Show A J COHOnST 5 5 5 C Of course it is J said In gram readjusting the chrysanthemum in his buttonhole there never was such an independent age as this and probably never will be again But the point I make and the one which I nD prepared to cling to like grim death is that independence inde-pendence does not make a woman the least bit more charming That is for you men to say certainly returned the pretty girl on the other side of the room with a decisive snip of her scissors as shetrimmed a dying leaf of J one of the geraniums in the window I for of course we cannot judge for ourselves our-selves Bttt never knew a girl who became really independent to lose one iota of the fascination she first had no matter how charming she was at first and evon you wont deny that independence independ-ence adds greatly to our stock of commonsense common-sense and worldly wisdom Undoubtedly but the man doesnt want to come home to his womanfolk feeling he has to keep his brightest wits about him unless he wants to be picked up every word he says or to be reminded that his sister r his wife really owe him very little It gives a man the pleasant est feeling in the world to think that some one is dependent upon him all thE time he feels a responsibility which would otherwise be entirely absent He doesnt want to mentally cross swords with the woman he has married the minute he crosses the threshold after a hard days work he doesnt even care to discuss business affairs with her What he wants and what he usually marries for islo have a place where he may find sympathy sym-pathy and love and nothing much elie The girl laughed softly and raised her pretty brows What an intellectual household you must have in mind she cried Why would you drive us back to the mental slavery we once enduredto be mere puppets with simpering manners and pretty faces and with a penchant for working thoso outrageous old samplers or else mens ruiu7 1 We would7 answered Ingram crossing the room with his hands deep in his pockets and his kindly eyes beaming behind his glasses i we could thereby rid the world of this overdeveloped idea of the eternal and complete independence of womankind It is right and proper for you girls to know how to turn an honest penny in case the necessity presents itself but when it cornea to earning your own livings whether it is necessary or not when you go out into the mercantile world and mingle with the coarser elements ele-ments of it as you have to do it brings you to the level of the men who const tute that element and the inevitable result re-sult is that women are not and cannot belo be-lo up to as they once were Miss Lovelace turned on him with a scornful little motion and he hastened to add I am quite aware that my ideas are very old fashioned and not to be given an independent thought but they are none the less sincere Then the only way in your opinion that we may obtain and hold the respect of mankind is to return to the blank mindedness of our greatgrandmothers to the clinging vine about the towering tower-ing oak idea as it were How unreasonable unrea-sonable ol you Mr Ingram A man of such otherwise progressive ideas should certainly be more liberal and advanced upon the subject of the rights oi women Ingram shrugged his shoulders I it goes much further he answered an-swered laughing and quite ignoring the compliment upon himself the cry will change to that of Mens rights From the manner in which the girls are filling the places formerly occupied by menJ There I knew we would come to the meaning of it all soon The truthis you fear for Othellos occupation do you not IP this not the reason why you are so severe upon the weak women who desire to live and to earn that living Ingraham colored angrily I is quite plain you do not choose to understand me he said shortly I think YOI jyilUn the end however J Please do not be fended1 she begged as they moved toward the door ing lam sorry if I have hurtyou are S go Yes 7 he answered Is there anything any-thing I can do for you down street Or are we too independent even to send men on errands of importance Noo I suppose not though mans memory is usually of mans life a thing I apart far apartshe said smiling I believe everything is ordered for the day thank you Ingram was looking down at her as she spokeWhat What a girl you are he said thoughtfully and then before she realized real-ized what he was doing he had caught one slim and flowerstained hand in his and kissed it gently She turned upon him blushing angrily but he was already out of the room and the next moment she saw him hailing a passing car As he disappeared into the crowd upon the platform her anger and her color together with the independent air she was fond of putting on for his especial benefit went away and she looked down at her hand for a moment in dreamy silence What i he knew 1 she whispered whatIf he knew J Aud then as her mothers voice came from the room above she pressed the hand to her lips as he had done and done and blushing very little less than before at her own action hurried upstairs up-stairs in answer to the call All way down toWn Ingram was silent and thoughtful and before he reached the office he had gone over the little conversation con-versation and its abrupt end many times I He acknowledged he had rather surprised himself at what he had done and n vague I idea that perhaps he had been something of a fool came over him He had wanted to speak us he had done just now for many months past for what man who cares for a woman likes to see her drifting away from him whatever what-ever the cause To be sure she was not as badhis own words aa some of her friends who went so far as to don mannish man-nish apparel and ape mannish vocabularies vocabular-ies but what assurance had he that she would not come to even that i n stop was not put to it He thoroughly expected ex-pected to come home almost any night and find she had accepted n position with some lawyer as n stenographer or typewriter type-writer or both I not that it would be something equally horrible for a girl to do in his estimation He thanked heaven at least once a day that she was of good blood and family however reduced re-duced in circumstunces they might he her mother had a small pension and he roomed there and he hoped and prayed that she would resist this ultraindepend ent temptation long enough for him to get upon his feet financially and ask hero her-o marry him Once in a while it occurred oc-curred to him that she might possibly be in love with someone else but it was such an unpleasant possibility he always p 1 it away as quickly as it came to him himHe He nodded briskly to the men about the counting room and hurried up to hisS his-S desk next that of the cityeditors For many years Ingram had held a position upon the Investigator and he was well known an l thoroughly liked by every attach of the place There was hardly one of them who had not come to him in trouble and he was never known to refuse re-fuse t Help them out i it were in his power As he dropped into his chair and began to sort the mass of manuscript which had accumulated from the night mails he was nominally the literature editor a small boy hurled himself into the office with that reckless abandon known only to a printers devil