Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-08-05
g'G3G38G G8SS
CHAPTER XIII-Continued

MI wished they wouldn't work so
tord at their play They were for
aror getting up pagoants and plays
and large festivals for charity; Vene-
a., fp+ps. Oriental bazaars, charity
Ssns In the programme performance
- those many of them sang better,
,o,od hotter, danced better than most
OCCASIONAL performers, but the whole
,s,ro always lacked the aavor, some
how. Of professional performance. On
.1age affairs they lavished thousands
:. Costumes and decorations, recelv-
mo IN return other thousands which
NOV soberly turned over to the cause.
NOV found nothing ludicrous In this.
economically they went into busI-
Moss or seml-professional ventures, de-
ty,ng tie conventions. Paula did this,
100 She or one of her friends were
forever opening blouse shops; starting
5,s.e Shoppes; burgeoning into tea
rooms decorated in crude green and
verallion and orange and black; an
nounring their utilization with an adj
yertising agency. These adventures
blossomed, wlthered, died. They were
The result Of postwar restlessness.
Many Of these girls had worked in
defatigably during the 1917-1918 pc
rod; had driven service cars, man
aged ambuIances, nursed, scrubbed,
conducted canteens. They missed the
excitement, the satisfaction of achieve
ment
They found Dirk fair game, resent
ed Paula's proprietOrship. Susans and
james and Hates and Bettys and Sal
lys-pIaln old-fashioned names for
modern, erotic mlsses-they talked to
Dirk, danced with him, rode with him,
hirted with him. His very unattain-
ableness gave him piquancy. That
Paul, Storm had him fast. He didn't
care a boot about girls.
"Oh Mr.. DeJong," they said, "your
names Dirk, isn't it2 What a slick
name! What does 1t mean?"
Nothing, suppose. It's a Dutch
name. My people-my fathers peo-
pIe-were Dutch, you know"
"a dirk's a sort Of sword, isn't 1t,
or poniard? Anyway, 1t sounds very
keen and cruel and fatal-Dirk."
He would flush a little Zone Of his
asgets) and smile, and look at them,
and say nothing. He found that to
be all that was necessary.
He got on enormously.
Between the girls he met In society
and the girls that worked In his of
fee there existed a similarity that
struck and amused Dirk. He said,
Take Il letter, Miss Roach" to a slim
young creature as exquisite as the
girl with whom he had danced the day
before; or ridden or played tennis or
bridge, Their very clothes were fault
less limitations. They even used the
same perfume. He wondered, idly,
how they did 1t. They were eighteen,
nineteen, twenty, and their faces and
bodies and desires and natural equip
ment made their presence in a business
office a paradox, an absurdity. Yet
they were capable, too, in mechanical
sort Of way. Theirs were mechanical
Jobs, They were lovely creatures with
the minds Of fourteen-year-old chill
dren Their hair was shining, perfect
" undulated, as fine and glossy and
tenderly curling as young child's.
Their breasts were fiat, their figures
sngularly seXless ike that of a very
young boy. They were wise with the
wisdom Of the serpent. Their legs
were slim and sturdy. Their mouths
were poutlng, soft, pink, the lower lip
little curled back, petal-wise, like
the moist mouth of a baby that has
Just finished nursing. Their eyes were
vide apart, empty, knowledgeous.
They managed their private affairs
Ike generals. They were cool, remote,
dlsdainful. They reduced their boys
TO desperation. They were brigands,
desperadoes, pirates, taking all, giving
little They came, for the most part,
from sordid homes, yet they knew, in
some miraculous way, all the fine
arts that Paula knew and practiced.
lhey were corsetless, plant, bewilder-
.ng lovely, dangerous.
Among them Dirk worked immune,
aloot, untouched. He would have been
surprised to learn that he was known
among them as Frosty. They admired
and resented him. Not one that did
not secretly dream Of the day when
De- would call her into his Office, shut
iae door, and say, Loretta" (their
aames were burbankian monstrosities,
born Of grating the original appella-
Ton onto their own idea Of beauty In
nomenclature - hence Loretta, Imo-
gene, Nadine, Natalie, Ardella), "Lor-
eta, / have watched you for long,
ong time and you must have noticed
bow deeply 1 admire you"
It wasn't Impossible. Those things
happen. The movies had taught them
That. Dirk, all unconscious of their
gltiless all-absorbing scrutiny, would
have been still further appalled, to
learn how fully aware they were of his