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Show A MEETING THAT WASN'T BY I CHANCE By Thornton W . Burgees Far far more often than you dream Things are not as or what thev sm. Mrs. Whltefooi Whltefoot tho Wood Mouse kept away from that new homo which ho and Mr? Whltefoot had made In the old home of Melody the Wood j Thursh. Never had Whltefoot done I anything quite so hard to do as kecp-l Ing away from that home and Mrs I Whitefoot. Dozens of times he started start-ed In that direction to have Just a peep at that homo from which he had been driven, but each time he remembered re-membered thai Mrs Whltefoot had told him to keep away from there. 'and that Jimmy Skunk had advised him to do Just as Mrs. Whltefoot tot. I I him to do For several days and nights h" dldn t Ret so much as a glimpse of ; little Mrs W hltefoot, He wondered 1 how she was getting .-Hon He wondered won-dered If she didn't miss him a wee i bit. He wondered If she found plen'y to eat. Thee were only a few of tho. things that he wondered about He was still very unhappy, but not quite ; as unhappy as he had been before hlsi talk with Jimmy Skunk. j Then one night Just before the I Green Forest became really dark he Chased a beetle around a stump and' straight into the paws of little Mr. j I Whltefoot. In fact, Whitefoot il-' most ran into her. "Oh"' he squeaked I Then, rememberlhg how Mrs W'hlte-i foot had ordered him to keep awav from her lie became fearful that sh. would think lie had met her purposely purpose-ly "I dldn t know you were anywhere any-where around, said he rather cross-, ly. iXiils Is Just a chance meeting.. If I had known you were over here I. wouldn't have come this way at all" Little Mrs. Whltefoot chuckled to! herself softly. That meeting hadn't 1 been by chance at all. The truth l-i she had planned that meeting. She had been watching for Whltefoot) when he started out to hunt for his. supper, and then she had hidden be-1 hind th.it stump so that Whltefoot would be sure to meet her. Thank you. my dear, for this fat beetle." said she, sweetly "It was most thoughtful of you to drive him straight Into my paws." "But-but but I dldn t mean to." stammered Whltefoot. I dldn t know you were there. As I've. Just told you It was Just chance." Little Mrs Whltefoot acted Just as if she hadn't heard a word he said. I am very hungry for of late 1' haven t had much tlmo to hunt foi I food," she chattered on. "It was Just! like you to be so thoughtful of me. 1 mWm ' : 'BaBBalgaB 1 be nfl lhatcrj 1 1 lie ll an ml and I ol.l to H n h!'.. footM nothing of r n poned. LI waM "he font were l.ovol Rut finally he Wt mi go r 1 IB 'But yi 1 li . tB little Wm "I .ion t want Mm oot, mi .is . Lsing that )H I I I let's go nverlB The eyes of H twinkle,) said iB Off 10 lead 'he (Copyright 1922. by T. wg The nexl itory: 'Mrs Whitefootl-1- -Very Mysterious." " .sinBssM has 1 iaim H. ..il me rules th.it a ppTv'e'SSBI situation Jane ought to be on her way and going strong, to a private secretaryship, and a fat pay envelop-?, but she Isn't. Sho is stuck, and she doesn't got ahead any. and she is grouchy and discontented, and Is fretting fret-ting herself into a case of nerves. Now the thing that Is the matter vith Jane Is pride. Silly, false pride. She Is ashamed f working It mortifies mor-tifies her to death to be classed as .1 working woman, and she considers being called a stenographer the i-r.-atest insult that could be offered her She isn't lazy. She really doesn't diallke the effort it requires to do the labor she does She llkos the atmosphere atmos-phere of the office with its orderly hustle and bustle, and the sense it c:cs one of being part of a big powerful pow-erful machine that is . rashing Its way along to great achievements. She Is . -led in I he work itself, and shu would enjoy doing It and be happy and successful if only ehe could get over her Idiotic Idea that there Is some stigma attached to a girl's earning earn-ing her own living. That's why she falls. Nobody ban put any enthusiasm, any heart, any punch, into doing the thing they ire .ihamed of doing. We have got to believe that our work Is the greatest thing In the world the most Import- ant. tho most Interesting and that just to bo doing it clothes us with' glory and distinction In order to ac- complisb anything worth while. It's the stenographer who is ashamed of being a stenographer who' never learns to spell or punctuate, or, ce's any more apeod, aryj, who never, rises to the position of a private sec-1 retary. It's the boy who Is ashamed j of being a carpenter, who Is such a poor carpenter that lie never gets to' bt B contractor, Rnd so on. through; tho whole list of human occupations, j We have got to have pride ln'o our work to mnke It good work. Jane considers herself a hlKh'y 1 modern, up-to-date young womai. Sho would bo amazed and indignant, If anyone called her mid-Ylctorlan. but surely her Idea that people look' .l .wn on a girl for earning her own' living belongs to a vanished da She's wrong there The girl that! people look upon with contempt In ! these times In the husky, able-bodied; young woman who alts around and twiddles her thumbs, and lets her; poor old father work himself to death to support her or the girl who graft3 her living off her relatives, or the 1 public instead of going out and earning earn-ing It herself. Nobody admires the parlsltlc woman wom-an now. On tho contrary, everyone looks upon her with the same loathing loath-ing they feol for the masculine loafer. loaf-er. The wor'd Is just as full of op-1 Indeed. - ' there Is such dignity, and self re- H ' spect in making one's own way, and H that there Is such Joy in feeling one's own strength, and that one can stand H j on one's own feet, has made many H wumen foresake homes of ease and H j luxury, and go into business. Thev H ! don 1 want to waste their lives on I H nothing but foolish frholous seekln ; 'f '.e- a nui .th. a Tn....- want to ." something constructive, and worth- J'M someihlrr that will Justif'. H lheli haj Ing th ed. Undoubted ' the reason that many Iffaj ggggj women fail in business is because thev l( H ( arc like jane They aro ashamed of vH what The ire doing Therefore, th- I , I never do it well. All of us can re- H I call having boarded with women wh I were ashamed of taking boarders, and 1 who camouflaged it under the pre- H text of loneliness, and taking tn i few paying guests. Becauao the H ; woman was ashamed of being an hon- H est boarding house keeper, she spent ' her time reading novels, or playing ! bridge, and never saw that the maid H swept under the beds or the cook Hullfl prepared decent meals, and eventual-that eventual-that boarding house went Inti bankruptcy. H And we all know women who are l ashamed of being dress-makers, an I who never take the trouble to learn even the rudiments of their trade, and they fall; and we know other women who are proud of their calling call-ing ;md who turn dressmaking Int . an art. and we pay them whatever H they want for their confections Wo know women who sell thing' In shops, and who have to bo called H "salesladies" instead of salesgirls and they are so ashamed of selling things that they never taka the trouble to fil H try to ple-aso you. or try to find out what you want but frighten and cow-er cow-er you so with their grand duchess airs that you slink out of the Store and go to some place where there is a )itt,le Mamie or Sadie who thinks li that being a salesgirl is the grandest Job on earth, and who will rummaeo over the whole place to find you whit you desire. H There Is something wrong mentally mental-ly and morally with the woman in these days who Is ashamed of bein,- a working woman, for to bo a work- H ing woman Is her badge of honor Jt IjH is the reward that generations of Itjjlfi slave women, of dependent women, hae won for her. It frees her. The Ibilltv to earn their own living sct I I the woman of this generation apa-t from all other women In history, as I tho flr"t women who did not have 1 , sell themsolves In inarrlago, or out of It. for their bread and butter The only work that women should be ashamed of doing is bad work. |