BENE

15

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own father had been present, I know he would have treated me less considerately in this respect. I recalled the times I had come home crying, eyes blackened and face bruised, facing the additional ordeal of explaining my plight. Yes, if he had been present, he would show dis-te gust and ridicule by hiding under skirts to escape the draft, but Mr. Vickers said not one word about it. Rolling down my long sleeves, I turned my head at Mrs. Vickers' entry. She told me that she had fixed some sandwiches and milk for me in the kitchen It wasn't much but I was hungry. kitchen, after eating, I saw a sink full of dishes which be- came a part of my duties. ties.

in the

Dora, my sister-in-law, is a dark, pretty woman, still slen- der but large busomed with her beautiful hair combed upward in a way designed to make the most of her neck. She has a very graceful neck, one of the attractive features she passed on to her daughter, 17 year old Barbara. Barbara and I were not on the best of terms. From the beginning there was a certain antagonism between us. Dora brought Barbara up to indemnify poverty and to look upon it not as an evil but as insignificant. She was made to feel that she, the daughter of moderately wealthy parents, was worlds apart from those who were poor and lived in drab or plain furnishings and wore in- ferior clothing; anyone who lived by their own efforts, with- out servants, was to be looked down on. The fact that I wasn't exactly a servant seemed not to affect her hauteur toward me in the least. Being young and somewhat patriotic, she felt that the means by which I was avoiding my military obliga- tions put me in a class with the lowest forms of life. More than anything else, her scornful glances reminded me of my disgrace in being clad in women's clothes.

Barbara is an extremely tall girl and my lack of height made it easy for her to look down on me, actually speaking. In an effort to lessen this advantage, I attempted to wear some of the 4 inch heels that had belonged to Hilda but this was counteracted by Barbara putting on heels of equal height too. In spite of her antagonism, she seemed very attractive to me.