evening, the air has done you
good. Did you get your shopping
done?"
"Yes."
Bring me the list, and I'll check
it up for you"
She gave it to him.
How much was this dimity and
the shoes and these spools of cot
ton, and"-
ton," she interrupted him, her words
came with a rush. l spent all the
you gave me, and 1 bought
one Spring hat.
He threw his cigar into the fire.
"A mans a fool to trust woman
with money" he said bitterly. This |
proves it."
"a fool there was" she quoted,
but I'm not 1t this time. That hat
was the wisest and cheapest pur-
chase l ever made. 1t stands to me
for a much needed holiday, for
medicine. for Spring vacation, for