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The Omaha Sunday . Bee Magazine Page
Copyright 1H2. by the Star Company. Great Britain fllclita Referred.
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MANT.MOiS
How Miss Langford Lost
Her Sweetheart -When
He Saw a Room Full of
Photographs of Her
By Ruth Helen Langford
YES, I nm single, because I am n "weath
er" woman. A man Jilted mo for tho
senseless rehson tbat I am n creature
of moods. I am likely to dlo a spinster be
cause men do not ' recognize the charm ot
variableness, Vet theso men adapt them
selves to a chango of weather, wear n rain coat
ween It storms, a linen ono on a Bummer day,
and, moodg aro only mental weather.
Men are Inconsistent creatures. Thoy ad
mire many women for different qualities
Maud for her pretty airs and grace. Jane for
her Btotcllncis, ASlco for bcr domestic traits,
Mllllcoiit lor bcr chic. Margaret for her spirit
ual qualifies. Yet wbon ono woman combines
in herself nil these nttrlbutcs and mauy more,
tbey say she is "moody" and run nwny from
bcr. Theoretically they ndmlro woman as a
"creature of lnflnlto variety." Actually, they
are such cowards that they aro terrified by hor
elastic tcmporament.
My story Is brief hut to tho point, a very
sharp and painful point. I wis In love. TUo
man, too, was in love, A literary man, ho
was nervous and sensitive, Imaginative 'and
full of ideality. Ho did not merely lovo mo as
ordinary mortals do. Uo adored me, wor
shipped mo as a deity, a saint enshrined. Ho
asked me rcp'oatedly to marry him. I askpd
time to reflect
One evening a dull November rain was fall
ing. It beat against the window panes. It
beat upon my heart I drew my ermlno wrap
about me and gazed into tho flro. Tho pelting
ot th rain got upon my nerves. X sighed.
Suddenly I felt n tear upon my cheek. x
"I am lonely," I thought "For tho first tlmo
is jay dfo I know tbo awful seuao ot uluncneas,
If It is like this at twenty, funcy what it must
bo at eighty!"
1 ran to the telephone and called. "Dob, dear,
is that youT Pleaso como over here and marry
sae right a way."
1 beard a strange sound at tbo other end of
Use wire. I thought It was an exclamation ot
joy at recelvlug a favorable answer at last I
httag up Uln receiver, rang for my maid uud
put on his favorito ot all my gowns, a rose
ee-lored velvet trimmed with silver.
Wliea ho came in I saw at ouco that somo
thin was wrong. "What's tho matter, Robert
dearest?" I asked. "Aren't you delighted that
we are to bo one?"
But his glance never sought my anxious face.
Is stead it roved around the room.
"What aro you looking at, dear?" I inquired,
tearful at tho thought that ho might bo losing
hkj brilliant lauded mind.
"At your pictures, Helen," ho said ruefully.
"Wbefi 1 look nt theso I am afraid to marry
ys-u, I slight bo arrested for bigamy. I
1 "
should feel that I were aarrlod sot to ono
woman, but to forty."
I had been photographed many times and
each picture looked a different girl than tho
others. It was n quite harmless llttlo fad of
mine to Rtudy myself In my own moods aa
revealed to mo by these photographs.
"Moods! Moods!". My reluctant suitor flung
up hlu hands In despair. "I want to marry a
woman, not a bundle of moods. Look!"
Thoro wore forty photographs In tho room. I
had arranged them there to pleaso him. And
I ho ungrateful man had turned.
"Look at that," said he. pointing to a Niobe
llko photograph. "Supposo I wedded her and
sho should vanish and this other ono should
appear." Ho nodded toward a frowning, scorn
ful creature. "I should feel that X must move
my traps Into another room. It wouldn't seem
quite right nor legal to share hors, don't you
know." i
'And that," he pointed to a girl In tho sulks,
who seomod to bo no relation to the others.
"How would I know bow often she might ap
pear." His glanco roamed on till It reached my
most smiling picture "Exit Mmo. That and
enter Mme. This, Why, my dear Helen, I
should feel positively Immoral."
Then he started on a now Hue ot argument
"A woman of that sort is a mental vampire,"
ho said. "She would sap all a man's energies
by keeping him wondering and worrying about
which of the forty girls you havo here he would
And when ho returned homo in the evening.
No, my dear Helen, I must bid you adieu."
