the way of reportorial and journalistic cleverness. Selma had no
intention of becoming a second Mrs. Earle. That is, she promised herself
to follow, but not to follow blindly; to imitate judiciously, but to
improve on a gradually diverging line of progress. This was mere
generalization as yet. It was an agreeable seething brain consciousness
for future development. For the moment, however, she counted on Mrs.
Earle to obtain for her a start by personal influence at the office of
the _Benham Sentinel_. This was provided forthwith in the form of an
invitation to prepare a weekly column under the caption of "What Women
Wear;" a summary of passing usages in clothes. The woman reporter in
charge of it had just died. Selma's first impulse was to decline the
work as unworthy of her abilities, yet she was in immediate need of
employment to avoid running in debt and she was assured by Mrs. Earle
that she would be very foolish to reject such an offer. Reflection
caused her to think more highly of the work itself. It would afford her
a chance to explain to the women of Benham, and indirectly to the
country at large, that taste in dress was not necessarily inconsistent
with virtue and serious intentions--a truth of which she herself had
become possessed since her marriage and which it seemed to her might be
utilized delightfully in her department. She would endeavor to treat
dress from the standpoint of ethical responsibility to society, and to
show that both extravagance and dowdy homeliness were to be avoided.
Clothes in themselves had grown to be a satisfaction to her, and any
association of vanity would be eliminated by the introduction of a
serious artistic purpose into a weekly commentary concerning them.
Accordingly she accepted the position and entered upon its duties with
grave zeal.

For each of these contributions Selma was to receive eight dollars--four
hundred a year, which she hoped to expand to a thousand by creative