The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-24
The Woman
He Married
THE STORY OF A SHOPLIETER.
CHAPTER 40.
BY JANE PHELPS

4
THE STORY OF A SHOPLIETER.
CHAPTER 40.
I could think of nothing but that
$4,000 Dicks fhtker had left him!
The increased cost of living, high rent,
and SO forth, made the sum seem like
a fortune. Dick would be willing now
to use it to make it work for him. -
as he said ofthe little we had in the
bank drawing interest. Had 1t come
Ito us six months before he would have
put it in the bank, satisfied with or
per cent interest. And it was due to
| me, my efforts, that he would be will
| ing, to use it. I felt quite richeous,
felt that he owed much to me. I hat
urged him out Of his narrowness-a
called it.
l. Some women had nothing to say
| in the home. I would prove that my
judgment, my ideas. were as good as
Dicks. I had no patience with those
meek little wives who allowed them
selves no voice in matters that con-
cerned them or their comfort. To
shine thru a reflected light may be all
some women care for. perhaps it may
have been my idea when I first mar
ried Dick. To be perfectly honest ]
| think it was. l expected to live as
| father and mother had lived, as my
young married friends lived-to keep
the home neat and care for the chill
dren and let the husband do the rest,
the planning as well as the earning.
! But New York had changed me. ]
was no longer content to be the simple
housewife with nothing to say abof
| financial matters. l argued that times
| had changed: that women had come
| into their own in every way. / really
knew little of economics, of VIVA:
| women who We're taking their place in
the world were accomplishing. I had
little time for reading. My housework
and my sewing kept me too busy.
Then my mind was filled with foolish
longing for things I could not afford
i-clothes, motor cars-a fine home.
When Dick told me of his little
legacy my mind leaped to the fulfill
ment of my desires. With that CAPT.
tai we might soon possess all for which
L longed so constantly. I am ashamed
| to say it. yet it made me almost glad
the invalid father had passed away
and-hadn't Dick said we mustn
grieve because he was thru suffering ?
Mrs. Gray came in one afternoon
soon after Dicks return. She had
offered to keep Junior for me while 1
went shopping with Clara Watson.
! What foolish things some women
do" she remarked.
| L eS questioned WOHueIilS
what she meant. She had a newspa-
| per in her hand.
1T have just been reading such a
pitiful story in the paper. How a
young woman has ruined herself be-
cause of her love for clothes.ia She
| How dreadful"
| isn't it? The article says that
she was refined. lady-like, thoroly
| good. morally, but that her passion
| for clothes ruined her. She worked
hard all day, then sat up late trim
| ming hats, attempting to make her
| clothes look like those of the wealthy
women who patronized the exclusive
dressmaker's establishment where she
was employed. Her own sister had to
| not get enough sleep on account of
the others late hours. spent in embel-
| fishing her costumes"
Poor girl, it is hard to want pretty
things" I unused aloud, forgetting
| Mrs. Gray, and recalling my own un-
fulfilled desires.
"Yes-but how a woman will or can
ruin herself for so perishable a thing
as clothes, seems monstrous to me.
Then, too, no one, save a very Few
I friends, even know what one wears in
big city like New York. The paper
goes on to say that she must have
stolen because she loved clothes for
clothes sake. That she ignored men,
was not a coquette, and had always
been a hard worker. Clothes were
an obsession with her."
IT often wonder the stores do not
lose more than they do" I said. as 1
put on my hat. '"They leave the goods
so exposed. 1t is a great temptation
| if one isn't honesti" I might have
added that many times 1 had stood
and looked longingly at some article
sold at bargain prices, and wondered
why people who were unprincipled
didn't help themselves.
store detectives are very alert. I
think I shall go and see this girl. I
may be able to do something for her"
you are always doing something
for some one" I rejoined. taking
care Of babies or making jellies.
Really, 7 feel it is an imposition to
leave Junior with you.''
IT love to have him. Don't hurry
| home on his account She took
| Junior in her arms. and I went to
meet Clara. But the newspaper story
remained in my mind. I felt very
sorry for the girl who stole because
. she wanted pretty things. I, too,
would go and see her, perhaps.
CTomorrow-Dick and Nan discuss
their legacy.)