The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-06-24
JUST A GIRL
By JANE PHELPS
ZENA'S IDEAL OF A MAN.
CHAPTER %.


Father wasn't well. =
He hadn't said anything. but both
mother and I noticed that he looked
thing.
Does he eat in the morning ?"
mother asked.
mot much. I had to coax him to
eat his eggs this morning" 1 told her.
He just nibbled until 1 threatened to
feed him.
81 do hope he isn't going to be ill.,"
mother returned. He is so stubborn
about taking a rest. That short trip
to Palm Beach is the first vacation he
had had in a year"
Both mother and I watched dad
more closely but said little to him.
He seemed to resent any reference to
his looks. He was absent minded, too.
and acted as if he was thinking of
something unpleasant. He would
frown, then he would sigh-if he
thought no one was looking.
I Then he seemed to get more like
himself again. 1 was delighted. The
house seemed so different when dad
wasn't feeling well. Once the thought
came to me of how dreadful life would
be without him. I felt sick and faint
just at the thought.
Dad and 1 always went to church.
Mother didn't always go, because we
walked Dad didn't believe in making
the chauffeurs work Sunday unless it
was a necessity. The church was only
a short distance, and we both enjoyed
the walk.
On our way home, or after we
reached there. he would talk of the
sermon. He always tried to find out
If there had been anything said which
aroused particular interest. If not, he
would tell me what had interested him
1.-The most. BY the time he had fin
ished, 1 wondered why I had not seen
in the sermon what seemed SO plain
now that he had explained its effect
on him.
I guess it was because dad was so
nice that l was rather hard to suit.
Judged by him-he was the standard
I had set up in my miIfd--there was
no one I had met who seemed the
right kind to live with. AT leashthere
hadn't until 1 met Kenneth Lawrence.
And 1 really wasn't sure about him.
1t makes a girl particular to have
such a father as had.
You see, Kenneth Lawrence talked
seriously with me part of the time,
| just like dad did. I don't mean he
advised me or anything of that sort
I but his gay talk was Sprinkled with
more serious thoughts. 1t was as if
he gave me credit for having brains
He wasn't a bit sentimental either,
even if he had wanted to correspond
with me- And the boys l knew were
such idiots at times. They said such
silly things. No girl could take flat
terry like theirs seriously. But when
Kenneth paid a compliment, you some
how knew he meant it.
That was one of the things that
made me think he would grow to be
like dad.
/ think 1 had more pride in being
dads pal than in anything else in my
lffe. 1 said so once to him, and he re-
piled:
1T is what I want you to be with
your husband when you marry, dear
a good companion as well as a good
wife. A man needs companionship.
If he doesn't get it at home, he will go
elsewhere for it. Women often fail
! in this particular. They are good
| wives, chaste even in thought, good
hoUsekeepers, economical, and yet
their lives are unhappy because they
cannot make of themselves compan-
Ions to the men they marry"
Father often talked like this to me.
Once he said:
Parents do not make friends of
| their children. 1t is a mistake ]
never want to feel that you cannot
come to ME about anything that con-
Germs you. If you have done wrong,
we will talk it over together, and see
just why it was wrong"
Is it any wonder that he was my
ideal of a man?
(Tomorrow-A proposal a day.)