New York (State) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
Kedzie showed her some trade photographs of herself as an Athenienne,
and Miss Silsby pondered. Although her dances were supposed to purify
and sweeten the soul, one of her darlings had so fiendish a temper that
she had torn out several Psyche knots. She was the demurest of all in
seeming when she danced, but she was uncontrollably jealous.
Miss Silsby saw that Kedzie's pout had commercial value. She invited
Kedzie to join her troupe. And Kedzie did. The wages were small, but the
world was new. She became one of the most attractive of the dancers.
But once more the rehearsals and the long hours of idleness wore out
her enthusiasm. She hated the regularity of the performances; every
afternoon and evening she must express raptures she did not feel, by
means of laborious jumpings and runnings to the same music. And she
abominated the requirement to keep kicking herself in the back of the
head.
Even the thrill of clotheslessness became stupid. It was disgusting not
to have beautiful gowns to dance in. Zada L'Etoile and others had a new
costume for every dance. Kedzie had one tiresome hip-length shift and
little else. As usual, poor Kedzie found that realization was for her
the parody of anticipation.
Kedzie's new art danced into her life a few new suitors, but they
came at a time when she was almost imbecile over Thomas Gilfoyle, the
advertising bard. He was the first intellectual man she had met--that
is, he was intellectual compared with any other of her men friends. He
could read and write something besides business literature. In fact, he
was a fellow of startling ideas. He called himself a socialist. What the
socialists would have called him it would be hard to say; they are given
to strong language.
Kedzie had known in Nimrim what church socials were, for they were about
the height of Nimrim excitement. But young Mr. Gilfoyle was not a church
socialist. He detested all creeds and all churches and said things about
them and about religion that at first made Kedzie look up at the ceiling
and dodge. But no brimstone ever broke through the plaster and she grew
used to his diatribes.
She had never met one of these familiar enough figures before, and she
was vaguely stirred by his chantings in behalf of humanity. He adored
the poor laborers, though he did not treat the office-boy well and he
was not gallant to the scrub-woman. But his theories were as beautiful
as music, and he intoned them with ringing oratory. Kedzie did not
know what he was talking about, any more than she knew what Caruso was
singing about when she turned him on in Mrs. Jambers's phonograph, but
his melodies put her heart to its paces, and so did Gilfoyle's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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