The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 13, 1903, Page 11

BOX of candy, a novel and a few down pillows are all-sufficient to make some women supremely v is but an- with h woman, luxurious wo f at all t he thought of her- languor and upon dles* of the scourtesy in ca k point. Her battle- order to ound is . nd anywhere that a bar- s cation of s ms as no scruples e. To her there 1 that she would not determination of the selfish woman Slay and spare not” when woman cares nothing of others. She is too ther about hing nay say or do or have. She lent to care save to be let eat, drink, The luxu have no du ving upon her. She should be an only child, and an orphan at an e later a bachelor girl without kith or kin, as she will have no thought save for herself, consequently is better alone. She should, above all things, have & plethora of money that she may indulge ber luxurious temperament. Her mentality is rarely superior to the trashy novels the day. Any @deeper line of thought would dislocate what little intelligence she boasts. should of Physically she is only equal to the effort of getting fat, and lies or reclines her days away that even this may not be too fatiguing. The woman who loves luxury has seldom a thought save of herself. It would never enter her mind to weigh the feelings, sorrows or needs of those about her. She knows nothing of care or privation, and except what she ex- tracts from books, to which she gives but little thought, save as'a pretext for passing the time. And, by the way, this struggle to pass away the time is the one serious enigma of her life. Her energies are directed toward keeping wa in the first piace, as warmth is, after all, & large installment of luxury. A cold, chilly spasm play- time with one’s spine would € calm with a seraphic peace othing to ruffle its seren- ity is another lofty alm of the luxuri- ous woman. She never even wants to exercise her thought, fearing the exertion. If she could eat by proxy she would gladly dispense with the labor. She is indolent' with a picturesque laziness heightened by stage effects and the dreamy languor of repose and beauty. Such a2 woman always studies these effects, the loves beauty of the Dres- den china type and smiles contentment in robes of siik. The light and color scheme is her one great anxiety and she studies the general effect of repose and the picture scheme of color. There are woman biessed with long snd enduring bank rolls that meet with responsive alacrity every whim of the sstress thereof, but this self-same mistress would never master the art of enjoying money no matter how boun- teously fate favored her. The money of such people always seems to have a disagreeable twang wherein one might even fancy a curse lay hidden in every roil. The real enjoyment of money lies in the pleasure it enables one to extend to others, and surely the woman wno thinks only of herself can reap none of the reward that blesses more un- selfish lives. NWOMEN BECCME. TEMA The luxury loving woman, if she be wealthy, has but one idea of the enjoy- ment of wealth and that s in the lazi- ness and languor of the very atmcs- phere she breathes. She will not be bothered by anything that requires the effort of thought or with cares, and ner one aim in life is to make of it but suc- ive scenes of eating, drinking and d to wait on her and a friend with her is the sam total of her ambitions. F: of Orientalism are rapidly vading all cla and tea drinking has become 1n a manner a national insti- t n. There is hardly to be found a young girl of any pretensions who has not either a little kettie on a crane for making, m. elaborate device by which the fragrant decoction may be brewed at a moment’s notice. A ma to pass the time in- the p of tea other pose or some or 1 Physicians are railing, though fruit- 7, against the increase of tea con- and many women are ac- credited with being tea inebriates. That the deliciously insidious little leaves have a narcotic effect cannot be denied, and many become so hopeless- ly addicted to the indulgence that in time the effect becomes almost as per- nicious as the habit of alcohol. Luxury is not always a question of wealth or environment, and some wom- en with hardly a penny to call their own revel in a cheap luxuriousness that embraces almost as much solid comfort as princely wealth bestows. Expensive luxury is, of course, more elegant in its appointments, more pic- turesque in detail, but the woman who loves her ease can enjoy it just as thoroughly in a cheap kimono at a cost of 79 cents as can the woman who garbs herself in the finest embroideries of