San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-09-19
LOVE FURNISHES
SUBJECT Of
. DISCUSSION
Hardened Views Of Young
Married Couples
! Astound Girl.
CHAPTER LIV


am I sitting in on your damn sousc
parties when / might be home read
ing a. good book?'
Ida Burnett laid down her cards
and took long swallow of whiskey
and soda. She was not angry; only
mordant in her discomfort. rs there
any compensation for the outrage
done US when we were given BIRTH"
Bess Graham quoted gaily:
"Oh, God, how glorious it is just
to live and no questions asked why
or wherefore.
"Oh, God, when will it be worth
while to live?'
Nora Lee leaned forward. her blue
eyes wide with eagerness; the ex'
citement she had felt all evening send
ing bright red flashes through her
veins.
, 1t would begin now-the exhiiarat-
ing clash of wits; the quotations
from poets and philosophers; aston.
ishiug arguments about the worth Of
human life. Some one would claim
that wasps are a higher species than
men. Fabre, Goethe, John Stuart
Mill-the whole world of genius would
be yankcd into the arena.
LIES DRAMA.
Nora Lee would return home, her
mind on fire, pulses leaping. 1t had
been this way before, though before
there were only six or seven present
and tonight was a real party"-thc
first she had attended in eight
months. She was SO gay and so sad
and so tremulous that the group sing
ing at the piano brought tears to her
eyes; the dancers seemed Won
drously poetic figures; the weirdly
haunting strains of the music tore at
her heart.
She was glad to be alive. Life was
so swcct-SO rich-sO mysteriOus-ln
the secluded corner of Tom Grahams
study yhcre four were now playing
bridge, she watched it-this strange,
delightful, battling drama of Life. She
watched and the two men, Max and
Richard Carlisle, watched her-each
with his own thought and intent.
"Ycs," said Ida, when will it be
worth while TO live? Will the day
ever come when the body catches up
with the mind and our ideals can bt
lived without this madlening COIN
promise; this everlasting, disgusting
admission that the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak"
BeSs blew smoke rings mockingly
Are you asking if one man will ever
be content with one woman, Ida? Are
you demanding that we all settle down
Y and turn vegetable for the good of our
souls? / rise TO ask: Will our souls
profit thereby? What beauty can
come from n world, hatchct faced with
duty? A world that exiles the charm
of experiment and variety?
SEARCH FOR BEAUTY. -.
do VIC want monoGamy? Do l
wish to find the same monotonOus
face opposite me at the dinner table
36J days for three score years and
ten? | do not! Can | be stimulated
by such routine? I cannot Let me
know in advance if the evil day is
near so that l can vanish before
flee from the sOdden and common
place world you would bring upon
u.s."
Ida's lips curlcd. Pleas for beauty
and the freedom of the soul left her
unmoved. Her experience had been
too excessively bitter to admit toll
crancc for the indiscretions Bess
considered one of the many and
vivid comprchensions Life offered to
those who are born.
Ida Burnett was an idealist. After
five years of scorchinG disillusion,;
five years of comparative dissipa-
ton, she was yet unable TO conquer
the hsnkering for some sublime and
enduring beauty; some profound,
exalted relationship between herself
and the man she had married.
Her husband was young and good
looking. She loved him. He was
faithlcss. She knew this. Their init
mate friends knew it. Yet neither
wanted a divorce.
Milo Burnett had great revcr-
cnce for his home. He adorcd his
two dark eyed, beautiful children.
He didn't wish to be married to
anyone else but Ida. He assured
her of this in his most winning man
ncr.
They could be entirely happy, he
insisted, if she would but throw
aside her impossible ideal and look
at life scnsibly. Could she not real
izc it was inevitable for him to be
attracted by pretty girls? For him
to wonder and become excited when
quiet, mysterious eyes beckoned TO
his? Inevitable that he should pur-
sue?
And when you come right down to
it, wasn't it quite harmless? She
must perceive that the marriage
ceremony didn't root with mans
mind the Inst for heouty II didn't