The Monmouth inquirer., 1925-04-30
Poor Elizabeth

LIZ
poor Elizabeth VIII be down in a
few moments" said Mrs. Tadpole,
when Mary Zeal politely inquired
after the guest.
why poor Elizabeth" asked
Mary.
ooh, she's just had another of her
/ wretched summer vacations" sighed
the hostess. She's quite broken up
about it. We used to think 1t was
funny-but it's really getting to be a
serious matter. Here she comes
nowi"
An extremely pretty girl entered
and was introduced as MY husbands
sister, Miss Tadpole.'
"You haven't told Miss Zeal about
me yet, have your asked Elizabeth.
Mrs. Tadpole shook her head.
miss Zeal, what would o take
me to be?" asked Elizabeth abruptly
@Do / look any different from any
other grip
why. no." said Mary. Except that
o are much more attractive in that
hobble skirt than the average"
"And to think even a whole trunk
full of hobbies never helped counter
act the fact that / am a" Eliza
beth stopped. ooh, l dread to say i'll"
Nonsense, Elizabeth" said Mrs,
Tadpole. Mary will have to know
it some time and 0 may as well
tell her all about it now"
"Well," sighed Elizabeth, "Pve had
a vs4y peculiar experience. ] am a
school teacher. Every winter work
hard and always plan to have a nice,
Jolly summer. I go to all sorts OF
places, and l always have lots of
pretty clothes. I'm always ready for
amusement. What happens? 1t gets
out that l am a school teacher. The
effect? People Immediately begin to
mind r1eir P's and Q's. Their gram
mar becomes painful in it's accuracy.
OF course by people / mean g
Women aren't afraid OF school teach
ers, as a rule. But the average man
is merely a grown-up boy-and boys
don't like school teachers. They are
afraid of making breaks and being
laughed at. They think I'm critical.
They act as if l were going to order
them to bound the State Of Missis-
sippi OF ask them IF A had two COW
and B had twicc SIS many more and
If C had three times the number OF
COWS that
ooh, Bess, you exaggerated" inter
rupted Mrs. Tadpole. 'I'm sure it's
all your imagination I've known
thousands of school te2chers who
have married.
"I'm not eager to marry" snapped
Elizabeth. "All ask is to be treated
like a human being. l don't say my
a S is typical of the entire race of
school teachers. But everywhere |
90 it's always the same. This summer
capped the climax. 1 vas going camp
ing in the A~dirondacks with a party
of friends. 1 swore to secrecy the
two girls from home and the chap
eron; the others were not to know my
vocation.
well, the rest of the crowd were
to come through on the 2 O'Clock train
in the morning and change cars.
The two girls, our chaperon and my
self were to join them, and, as father
was out of town, we arranged with a
new policeman on our beat to take
US down to the station. So far as l
knew, that policeman had eve laid
eyes on me before. The crowd tum-
hled off of the train and was In
troduced to everybody and everybody's
brothers. Such brothersi They all
looked at me as if they weren't sorry
/ was going along and we We're getting
on famously when the kind, well
meaning policeman beamed on me
and said: Well, 1 can leave you
now. Miss Tadpole. ! guess you can
take care of yourself anywhere-such
a clever young lady. You taught my
Willie five years ago and he says you
was the smartest teacher he ever
had. I hope you have a good resti'"
s"That's about all she did have-a
good rest" added Mrs. Tadpole.
"And now we have persuaded her to
spend the winter with us. Mary Zeal,
how shall we keep the truth from
u circle Of friends? It always does
creep outt''
"Alwaysi'' groaned Elizabeth.
Here's an idea" began Mary
Zeal, putting down her teacup.
AS Mary Zeal surveyed the group