James Matthew Barrie

What Every Woman Knows James Matthew Barrie

[Six years have elapsed and John Shand's great hour has come. Perhaps his great hourreally lies ahead of him, perhaps he had it six years ago; it often passes us by in the nightwith such a faint call that we don't even turn in our beds. But according to the trumpets thisis John's great hour; it is the hour for which he has long been working with his coat off; andnow the coat is on again (broadcloth but ill-fitting), for there is no more to do but awaitresults. He is standing for Parliament, and this is election night. As the scene discloses itself you get, so to speak, one of John Shand's posters in the face. Vote for Shand. Shand, Shand, Shand. Civil and Religious Liberty, Faith, Hope, Freedom. They are all fly-blown names for Shand. Have a placard about Shand, have a hundredplacards about him, it is snowing Shand to-night in Glasgow; take the paste out of your eye, and you will see that we are in one of Shand's committee rooms. It has been a hairdresser'semporium, but Shand, Shand, Shand has swept through it like a wind, leaving nothing butthe fixtures; why shave, why have your head doused in those basins when you can bebrushed and scraped and washed up for ever by simply voting for Shand?There are a few hard chairs for yelling Shand from, and then rushing away. There is aniron spiral staircase that once led to the ladies' hairdressing apartments, but now leads tomore Shand, Shand, Shand. A glass door at the back opens on to the shop proper, screamingCivil and Religious Liberty, Shand, as it opens, and beyond is the street crammed with stillmore Shand pro and con. Men in every sort of garb rush in and out, up and down the stair, shouting the magic word. Then there is a lull, and down the stair comes Maggie Wylie, decidedly overdressed in blue velvet and (let us get this over) less good-looking than ever. She raises her hands to heaven, she spins round like a little teetotum. To her from thestreet, suffering from a determination of the word Shand to the mouth, rush Alick andDavid. Alick is thinner (being older), David is stouter (being older), and they are both intweeds and silk hat