Show 0 OR R L LONESOME 0 NN 1 S 0 2 1 E LIV LIVES E S ote USE FOR CLUBS NOT OFTEN MENTIONED IF fencless fend less Sl samily mily but not dallke lIik cd A case cao paralleled by an alit alien it 11 n nor ncr natho land AL A talk with avith it i woman IC ISM by arne ican fliess assoria tiong FTER all that ilia t ste lias has been said and written of club their their bene 1 factions and their salutary I 1 influx n f I 1 ui enc esthere is one excellent deturo of them which has seldom or never been mentioned or estimated abed at its full value by outsiders the opportunity they afford to choso esy ausy women who are engaged encased in so called mens work and so EO havo no time for ceremonious calli call i and visits to become acquainted with the members of their own sex this was brong brought lit out corci ply ly tho other evening in a talk with a boman vj inan who lias has for years been en engaged aed a i in newspaper 1 I havo have lived ono one of the I 1 noso lives in tho the world sho she said especially I 1 0 i as regards women friends I 1 was reared by a stepmother who believed that the place for child children renand and eirls is home a very good idea when not carried too far but in all my girlhood I 1 never naver thought of stepping into a near neighbors house it was in a small village without asking her permission and when I 1 grew tall enough to bo be rather ashamed to ail I 1 s taid staid at homo home I 1 could count on the tha fingers of one liand hand all the parties balls and alli festive gatherings which I 1 was allowed aland to attend while I 1 was a girl at home tile the result of this seclusion was that when I 1 left home to mako make my own way I 1 was almost a stranger in the village lage where I 1 had lived nearly all my days I 1 know knew my schoolmates of courso course but tile the parents of many of them I 1 had never addressed in my life 1 I 1 was waa ono of tho the earliest newspaper paper women in iiii native In indeed lecil in the small city where I 1 began woeich 1 was for or years tile tho only woman so cm employed csick hours were many and my salary sma I 1 from still 8 till 0 with an ail hour at af noon and often lid did two hows hours work in ae evening I 1 had no time to make inako or icci vo calls and I 1 presently found that I 1 wac wa making no women acquaintances wha whatever tile the few whom I 1 met at my boarding houss house not all of whom cou congenial genial to me ine were nearly all I 1 know knew hut but tile office in which I 1 wrote being that of tile the chief chie literary I 1 paper in town was a sort of headquarters for most of the intelligent men residents who dropped in frequently P toj 0 com nt on tile the news consult the ak now the result w was is of con course rs 0 that f rhad h ai a good 0 oil morning acquaintance with a lar large go i number of gentlemen choso whoso wives and daughters were an ail unknown quantity to me this marliave maylia may have ve been mamis my misfortune it surely could not bo be called my fault it never occurred to no me that any one would so cons construe constano const truo rno it until one gentleman a good friend whom I 1 hail had ion long known it Js is always tho the good friend who brings tho the unpleasant fact told me one lay day being in a complimentary mood that I 1 had but one serious as fault this estil estimate late was so much below my own that I 1 naturally desired to understand how lie reckoned 1 never should have thought of it myself sai said 1 he but theother the other evening I 1 was speaking of you yon to some ladies and one of them said yes I 1 have of often tell heard her well spoken of at but how ia it that it is always done by men why dont women like her better I 1 dont remember that I 1 ever heard her mentioned by a woman why does silo she have no friends among women ill 1 I was thunderstruck it had never entered my head bead that amid all the tha hard conditions of my laborious life which cut me oil off from all the plea pleasures suros and recreations reat ions dear to tho young would bo be the possibility of cruel misinterpretation and unkind remark I 1 could only explain p I 1 ai ill doubtless ini im a i lamo enough way that I 1 had bad no time for social pleasures that my days were given to work instead of calls and visits all my years since I 1 have heard beard that query in in vara varying ing forms why thy does docs she sh have so few women acquaintances acquaintance sr why surely only bebau because so women did not come into my line of vision where I 1 sat at my desk while men wera always going oin and coming with a bow or a good morning or a re remark mark about the weather or the latest telegraphic news women do not call much nt at newspaper offices and I 1 had no EO time to seek them dut but many of them are far too ready to sniff and bridle when ahen they hear such a question asked concerning an independent sister who perhaps lives a life as utterly bilig single 10 lo and blameless as mine was I 1 have no doubt that I 1 ila have VO b been eo n bitterly censured perhaps condemned because I 1 attended to my own affairs and improved very hour for which 1 I was paid instead of stealing timo time for calls 11 and visits among women As timo time went on I 1 began to feel that I 1 was the solitary of beings the old schoolmates were scattered my few relatives were in remote towns or oven even distant states I 1 took few vacations vacation Ps and I 1 found no new friends excepting the accidental acquaintances of my boarding places sly my friends the newspapers kept telling lae ive no woman need bo be unloved even aln silo she grows oid old r if f she deserves love levov she sli will flud cud it I 1 might not deserve the tb lovo love of roy my kind bat I 1 surely desired it I 1 was and am eminently hymi cheerful helpful and I 1 believe kinder isinger hearted than tho the average nv uve crago rage yet here I 1 was grawi growing ng oh ola in solitude with no human being really knowing any anything thiu about my best qualities I 1 hail not been ae selfish fifish I 1 hall had always supported others besides myself I 1 had befriended tramps I 1 had given to beggars I 1 lad helped where I 1 had seen a chance chalice yet here I 1 was almost friendless in a town where I 1 had lived for years simply friendless not disliked merely because I 1 hail had not had time to ma mako k e calls c a s lil ll 11 N nobody 0 b 0 1 y cared I 1 suppose when I 1 left that town a place where I 1 lad had done many self sacrificing kindnesses and where surely there ther was ewas no not taman a man woman child or dumb beast who could say pay or feel that I 1 had bail doue done him her or it a wrong the tha simple fact was that nobody knew rue me I 1 had never made any visits I 1 hid hall never left bits of 0 pasteboard at peoples doors 1 11 I went to a larger place a place where there had bad dawned the daylight of a womans comans club in a moment of in q ii aaion I 1 joined the club astonished asto dished to flud find that while I 1 lial had inen been ziah an alien in my own land and for tho the tame faine of some of my work had reached the larger city and I 1 was waa elected d by acclamation it was a most admirable move for me inc dy by a little planning I 1 find that I 1 can manage to give one dadina day in a I 1 month to ray my club without drenching trenching tren ching ebing on my work work there I 1 find dozens of kindly pleasant wise and attractive women many of them learned and accomplished also with whom I 1 have not only agreeable interviews but some strong friend I 1 am not obliged to spend a whole afternoon in calling on six persons I 1 see them all together and save time and no one asks me now why I 1 have no women e fi S ill HELEN E |