Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 163, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1918 — Page 2

The Empty House

By Fannie Barnett Linsky

(Copyright. IMB, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) The little brown car had swung with a soft humming sound down the smooth road, and its sole occupant was sitting with her hands in her lap, looking dreamily out at the landscape and the rows of houses that they passed. Many a one passing by on the sidewalk might have envied the lovely young woman who sat there, so slender and aristocratic, in the little brown car, but she herself was not even conscious of the looks, whether envious or admiring, that were cast in her direction. If, as the poets say, “the eyes are ■mirrors of the soul,” then it was very apparent that Elaine Hargrave was not happy, for the sad, far-away expression on her face told its own story. As the machine turned the corner of the street, however, she began .to take more interest in her surroundings, and she watched carefully the houses she passed. Suddenly she leaned forward and spoke to the chauffeur. “Stop, Jacques,” she commanded, sharply, “at the house “To Let.’ ” The brakes ground sharply, and Elaine stepped out at once. She looked again and drew in her breath quickly. A wave of crimson flooded her face. The chauffeur wondered at the sudden order, for they were already late for dinner, and he did not think that his mistress could possibly want to look at this empty house. The glory of a perfect spring day was over all the out-of-doors. It seemed a day to' tempt anyone to remain in the open, and drink in to the full the beauties of bountiful nature, but evidently this did not attract the girl, for she mounted the steps of the house it once. , She looked around at Jacques after 'She had rung the bell. “Walt till I come out,” she said. A slovenly-looking woman suddenly appeared in response to her ring. She was as dusty looking, somehow, as the house was, and quite as dejected looking; but Elaine scarcely saw her as she spoke: “I want to see the house,” said the girl. “I suppose I can go In?” “Well, it’s gettln’ pretty late, mum, and I don’t think as you’d be seein* much,” replied the old woman. “You can give me your candle,” said Elaine, quickly, as she slipped a coin into the not over clean hand, and with a little gasp, the woman yielded. The front door was opened and Elaine went through the passage and glided upstairs like a ghost, the woman promptly returning to the lower regions, whence she had come. Lighting the dirty candle from a gas jet burning in the passageway, Elaine went from one room to another with quick, , nervous haste. Her face was quite colorless, but her eyes burned with a feverish light that made her seem very different from the brilliant lady of fashion that most people knew as Elaine Hargrave. Here she was but a girl; and face to face with memory, a memory that was still alive after three years of bitter struggle—the struggle of trying to forget. For today was the third anniversary of what was to have been Elaine Hargrave’s wedding day, but that wedding never took place; and on the third anniversary of “what might have been,” as Elaine expressed it herself, and just home from travels that had taken her into the faraway corners of the world, the girl had become possessed with the desire to see the place that once she had expected to call “home.”

She stopped for a moment In her flitting from room to room and looked about her. Here, but three short years before, she had planned to come as a happy bride, and here she had left the man she loved after their bitter quarrel, called him “Puritan” and “Prude.” because he would not countenance the ways of her “set.” How empty and false were the ways of that very same set, she had come bitterly to realize, just as in her heart of hearts she had come to respect all the more the man who would not bow down to them. And how empty was her heart as well! She could see him plainly, if she bu*t shut her eyes for a moment, as he stood before her that day so long ago, so tall and proud and good to look at She had always taken such pride in his good looks, all the more so because he had not belonged to her “set," but had come to the city unknown, and had worked up to an enviable position. She could almost hear again his earnest voice as he remonstrated with her on that last fateful day in this house. *1 know that I do not belong to this ‘set’ that you seem to think so much of, dear,” h.e said, “and perhaps that is why I find it so hard to accustom myself to the things that they do, but I am certain that I have too much regard for the woman who Is to be my wife to want to see her follow In the footsteps of people whose chief alm Id life seems to be to attract the attention of others. You are made for better things than this, Elaine, dear. Won’t yon be guided by me in this thing and give these people up? Please, dear, for my sake?” She recalled now how she had flung away from him, although in her heart she had known even then that he was right, but some perverse spirit seemed to urge her not to give in; how she bad refused to do what be asked of

