The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-28
JUST A GIRL
\ STRANGE. HELPFUL FRIEND
SHIP.
By JANE PHELPS
CHAPTER 81

! CHAPTER 81.
| Mary had been in the house only
! half a day and yet I already was be-
ginning to feel dependence upon her.
Just before she babe me goodnight she
said:
Il amt tryin' to make you tell me
nothin', Zena Stewart, and don't go
think4n' so. But l know sometimes
worryin' you. Don't let it! Grit your
teeth and tell them all to go straight
to-you know where. a girl has to if
she is poor and needs work. AAd
don't give in to the blues. They're bad
for you. And don't let freshies worry
you neither. They can't hurt YOU
! "Oh, but it does hurt! Just to think
( they take me for that kind of a girl
hurts. You see. Mary, had a won
derful father. 1 loved him dearly. He
used to say he wanted his girl to be
good, really good. more than anything
else. I think if there was nothing
else, that would always keep me good
to please dad. And when 1 think
people doubt me i'm any way 1t makes
me terribly unhappy"
You mustn't let it. You can't have
everything in this world. You can't be
i poor and thin-skinned too. Some folks
expect an awful lot" she said this so
comically that I laughed.
| That's right, laugh a little. 1t sort
of helps a lot to laugh. girl has to
have a little fun once in a while even
I
1 know"
ssWill you come in and have a cup
of tea with me in the morning ??
asked. IT make it myself"
! "I'H be here with my hair in
braid," she declared, then ran away
to her room.
I'm so glad she came today" said
aloud after she left me. Il couldn'
| have got thru the day alone"
/ But I soon forgot all about Mary
/ IN tnl yfn IF ~
My quest for work. mother-and Ken
meth Lawrence. What would this man
who talked about not being able to
breathe in cities, think if he knew of
what had been suspected? l sat
down and wrote him a letter, giving
him my address. but saying pothing
of my changed circumstances. An adj
| dress would mean nothing to him as
far as having any idea of the locality
/ went.
But after had written that letter.
I tore it up. I would not put him in
the position that such a letter would.
If I couldn't be perfectly honest with
him I would have nothing to say to
him-ever.
/ Thoughts of Kenneth Lawrence
were never conducive to sleep. So I
lay wide-eyed until almost morning.
| trying to see just little ways into the
| future: trying to brace up my deter
mination to win success and money Tor
a home for mother.
! / thought, too, of that flashy young
fellow in the restaurant Would ]
have that sort of thing, too. in my life
Mary said 1 would-that she did. But
he never had spoken to me when
alone I would tell Mary she must be
more quiet in public. l was sure she
would not be offended.
I wondered what mother would
think of Mary. She WAS funny.
Dad would understand. He would
have appreciated loneliness, and all
that it meant to me. He would know
and understand the longing for COM
partnership which made me grasp
eagerly at the offer from the first
young girl I had met, even tho she
were an uneducated girl like Mary
If her heart were all right. dad would
never cavil at any deficiencies Of edu-
cation,
Before my tea was quite ready
Mary came in.
"Oh. I forgot to rap. ought to
oughtn't ?"
yes. Mary, 1 am afraid you ought
Then, for fear she would think II was
trying to correct her, I added; Mother
never allowed me to go in anyone's
room without rapping. not even hers
or dads
without a word Mary went out into
the hall. and raped on the door
Come in, SAID IauSnlis-
THE top of the mornin' to yees!
she affected a brogue.
"Oh. how good 1t seems to have
some one my own age near me-"
could not help saying. II have beer
$50 lonely, Mary. You see, don't
know a soul in Chicago"
I Wei, you do now, And I'm mis-
taken If it wasn't the best thing Mary
Murphy ever done when she beat Mrs
Lynch down SO cents and took that
room. I don't mean best for you
wouldn't be so bold. But best for me
II amt never had any chance to talh
to a girl like you before. I didn't sleeT
a wink wonderin' II 1 ever could learr
to sling the language the way you do
so natural like. too
"Of course you will, I'll help you
teach you all can if you want me to-
Want YOU to, Why I'd go dowT
on my knees to you if you'd do that
You don't know how I want to know
|, things
.CTomorrow-Anotbe job-)