The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-01-28

published by special arrangement with
the Chicago TrIbune Syndicate).
IVTTAs it worth while to be a wO-
NA man? A game that it took so
w long to learn, and there was
so short a time in which to play.
OF course, if you weren't a woman,
merely a female, it vas SO easy.
You fetched and carried, grumbled
and toiled, and sat out when any
thing exciting was on, and no one
bothered about yOu at all, except
perhaps to say when you were young,
"She is a good Sort" and when you
were not any longer young, Poor old
thing"
Eva Concern had always had an eager
passion for her own femininity; she had
played the queer delightful, perilous game
with avidity-and made so many mistakes.
Looking back now over her life she was
ashamed Of these mistakes, such foolish,
petty, sometimes contemplate mistakes;
| ashamed Of her mistakes, terrified or the
perils she had escaped by so near a step.
She was fOrty-five now and safe. Eva
Concern rejOiced in this safety; and these
mistakes and perils, mistakes committed,
perils just missed, she rejoiced in the sense
of safety.
Still lovely and graceful, she was free
from the possible assault Of any passion,
whether it be love, hate, ambition, Jealousy
or fear. She was neither stated nor salts
fled with these things, but she was silene-
ed: she had come through the storm to
calm waters that would endure to the end
She was surrounded, safeguarded by af-
lection, money, position, her husband, her
children, her friends-all bulwarked her
against those old devastating storms. And
in herself emotion was on the ebb; she no
longer asked the heights, but was content
with the quiet of the valley.
She leaned back in her chair and looked
at the thistle they had brought home from
a drive that afternoon; she had asked
Harry to get out and pick this thistle,
which she had seen growing on a waste
piece of land. 1t was dry, brittle, dead; but
magnificent in line, erect with stiff grace,
gracious in faded color.
1t would never put out any more leaves;
here was the end Of it, but it would last a
long time like this, a pleasing, rather noble
shape.
"Ijke mvself" thought Eva Concern.
She had placed the thistle in a vase in the
window. place and watched it against the
chill winter sky that showed above the
house opposite.
There was Timothy, her husband. She had
married him in a medley of emotions or
which love was not one; he was a g0od
man. but there had been many terrible
moments when she had thought, Il can't
go on with it-being married-that man
all my life" Timothy had never known how
near she had been to a break; that was
4 over now LOlcEdllOu VI 4llilObhy hou CANOu
in a quiet respect, a real affection--nO
| more peril there.
and Christopher. How many times (she
was ashamed to think how many) had her
shirt failed there-their illnesses, theiI
tempers, their demands, their insistence
her own weakness, her own nerves, her
own inner revolt against this intense alb
%sorDtion in them: how often had she not
said to herself with horror, III never DC
it."
But it was done.
The nursery days we're over; Harry was
: at college, training for an engineer, like
/, his father, healthy, happy, well trained
r well educated. Barbara was at a finish
ing. school, pretty, sweet, du[lIui; mrs mrs
t NAL, content. None Of them the leas'
Then there was the money. Eva Concern
p could recall moments Of sheer panic wheI
financial alarm had swallowed up every.
thing else, when she and Timothy haC
t looked at each other across the unconseiou,
q children's heads and whispered, wen
p. never make It,"
She had cooked and sewed, n watched
and tended, and Timothy had tOiled ant
strained, and both had gone without every
thing they liked. And it was done.
: Timothy had been successtuI; a relaLlV
had left her a little fortune; she couI'
have everything she liked now; there wa
no more need for stinting for any 0
d And then her own emotions. First, tn
i wild jOy Of work, of creatiOn-She acCualI
= she, Eva Concern, had wanted TO De
Il sculptures; her poor Jumps OF cray ma
raised her to a gOdlike level; she had real
ly known the furious rush Of enthusiasm
= artistry through her soul.
OF course she was no good as a sculp
\ tress: perhaps she might have been if he
femininitv had not claimed her; once sh
fell in love she utterly forgot the poo
- Jumps of clay; now she thought Of thel
g with gratitude that that devastating emo
ton had been crushed, Stifled, killed.
* Then-love. What a agony that, but
r desperate upsetting of life, Of all value
standards, hopes, fears, joys-ah, what a
agony! s.o,
his wife. Nearly had Eva abandoned h'
:. own life to follow his; her resistance ma
20 cost her a long Illness.
~ When she read afterwards of his sord'
N divorce case she shuddered with thankru
- ness.
- Then another man had loved her dearl
- and though she could not bring herSelt
Il respond, still it had been dreadful pa
,rc again when he had died suddenly. .
ie' Afterwards had come her marriage WI
- TimOthy-nOt a very honest marriage
her part, for she had undertaken It sci
- ishlv. as an expedient for distraction,
20 keep herself safe, without thinking
- Timothy at all except to unconscious
sI' think that she much favored and honor
- him, for compared to her oCher lovers
SC. Absorbed i'm mundane and vital affaiI
undemonstrative, he had never prals
= Eva's beauty, grace, and wit; he SCENE
- indeed, not to notice it; and she, eXasp'
ated, had encouraged the coarse admir-
ton of another man.
With shame she recalled the meann'
Of the episode, for if she had really loy
i00 Timothy she had certainly never loved ID
IN. airy Blake; yet, out Of spite, malice, DO
Nm dom, she had flirted, cOquetted, been
SSnn ~cretive, deceived Timothy, Iieo to him, ne
~ ly, ali, nearly betrayed him utterlyE-s
Ie small children.
ma. She knew it as a sign Of something
noble in her nature that she had been a
to do such a thing, for Blake was a tras
!nashy type-and yet how strong the te
ptatiOn had been.
II, Onoar now TO think Of how strong.
BARBER COLLEGE
- CONSTANT DEMAND For Good Barb
FOR Earn while learning. Montana Natio
M Barber College, 101 So. Arizona St., Blu
ms # CnVOTE POTGON FREE