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Show WILES OF WOMEN AS usual, the one called Marian 'twas the Monday luncheon again was leading in the conversation. There is something particularly interesting inter-esting in the way the other five, as one, give her the place of autocrat interesting and peculiar. Even the little cynicisms, stabs, or sarcasms which fly back and forth between "Marian" and "Mollie" when they bring in their "darling" and "dearie," respectively are not pointed with ill-nature ill-nature so much as the keen, balanced wit between the two and a sparring of intelligence. Today "Marian" was saying, and her voice floated out clearly: "Well! Our Congresswoman, Jean-otte Jean-otte Rankin, has got it in the neck, hasn't she, for her womanly tears and faltering 'no' when she voted against war after Germany had slapped us in the face, as it were, time and time again? Montana won't have her again, and a man with a German or Scandinavian name has won out. Jeanette, you know, may have understood, under-stood, or not understood, that she was going agin' the Government with her tender heart and tears and not Hieing Avar Good heavens! Avho of us do like Avar? but Avhat Avoman of auy spirit or principle could have stood up to that 'no' of hers at that time unless unless Avell, uniebs yhe Avns the tool of some constituency other than those Avho sent her to Washington? Washing-ton? As she fell back on tears and being the Avoman, it may be the 'tool' part came aftenvards at least, she has been reckoned since as 'socialist' and 'pacifist' and anything else that is iioav thought of as treason. "The Avays of the Avest are peculiar. A man out there who used to be in the railroad business is raking the governor of his state over the coals and accusing him also of sending a telegram to Senator La Follette and asking him to vote against the declaration dec-laration of Avar. Nobody believed this statement even before the popular governor gave out the full correspond ence he had Avith his state delega- H tion at the time. But that is another H story. I havo been thinking about fl this opponent of the governor, who himself is openly accused of 'putting jH a strain upon credulity' through his H accusations. I know the man. He is a great gossip, and believes what he jH Avants to believe. It Avould never oc- cur to him to look over the corre- spondence, or to ask that he might jH see it so that he might be absolutely truthful in his political speech-mak- H ing. If he Avanled to avIii a point and H Injure anybody, and the truth Avould H not help him, Avhy, then, ho Avould H take the untruth. He Avould use the 0 latter and then if his conscience hurt him he Avould pray to his patron saint H and go to confession and consider M himself free of sin, no matter how H much injury his untruth nad done. H "He had a sister he Avorshlpcd. She Avas a beautiful girl and clever in a H Avay. But she had all the tricks of H the brother. She Avanted Avhat she H wanted and defied everything conven- tional, or even civilized, to get it. Yet H she Avas womanly and sweet and at- M tractive to a degree of fascination. H She Avas traveling in the Orient dur- H ing the Boxer disturbances and slip- H ped into China when the women and H children Avere being brought out. She had some acquaintances among army H people and got on all right for a H Avhile Avithout any special chaperon. H Then she fell into acquaintance Avith H some English officers, Avho for their H oAvn sakes more than for hers could H not invite or give dinners to an Am- H erican girl unless she was properly H chaperoned. She would accept the in- H vitations and trust to luck, and found H that the American acquaintances, not H knoAving the English officers, natural- H ly could not be utilized for her pleas- H "Her reckless defiances of the con- H ventlons nothing really bad Avonton H until the commanding generals of the H American army decided it was not H Aviso for an American girl at this time H to be so conspicuous in China. The H brother Avas written to by a kind H friend and told the situation, and told H of the kindnesses of those high offi- H cers who had protected her so far but H had advised that she return to her H OAvn country, and that the brother H should cable her to this effect. The H brother, Avithout appreciation of the H fact that these same generals had the H poAvcr to deport any undesirable per- H sonago, man or Avoman, Avrote in re- H ply that he did n.o.t Iciioav General H and General , and intimated that H the letter, which Avas intended in all H kindness, was an impertinence and H that his sister Avas quite capable of H taking care of herself, etc., etc. H "Well, she did take care of herself, M (Continued on Page 14.) H HI I WILES OF WOMEN $f (Continued from Pago 5.) ! In her own way, doing what she want- ed to do, going on defying all conven- 1 tlons, until she was left quite alone I by even the foreign officers, yet never If I any scandal she just not knowing Hj that manner, and not moral, was the K I essential thing. W I "Finally, one day she was gone H I gone out of China without good-bye to Hi f the people who had protected her Hf and had sailed off on a Japanese mer- Hf chantman en route to the southern H seas Shanghai and Hongkong. The H steamer got Into an awful storm and H nearly went to the bottom. Word H came back to China that it had been H' wrecked. But this pretty girl got on H her way, and nil alone, by using the H names of friends that she had ruth- H lessly turned down, got to different H military centers and through custom H " houses and without passports just H where she wanted to go. But finally H she found herself lonely. She found H ! what the brother had never taught M her that one language is spoken the M world over, that' of the conventions B and facts; that statements do not M make a fact. That pretty girl left a M bright red streak from north to south WM in the Orient and then dropped out WM as If she had never existed. It would M never have occurred to me again if I B had not read this accusation against M this popular western governor. Dear H me, how I am gossiping! Good thing H the waiter interrupted. How, girls; H j our soldiers; God bless 'em!" The M Annalist in Town Topics. |