and laid a handful of proofs beside him Mr Forster says please correct that Fashion galley right off sir he said hal way ttlie floor again as he spoke he wants to run it on the second page today and Ill be back for it in a miii nit 1 Ingram unrolled the first damp strip of paper and glanced down the freshly printed column As ha did so a smile cam into his gray eyes and about his moothshaven lips lps I Fashions Foibles Something About tho Latest Style in Womans World lbe said reading the head lines which were separated at tho bostom of the column from the other matter by a I 1 t wide black line and all written by Walter In ram Its a poor question that hasnt two sides but what would she say i she knew It was several days before In gram saw her again for any length of time for during dur-ing the evenings she was either ontat the theatre or some other social function or else in her room writing her mother said She must have a goodly number of correspondents thought the literary editor and it irritated him to think of the time he was wasting or rather losing by her absence The second lay after their talk he had sold several large lots in a successful southern boom town ind the round sum fie had realized from the sale had cheered him up greatly and lad thrown some much needed light upon the path which he hoped was leading to the church doors Usually she had once told him she did not car for the theatre unless it was a first night7a strange taste for a clrl he had thoughtat the time and itwas this declaration and the manner in which she had made it that had deterred him from asking her to go there with him of late But now that there seemed to beno prospectof his finding find-ing the opportunityhe sought to speak to I heran opportunity which he felt was I his right he asked her one morning at breakfast i she would witness a new opera that evening with him She hesitated hesi-tated beforeanswering and he wondered for a moment what problem it was she seemed to be turning over in her quick Lt Y a 5 mind then she answered Yes and that night found them in his old seat at the National Then Ingram felt better On the way home he had fully determined deter-mined to tell her of his love and he had even gone so far as to plan just what he would say as we poor men are apt to do in the innocence of our first love affairs What was his consternation then to find that tho conversation had drifted around to the old subject of discussion between them before be could see to what direction it had veered Do you not really think J she said as they turned into the little gate and he began to search for a latch key that it is quite a absurd to say I makes a woman mannish to be independent a it would for us to assert a man IP womanly when he has toto sow a button on for instance Ingram laughed at her evident em Darrassment in finishing the sentence I a man were to go into the bntton sewing for a business and were to imitate imi-tate by dress and manner the women who make their livelihood by their needles I should say most emphatically Yes But did you ever know a man to sew a button on for the mere amusement of the thing or just beclust wanted to be independent of his wife or sister Isnt always a case of dire necessity I It may be as far as sewing goes she said laughing at his earnestness of I manner but there are other things where necessity doesnt enter into the question Mr Clarke was telling me today to-day of a manhe didnt say who who writes the fashion page in one of the big daily papers in this very town He makes his living by other newspaper newspa-per work but simply to add a little to his income he entrenches on a department depart-ment of work that some woman must bo much better fitted to do than ho can ever be Her place being taken she is obliged to get what work she can and probably it is something that you would I call a mans position What is n mans position pray And what do you think of one who would do such a thing Mr Ingram Beneath contempt Miss Lvelace said Ingram unblushingly and i he were in the Investigators employ7 He would be discharged tomorrow He didnt say where he worked though she added as they entered the hall In my opinion he should be driven from the city Undoubtedly but I have a circumstance circum-stance which quite equals yours said he turning up the lowburning gas to enable her to see to take her wraps off I heard it just yesterday Old Merely you dont know him I supposewas on the Times for ten years as theatrical and musical critic he was one of the best men they ever had but he made only a shabby enteel living though he was sober and a conscientious in his work as you can imagine The other day some young woman came along and applied for his place and of course the managing editor was as potters clay in her independent inde-pendent fingers and inside of ten minutes min-utes the faithful servant of many years standing was out of his position and the young womanI didnt hear her name installed in it Now candidly was that rightDid Did she really do that drive an old man out of work asked Miss Lovelace quickly a troubled look coming into her eye as she spoke Exactly I noticed the old chap today walking the streets and I have never seen him so tired and forlorn before She was standing at the foot of the i stairs and as Ingram who was quite a handsome fellow came forward to her side a queer little feeling came into her heart and unconsciously she put her hand over it I should be very sorry to have the woman I love do such 0 thing as that J he went on lowering his voice and looking look-ing into her eyes steadfastly and would you blame me Marian I know she would not either because you would not and IMarion I love you 1 Hush she cried slipping past him as he held out his arms to her You must not speak to me like that II am not worthy of it1 indeed I am not There were tears in her fine eyes as she stood on the first step and looked down at him and the slightest note of a sob in her Voice i voiceWhy Marian what do you mean Not worthy of my love he asked in surprise Yesnooh cant you understand I am a wicked hateful girl and you despise de-spise meyou said soor at least you meant to say soand IYou would never forgive me I She stopped and the next minute had sank down upon the stairs with her back to him and had buried her head In her arms But as she did so ho heard the end of her sentence I am wicked woman I The shadow of a smile flitted across his lipsYou You hesaid She nodded her head vigorously and began a trembling search for a dainty handkerchief to Stay the tears He looked down at his patent leathers and the careful crease in his trousers for moment mo-ment and then back at her This Is terrible he said coming a step closer and striving hard to suppress the laugh in his voice and it pains me to think how deceived J have been But still it will hardly change my love lor you dear because am the Fashions Foibles man She raised her head and looked Indignantly Indig-nantly at him through her tears Her soft hair was ruffle a trifle and the light shone down upon it making what seemed to him a perfect halo about aj > erfect head He sawthere was something more than love or tears behind the light in her eyes however and he wondered what she thought aiI knew it all the time she said 1 |