BEAUTY IN A BLUE WAIST

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1628, 13 May 1903, Page 6

BEAUTY IN A BLUE WAIST

Sunday dinner at Mrs Thompson’s was always more or less of an event. Perhaps it was he cause the hoarders appeared in their best apparel on that occasion. ... Feminine finery was especially in evidence. Dainty, fancy waists and becoming hair bows gave an air of festivity- which mere week day dining never called forth. Yet the .ifeminine element of the Thompson boarding house always dressed prettily and tastily even for “every day.”

: The majority of the girls worked for a small living. Some were stenographers. Others stood patiently behind counters and dealt daily w T ith all sorts and. conditions of customers. Yet, despite the fact of small (and ihard!earned salaries, all of them seemed to have caught the fever for stylish dressing—that most prevalent and contagions disease of America.

On one particular Sunday there was an unusual display of smartness and prettiness.

From the quiet comer tahle Ellen Hyatt saw it all, and the dissatisfaction which for weeks she had been successfully combating swept upon her all at once.

Ellen had natural charms which few of the girls could boast. - Yet she w r as painfully conscious that among them she made no show. Her little blue silk waist—the only “best one”- she possessed—paled into disheartening insignificance beside those others. Two months ago, when she left the little home town., she had thought the waist extremely lovely and fit for very nice occasions. Since coming to Thompson’s she had worn it every Sundlay and realised its inefficiency. o Bitter thoughts assailed her now. “Dress is the thing that counts, after all,” she reflected. '“Men may talk forever about ‘beauty unadorned,’ but the .sentiment is hopelessly out of date. Men try to persuade themselves they [prefer naturalness and! simplicity in women, hut there isn’t one who is proof against the charm of handsome fabrics and stylish curves.” Perhaps this definite conclusion came just at that moment because Ellen caught s : ght of Harvey Randall’s head bent toward Miss Franklin at the next table. The latter were stunning today in white and black. Her dark hair was dressed high with a velvet bow. Randall seemed very intent.’ Yes, even he was susceptible! Even he! Eilen bit her lip and lost all interest in fricasseed chicken 0 . Somehow she had thought him superior to superficialities. She remembered' with a certain scorn the long.talks she and he had enjoyed—talks on the serious things .of life. Her lip curled. “He’s just like other men,” she told herself. Up in the parlour, half an hour later, she joined the others, as was her wont. Discussion went on as to renting the hall and securing the music. Everybody must take an interest.

Ellen tried, but failed dismally. She overheard Miss Franklin and Miss Brown 'planning dresses for the occasion. “Fancy waists are no- longer acceptable for every dressy occasion,” remarked the latter. “I shall have a new Cowli.” Ellen gasped inwardly. How was she to meet this emergency? A desperate resolve came to her.

Upstairs in' her rooms she sat holding a roll of bills. It was the money she had been saving for a purpose. Oh, how determined she had been to> carry out that purpose! How the thought of it had thrilled and energised her every effort! But that was in the days when it had seemed to her that the most joyous privilege in life was the ability to earn money and help one’s family. Now —what was it that seemed most worth while ? The face of Randall came before her and she knew that she was blushing.

“I must have something pretty—something exceedingly becoming—to wear at the dance,” he heart declared.

In vain did an inner voice protest that the love of a man who cared for externals was not worth having, and that she should not care to win it. She realised that she did care ; very much, very much. “Mother can do without the money for awhile,” she said at length. -“But I cannot do without that dress.” The battle raged furiously for-a long time. Ellen seemed to see as never before how like iron must be the will that successfully resists distraction from its one great purpose. But at last she put the money hack. “I can do -without the dress,” she said.

During the days that followed she listened with unruffled serenity to the plans of the others for new frills and furbelows. She had made her decision.

On the night of the dance she dressed calmly in the oft-worn blue waist and skirt.

Some one knocked on the doer as

she was adding the finishing touches. The boy handed her a florist’s box. Flushing with expectation she opened it. Such exquisite white roses! And the card —Randall’s!‘ She was the most radiant of all that night. Randall claimed many dances. On the way home he said: “You were the loveliest girl in ’the room. No one compared with you. And I was so glad you wore that blue waist 1” “Glad?” gasped Ellen.

“Yes, very glad. You see ? I’ve acquired a sort of affection for it. I like it better than most affairs of that sort. You had it on when I first saw you, and! I—have liked it ever since.”

As for the other things that Randall said, Ellen can tell yon best about them. As Mrs Harvey Randall she now has a sufficiency of pretty clothes. But the blue waist she still cherishes as one of her most precious treasures.