The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-04-25
EVENING STORY
Too Frivolous.


BY r. RAY BAKER.
| You don't find CastIegrove on the
map If you approach railroad
ticket window and inquire as to the
fare the man behind the wicket can't
shoot an answer at you in terse tones
He has to get out a little pamphlet and
search thru it, and after perhaps fif-I
| teen minutes have passed he can give
you the requested information.
/ Just where Castlegrove derived its
name certainly is not known to any
| of its denizens. Surely there is no
edifice in the town that could by the
most ambitious of imaginations be
| called castle. The nearest thing to
| it is church. which is just a plain
| little white building-the kind you
/ find at crossroads in the country.
True, there can be and generally is as
much religion in one of these little
more pretentious houses of worship
/ to be found in the cities. However, at
| the time of which 1 write there was
no minister occupying the Castlegrove
church pulpit. The parishioners were
limited in number, because the popula-
| ton of Castlegrove and it's environs
had dwfndled very noticeably since the
church was built, and the ones that
! were left could not afford to pay a
pastors salary, and a minister must
| eat.
! In the backwoods Ohio town came
Genevieve Walters. City life--didn't
j
l bought some land that for politeness
sake was called farm, and which
came cheap, in spite of the. nattery,
| and the family moved from the fairly
| large city sixty miles away in which
| they had resided ever since Genevieve
/ could remember. Mr.. walters bought
out one of the two general stores, sue
| ceeded in getting the appointment as
| postmaster, which had been held by
| the former proprietor, and managed
l a "a he hi
1 nation.
| The moving of the walters family
to Castlegrove brought another per-
1 son,to the village once a weeks This
| person was Bert Holbrook. who was
in love with Genevieve. He lived in
her old home town, where he held
I, fairly lucrative position as pharrna-
cist, and he managed to get down at
sire, usually on Saturday. which was
| his day off on account of having to
| work Sundays.
The two young people had kept
! company for two years, but there had
been no direct talk of an engagement
1t wasn't that Bert was timid about
such matters, but that he found one
| marked flaw in Genevieve that he
| wished to see corrected before they
became betrothed She was too friv-
| olous," according to his ideas He
tloved her none the less. but he feared
she would experience difficulty in
settling down.
ct do like to see a girl smile,'' he
4 told himself repeatedly; but I believe
/ it would be a genuine relief to see
lGenevieve scowl or cry just once. 1t
would relieve the monotony. She's
4 smiling all the time, and it's an at
\ tractive smile, too; but it shows she
| never has a serious thought. Then.
tshes always telling something funny
she's seen or some joke she's heard
/ With the removal of the Walters
family to Castlegrove, Bert felt con-
WINGED that at last Genevieve was go
ing to become settled.''~ One couldn't
very well be frivolous in that town.
\. But GeneYieve failed to improve, so
| far as her sweetheart could notice.
tShe smiled just as much and saw just
tas many funny things in life. He
couldn't wait forever, however, so at
last he decided he would ask her to
take a chance as Mrs. Holbrook, al
tho he felt sure it was he that was
taking the chance.
1t would not be quite right to in
trude' ION the scene of his attempted
proposal, so we'll wait and listen to
his thoughts as he expressed them
aloud under the rumble of the wheels
of the train on which he journeyed
home that Saturday night. He had a
habit of talking aloud when some
thing troubled him and this was one
of those times.
"a fine mess!" he said, as he half
reclined on one seat with his feet on
another and glared dejectedly out the
| window into the darkness flashing
past. Talk about frivolousnessi
Genevieve certainly has them all
beaten. Can't even listen to pro-
posa1 of marriage without laughing in
your face. One would naturally think
that when a fellow starts talking love
a girl would stop playing the piano;
but not Genevieve Waltersi She keeps
| right on and looks up at you and grihs.
| I'm thru, that's all. l can't keep this
up forever. Me for a sensible girl
| And Bert meant it. His was rather
| grave demeanor at all times. He took
life seriously and could not understand
the kind of people who strive to see
the funny side at every opportunity.
He was sincerely in love with Gene
| We've, but he was afraid to try matri-
mony with her. So he decided the
best thing would be to leave her alone,
for a while, at least; perhaps forever.
/ As a result he stopped writing and quit
| making his Saturday calls.
| One month was all he could stand.
He had not heard from her, which was
not at all unnatural considering his
cessation of correspondence. but some
| how he felt grieved over it.
''She might at least invite me down
there once more" he thought. well.
anyhow, I've just got to see her again,
frivolous or no frivolous, altho 1 sup
pose nothing will come of it. I'll sur
prise her, to make sure she won't re-
fuse to see me just for Spite
About this time Bert's weekly holt
day was shifted to Sunday; so for the
first time he journeyed to Castlegrove
on the Sabbath. Arriving at the viii
lage he made his way at once to the
Walters home, but was surprised and
disappointed to find no one there.
Thinking perhaps the family had
IL - l. !