Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-08-06
JUST WHAT SHE DESERVED.
BY ELSA MANSFIELD.

"Do YOU intend, Alice, to take that
sachel and lunch-basket and bird-cage
and plant and waterproof cloak-so
many things-along with you into your
car seat?
Eyes, sir, / must"
"Why must you, Alice? 1t is not cold
today, and there is no danger of its rain
ing. You will not need your cloak, and
you probably will not unstrap it. Can't
you put il into your trunk, or manage
somehow to take fewer bundles into your
seat with your"
"No Uncle John, cannot My trunk
is crammed so full now that l fear the
lock will burst"
"Well, Alice, if you must take so many
packages with you, | want to suggest to
you to be careful how you dispose ofthem.
Don't attempt to occupy two seats when
you have paid for only one, if some one
else wants the other"
"That will depend greatly, Uncle
John, upon who it is that wants seat
with me- replied Miss Alice, with a
naughty toss of her head. 81 certainly
shall not put my things under my feet
nor load my lap uncomfortably to &C
commodate some ordinary-looking man
or fussy old woman. One-half of the
men nowadays would just as lief oblige
young lady to do it as not. They are
not gallant at all; they ought to be
ashamed of themselves. ] have heard
women-good women they were, too
saw that the seat beside them was en-
gagged, when they had got their things
placed and didn't wish to remove them,
or because they didn't like the looks of
the person who wanted the seat, when /
knew that they had no friend that was
coming in to take the place. i didn't
blame them at all, Uncle John. |
shouldn't hesitate to say the same my
self under the same circumstances. 1t
wouldn't be telling an untruth. If ali of
these packages were on it, it would be
taken, wouldn't it?"
"Pshaw pshaw! Alice. Is that you
advocating such stuff as that?" exclaimed
her uncle, in surprise and indignation.
81, too, have seen women and girls, and
occasionally man, who acted upon that
principle; but | had serious doubts of
their goodness. Inever dreamed before,
Alice, that you were SO selfish and un-
principled as to think of doing such a
thing. If man ought to feel ashamed
to take seat for which he has honestly
paid, how ought young lady to feel who
would not scruple to practice gross de-
ception for the sake of retaining, for her
own convenience, a seat to which she has
no claim whatever? If / were willing to
do such thing, my respect for myself
would be about as little as it would be if
wished to steal from passenger as
much money as he had paid for his car
fare. 1t will be fully half an hour, Alice,
before Mike gets here with the carriage
While we are waiting, l will tell you a
little incident that transpired in the car
when your Aunt Ruth and / went to
Richmond, last fall We had seat in
the rear end of the car. The first seat
in front of us was occupied by a young
lady-just about your age, Alice, judg-
ing from her looks She was richly
dressed and / think would be called a
handsome girl; but there was something
both in her look and manner that was
not pleasing to me, even before | had
heard her speak, or hardly seen her move.
Ii any one had asked me what disliked
in her, it would have been difficult for me
to tell; yet there was an intangible
something about her which gave me the
impression that she had no idea that the
Golden Rule Whatsoever we would
that others should do to you do ye even
SO to them'-was intended for such as
DhN' b,ic plouapiy tuouSht, hibc, bhu'
that divine Injunction was given for com
mon people ordinary looking men and
fussy old women
Your Aunt Ruth said that she be
lieved that about all Summcrville were
going somewhere that morning, the cars
were so rapidly filed. 1t is always
amusing to me to observe the difference
in the dispositions and manners of the
people who are seated while others are
passing through looking for unoccupied
seats. know of no better place in
which to study human nature than in the
cars. think that ] have seen more
curious phases of it while riding in them
than | ever saw in any other place.
observed the young lady in front Of me
that morning with more interest than
did any other person, because wanted
to ascertain whether was correct or not