the Orient. The kimono has grown to be the ac- cepted symbol of indolence and luxury, and few women are so bereft as not to be able to possess one of the happy looking, shapeless gowns, the very eight of which suggests ease and com- fort. There are women who ignore every- ‘NEBR_\A""ES thing savoring of exertion. The novel must not be too sensational, because it might thereby disturb repose, but such a ene as flows from beginning to end at an easy dead level pace warranted not to arouse too much feeling. Be- cause to the luxurious woman even sensation would be fatiguing. A box of candy is the unfailing re- sort of the luxury loving woman. To don a neglige, with only the nov- el and the candy, is the sum total of many a woman's existence. To eat and grow fat, sleep and accumulate adipose, hibernate in sleepy inertia is’ perhaps not lofty idealism, yet such a woman is, after all, not half bad. She is too lazy to make mischief, too indo- lent to gossip and too busy doing noth- ing to even fall in love with another woman’s husband—hence judge her kindly. COLONEL KATE. i HOW STUMPY LEARNED TO SUBTRACT---BY ALEC BRUCE. THE SUNDAY CALL. AATD ‘ sSUPREMELY (Copyright, 1903, by T. C. McClure.) N Munkersvilleevery- body agreed _that Stumpy Dent was silly; not very much off, but off. Pa Dent himself did not deny it. Of course, ma was an exception to the rule, and vigorously denied every- thing and anything that touched on the softness of Stumpy. And toward pa, because of his sittin’-on-the-fence attitude, she assumed a frigid front. “Silence is jes' the same as consent, Dave Dent,” she complained bitterly, eyeing her spouse with a shrewish look. me on ye, an’ him your own flesh an’ blood!” But Dave pald no heed to these out- bursts. As matter of fact, pa was past speaking to Stumpy. He had fought the good fight and failed. In time, perhaps, he allowed, intelligence might penetrate to Stumpy’s brain. Good-humored, fat and flabby, Stumpy had seen nine healthy summers. His eyes were blue and watery, his cheeks dimpled and red. Rain or shine he wore a hayseed hat two sizes too small for his abnormal crown, kept in place by an elastic so tight that it puckered and reddened his skin. His pants were drawn up three inches above his knees, and though his ma tried hard to pre- vent it, Stumpy’s kneecaps were always exposed. For Stumpy had a weakness for curbstones and marbles, and rather than stand on his feet he hustled along on all fours. In school work Stumpy was disap- pointing, two grades behind the times. Yet he could read, spell, add to the thousands, and would attack millions if he dared. But oh! subtraction, sub- traction—not even a standing black- board example could enlighten Stumpy's mind. His long suffering teacher, like pa, was nearing exasperation point, when suddenly a happy thought occurred to ber. She bad obsérved Stumpy on the curbstone playing marbles. Sure, he must have marbles in his pocket. He did have them, a bulging pocketful, Jealously guarded, and after a struggle she successfully extracted three. But it was all she could do to get them, and for days her soft white hand re- tained evidence of the getting. “Stumpy Dent!" she cried with blaz- ing eyes, “now tell what I have done.” “Cobbed ma marbles,” walled the out- raged pupil with streaming eyes and waggling toes. “Hush, hush, sonny; I'm going to give them all back to you. trying to show you what subtraction is. Now, how many marbles had you when you came to school?” “Twelve!” shouted Stumpy. “How many have you now?"” One by one Stumpy counted them and considered. “How many?" repeated the teacher. “Twelve, when ye give 'em back t'me,” calmly announced the hopeless one. e I'm only From pent-up forms a roar of boy- ish laughter made sensitive Stumpy tearful and tight as a clam, and away went hope like the filmy wake of a dream. Of course Pa Dent soon heard the story and looked sadly at his son. He himself had tried the practical illus- tration scheme. but the lad was un- responsiv: . “Stumpy,” he demanded, shaking the boy's fat hand a little roughly, “do you like school?” “Yis,” was the glib reply. “Then you must do better, or I'll take you away.” Now Stumpy spoke the truth. He really loved his teacher. School was h's heaven, and in his clumsy way he had tried hard to catch subtraction., But it wasn't pa's threat that awakened Stumpy. To Darby Peck, the town's leading grocer, must be given the cred- it. Darby had a way with him, such a way that for every customer his ri- val, Bollinger, boasted, Darby could set THE KIMONS S THE AccEPTED Sy>MBoL. ©F A mOX OF CAMNDP> AN A MO~ EL. ARE ENOUGH, ONJ = SOME “wOomMEN it e HAP P> INDOLENCE UL up four. And Darby had just opened a branch near Stumpy’s school. “Naw, the laddies’ trade ain't much,” he admitted, “but 'am acaterin’ t'em jest the same.” Here, hitherto, Bollinger had held full sway. ut Bollinger was mean, hard as nails; he didn’t give marbles away with every 5-cent purchase. But Darby did, so Darby corraled the school. Bollinger tried hard to get it back. At half price, as a lure, he ad- vertised squeakin’ balloons and sticks of cardy, the chow-chow kind. Who wanted squeakin’ balloons and chow- chow candy? And again, Darby went him one better: — L3 FREE! « FREE! FREE! Five-dollar bill to .ne boy or girl who guesses nearest the | number of peas in this bottle. o+ 2]' His store was besieged. The schoo! “A Little Traitor &\South” A New Novel by Cyrus Townsend Brady And eight full p~ges of Christmas Fiction by eight prominent San Francisco Divines of different den minations are just a few of the strikingly original f:atures in the Great Christmas Call NEXT SUNDAY = playgrounds were deserted. Troops of madly excited boys and girls flung frantic guesses at the delighted grocer. Ting-a-ling! Ting-a-ling! Vainly, across the way the janitor swung his bell high above his head, then down to his weak old knees, and the brass gave out its utmost. « 2 “No, no, mo, every guess must be written, and I will take none till 3 o'clock this afternoon,” cried Darby, dismissing the disappointed mob. But one boy, regardiess of the jani- tor's peremptory mandate, remained glued to Darby’s window, mumbling to himse!f, his chubby fists clutched tight- ly at the crimson sill, as he dumped his toughened knees against the freshly painted panel. It was Stumpy Dent, and he was thinking, vea, he was rea- soning. Where had he seen a bottle just like that one wi' the peas. Ma had one just the same dgwn in the cel- lar.- Sure! Suddenly, wken the white-aproned assistant peened out of the door Stumpy melted. Hookey? Fine he knew what hookey meant, and ma mustn’t see him get the bottle, nor the peas. And she didn't. At 2 o'clock that same afternoon Pa Dent came unexpectedly upon his off- spring. Pa seldom disturbed the stable loft till the evening when he brought th. horses in, and therefore had Stumpy chosen it as a fitting place for his operations. A newspaper spread lengthwise, the French prumne bottle a pyramid of peas, Stampy carefully counting every pea he -iropped into the bottle, and on the white margin of the newspaper a record of red chalk strokes. That was what pa saw when his head topped the open trap. “Stumpy,” he cried sharply, “what are you doing? Why are you not at school 7" Taken in the act and breathless from the shock, Stumpy did not reply at once. Under such strong incriminating circumstances the grard impulse of the ordinary boy would have been instant confession, and “take the conse- naw, 11 quences.” Not so with Stumpy. A splendid evasion loomed up before hims: “Subtractin’, pa,” he gurgled, dab- bing his finger on the last chalk mark f0 as not to forget his total. “Ah, I see,” sald pa. Certainly, the excuse was a feasible one. Came 8 o'clock and Darby was agaln besieged. Every boy and girl ia Munkersville had a guess to give in, and every slip had to be carefully ex- amined. At last, amid breathless si- lence, Darby, beaming llke a harvest moon, mounted a chair and in loud tones cried: “Nine—two—two is the winning num- ber, boys; and Stumpy Dent guesses nine—two—cne. Stumpy gets the bill!™ Wild was the scene in Darby's. Up and out went Stumpy on the shoulders of the fifth grade gang. And pa, driv- ing home in his buggy, felt a lump In his throat when he heard the loud cheers for Stumpy. “How did you do it, sonny?” he ask- ed. when the demonstration was over and the boy safe at home. “Jes' this way,” whispered Stumpy. “I fetched ma's prune bottle from the cellar. Darby's was jes’ the same in size an’ wi' the same wee rid label on the neck. So I filled ma's bottle neat wi' peas, emptied "em out on the newspaper an’ counted ‘em as I filled it up agin. That gave nine—two—eone.” “Ha, ha, ha!" laughed jubllant pa. “Come, Stumbpy, " he cried, count- ing out fiye shining silver dollars for the bill, “come an' we’ll put your money in a bank.” It was a miniature iron bank, a penny in the slct affair, and the silver rat- tled and rang as it dropped to the little vault -below. “Now, Stumpy.” said pa. proudly, “that’s your first deposit, and it draws interest at 5 per cent In one month.” But when the month was up and pa pried open the 1id only three shining dollars demanded 5 per cent. Stumpy had learned to subtract.