The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-04-27

1 quite remote.
Their dining halls were as distant,
and even the social activities that were
arranged for them were conducted un-
der entirely different management.
They We're farther apart than they
would have been had Gladys lived in
Holmes Center and George two coun-
| ties off.
| George took the only work that Of
| fered itself-that of clerical assistant
to the night clerk of one of the down
town hotels-so there was little leisure
| for George and Gladys to go about to-
gether and as they never seemed to
meet by chance in the great aniver-
Sity center, sometimes days went by
when their only means of intercourse
was by way of a daily exchanged let
| ter.
| Meanwhile Gladys was experiencing
what amounted to nothing more nor
less than a sartorial conversion. She
was converted from the prejudices and
circumscriptions of Holmes Center to
| the dress creed of the city.
This did not mean that she went to
| extremes in matters of dress, but it
did mean that in place of her long,
full dark skirt and separate white
| shirt waists" she adopted the one
piece cotton froeks worn by the young
women of the summer school, and rel
| egating the wooden scarf to the bottom
of her trunk she invested in a knitted
silk jacket, such as five out ofaevery
wore.
Her feather trimmed best hat that
she had worn with her from Holmes
| Center abdicated in favor of simple
! straw sailor that proved Immensely be-
| coming worn over her soft brown curls
| and shading her truly lovely blue eyes.
| All of which might not have proved
| so difficult to tell George had it not
| been in order to buy the knitted silk
| jacket, the simple sailor which had a
fairly high price attached to it in spite
of its simplicity, ana the little silk
afternoon dress and white pumps and
satin slippers she had dipped into that
| little hoard and actually had spent
| enough of it to mean possibly the sac
rifice of that 'parlor suit" she had
been planning on. That made it seem
almost treachery to George.
Besides George; dear. trusting
she was. He would not understand.
| The day after her transformation
Gladys did not see George. He was
working late that night and had no
spare afternoon hours.
| She was glad that there was no irfs
terview because until she became used
to the new situation-that of wearing
smart city clothes instead of clumsy
country c1othes-she felt that she
i would show her self-consciousness.
OF course she would not wear the
| new city clothes when she saw him.
SO when the next day they met for an
! hour together toward the close of a
| find summer afternoon Gladys was
arrayed in her Holmes Center get-up.
| 1t had been only two days before
| that she discarded it. yet it seemed
not too long to her. and she hesitated
| to look at herself in the glass. She
did not want to know how she had
| looked. She was sitting on bench
| in one of the city parks where she
and George had arranged to meet. :
First she was conscious of her own
awkward appearance. Then she looked
up to see George approach her. Could
| that he her George? she wondered.
Before she had never noticed how
| badly his suit had fitted, nor had she
realized hew impossibly his shoes were
shaped. He wore his hat an an I'M
! eitified angle.
She was tempted to pull it into a
| better position. George must have
seen her look of disappointment. for
| he could not conceal his embarrass-
ment. He sat beside her on the bench.
Then a wave of eontrition came over
! Gladys. He looked tired and anxious
He had been working hard, very hard,
and it was all for her. and she had
been wasting the money that was TO be
i spent to feather their nest in order
| to buy plumage for herself. 1t was an
awkward hour
| Gladys could not express the con-
triton she felt, for she did not want
George even to know the cause of it
They tried to talk of their work, but
| it was so widely diverse that they
seemed not to interest each other.
The affairs of Holmes Center was too
remote to be interesting.
| And the worst of it was that when
| Gladys returned to her dornaitory
room and had again donned her city
| clothes she felt something almost akin
20 contempt for the clothes of her
| George Could it be a contempt for
George?
| l., elalrw sc
| came over her. She wished she had
| never come to the city to experience
! its temptations, and this was followed
/ by a great longing longing to re-
| main always in the city. never to &c
! back to the clothes of Holmes Center.
| There was a faculty reception that
| eyening-the first opportunity she had
| had to meet out Of class the men and
women from whom she was receiving
| instruction. To go to this reception
| and enter into the festfvity 1t offered
would be to forget at least for few
| hours the disturbing emotions OF the
| afternoon.
| GLADYS found herself that evening
| noticing the clothes the men wore and
the way they wore them. And always
there was the image of George in his
bagging suit, out-of-date shoes ana
| badly poised hat What IL she had
never known him? There was no
doubt of the fact that the young in
| StFuctOr VINO Was tdlNiHS 10 nv 90
Interested in her He had already
asked to call to see her at the dormi-
tory
/ Then among the faces Gladys
fcaught a glimpse of one that could be
no ones but Georges. In a few min
utes more he had come up to her. The
! interested professor had withdrawn of
| his own accord, and they were stand
| ing there in a quiet corner OF the col
| lege gymnasium
| ''Georgei''
"GIsdys!"
There was infinite relief in the tone
! of each Neither had known that the
other was coming. But now the truth
was known, and explanations we're
| almost NECESSARY. You see, George
had taken a tumble. He had realized