Gunnison news-champion., 1921-09-09
WITHOUT LOVE
BY ELSIE c. PARKER.
SSoESS.CSsrSTC


once. yet her footsteps Jagged In
her hand were Two bulky letters To
the kindly ue!ghb0rS. who took much
Interest In Marge and her career.
these letters-aIwuys fat Ones-were a
jog.
hnrge was an authoress, you must
understand. Oh. pes. she wrote many.
many stories. b=s only she knew that
they were all unpublished. The vii
iaEe folk thought the reason she re-
fused 10 talk about her stories was
modest one They did not under
stand the meaning OF the ,hick enyel-
opes which contained rejected manu-
scripts
Three years ago Marge had n love
affair. All DaysyilIe had known II.
End had thrilled at It Then one day.
In the city pap@r's society page, there
had been nu announcement Miss
Ray Dey BgJau LctrUtAed to Mr.. Rob
ert benedict"
Ills" name! MarEe's sweetheart
Everyone was Indignant: and Marge
wrote him brief note telling him
never TO try 10 sre her HCuIn.
Those three long years had gone
IS slowly. And Marge, now an ar
dent man-hn'er of twenty-five. was an
HUtAoFyss. Yet her works could hard
ly be called stories. they were sat.
Tres All the sooru she felt for man
she embodied In her manuscripts.
Love" she would say. Love!
Everyone writes OF 1t, sings Of It.
dreams u H. Not Il Here Is one
who would not write Of love. but win
laugh at It. It's nothing but n farce,
anyway" And she really thought she
believed II.
Consequently. back came all her
stories, accompanied by Il polite little
rejection slip.
In the city. Bob Benedict had risen
from n newspaper reporter to assist
ant manager and editor OF short
story ftugnzInc, And. while reading
some OF the numerous manuscripts
one day. he came upon one written by
Il MHrEr Wilcox OF DaySvi!le. 1t was
no other than the girl who had
Thrown him over without an ex-
planar!on! With increased interest
he rcrcad the story that ridiculed love
and men.
"Jovc. but she's bitterl Maybe
some one Tilted her, ms she did me.
She deserves it--but no. confound Ill
She must have had a good reason" he
mused.
At length he persuaded the editor
to let him experiment, and send the
following letter:
Dear Maadm: We read your un-
usual story, Green Apples with much
Interest. Although at present we can
not use the story, we would like to
have, some time In the near future. an
opportunity to talk with you about
some work you might do for US.
VERY truly yours,
THE EDITOR"
When Marge received this letter she
was OverjDyed. In fact. she almost
changed her opinion OF men. She want
ed to 20 10 the editor the next day,
but Of course, that would look too
eager, so she waited two whole days.
All a-trcmble, she reached the build
ing where the magazine was published.
She told the Office boy that the cd
itor had asked her TO call. He was
not at all Impressed. but, indifferently.
took her name toward the editorial Of
fees.
"The editor Is out, miss, but the as
slstant will see you" he said, when he
returned.
Bob !" she gasped, when she opened
the door and saw who was In the
room. "You!"
why. Marge" exclaimed the as
sistant editor, trying to look very
much surprised, and to control his
shaking knees.
you wanted to see mel mean, the
editor wrote me-the letter will ex-
plaln-" she passed him the letter.
"Ah. yes, Miss Wilcox" he said. very
"edltorially." won't you sit down?
We feel you have talent, and are vast
Ing yourself on this satire stuff. What
the public wants is the love interest
or human interest. Now. good whole
some love story stands more"
IF you wished TO see me to tell
Inc to write love stories, / might just
as well be going. For l don't intend
to write any," she said, defiantiy.
You don't need to write love stories,
but you do need to have stories with
human interest"
"Are you trying to tell me my
stories are inhuman?" the girl de-
manded.
.'No, but l think you were inhumap
when you wrote me that letter three
years ago with nary an explanation"
"Why, why" stammered Marge.
completely overwhelmed by the unex-
pectedness Of the remark. The an
nouncement in the paper" she said
lamely.
what announcements snapped the
assistant editor.
"Your engagement"
Il never was engaged to anyone but