The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-06
EDening Story
Oregon Roses.

BY LAURA REID MONIGOMEh1 ..
Lofty. I think you are awfully
foolish ITO plan about studying any
more. High school is enough for any
girl. What good will your education
do you when you are married?' de-
manded Wayne as she settled her hat
well over the right eye; Better spend
that money for some dolly clothes.
You'll never get You a sweetie going
about in that suit. You might be your
own grandmother for all the style you
have"
Lofty went on soberly with her
work. Mayme had taken advantage
of her employers absence 20 stop
work 10 minutes before II; she al
ways went in and powdered well be-
fore the noon hour so that the instant
the big hands pointed to 2 she would
be ready to shrug into her tight little
coat and vanish. 81 shall be able to
earn more when I have taken that
business course" Lofty replied.
Your " mother works. too. doesn' !, t
interest in Lotty's affairs. 80 you
don't have to earn for two
Eyes, but mother doesn't Ike Chi
cago very well. You see, our friends
are all our West; we lived near Port
land in Oregon and she would be glad
good salary for a year or two, we
could save enough between US to go
back and take the risk of being out of
work for month or so. What 1
would like to do would be to get n
small house and take one or two room
ers. Then with what I could earn,
We would have enough SO mother
would not have to go out every day"
Wayne applied her lipstick care
fully before answering: You sure
talk like an old lady. Don't you ex-
pect to marry? Going to work all
your life?"
Lofty flushed and remained silent
She knew that she would not marry
now. She had had her dreams and
they had dissolved into the mists of
the past. The man she loved lived in
oregon and they had gone together
since childhood. She had never known
what had come between them. but
he had stopped writing. That some
one had made trouble, she guessed,
but she could do nothing to bridge
over the silence that had sickened
her world for her.
Tom had, quite evidently, tired of
the sensible, plain-faced. girl, who had
no spectacular accomplishments. Lofty
was just nice, average girl, with
an immense capacity for love and for
making her loved ones comforta BILE,
but as for dressing to catch the rowing
eye of pampered young men, such a
thought had never been entertained
by her and she turned a deaf ear to
the advice Mayme lavished upon her.
Mayme was a big, good natured girl,
who frankly wished to marry and who
was willing to drag Lofty after her in
the pursuit of a compliant mea1-ticket
Mayme intended, in a vague. inchoate
way, to be good wife. but her meth
DDS, in Lotty's eyes, were very crude.
Lofty lived in a world or dreams,
where the man who loved her sought
her.
T
too much work if you take up THAI
course" said Mrs. Skitch, as her
daughter prepared their little meal.
Mrs Skitch was a frail, dark-eyeo
woman, who had had many troubles,
but who had preserved a cheerful spir-
it in spite of these.
NO" Lofty smiled at her across
the tiny room, 'T shall enjoy the
course. Three nights a week isn't
much and we are going to have Just a
bite downtown those nights and then
I'm going to take you over to the
public library, where you can read
the new magazines until I'm thru
Then you won't have a lonely even
ing at home.'
The night of the first lesson
CHANGED to be rainy. Lofty estab-
Hshed her mother in the reading
room and then sloshed down thru
the mud and rain to her class She
had had hard day~dnd her wet feet
did not add to her comfort The
crowds jostled her and the gIarins
street lights only served to intensity
ner loneliness. 1t did seem as tho
there ought to be some place for her
All she craved was a tiny home with
warmth and privacy
The crowded house where thew
rented Hght-housekeeping rooms was
never still. The married couple in
the rooms net them wrangled far
into the night. The musical student
above practiced feverishly when she
was not cooking food with strange
foreign odors. A florists display re-
minded her of the wonderful roses in
oregon. Even if 1 get thru In six
months" she reflected, reeIing as a
hurrying man almost knocked her off
her feet, 1T will be at least a year
after that before Wen have enough to
pay our expenses back home
If mother could putter about a
garden and see her old friends she
wgald get stronger. She isn't able
10 hang to a strap night and morn
ing. 1 wonder why Tom stopped writ
ing so shortly after father died here %
This thought was always in her mind
~4Rather shyly she entered the class
room The pupils were mostly men
and women who We're trying to study
themselves into better positions. Peo-
pie who came to class after a day of
I'LL "a WI n anu WIZ ildG SCdnI
for mental expansion, only the CLEAN
of ambition that constantly urged
them upward and onward
This is a splendid place for real
work." encouraged a tall, red-haired
woman who was easily forty years
old. ''They will let you go on just as
fast as you are proficient. I expect
to earn double the money in another
year. You, however," her kindly eyes
rested on the tired young face, will
probably not go on working very
long"
Yes said Lofty blealxly, vi expect
to work all my life"
The man stopping intently over his
desk, lifted his head at the sound of
the soft voice Then he rose and went
to her: Lofty" the gladness in his
voice told the red-haired woman vol
umes, and with a little twinkle in her
observant eyes she moved away, Il de-
cided that I had no right to ask you
to be engaged to me when 1 was