Ho kissed my band and was gone, I wept
raged, laughed, exhausted all my moods, and
gave the roBo and silver gown to my maid, bid
ding: her to keep it out of my sight
That is tho reason I nm tolling the" story ot
how I was jilted, Instead of addrosslng my
wedding cards.
Men nre purblind creatures, wbo don't know
what they like. They ndmlre tho woman ot
moods, but are afraid ot her. ThR llko
changes of thought nnd attitude as they like
changes ot season, and llko tho changes of
season they aro good for thorn. Various views
nnd Ideas nre as tonic as the change, from
Winter to Spring and Summer to Autumn.
Mon who fear, them arc as timid aa the poor,
coworlng mala creatures who welcome Spring
but aro afraid to lay aside their overcoats.
"At leant," said a friend of mine, brilliant
beautiful and as changeful as a wltl-o'-tbe-wlsp,
and with whom her husband Is much in love,
"I never bore that dear man I married."
Moods nro Uke travel. They wlden'our hori
zon and give ua mental stimulus. As wo range
the world wo tiro ot the frozon regions of tho
north nnd of that which Borne one has aptly
riM i iwf tmt t&miM--m mmsm. '
Ruth Helen Langford, the Girl of
Many Moods,
termod "tho eternal grin of tho South." To satisfy all
our needs wo requlro the temperato zono which baa all
theso extremes In rapid succession.
I admit that I have many moods. One ot my most
common onea is that of dovillsh' playfulness. Another,
a lately awakened one, is lovo of admiration. A mood
of oxtremo nelf-rellanco. which some are unkind enough
to term stubbornness, is a frequent one, but I contend
that this lu moBt dosIrablo4 for if wo do not follow the
light within we arejlosHn a great darkness. Wo should
listen to and weigh advice, but wo should bo our own
judges ot whether it Is good or bad and follow that de-
Resenting
His
Moods.
clslon. I havo moods of religious ecstasy and
moods of pootlcal exaltation. I am plunged
often Juto moods of profound studlousness.
There are hours when lam extremely critical.
At ono tlmo I may like some ono exceedingly
A week hence I may not care at all for that
person.
But most marked Is the diftoronco between
my moods of joy or sorrow. For no apparent
reason they como and go( I awako In tbo
morning and my maid, wnen she brings in
my coffee, Is palo with fright, and her eyes
aro soft with sympathy. Sho knowa at a
glance, that thiB will bo ono or my black days.
I awake with the sonso of a heavy", Impene
trable cloud pressing down upon mo and
smothering me with its weight My whole
some, practical friends say commlBoratlngly:
"You aro liverish, my dear." But I know that
thoy aro mistaken, for I am sound rs any
raco horse starting on tho final sprint to win.
Sometimes, when 1 havo 'heard this, I havo
Bet forth for a walk, or I havo slapped my
thorax abovo the liver, as my masseusa has
taught mb, to wako it from its sleep. It
has been ot no avail.
I havo oaten more frooly or eaten not at
all. I havo taken warm baths and cold
plungeB to drlvo away tho blue devils. In
vainl When I had abandoned all hope and
thought ot suicide benoldl On the Instant,
the cloud lifts and I am another Helen Lang
ford, laughing, smiling, dancing, singing,
drunk with tho Joy of life.
Asked to. explain this, I reflect, but have
reached no conclusion that wholly satisfied
me. Of ono thing I am auro, tho womanly
woman is assuredly a moody creature. Tho
womanly naturo Is finely organized, exceed
ingly sensitive. The vibrations of the
thoughts and omotlons ot those about her
affect her as the wind an Aoollan harp.
Moods! Moods 1 They allure mon, affright
them, hold some, drive many awny. But
woman would not be woman without them.
Tho man who fa'.ls in love with a woman must
fall In lovo with her moods.
When I hear of a woman, "Sho Is always the
same," I know she Is stupid and a boro, and
that her husband will tiro ot her.
Science Discovers That Sponges Are Really Glass
Tilts popular Idea or a sponge
Is ot a tough, fibrous, porous
substance with a remarUablo
capacity tor absorbing liquids.
Mauy underbtaud It to lu the sub
aqueous home which a colony ot
small oulnials build for their home.
