The Topeka state journal., 1922-12-06
EOening Story
The Fancy Work Girl
BY JANE OSBORN

| JOyOOo AOhA
The first -ound to disturb her
| fore she and Aunt Matte were to
start. They were making some last
minute purchases before their de-
parture.
Were goil s to spend most of our
| time doin~ fancy w *" was what the
aunt said. There are lovely verandds
at the hotel and we can just sit out
I there hours and n1alSe@pretty things.
L knewNas long as l was taking you
you'd be glad tc= do that much for
me. I'm chairman of theTfancy work
table of the big charity ball in the
autumn and 1 want to show those
ladies' that L can do more kinds OF
fancy work than the rest of them put
together
Aunt Matte was steering her niece
toward the ''art tembroidery'' section
in the big department store. Here
they stopped and for the next half
hour Aunt Matte bought raw ma
teriais for nearly every sort of fancy
work shown in that department
%You'H nave plenty of time," said
Aunt Matte, when Helen protested
that she thought they had purchased
more materials than they could pos
sibly take u4e of. You can take a
dip in the ocean every omrning, but
I don't SUI .Iose there'n be anything
doing afternC ons or evenings. You
know there are never enough young
men to go around at those places
and it always cheapens I girl SO to be
one of 5 eraI girls after the same
man. No, 1 expect We'll spend most
of our time right there on the hotel
veranda doing fancy work"
Helen's fingers were deft and she
had a certain sort of constructive abil-
ity needed to fashion the various bags
balls, lamp shades, fly swats. tea
cosies, cuff button cases, pin-cushions,
telephone covers and card table
spreads that her aunt had planned
She could make these things, but she
didn't like to. Most of them seemed
so hopelessly useless 1t seemed to
be the most fantastic and useless that
her aunt had selected.
Still Aunt Matte was paying ex-
penses so after her brief dip in the
ocean every morning Helen sat for
long hours on the hotel veranda, ply
ing nee lie and thread, crochet Nook
and scissors. She sighed occasionally
when she saw the other young women
sauntering off the hotel veranda, ten
mis- rackets in hand, for an afternoon
at the courts. She watched with
wistful eagerness parties of young
1ople starting off for motor rides
along the shore roads, but she went
right on doing fancy work.
Sometimes afte dinner, for a brief
hour or two, Helen remained with her
aunt in the hotel drawing room-"to
watch the dancers"-as her aunt ex
planned, but Helen was hurried off to
bed at an early hour in order to be
fresh for the next days work.
81 wouldn't on that I could
dance" Aunt Matte said. There
aren't anywhere near enough men to
go. around, SO you probably wouldn't
have any partners anyhow"
But one evening Mr.. Belden, a new
arrival, managed to get an introduce
tion to Helen. 1t was quite obvious
that he had done some maneuvering
to get this introduction, and when he
made his first bow to Helen and her
aunt he said, 'I have seen you sitting
on the veranda and I made up my
mind I was SOing to meet you if 1
could Helen bIushed prettily, and
when Mr.. Belden asked her to dance
she didn't even took to her aunt for
approval but started off in a lazy fox
trot. ~
Twice re -. Belden danced with
Matte dragged her off to bed. I'm
sure it seems very funny why he
should want to dance with you so
much" said the aunt. There are SO
many pretty girls here. He didn't
say why it was, did he?"
"Of course not auntie," said Helen,
little dreaming that Mr.. Belden ac-
tually was attracted by something
more than Helen's charming person
ality
ne next IOuHd 11el6n
ting alone on the veranda, an enor-
nous basket of materials beside her
Her aunt was waiting in the office
for the coming of the mail and had
told Helen to go right out and ''begin
the fly swats."
Mr.. Belden Joined he, before she
had been seated m;-ny minutes and
dragged chair to her side, obviously
wishing to talk.
What on earth is that?" he asked
q a ~ irac inc
He pointed to a bit of work in Helen's
hands.
''Why, it's a fly swat. We buy themf
plain at the ten cent store and then
crochet colored borders on them and
put crochet flowers on them"
what are they for?" asked Belden.
why. to swat flies@k> suppose"
said Helen. THE crochetihg is just
to make them pretty"
. I'm blessed"
Mr.. Belden spent an hour at Hell
ems side that day, danced three times |
with her that evening and appeared |
in the morning on the veranda. She |
had finished the fly swats and was at
work on netting new.
; What in the worlc are those?" he /
asked.
I. ''Why, they're 1O-cent dish cloths.
to begin with" said Helen a little re-.
ticently. I'VE sew them together with /
colored silk and make them into
sweaters. 1 don't know as I'd wear
one-but they're all the rage"
I'm blessed said Mr.. Belden. He
did not change the subject. He asked |
Helen to tell hiL of the other sorts of
fancy work she and her aunt were
doing, asked ali sorts of questions
about prices of materials, comparative
values at different stores, and once
Helen caught him jotting down some
notes in a little book he drew from
his pocket.
For the entire week NJ. Belden al
ways spent an hour or SO every morn
ing at Helen's side, watching her
work. When Saturday evening came
he asked her whether she did fancy
work on Sunday. and Helen sighed
happily and aid sn. didn't.
Thank heaven" said Mr.. Belden /
Then maybe you can arrange to go