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Show III LOVE and MARRIED LIFE! K the noted author 8 I I ii Idah MGlone Gibson j II ) f THE NEW WOMAN. I fSN (Editor' Note.--With this chaptcrj I Hf I Idnh McGIonp Qibsaon Introduces a LV I phaso of modern life which will prove f VmV ' absorbing interest lo nil womon nnd f most men. KRloidoacopic changes cf- H footing the status of woman In her S homo life and in tho political life of' W- the nation are realiitlcally portrayed WL in n manner which will hold the ntton-j jT lion of over' one. Readera who hav( 14 not followod this- splendid story will! mJ find thin a splendid starting point) B I wanted very much to ak Alice i what ho meant by saying that she did' 1 E not want Karl Shepard to prow loo J W lond of me. but 1 did not dare be cri- W oiib with her over it, aud o I asked K I flippantly. "How do you think it would K be hopelQM, Alice, thinking that she. H would smile. I k To my surprise she took it seriously j h I and said, "Why, Katherlno, don't you! K know you nrc derotedly and passion-1 t I ately in love with John? No other man1 H ; can hold you for a moment while John' K Gordon lives." m ! This sobered meln an instant, and I ; m answorod, after n little hesitation,! M "Yes, I expect 1 am. I expect that is ) "Of courao you are, of course it Is." i I i she answercnl, without much regard i i-il. . for her English. "No woman would I I Wit I endure what you have from John if 1'K she were anything else than devotedly f SI In love with him." j I "But, Alice, I don't believe I am a 2 very good wife at that." fi WHAT JOHN THINKS. I "Yes, you are, dear. I know per- f j f j fectly well that John would not ex- j I change you tor any other woman in J 1 (he world. Because you sometimes 1 think you are not a noocl wife docs not ,1 enter into the case ai all. It Is what j ,1 John Uilnks that countd." ! j i "IJou you know, Alice. I always 3 thought before I married that being a fit good wife meant Just loving. I have a found how that It means Immeasura- u y bly more. It meahs Just a kind or $ ? selfish trust and devotion that I am f ' afraid that 1 will never attain. It c i means sympathy, and you know I can I not sympathize with John in many I 1 of his ideas. It means utter belief jw and blind faith, which John has thrown away. Oh, Alice, dear, being I J a good wlfq means .mo many, many! 'ft m things that I am not sure that any ' W modern woman with a mind of her i 4l! ovvn 1111(1 ft senso of riSht nnd wrong vO unn I)0S8'D'V De a" f them." w.lft "The old idea Uiat you must 'belong' T Jim lo 11 nmn you nro n's w'0 nas een SM badly shaken, but tho modern man la not yet ready to let his wife own her- ' li-i solf," said Alice. "He is not satisfied Jk with that comradeship for which a xiL woman always longs and never gets mm from the man she marries. That, I Mm think, is the reason for so much unrest I among the married woman of today. And divorce will be a menace until men understand that when a woman marries fhe wants a companion and not nn owner. "You see, Katherlno, while you have been away I have been attending tho suffrage convention, and I have boon attending the suffrage convention conven-tion and I have learned something. I know "lat women will bo privileged to vote nnd women in the future will help make the laws. WOMAN'S HOUR HAS STRUCK. "The woman's hour has struck, my dear, and the man will bo happiest who has heard and heeds its knell. "No longer will wives be satisfied to think a mnn's word is law, his acts sacred to himself and his opinions always al-ways Justifiable." "Good gracious, Alice, have you turned suffragette?',' I asked. "Why, I thought you never had nn Idea In that pretty head of yours beyond society so-ciety and good times." "Thai's just It, Katherlne, 1 do want good times, and I intend to have them. I have recently found that working up an enthusiastic interest in civic and national affairs Is much more fun than holding post mortcms on the last game of bridge. It 13 a good thing, however, that Tom Is so complacent over everything every-thing I do, or he might rind fault with this, which he calls my latest fad." "I should think so; why if I would mention any o these new woman fan-Ides, fan-Ides, as John calls them, to him In a serious manner he would never get 'over It. He seems to think that a j woman must put aside all her femininity femin-inity when she bothers her head ,with the affairs of her city, her state or her : country." "I wish he could have seen the wom-jen wom-jen nl this last convention," said Alice, smiling. "I never saw a finer looking (group or women in my life. True, a large percentage of them were over forty, but they were beautifully 'groomed, stylishly dressed and every jone of them would make a society woman sit up and take notice and they all looked so happy. There was not a bored look on any face I saw at the conference." THOUGHTS -TRAY BACK. At tliis my thoughts strayed Back to the dear little mother lying so cold and still In the room below. And I understood that the scene had shifted, that her generation has passed and a new one had begun, a new one with problems and yearnings for things that she probably had never dreamed things which would worry her if she had llvpd to have mo exploit them, but I was not sure that in her youth she did not have problems and yearnings for things, a little further along on the way that her mother had trod, yearnings that had led her up to the turning where she laid down the burden bur-den and I was to take it up. |