her, telling her “that, she would live her life without him, and that she realized now that it was a mistake to expect ap outsider —a plebeian—to understand the ways of her kind of people.” Even now, after three years, Elaine still winced aS she thought of those hasty words of hers. How she must have hutt him —and all the time she was hurting herself as well; and he had let her go on without a word of protest. In the end gravely agreeing with her, and saying that he would never ask her to come back again. And he hadn’t. And they never met nor wrote. Elaine’s eyes were opened now, but of course It was far too late to give In and acknowledge herself In the wrong. Three’ years of time had rolled between them, the bar of passionate words on either side keeping them apart. She started once more on her pilgrimage through the rooms. First the dining room, with the familiar paper, which she herself had selected. He had not been so well-off then, and had Insisted upon living In the style that his own earnings would entitle them to —but he had worked hard to give her as many as possible of the luxuries that she had been accustomed to. “So small a thing to mean so large a loss,” murmured the girl to herself. She had read those words somewhere, and now they canle into her mind. She stood for a time looking out through the clouded windows. Great tears welled up in her eyes and poured down over her sac if the barriers were suddenly let down to allow tides of memory to flow in and engulf her. She had never allowed herself to think in this way before, but the spirit of love seemed to have come back to the dusty little room from which he had flown three years before. For her time passed unheeded. Darkness fell. Outside, James felt very cross. The idea of anyone spending so much time looking at an empty house! He folded his arms and went half asleep. Down in .the basement, the care-taker, having finished her supper, came up, and, forgetting all about her visitor, or, thinking that she had surely gone away long ago, closed the door and went home. ~ And Elaine dreamed on—for how long, she knew not. But suddenly she awoke to reality with a start, to notice that it had grown very dark outside, and that there were footsteps coming through the hall. Then came the sound of a voice that seemed familiar. “Hold the light low there, please. I wish to see all the rooms. There, thank you; that’s better.” Elaine had crept to the door, and was listening with a white face. She had a glimpse of the two men as they passed the door one, evidently the night watchman, holding the lamp, and the other, the man she had sent away three years before. “So he, too, has not forgotten,” thought Elaine, bitterly. She wondered ts she should speak—make her presence known but each time she tried to her courage failed her. She looked again. Yes, there he was! Standing in front of the open fireplace. Once more she peered through the open door. “How changed he was,” she said to herself. “How much older and grayer.” Her face was still wet with the traces of her recent tears, but she did not even know it as she went up and tapped gently on the wall between the two rooms. He turned round suddenly with a great start. Then he came to the door and opened it wider. Elaine walked into the room. All the light from the lamp seemed to shine on the slender figure, standing there so erect and proud. The girl’s face was white and strained, but her blue eyes shone like twin stars. The man started back with a little cry of unutterable astonishment. “Elaine! Good God!”„ “Listen,” she said softly, her hands outstretched. “Let me humble myself while I can. I need you, Richard —I want you—you and the little house.” “Elaine—Elaine —” The man could but whisper her name, for the sudden sight of her seemed to have dazed him. “Elaine —why did you come?” Quite suddenly all the fear and pride seemed to die out of the girl’s heart, “because I loved you,” she whispered softly. “Because in the old empty house I came to understand that I could never be happy without you. When I stood in the little room that we had planned together”—her voice broke —“Richard, forgive me—” She was in his arms, sobbing out the words she could not speak, and his arms were around her as he murmured : "It’s for you to forgive me, dearest. My little girl! And I thought that you did not care!” She clung to him, even as he held her, as he kissed lip and brow and hair. He could not let her go. He would never let her go again. “My dearest,” he whispered, “not for long will it i>e the Empty House.”

His Choice of Professions.

A rich New Yorker decided that his Indolent son must go to work. The father acquired his wealth by hunting for oil in Kentucky and Is self-made. In his ultimatum to the leisure-loving son, he told him to have on his desk the next morning the professions he would like to follow —and the father woul£ select the one for which he thought ? the son best sulted. Here Is The list the son turned in: Hammock demonstrator. Night watchman at police headquarters. Floorwalker in’ a bird store. Head waiter in the Automat. Director of the vacation bureau at Sing Sing. Ringmaster at a merry-go-round. Window cleaner in Grant’s tomb, and cheer leader in the hall of fame,

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND:

VOGUE IN AMERICA

New York Could Not Rule Styles, Fashion Writer Asserts. Jealousies, Climatic Variation, Difference,in Mode of Living, and Many Other Reasons. The theater guides fashion In France, to be sure, but there is little prospect of its playing such a commanding role in this country, even if America should declare sartorial independence of France, as a result of the war, observes a New York fashion correspondent France, though she occupies such a large place in our hearts, is a small country, as we Americans understand size. It has been a comparatively easy matter for Paris to set the standard for the entire population interested in the mode. For New York to attempt to do the same thing, in the same degree, would be to foredoom the effort to failure. New York might influence fashions, probably would play a greater part in their determination and selection than any other place in the. western hemisphere; but that New York should control the dress of the country, down to the last detail of the length of the sleeve, the placing of a ribbon, as Paris does would be an impossibility. America is too big. By the time New York had succeeded in distributing its models to the last demanding woman, something else would be In vogue. And then there Is the natural jealousy in one section of the vast continent of another section; the tremendous climatic variation; the difference in the mode of living; and a thousand other less striking reasons. The style influence launched in New York would spread and widen itself out of existence, as the rings made by a pebble dropped in a pond lose themselves as they spread from the point of contact. If the theater guided fashion in our country as it does in Paris, we might see an untimely revival of Watteau fashions, judging by the reception accorded to the Louis XV gowns worn by Billie Burke in Henry Miller's revival of “The Marriage of Convenience.” The town has gone mad over her hoop-skirts, and her powdered tresses. Every woman who sees them longs to try them on.

DRESS THAT SAVES MATERIAL

This dress, designed for afternoon use, Is a type of “conservation” dress exemplifying the injunction for the American woman to save material. It Is developed in Japanese cotton crepe, simple in line and yet smart In every detail.

TO MAKE RIBBON SWEATERS

From Nine Hundred to One Thousand Yards of Material Required for _ Sleeveless Garment. It would seem as though there was any amount of knitting being done for personal adornment besides that which the women are doing for the soldiers. It is hard 'to understand, writes a fashion correspondent, judging from the amount of work that the women are turning out for patriotic purposes, where they find the time to work for themselves, but there are, nevertheless, all kinds of new designs and stitches being talked about that have no place in the knitting outfits of the soldiers* kits. You have doubtless seen or heard of the sweaters made of narrow ribbon and if, perchance, you have not seen them you may be interested in knowing that while the ribbon is narrow and of the width usually referred to as baby ribbon the texture of the ribbop does not in the least resemble the satin baby ribbon, but Is of A loose weave and crinkled in appearance. I have been told by those who make these sweaters that it requires from 900 to 1,000 yards to make one of the sleeveless ribbon sweaters; thus one must draw the conclusion that these are not inexpensive affairs. Any-

FROCK FOR MISS SIMPLICITY

This is a pretty hand-embroidered empire dress for Miss Simplicity to wear when she goes calling. The belt is caught into bows at the sides and is designed to match the hair ribbon.

way, they are lovely to look at and many of us will have to be broadminded enough to be content with looking. It is very seldom that one sees one of these ribbon sweaters that is. made entirely of the plain knitting stitch; while part of the sweater may be plain, the design is varied by a border done in plain and purl at the shoulders and the lower part or at the waistline. There is one of these which has been very popular with the entire sweater made by knitting four and purling four. This rule of varying the design of the sweater also holds good for those made of wool.

KEEPING HANDS MILKY WHITE

Old-Fashioned Tallow Recommended; Feeds Tissues and Gives Hands a Pleasing Plumpness. If rubber gloves or loose kid gloves are systematically worn during work hours there Is no reasdh why the hands should become red and rough, but If they have a tendency that way cold cream should be rubbed in each night and soft chamois gloves donned. Perhaps the treatment may be necessary only every other night or only once a week. Some hands redden and roughen more easily than others, just as some skins freckle or burn more easily than others. There Is nothing like old-fashioned tallow to make the hands milky white, according to an authority, and the tallow wIH also feed the tissues and give hard worked hands a pleasing plumpness, for, be it known, only the useless hand is softly rounded and plump like a child’s. Hands that do work may be white and perfectly kept. The nails and finger tips must be carefully attended to, for housework first betrays itself here. A visit to a reliable manicure once a week will help a great deal, and the trifling price should be included among household expenses.

PAQUIN BLOUSES ARE COPIED

Parisian Bedroom Negligee, Brought Over by War Workers, Finds Favor in America. The house of Paquin invented a bedroom negligee that was cut like a medieval garment with square sleeves. It was made of satin, trimmed with lace and fur, and slipped on over the head after the fashion of a Chinese tunic. It was far more modest and becoming than the usual negligee which Is open in front, and far more protective against chill airs. The war workers who brought it over from Paris as a novelty have found that it is already copied in our shops and sold at one-third the price paid for it at the house of Paquin. It is the new successor to the room robe that has existed for over a century, and it promises to become the popular garment of the moment.

