The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-23
Eoening Story
The Old-Fashioned Way.
81 MARQARET M. LUKEs.

Mrs. Jerusha Higgins dropped the
baby-blue evening dress she was fix
ing over and rocked contemplatively
back and forth as she waited for her
daughter to come back from the tele-
phone.
who was that?" she asked sharply
when Jerry finally came from the
into the rocking chair on the other
side of the coy open fire. Snowflakes
were flying in great beautiful swirls
and making fantastic patterns on the
living room window. For q minute
Jerry watched as if she had not heard
what her mother said. Them bending
her pretty blonde head over the blue
silk stockings she was mendihg. she
answered:
1T was Jack, mother"
''What'd he have to say about the
dancer
said he wasn't sure. Said allalong
he was thinking it was another night
and now he doesn't know what to do
because some folks in Albany asked
him in to a party You see.
mother, it does put him in. a fix.
Keep still!" Mrs. Higgins voice
rang sharply thru the living room.
How long are You going to sit there
| making excuses for Jack Crawford?
How many times does that make now
he's tried to disappoint you at the last
minute? Albany, Fiddlesticksl You're
tgood enough for him to come around
here every lasting Sunday night when
there's nothing else going on, 1 no.
| tice"
But, mother" Jerry's voice. small
and meek, tried to interrupt, you
don't understand"
Understand! 1 understand some
| things all right. 1 understand he's
been hanging around here three years
now taking up all your time and keep
| ing all the other boys away. It's
Albany now, is it? I'll tell YOU when
/ 1 was a girl there was none of your
! dawdling around like that. Humph-
party in the ethyl" Mrs. Higgins sewed
viciously.
| Tears were very near the surface of
Jerry's sweet, blue eyes. She had to
| swallow hard before she spoke. But,
mother. it was different when you
were a girl. That was the old-fash-
Toned way. Jack likes me, 1 know he
does, only
"On1y, Thinks he's so fine Mrs
| Higgins poised her needle in midair
| There's other folks have friends in
Albany" she said.
Just then a light step crunched or
the snow that lay in small drifts or
the front porch. There was a pull al
the bell and in a second Minnie
Cooper, rosy and vigorous with the
COlQ, DuTSI IN on them.
| "Oh, Mrs. Higgins" she cried, 'tht
| hall for the dance looks beautiful. It.
all those shiny kind of icicles ant
we've got a moon to hang over tn,
chandelier. L think We'll have the hes
time tomorrow night. It's the nices
dance the Knitting club ever gave
She drew a new breath. "Why weren-
Iyou down helping to decorate. Jerry
III tell you what, come down tonight
There's still lots to be done. You ant
Jack come down tonight"
For a moment there was perfec
silence in the room. Then Mrs. Hig
gins cleared her throat and spoke il
"Jerry's not going to the dance Will
Jack" :
why, mother" JERRY put in witt
| establishment, while Minnie Cooper
stood there, wide-mouthed ant
speeches. in her surprise. Mrs Hig
gins night as we'll have said she anC
Father Higgins were going to get {
divorce. For three long years the
| flourishing little town of Bristol haC
never seen dainty. piquant Jerry in
the company Of any boy but the big
good-Iooking Jack Crawford.
Now, then" Mrs. Higgins quickly
added, I'm not going to give away
your little secret. Least not all of it
I'll just tell one part Jerry's going
to have a new evening dress, Minnie
I've decided she can't wear this old
blue thing I've been fixing up" She
/ paused. "Jerry's going to have that
rose one with the silver lace you may
have seen in Sherack's window"
Now Minnie Cooper was not spite
| full; she was not even a scandal
monger; but fifteen minutes after she
walked slowly. thoughtfully down the
steps of the Higgins front porch, halt
the young folks in Bristol knew what
| Mrs. Higgins had told her.
In the meantime back in the dining
room, as she went nethodically about
setting the table for supper, this
energetic little woman was dealing
with the speeches. Jerry. In all of
Jerry's twenty-one years she had let
other people have their way. Perhaps
! that is the reason Jack Crawford,
good-natured but pampered son of the
| silk mill Crawfords. had never had a