St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-06-18
Forty Dollars.


sWhat Forty dollars more Forty
dollars, only for trimmings! My moth
er never spent so much on any dress.
And you have the dress. l hate to
seem close, nay dear, but with so many
business men failing every day, one
sees the wisdom of economy. Explain,
my dear"
"Well, papa" said Emma, "it is just
this: Madame Farine says that need
ten yards of a trimming at "a a yard.
The dress is half finished, and really
money goes so. There were other
things to get. Pm ashamed to ask, but
1 was obliged to do So"
'Very well, my DEAR" replied the
don't think you'll need any more before
Christmas. Times are not good, you
know, and-dear me forty dollars for
a trimming! Women are getting worse
than everw
Emma Rome slipped the roll of notes
into her purse with feeling that it
was dearly bought; but fate has placed
so many women in the condition of
beggars, and it is customary to do as
Emma did, that she almost wondered
at the little pang which shot through
her heart. Besides, her father seemed
to forget the matter soon, and she knew
that he was called rich-that, actually,
forty dollars was but small sum for
him. So breakfast over, and Mr.. Rome
off for that mysterious region known as
"dOwn town." she dressed herself be-
comingly and started on her shopping
expedition. On the way, thoughts of
her new dress ran through her mind.
She intended to wear it on an occasion
which seemed to her very important.
Some one was to be present whose opin-
ion she valued-some one she herself
admired very much. Did he admire
her2
She had asked herself the question
over and over again. She had even
pulled away the petals of marguerite
one by one, counting them as they
fell, with the words: "He loves-he
loves me not" And there were to be
many handsome girls present, and she
was not vain. Oh, she must look as
well as possible!
| Thus absorbed, she suddenly found
herself several blocks below her desti-
nation. There was nothing for it but
to walk back, and the way lay through
streets filled with miserable tenement
houses. The fashionable girl hurried
along until all at once, she found a SORT
of barricade across the street. The
middle object of this barricade was a
sewing machine, to which on one side
clung a woman, on the other man.
The woman was crying the tears
splashed down on her hands. An at
tendant crowd of residents contemplate
ed this scene with evident interest, and
Emma Rome became, perforce, one OF
their number.
Scarcely ever in her life before had
Emma Rome been in close contact with
actual misery. Poor, to her, simply
meant not rich. Now she was among
rags and dirt and misery, forced to
stand still for moment and look upon
it. At first, the only emotion was dis
gust. But as she was about to seek a
passage through the squalid crowd
words fell upon her ear that arrested
her attention
"FOrty dollars I've paid you on that
machine, and now you'll not give me
time. l only ask time. Pm an honest
woman. Pll pay yeu. Man, do you
know it's all there is between us and
starvation Let me have the thing
back. It's but ten dollars I owe you.'
"YOu've owed that two MONTHS" re,
piled the man. "Come, let go, Missus
1 don't want to hurt you. I've got tC
obey orders. Money or the machine,
was what the boss said.n
But the woman did not relinauisl
her hold. Still clutching the machine
she turned her agonizing eyes upon the
bystanders.
"Forty dollars" she repeated, "ani
the machine but fifty, and he's taking
it. l never failed until Jim broke hi
leg, and his work stopped and his wages
with it, and I'd doctors bills and ALL"
"No, that she didn't" cried voic,
from the crowd. 'Tm knowing to he
honesty"
"And he'd better be off with bi
cart" cried man who had stalked Ou
of the entry of the house near whicl
the crowd had gathered, rolling up hi
sleeves.
"Look here, good people," explaine,
the man who held the machine. 81 d,
not want to do this. l obey orders O
lose my place and my bread and butter
She'd better go to the boss and talk t.
him-not to me-"
"Pve been," said the woman. "He'
, made of stone. l told him he'd starv
us. He will. There, what is the use O
, my fighting like a drunken body in tn
streets Ia decent woman They'v
more than the worth of the thing now
God knows but they've the power
Take it." And she let go her hold an
covered her eyes with her hands.
But in the place of those rough, re,
fingers, Others, dainty and small, an
, well-gloved, came down upon the cove
of the machine. Emma Rome ha
pressed forward, and now spoke:
"Stop," she said. "Will you let thi
woman keep her machine if l pay 70
: ten dollars ~