OF INTEREST TO WOMEN

Wellesley college girls are cultivating their war gardens after school hours on the college farm. Fifteen thousand Philadelphia women and girls helped in the War Savings Stamp drive. The canteens and rest stations along the lines of communication in the war zone of France are being operated by American women. Salvation army lassies cook and distribute the toothsome doughnuts to Americans on the French' front. Twenty-seven new visiting nurses have been placed on the staff of Philadelphia’s bureau of health for the duration of the summer. English women have established a chain of lunch wagons not far from the battle line, from which they serve hot coffee to the soldiers returning from the Flanders front.

Such Fkvory ■ Sliced Beef! THE tenderness of Libby’s Sliced Dried Beef, will delight you —but you will find the greatest difference in the flavor! Have Libby’s Sliced Beef with creamed sauce today. See how much more tender, more delicate it is than any other you have ever tried. "WB Libby, MTNeill A Libby, Chicago

. r Why I I Swift & Company II I Has Grown I I The fact that a business organ- I I ization has grown steadily for forty years proves that it has I | kept continually meeting a vital HI business demand. It must have kept “fit” or it could not have stood the strain of evershifting conditions. Swift & Company has been trained | in the school of experience. Every day of its forty years of service has solved some new problem of value to its customers. 1111 Every year has proved its ability to | learn by experience, and to use this knowledge for the benefit of those with whom it deals. | Swift & U. S. A. 11||

Just Like People.

“Microbes are not all of one kind." “No, Indeed; there are romantic microbes that live in kisses and mercenary microbes that live on dollar bills." —Boston Transcript.

Cutlcura for Bore Hands. Soak hands on retiring In the hot suds of Cutlcura Soap, dry and rub in Cutlcura Ointment. Remove surplus Ointment with soft tissue paper. For free samples address, “Cutlcura; Dept. X, Boston.” At druggists and by mail. Soap 25, Ointment 25 and 50. —Adv.

Banish the Glooms.

Drill \nir thoughts, shut out the gloomy anUxcall in the bright.—John Richard Most men are polished by bumping against the passing years.

GOOD-BYE BACKACHE, KIDNEY AND BLADDER TROUBLES

For centuries all over the world GOLD MEDAL Haarlem Oil has afforded relief in thousands upon thousands of cases of lame back, lumbago, sciatica, rheumatism, gallstones, gravel and all other affections of the kidneys, liver, stomach, bladdrf’ and allied organs. It acts quickly. It does the work. It cleanses your kidneys and purifies the blood. It makes a new man, a new woman, of you. It frequently wards off attacks of the dread and fatal diseases of the kidneys. It' often completely cures the distressing diseases of the organs of the body allied with the bladder and kidneys. Bloody or cloudy urine, sediment, or “brickdust” indicate an unhealthy condition. Do not delay a minute if your back aches" or you are sore across the loins or have difficulty when urinating. Go to your druggist at once and got a

Did All the Talking.

"Confound the luck!” exclaimed Professor Diggs. "What’s tyie matter, professor?" asked Mrs. Diggs. “I wasted nearly an hour discussing the Elizabethan poets with an ignoramus who thought I had reference to Elizabeth, N. J." “Well, I suspect It was your own fault,” replied Mrs. Diggs. "If you had let the poor fellow get in a word or two during the ‘discussion’ he would have exposed his ignorance and enabled you to get home sooner.”

Reflection.

.Though a man may think himself popular with a widow, he must know that he isn’t her first choice. Because of frequent air raids, Paris is to have underground theaters.

box of Imported GOLD MEDAL Haarlem Oil Capsules. They are pleasant and easy to take. Each capsule contains about one dose of five drops. Take them just like you would any pin. Take a small swallow of water if you want to. They dissolve in the stomach, and the kidneys soak up the oil like a sponge does water. They thoroughly cleanse and wash out the bladder and kidneys and throw off the inflammation which is the cause of the trouble. The_ywill quickly relieve those stiffened joints, that backache, rheumatism, lumbago, sciatica, gallstones, gravel, “brickdust,” etc. They are an effective remedy for all diseases of the bladder, kidney, liver, stomach and allied organs. Your druggist will cheerfully refund your money If you are not satisfied after a few days’ use. Accept only the pure, original GOLD MEDAL Haarlem Oil Capsules. None other genuine.—Adv.