Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-25
lean Meets Carol Baker

rI1HEN Jean and Cicely met the mex
w morning at breakfast they were n.
apparently congenial as two well'bre6
young women should be But Jean r.,
surf of Cic"lr's gay trhnn,r ahd l,
made her vaguely uncomfortable. She
feit tNat Cic " woulA SHOW her. u q
pleasure as soon az Jack left, but sh.
closed the outer door. Circly turned u
Jean and said impusively
I'm sorry was SO nasty last night
You know I'm fond OF you. dear, ana !
wouldn't make you uncomfortable for
the world"
A glao little feeling Of relief surged
M in jeans breast, and for a moment
she was tempted to tell Cice!y, the truth
about Dick Mason. but she, did not give
way to this impulse. She, she felt thai tha,
be a mistake to bring up the subject
again. And 80 the entire. matter was
passed over and apparently forgotten.
Jean remembered 1t only as an incident :
Cicelys unrest, and desire for excite
Tent this same unrest that was so ap,,
parent among all the young married
women OF her set.
ing incident happened IN jeans life. an
Incident that brought about very real
friendship between herself and another
woman.
a
IN the old days, n bachelor, who had
somehow shied away from matrimony
and liked to do things that were out OF
the ordinary, had nnnounced seriees OF
liked to gather around him not only the
y, opl- of his own ct. but sem BO-
hemIan crowd Of artists, writer's and the
like. and the teas were. great success
troduced to Carol Baker, the novelist. q
woman Of thirty five or thirty.si%, with
prCmaturely gray hair and charming
manner. Jean liked her from the first.
and Carol was more than interested in
her. There was something about this
slim young thing with her wide gray
eyes and proud little h ad that fascl-
mated Carol. She felt that there was
age young woman in her class. and she
inved her to tea one afternoon as an
experiment.
After II Few preliminary experiments
IN conversation Jean found herself talk,
Ing to Carol Baker. as she hadn't talked
70 any one before In her life. without
betraying condolences. she poured out
her bcw ,iderment as 20 the change that
had 'akcn n'ac' among the people she
had once known.
know what / mean." she explained;
"The women don't seem to he satisfied
with their husbands. they crave excite:
mcnt. don't understand 1t at. ALL,
Carol explained promptly, Most
women don't know what they want.
thoughts are changing constantly, ideals
are broken and built up again. It's a
period Of transition for women and they
have lost their simplicity of outlook A
few years ago there were only two kinds
of women, the woman who was COM
PEELED - work In M Office and the
woman who was content to love some
man, keep his home and bear him his
children. Now there are all X nds OF
women who work. from the kind who
have to, to the kind who take II up as
Z fad so as to keep up with the tlm7s.'
There was silence for a moment be.
tween them. and on" the musical tick I
the French clock on the mantelpccc ,
could be heard in the room. Then Carol |
Baker spoke again.
~ hear that you are very happily !
married. You seem to have solved the |
problem for yourself, anyway
Jean hcstated, and then iwth n sud
den impulse she raised her head. She .
was conscious of only one thing as sh" /
spoke and that was that she trusted this /
calm-cyed. low-voiced woman more thar
sha had ever trusted any one N her NE
before.
TOmorrow--Jean listens to some plain
speaking