Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-01-30

wilfred slept very poorly. and week
In and week out she read to him.
often until after midnight. She hated
the trashy novels that interested him.
A woman in love might have endured
all this under a splendid impulse to
sacrifice. But that was the curious
thing about Ethel. The more she
gave. the more her resentment grew.
Her husbands occasional moments OF
tenderness were unpleasant to her.
Had she held him as positively to blame
for this dingy anticlimax. it might have
been a degree less discouraging. But
Wilfred could never be anything posi-
lively. He was a negative irritation, a
negative stumbling block. a negative
The life. too. was telling on her.
thin, indicating the strain that was
on her at a time when a woman
should be most fastidiously cared for.
TOWARD the end OF January their
money being nearly gone, she
rummaged the advertising columns
of the Los Angeles Times. hoping
desperately for some kind Of york
that would keep them alive. keep
their pitiful home together until Will
fred was vel! or dead. or that new
life, for which she felt a burning
responsibility. had come into being.
She found an advertisement which
looked more promising than the 9TH
ers. An author wanted the services
of a typist familiar with scenarios.
She had copied a few scenarios Tor
days.. and she hoped to find some
thing here which would permit her
to work at home-for her condition
as well as her responsibilities pre-.
vented her staying away for any
great length of time.
Therefore one morning. between
breakfast dishes and luncheon stew.
she foundered through the mud and
took the trolley for Los Angeles. She
found Mr.. Glossky. the author, work.
ing in an untidy room over q shoe
in it's hardness and dissipation. but
his look softened to pity at'the sight
of her condition, and he even sug-
zested a place where she could rent
a practically new Typewriter for -
a month. He turned over to her
, a mass of obscure handwriting and
loaned her a finished scenario as
The next day her rented machine
came, and she set to work tick-tack-
ing out frightfully comic scenes In
the midst of the prevailing squaior
month the sun had been stranger
to the people Of earth; rain was now
descending in sheets. flashing the
mean little windowpanes: which
seemed to cry and cry the tears
which Ethel was too proud and TOO
"Caption-You Poor Cheese"
Ethel stopped in her tipping at this
remark. which she had just copied
from Mr.. Glossky's fearfully comic
manuscript. Poor cheese; indeed!
How she wished she could find a
prevailing gray! She could see her
husband in the next room sitting up
in bed porting over damaged book
! she had brought him from the pub
lie library. She realized how sulien
and ungracious she had always been
prosperity. Poor Wilfred. poor Ethel.
! poor Alky. poor world!
Her baby was born in the middle
of February. or, atmospherically
speaking. during a high mist be-
tween storms. Less than an .. nonr
brought a letter from old Bowdin's
lawyer. Mr.. Macmonaele. 1t haa
! been forwarded to Bowers" from
Coronado, and merely said that MT:
Bowdin was now able to be moved:
but required constant care, as the
paralytic stroke had left him a Grip
pie. 1t intimated that the younger
Bowdins should take care of him.
Ethel got the letter before Wilfred
saw the was now on hts feet and
moving about, making futile efforts
monagIe's communication without a
word to ner husband. Suffering
though she was. she sat at the type
writer and tick-tacked reply:
Dear Sir:
yours OF Feb 12th received and
contents duly noted. In reply would
say that. since Mr.. Bowdin has made
you rich and is TOW down. 1t would
be only fair for you to pay his eX-
! penses to California and say nothing
about 1t. Awaiting your reply.
Yours very faithfully.
And she signed it proudly: Ethel
Cray Bowdin."
The baby, who proved to be . girl.
YaH born with Q mop OF hatE and