Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-09-01
And So They
Were Married
sTART THIs STORY TODAY
BY HAZEL DEYo BATCHEL0R
COPYRIGHT, 1919. by Public LEDGER Co.

avoid unpleasantness, Jane did make
conscious effort to keep herself and the
4 little fat tidy. But it was this fact
and not because there was any love in
her heart for her husband that made
her do this. Perhaps IL she had married
man who had loved her, and who
had been tactful, showing her diplo-
matically that her ways were careless,
even sloppy, Jane might have learned
to be different.
But she had grown to almost hate her
husband, his crude, almost rough, jokes,
his lack of consideration from an es-
thetic standpoint, his scorn Of all things
that made life worth while to Jane, ro-
nance and things that are hoped for,
but never realized. It was strange that
a man Of his caliber should care about
how the place looked, but buried deep
in the heart of every man, whether he
knows it or not, there is love Of order
about him, a consciousness that all is
well, detestation of sloppy women,
and of delicatessen meals. Perhaps Jane
was very much to blame for a great
many of their quarrels, but his treat
ment of her deadened her reason, made
her stubborn.
Her story lay in the drawer of the
ugly little sideboard for some days while
i she swept, made beds and cooked But
\ Jane had wings and it was impossible
to keep them folded forever. One morn
ing she awoke with a restlessness in
her heart, and after her husband had
left she went to work again on the grim
little tale that she had conceived.
She finished it that afternoon and then,
fearful that he would come home and i'll
treat her, as he had before many times,
she flew about the house Strengthening
things up slipped into outdoor things
4 and went out to buy something for
dinner. When she returned, the pre-
cious story was mailed to one of the
cheaper magazines, and her husband
was sitting in the oak rocker by the
front window reading the evening
paper.
He looked up as she came in with his
sneering grin spread over his face. She
looked at him levelly as he sat there in
his shirt sleeves smoking a cigarette,
and wondered how, even in her romance
loving, little girl mind, she had ever
loved him, how she had ever come to
marry him. AT that moment she hated
him as she never had before.
Been gadding have your" he
vouchsafed in scoffing voice.
"Just out getting things for dinner"
Suppose you couldn't have done that
this morning. instead of waiting till
after 8 o'clock at night to do It"
you're home earlier than usual"
she had returned deprecatingly, escap-
ing to the kitchen, but he flung out to
the kitchen after her and stood in the
door haunting her as she set about pre-
pairing the meal.
'Please go out and leave me alone, !"
9 she said, finally raising trembling face
to his. Its expression only infuriated
him the more.
That's right, snivel about it.. 1
never saw such a cry baby" he
sneered. "If I'd known what dish
rag yoM were going to turn out, believe
me, I'd have picked a woman with more
red blood in her than you have"
1t was because Jane would never
stoop to quarrel with him that he flung
this taunt in her face. and inasmuch as
he was always ready to quarrel, to pick
up the slightest thing and start an
argument to which she never replied,
he resented her attitude the more
keenly.
With that remark he strobe across to
the stove and ran his finger across it,
holding it up contemptuously smeared
with black grease.
'.That's the kind of a kitchen you
keep he taunted, "and look at that
sink. I'd be ashamed to leave 1t that
way. It's sickening."
Jane would have turned and walked
out of the house right then If she had
not been conscious of something that
as vet he did not know of and which
she was afraid to tell him. Joy was on
the way. 1t is one thing to be inde-
bendent and show ones spirit when one
Is young and strong and alone, but what
could she do with a baby? Who would
take care of her? She had to bear it
no matter what he did or said.
Then came a Frightening in the dark
clouds of James life, for week later
after she had lived through days OF
brooding there came letter one morn :
ing. And when she tore it open check
fell out on her lap. Her story, The
& Crucible," had been accepted, and she
had been paid forty five dollars Tor IT,
Forty five dollars isn't much for
story, but it meant more than tn'
~ money to Jane. 1t meant certain
freedom, lifting of her bruised wing,
that she had not felt for days II
meant that she could write more stories
IL was the ambition of her life to write
and always had been. She cashed tn
check at the corner grocery and tolt
her husband nothing about 1t. Tha'
money was fund to be used when she
needed it desperately.
Now as Jane thought back over thoss
days that were buried in the past, anc
realized that they were past and dom
with. and that the future stretched
gloriously ahead, she had that uncom
Portable feeling that perhaps she hat
been more to blame then than she hac
Thought at the time. 1t was true, sh'
was careless, even sloppy. She must
guard herself closely lest this, untidi'
ness creep out and disgust Bob. Sh,
doubted If even Bob could have lovet
her in her dirty kimono and sloppy bed
room slippers, and she shudderedi that
4 she had ever allowed herself to be seer
as she had been then. What II Mrs
Raymond had ever seen her in thos'
days? And at the thought Of Ruth ant
Helen, their scrypulous daintiness thai
was almost creed with them, James