Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-07-20
FORTY DOLLARS.

:, dollars more! Forty dollars for trim
mings? My mother never spent Sc
much on any dress And you have
the dress? L hate to seem cross, my
dear ; but with so many business men
failing every day, one sees the wisdom
of economy. Explain, my DEAR
We'll, papa said Emma, it is just
this: Madam Farine says that need
ten yards of trimming at four dollars q
yard. The dress is half finished-and
really, money goes so. There were
other things to get. Pm ashamed to
ask, but was obliged to-
Very well, my DEAR replied the
merchant there is the money; but !
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 worse than
ever
Emma Rome slipped the roll of notes
into her purse with a feeling that it was
dearly bought; but fate has placed so
many women in the condition of beg
gars, and it is so customary to do as
Emma did, that she almost wondered
at the little pang which shot through
ber breast. 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 to her seemed very important.
Some one was to be present whose
opinion she valued-some one she her.
self admired very much. Did he ad-
mire her?
She had asked herself the question
over and over again. She had even
pulled away the petals of marguerite,
one by one, counting 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 but she must look as well as
possible.
Thus absorbed she suddenly found
herself several blocks below her desti-
nation. There was nothing for her but
to walk, and the way led through
streets filed with miserable tenement
houses. The fashionable girl hurried
until, all at once, she found sort of
barricade across the street. The mid
die object of this barricade was a sew
ing machine, to which on one side
clung a woman. The woman was cry
ing the tears splashed down on her
hand. An attendant crowd of residents
contemplated the scene with evident in
terest, and Emma Rome became per-
force one of their number.
Scarcely ever before in her life had
Emma Rome been in close contact with
actual misery. Poor, to her, simply
meant not rich. Now she was among
rags, dirt and misery, forced to stand
still for moment and look upon it.
At first the only emotion it excited was
disgust. But as she was about to seek
a passage through the squald crowd
words fell upon her ear that arrested
her attention.
Forty dollars I've paid on that ma
chine, and now you'll not give me time
| only ask time. I'm an honest woman
I'll pay you. Man do you know its
all there is between US and starvation !?
Let me have the thing back. It's but
ten dollars | owe you
You've owed that two months re-
piled the man. Come, let go, Missus
l don't want to hurt you. Ive got to
obey orders. Money or the machine,
was what the boss said
But the woman did not relinquish
her hold. Still clutching the machine,
she turned her agonizing eyes upon
the bystanders.
Forty dollars she repeated, and
the machine but fifty, and he's taking
it. / never failed until Jim broke his
leg, and his work stopped, and his
wages with it, and I'd Doctors bills
and ALL
No, that she didn't cried a voice
from the crowd lam knowing to her
honesty
And he'd better be off with his cart.
cried man who had stalked out of the
entry of the house near where the
crowd had gathered, rolling up his
sleeves.
Look here, good people, explained
the man who held the machine, Il don't
want to do this. l must obey orders
or lose my place and my bread and
butter. She'd better go to the boss
and talk to him-not to me-
I've been,' said the woman. He's
made of stone. l told him he'd starve
US. He will There, what's the use
of my fighting like drunken body in
the street-a decent woman? They've
more than the worth of tie thing now,
God knows; but they've the power
Take it And she let &C her hold and
covered her face with her hands.
But instead of those rough, red fin
gers, others, dainty and small and well
gloved, came down on the cover of the |
machine.
Emma Rome had pressed forward, and
now spoke:
Stop she said will you let the
woman keep her machine if / pay you
ten dollars p
'Them's the bosses orders, Miss re-
piled the man, and I'd be glad to do
it, too
Then, while the crowd gathered, and
the woman who had told her piteous
tale sobbed with joy, Emma drew the
sum named from her purse, received in
return a receipt, which she gave the
poor woman, and experienced for the
frst time the delight which the per-
formance of an utterly unselfsh ac-
brings with it.
Moreover, when the machine had
been borne up stairs, Emma, who had
exchanged few words with its owner,