Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1921-07-09
WITHOUT LOVE
BY ELSIE @. PARKER.

| walked nome from the DaySy1lle post
office, yet her footsteps Jagged. In
her hand were two bulky letters. To
the kindly neighbors, who took much
! interest In Marge and her career,
these letters-always fat ones-were q
joy.
Marge was an authOress, you must
understand. Oh, yes, she wrote many,
many stories; but only she knew that
they were all unpublished. The vii
lage folk thought the reason she re-
fused to talk about her stories was
a modest one. They did not under
| stand the meaning Of the thick envel-
opes which contained rejected manu-
scripts.
Three years ago Marge had a love
affair. All Daysville had known it,
and had thrilled at it. Then one day,
in the city papers society page, there
had been an announcement: "Miss
Ray Dey Butan betrothed to Mr.. Rob-
ert Benedict"
"His" name! Marge's sweetheart
Everyone was indignant; and Marge
wrote him brief note telling him
never to try to See her again.
Those three long years had gone
by slowly. And Marge, now an ar
dent man-hater Of twenty-five, was an
authoress. Yet her works could hard
ly be called stories; they were sat.
Tres. All the scorn she felt for man"
The embodied In her manuscripts.
"Love!" she would say. Love
Everyone writes of it, sings Of 1t,
dreams Of it. Not II Here Is one
who would not write Of love, but will
laugh at it. It's nothing but farce,
anyway" And she really thought she
believed 1t.
Consequently, back came all her
stories, accompanied by polite little
rejection slip.
In the city, Bob Benedict had risen
from newspaper reporter to assist
ant manager and editor of short
story magazine. And, while reading
some of the numerous manuscripts
one day, he came upon one written by
Marge Wilcox of Daysville. 1t was
no other than the girl who had
thrown him over" without an ex-
PLANTATION! With increased interest
he reread the story that ridiculed love
and men.
"Jove, but she's bitterl Maybe
some one lifted her, as she did me.
She deserves it-but no, confound it
She must have had a good reason" he
mused.
At length he persuaded the editor
to let him experiment, and send the
following letter:
Dear Maadm: We read your un.
usual story, Green Apples with much
Interest. Although at present we can
not use the story, we would like to
have, some time in the near future, an
opportunity to talk with you about
some work you might do for US.
VERY truly yours,
THE EDITOR"
When Marge received this letter she
was overjoyed. In fact, she almost
changed her opinion of men. She want
ed to go to the editor the next day,
but of course. that would look too
eager, so she waited two whole days.
All a-tremble, she reached the build.
ing where the magazine was published
She told the office boy that the ed
itor had asked her to call. He was
not at all impressed, but, indifferently,
took her name toward the editorial Of
fees.
1.-The editor Is out, miss, but the as
sistant will see you," he said, when he
returned.
"Bob!' she gasped, when she opened
the door and saw who was in the
room. ''You!"
"Why, Marge!" exclaimed the as
sistant editor, trying to look very
much surprised, and to control his
shaking knees.
"You wanted to see mel mean, the
editor wrote me-the letter will ex-
plain" she passed him the letter.
"Ah, yes, Miss Wilcox" he said, very
"editorially." won't you sit down?
We feel you have talent, and are vast
ing yourself on this satire stuff. What
the public wants is the love interest
or human interest. Now, good whole
some love story stands more"
IF you wished to see me to tell
me to write love stories, might just
as well be going. For don't intend
to write any," she said, defiantly.
you don't need to write love stories,
but you do need to have stories with
| human interest"
Are you trying to tell me my
stories are inhuman?" the girl de-
handed.
mo, but think you were inhuman
when you wrote me that letter three
years ago with nary an explanation"
"Why, why" stammered Marge,
completely overwhelmed by the unex-
/ pectedness of the remark. 1.-The an
nouncement in the paper" she said