Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-06-19
HIS SECOND WIFE
BY ERNEST POOLE
Author of "The Horbor," "His Famiiu,
COPYRIGHT, 1880, 5p Pvbio LEDGER Co.

next thing we decided was that Joe
packs up this wife OF his whether she
happens TO like It or not, and takes her
over TO Paris. See? And II she tries
ali sIep sropnS m 70 IRON fSn work work BY yankns him
while Nourse growled on in his surly
way, Ethel slipped quietly into the hail
where presently Sally with one arm
about her was proffering handkerchief
and murmuring:
Use mine, dear"
On the night before they sailed for
france, long after she had gone 10 bed
Etnel came out In her wrapper into the
warm dark Lying room. There was
sSSme,n,ng son r she had forgotten to do, and
sne wanted 10 get " off her mind. She
switched on the light by the doorway,
and looked about her smiling, but with
q little shivcr, too.
Aresdys ras shGss ss yoo Ts, pss Ssa nearly 60
bare. Only Ethers desk was left and a
chair OF, two and the long, heavy table
with a lamp at either end. Amy's pic.
ture was still on the table, but it lay
ceiling as though It knew it must soon
depart. Tomorrow the movers would
finish their work Soon somebody else's
things would be here, and somebody
room and make 1t new. Somebody else
What kind Of woman? Another Amy,
or Fanny Carr, or Sally Crothers or
Mrs. Grewe? What funny. compli-
now, Ethel had already decided to take
O. small house near Washington Square.
How long would that experiment last
nsoubtless IN the years ahead she would
try other homes. one after the other
why do we move 30 in New York;
She thought of that plan Of her hus-
bands for the future city street, with
long rows on either hand Of huge apart
ment buildings with receding terraces,
ahar I'D t,,t1 l,a
street below. And she wondered wheth-
er the city would ever be anything like
thatf.. I'm New York all things are pos
"Howevor." Ethel went to her desk
md rummaged for paper pen. and Ink.
Then che took out of cubby-hole q
bulky letter and read II through. II was
| the "round-robin" come again on it's an
nual journey over the land II had been been
rarch, in a mill town and In cities large
and small. There were many kinds Of
handwriting here. and widely different
stories of the growth, the swift unfold:
women. Girls like me-" She read II
| through
Then she took up her pen and began
to write swiftly:
years-but II was hard to write before,
because everything was far from clear,
She stopped and frowned. How much
| shssl tell them?' An eagerness to be
| frank and tell all was mingled with that
' fcling OF Anglo-Saxon reticence which
| had been bred in Ethel's soul back IN
| the town in Ohio.
"Besides, 7 haven't time she thought
"I feel" she wrote. "as though | were
iust out of dangeT-barely out In
| danger, mean, OF nervously dashing
about after nothing until got wrinkled
| and old at forty--nerves In shreds'
| might have done that. 7 have met a
nerve specialist lately--and the stories
he has told me about women in this
| town!
| However. want TO make myself
clear. Am high-brow? Not at all
I want good clothes-1 love to shop
| and I propose TO go on shopping. II
| YOU do not, let me tell you, my Gears
| that the men in New York are like al
the rest--and you would soon be leading
n very lonely existence And ! don
want that, ! want bushels of friends-
| and some of them men--decidedly
| want TO dance and dine about-but
don't want to be religious about 1t
Nor frantic and get myself into
well. but did start out like that
When I came here to live" She hesi'
tatod. mo. I'd better scratch that out.
"Thank Heaven got married. she
wrote. land fell In love with my nus
band" Again she stopped with quicl
| frown. "And I had baby. And
began to find something real Arothei
pause, a long one.
IT had quite a struggle after that.
was all hemmed in" she stopped agai'