Others aro acquainted with the
discovery of ecleuco that the
sponge is Itself a salt water ani
mal with porta In JU body wall,
..iich, when dried in the sun ,iind
thoroughly cleansed, loses Its botter
parts and becomes tho sponge ot
coamercc
The recently discovered fact tbat
ou the bottom ot the deep sea In
certain localities the body wall ot
living sponges is actually coinposod
of glass seems Incredible. Vet this
Is perfectly true. At those great
aeptks, where the pressure ot tho
nurrouudlng water amounts . to
many hundreds ot pouuds to the
square Inch, tho soft and pliable
animal of shallow waters la traus.
formed Into glass and yet it Uvea
an6 multiplies ordinary sponges'
4o. Tb Is a most remarkable unl
Interesting example of the real re
Htionshlp in nature ot animal, veg
etable and mineral substances,
' Specimens of! these g'sqs sponges
brought up from the depths ai
fmtVas ve thousand feet bejow the
surface of the ocean aro ot glass
as puro as any manufactured by
man, in forms ot great beauty, with
pruumentatlou lu tracery moro del
icate and graceful thnu could bo
achieved by tho most practiced hui
man hands. Nothing was kuowu
ot them curlier thnu the middle ot"
the Nineteenth Century, and It Is
oulyqulto ruceutly that science has.
determined them to be truq,
sponges, with a wall structure nt
tlllcn, tho principal mineral sub
stance of which glaes is made.
This discovery u due to tho great
German traveller, Slcbold, who
studied specimens obtained lu deep
water off the coast ot Japan, rc-
turned with several ot them to Ills
native couutry, where he demon
strated to fellow scientists the:
truth of his claim.
Japanese fishermen had grappled
with these examples on the bottom
of some of the(r deep bays whore
the abbenco ot currents and other
disturbances made possible tho de
velopment ot their delicate fila
ments. In honor of the discoverer
of their true character tbo scienti
fic' name given to this extraordi
nary creature, both animal and mln-"
eral In substance, was Hyaleuema
Sleboklll Snougiae Mlrabllls.
Theso Jaiunese fishermen had.
mounted their specimens on wood,
and Slebold at first supposed them
to be tho product of remarkably
capablo glass splnnors. It was
only when he realized the mechan
ical Impossibility ot creating forms
of such delicacy artificially that ho
found tho conclusion afterward
corroborated by his examination ot
freshly caught glass sponges.
Theso ho discerned to be
true sponges with body walls
of glass instead ot fiber. When
the strange creatures were dried
lu the sun and cleansed ot'
all the softer parta as Is tho proc
ess with, the spongea of cominorce
Slebold held lu his hands varia
tions ot the same delicately beauti
ful forms which had eo oxcltod hls
curiosity. Theso forms ot aotuai
glass wcro tho skeletons ot tho
spougo animals. Just as tho fnmll
iar sponge is the skeleton ot the
same spectoa ot animal making its
home in shallow waters.
Later Investigations revealed how
these glass sponges were born and
developed Into maturity. Tho be
ginning Is an egg having tho form
ot a fine glass needle.
These needles take on all kinds
ot shapes, possibly due to acciden
tal currcuts. or the position in
which tbey happen to fix them
selves, so that there Is an Infiult
variety of forms assumed by Urn
glass
Science has now divided these
glass spouses' Into a number of dif
ferent species, somo growing to
enormous size. One was drawn up
from a depth of O.QQQ feet, near the
coast of Somalllurid, They a
sumo shapes Uke. cornucopias, prob
ably tho better to catch tho fAd
in the wator, c-r spread out in
needle-form for n similar purpose.
Tho cornucopia Is found to have a
web, like .a sleeve, across .its interior,
to prevent tiny very largo parti
cles from entering, which would
glvo the spongo Indigestion, if It
did not break it to pieces, if n
arg bit of decaying matter fell
Into ono of these sponges. It would
kill It, so tho animal protects itself
by the fine sieve spread over the
stomach entrance. The sponge Is a
living, breuthlng iiiilmal, even
though of such low organization ns
to be lacking lu nerves and sense
orpins.
Tkotrugedy of ths ocenu depths
is shown in the appearance or the
coral animals upou these sponges,
where tho corals first began to
build a llttlo at a time and nt last
broke down the sponge, until It
was destroyed, nnd ouly tho skele
ton remained as nppcars from the
remains brought to the surface.
In a Sullen Moment.
I' s4s
Wm.M Chill a Polar Bear.
i J
When Malted to Tears, While She Is Sarcaattii."
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