The Topeka state journal., 1922-06-29
E0ening Story.
Joan Tries Her Hand.
BY JANE OSBORN


fun you'd better not go at ALL" said
Maud as she jabbed a fork into the
fruit salad she had selected for lunch
con at the cafeteria.
| Margaret agreed with this and
nodded her head vigorously. as she
and Maud watched the face of the
skeptic Joan. "If you laugh or even
| feel like laughing" explained Mar
garet, you'll interfere with the mes
sages. He'll put you out if he knows
that you are the one
| Joan, the third of the trio of stem
! ographers who lunched together at
the cooperative cafeteria, smiled with
something very like superiority. I'm
not going to laugh. I am going be-
really mind reading. or spirit COM
munication, or anything spoolzy at all.
| If he really does tell you things
about yourself that are true it is
| trained himself to tell lot about
people just by their expressions. their
mannerisms, the way they dress and
the way they behave generally. Any
one with ordinary intelligence could
| tell a lot more than they do If they
just set out to observe people close
ly"
We'll. you've a right to your opin-
ion said Maud. Come along if you
want. only don't laugh and don't feel
like making fun. Wen have dinner
here at falf past and then we can
get there early
Joan was the youngest of the trio.
barely twenty, but she had a good
brain somewhere behind those round
blue eyes of hers. She was no mere
scoffer, either. Goodness knows"
she told her companions, "if he has
any way of knowing US better than
we know ourselves or of knowing
what is in store for US, I'd be the
first to want to profit by it I GER
tainly don't want to pound the keys
all my life Ii I'm going to meet
man love enough to marry want to
know it. If I'm not, then I want
to study nights so that I can get on
in the world"
After the session with the spirit
opinion was much divided In the
short time the girls had to talk on
their way home it seemed clear that
the only part OF the spirit commune
cation that interested them was that
which referred to their own present
or possible love affairs.
don't see why You weren't more
than convinced" said Margaret to
joan He couldn't have got things
straighter about you if he had known
you all your life Said you worked
and liked it, but that you would be
willing to marry if the right man came
along; that you weren't easily suited
and that you didn't get acquainted
h1A4A AllGi4 easily ne said Ih6r6 haQ
oeen some one once who had cared
for you. but that he was not to be
your life partner, that you should
wait for another"
II think any one could have said
that much just by looking at me.
all. Any one with keen eye and a
little sense could do as much"
Thereafter Joan tried to prove the
truth of her statement. assaying her
own hand at character reading. She
spent what had hitherto been tiresome
minutes in the subway observing and
weighing her observations. Before
many days had passed Joan could tell,
or thought she could. an amazing
number of things about most of -Sthe
persons whom she had a chance to
study in this way.
Maud objected since no one knew
these people no one could tell whether
Joan was really making correct de-
ductions. Tnereupon it was decided
that Joan should try Mr.. Davis, who
had only just been transferred to the
New York office and about whom
none of the girls knew anything as
yet. They had not even heard him
speak, but had merely watched him
as he had come and gone with the
older members of the firm. They
would remember Joan's deductions,
and later when they knew his per
sonal history they would see how
near she came to being right.
Joan felt that the vindication of her
stand on the subject of spook charac-
ter revelation depended on her sue
cess or failure-so she used her eyes
keenIy. Not only did she watch Mr.
Davis closely when he was in sight,
but she thought about him when he
was not She tried to feel the per-
sonality of Mr.. Davis so that she would
be better able to know it. This con-
tinued for two days. The morning of
the third day Joan met Margaret and
Maud before office hours in the office
to tell them the resuA of her deduc-
tions.
Il have never heard him speak or
spoken to him. yet 1 believe he is
from New England, possibly Boston
she said He wears a wrist watch
and that sort of man wouldn't wear
a. wrist watch unless he had got in the
habit in the service. He was IN the
world war-I think in France or
course, he is a college man-you can
tell that from his fraternity pin He's
to college or he wouldn't wear his
fraternity pin to business. That s
simple He isn't married, but he
doesn't think of his life as being Just
what it ought to be until he is Hes
probably got q. lot of idealistic notions
about women. He'd be mighty good
to the girl he married. but he'd ex-
pect sympathy and devotion in return |
He is just a little suspicious about the |
modern girl Yet she interests him /
That night Joan remained a little |
after to finish some letters. As she
stood in the hall waiting for the ele- |
vator to take her down to the street, !
Mr. Davis stepped from q bend in the !
corridor, where It was quite obvious
he had been waiting, and Joined her
As they both lived up town it was
a simple thing to begin the practice
Of going in the subway together. Once
when it was 2 little late. Mr.. Davis
that Joan dine with him
before they start on their subway