The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-02-10
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE.
trron Philadeiphia Public Ledgsr.I

The reader who writes to say we,
apparently, discuss anything we
choose and say anything we like about
| it, must have been thinking of the
COSMOPOLITAN Magazine. We have
just finished the perusal of the Febru-
airy number. 1t is the most obstetrical
periodical We ever read.
But, if it is to be left to US, we be-
lieve we prefer Fannie Hurst in light
er vein. When it comes to describing
the purple mark fixed on a mans
Adams apple by his collar button, or
reproducing impressions of a gentle
man gargling his throat in the bath
j no peers. But the deeper and more
serious mood is not for her.
Yes, we know it's there. We pulled
it on purpose. We were curious as to
whether you would notice it.
A chance paragraph from Kate Jor-
dams The Next Corner spotted in
Haywood Broun's review of the book,
momentarily intrigues US. 1t is all
about a gent and lady he had kissed
on the neck.
We assume the heroine drew herself
up; they nearly always do in Miss Jor-
dams stories. 'YouEyou BEAST! The
words were shattered whisper. and
her fingers dragged at the spot where
his lips had fastened, as If to tear it
away. You hateful-vile-' AS she
looked into the deep-ser, living point
Of his eyes, her shoulders drawn up
in nausea, her beauty and exquisite
ness gone into disarray, she was a
specter of despair"
We doubt that any woman would
have made all that fuss about being
kissed on the neck. And we see no
reason why she should have drawn
her shoulders up in nausea, why her
beauty and eXquisiteness should have
gone into disarray or why she was the
Specter of despair. A woman who
doesn't want to be kissed can, with
her left shoulder, so eloquently and
effectively express her aversion to the
unsought caress that few men have
the courage to disregard the gesture.
And. in any event, it would be moth
ing to worry about. Nearly every wo-
man has been kissed by somebody.
Nor would the heroine, had she de-
sired to express contempt and derision,
done so in words. She would have
laughed a hard, cold laugh and her
tormentor Immediately would have
shrunk to the dimensions of a wrin-
killed. pea. Women do not abuse the
men who offer them indignities; they
save that for their husbands
It may be that Miss Jordan can
write; that is an open question. But
she doesn't know anything about
women.
Somehow a Pilots Different.
Sir-Your mentioning the incident
of the Switchman engaged in his daily
occupation while wearing derby hat
recalls a somewhat similar feat-for !
think it should be regarded as a feat
to wear derby hat on such an occa-
sion-that L have not infrequently
seen of a New, York pilot boarding
an incoming liner with a derby hat
jauntily perched on his head, and per-
haps at the same time a long, black
cigar held between his lips, quite un-
disturbed as he climbed the ladder
from the tossing boat, while the strong
Atlantic winds failed to dislodge his
headgear. r. Nc.
Which reminds US that one of the
greatest needs of literature, casual,
contemporaneouS and permanent, is a
cigar There is, we go on to say, no
such thing as a black cigar.
1t goes without saying that Mrs.
Harding, who is shopping in New
York, is having a perfectly wonderful
time. We are persuaded that woman's
devotion to the right of shopping has
been greatly overestimated, but a
woman does love to open a new charge
account.
account without going thru the ordi-
be marvellous experience to her.