Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-12-11
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
THE MEEKER \
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a Broken Dream = 3
Restored 9a SH
9. 90 IL ........ 4
By Fannie Hurst 3
BY Fannie Hurst

(wNti sersies.J
r-1vEN with such terms as sold
~ maid" and Incidentally" prac- !.
- tically gone out Of the language
there was something about the
FIVE unmarried Meeker sisters that did
suggest them. ~
The Meeker girls were so apologet-
icalIy unmarried. Each and every one
Of them met you on the superstition
that you questioned her standing.
The old homestead, inherited from
their parents, was filled with writings
among themselves and to their friends,
when they called, of opportunities that
might have been.
II Lily had cared to accept Tom
White! a.3
It was known, among the Meeker
girls, that in 1890, during a two weeks
trip to the Adirondacks, Edith had
three times refused young Canadian
trader from Quebec who had since be-
come coal baron.
Meta, long and affectionately in
dicted by her sisters as the fiirt Of the
family. had turned down" right and
left. "'
After the battle of vimy Ridge, Ella
confessed to a secret fiance who had
fallen.
Teena, the youngest, although non
committal, gave you the feeling that
life had not passed her by. Besides,
It was a fact that Nicholas Lang, a
widower of standing in the town, was
calling on her. aJN#
Every girl at one time or another
in her life, has chance to marry, the
Meeker girls were forever protesting,
perhaps too loudly Thank goodness,
not one of us has ever felt the need
to marry Just for the sake Of being
married. Naturally we've had chances.
Not that it's the sort of thing we
Strangely, this defense mechanism
was not one which the girls employed
solely with the friends outside the
home, who as time went on began to
refer to them collectively as "The
Meeker Girls" 1t was something they
practiced assiduously among them
selves, keeping their spirits agog, on
the buoyancy of self-lnduced state Of
mind.
Meta, It's an outrage the way You
treat menI After all, no one expects
you to feel called upon to marry every
one who asks you, but surely you
might let one or two Of them call at
the house"
"If were to let every man call
who drops into the Office to ask me-
we'd have the nelghbors all talking
Just because happen to be stenog-
rapher in law office doesn't give them
the right to presume, and they might
as well know It."
With Lily now, 1t was different
After all, the affair with Tom White
was one to leave Its imprint across
lifetime. The world thought Tom
White had died Of influenza following
the World war. The Meeker sisters
knew better. Tom White, just as sure
ly as II they had seen 1t dlslntegrate
had taken to his bed of a broken
heart, after Lily had spoken her sor-
rowful refusal. II was somehow At
ting that lilly should continue to keep
her heart locked in Its tower.
Ella, too, for that matter Poor Ella,
whose secret garden had been blasted
in full bloom.
And so It went among themselves
And life, In the Meeker homestead, II
It appeared monotonous to the be-
holder, was far from that to the girls
There was Meta. Evening after eve
ming, around the pleasant sitting room
fire, Lily, seated as usual. Turkish
fashion on the sofa, ella stitching
away at handiwork, the girls would
listen to Meta.
Oh, but she was naughty, darling
heartless sInnerl No wonder, even
with her equal share In the comfort
able little estate shared by the sisters,
Meta had decided TO venture out into
the business world. she was just the
type to make contacts, or rather, as
the girls glggled among themselves, to
avoid them.
The way Meta handled the difficult
situation Of the men about her In the
office was masterfull Naturally they
swarmed about her Even at thirty
eight, there was a sparrow prettlness
TO Meta, but lots Of good II did the
men. Evening after evening, filed
with drollerles, merclless in her high
handedness and oh, so comlcal In her
world pictures Of the luckless crea-
lures who wooed her, Meta reclted her
days.
"And he comes into the Office where
I am sitting pretending to be bent
over my typewriter and says: Miss
Meta"
"You don't let him call you Meta.
do you darllngT
"That's what I'm coming TO, honeys.
II you'll let me. Miss Meta he says,
the boys tell me you're just the coyest
young girl in this ONCE and make all
the nappers look like prayer meet
Ing"
"Nervew
~Nerve doesn't express IT, Nothing
in the world on his mind but dating
up with me. oh, you have to be In
business TO know what II means to
keep a man In his place"
"Would he propose, MetaT
"would he propn5el Give u man
DR.. r. ERNEYHoUGH,