St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-12-30
Cash, No. ~.
BY ELIZABETH CUMMINGS.

BY ELIZABETH CUMMINGS.
"Great Boston Emporium, Jeffers &
Co.." it said in large red and gold let
ters outside. High up against the
windows and half way across the wide
pavement were piled all kinds of cheap
and snowy goods. Ribbons and artiti-
cial flowers hung over wooden clothes,
laces festooned pile of printed cot
tons, feather busters, tin pans, and
crockery were packed among trum-
perry, tables, and baby wagons. Every
thing was coarse and sOiled, and bore
tags marked in staring black letters
''Only"- most seductive of ad-
verbs to scanty purse. All day Il
shabby and anxious crowd squeezed in
and out of the narrow doors. Some
times Il well-clad woman, intent on Sc
curing bargains, appeared but the ma
iority of the shoppers wore the mark
of the poverty that eats into the soul.
''The great trick in this world is to get
something for nothing. We run cheap
and so can sell cheap, and that takes
in the public,n said one of the floor
walkers, a pOmpous fellow who was Il
bachelor and misanthrOpe. "The
WI III Is al HllStldbltY HlCtli
it grows worse every day. To work
for Jeffers x Co. year would con-
vince anybody"
There were very few men employed
in the establishment. All the clerks
were women, and instead of cash-bOys,
| there were cash girls, who wore coarse
white muslin caps and aprons us IL
badge of their office. There were no
rosy faces among them. The air was
too sitting. And many of the little
| girls had knowing eyes, that told OF
hearts grown wise in the world before
their time. To think of the contrast
between their lives and those of happy
children, skipping i'll the sun, or bend
ing over books, or sitting beside then
mothers in the safe, sweet peace OF
home would make ones heart ache
unless one had leaden heart.
| The Boston Emporium was very full
1t always was on opening day. The
clerks were hot and tiIed and spoke
sharply and shrilly, and the cash girls
fairly ran their legs off between the
counters, the cashier, and the parcel
desk. SO when Matilda Jencks, of the
flower department, screamed at Polly
Graves, "Cash Cash Here, Cash ~
Twenty four from fifty !" and put three
big red roses and IA silver half dollar
into the child's hand, nobody noticed
The red roses were very red, indeed
so red that it made ones fingers pinl
to touch them; but to Polly they wer,
beautiful, and all the way to the cash
ier's desk she kept wishing, half aloud
that she might have had three sucl
roses to put on her hat. "rd be hap
pier than ever | was yet" she thought
Cashier Voght was very busy, the
dust in the air made his spectacle,
gummy, his head ached from the noise
and so he gave the wrong change t.
No. 81. ''Twenty-tive cents too much,
she said to herself, as she wrigglet
through the crowd. "Twenty fou
would buy three roses, and my ole
straw is such an awful old hat, even
for Cash. Nobody would know. Mr.
Voght can never tell who he gave the
money to-" Her brown eyes turned
black and her brown curls danced will
excitement as she slipped the extr,
quarter into her pocket.
Somehow, things went wrong afte
that. Every one who came in locke,
straight at her, Polly thought. Pick
pockets often took advantage of such
crowd. She had seen them put into
Black Maria Just in front of the doors
many times. Racked by these fear
of discovery and loss, Cash No. y
made so many blunders she brOugh
down upon herself severe reprOofs be
fore the day closed, and when 81,
o'clock came she dared not approach
the flower department. ''Wait till to
: morrow" whispered warning vOic
in her ears.
Polly's home was in a dark and dirt
street. The tall wooden houses stOO
very close together. There was not
spear of grass to he seen. Deep pud
dies of filthy water lay in the unpave
road and in the areas. FlOcks of gees
waddled about, gOssiping over tn
garbage-heaps or disputing the naI
row pavement with the swarms of rag
r ged children. All the houses SCENE
, full of people. One could not hel
, wondering how the houses could con
tain them all.
Polly and her Aunt Susan had on
4 room in one of the larger houses.
f was considered excellent for the plac
a anu Il IOl Iut-l
, were three good d-sized windows in i
A pot of geranium, that grew yer
;. thick and green and was a wOnderfI
e bloOmer, stood on the sill of one, an
: all were shaded by curtains of cOars
, white cotton. The carpet was niue
y worn and patched, the stove set O
5 bricks, the bedstead was so rickety
j, made one sea-sick to look at it ; bu
4 Aunt Susan, New Hampshire born an
bred, had in her so much of the Ne
England housewife that the cataract
which made both her eyes nearly sigh
II less did not prevent her from keepin
= her one room so bright and clean
: was homelike, in spite of its poverty.
''I'm So glad you've come 7" 81
IL cried, as Polly came in that nigh
II "Dear SUI the Browns are full
i trouble TOmmy's down with the dipl
thery 1.-THE wust kind, the doctor Sc
ans Brown hain't had no work this VIII
ter. What they'll do don't see."
II "Seems to me troubles always con
5, ing to us or the folks we know !" sa
n Polly, peevishly, dropping into chai
"Yes," sighed Aunt Susan. ~ que
we were born to hard fortin', and
= wuz the Browns" Then, brighteniI
1t up little, she continued: "Goi