News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-07-20
The TABLES TURNED.

1t was Just such an American village
as you see in pictures. A background
of superb old mountains clothed In
blue-green cedars, with a torrent thun.
dering down a deep gorge and falling IL
foamy pillows a river rejecting the
azure of the sky, and a knot of houses
with a church-spire at one end and 6
thicket at the other, whose black smoke
wrote ever-changing hieroglyphics
against the brilliancy of the sky.
This was Dspplevale, and in the rosy
sunshine of a June day the girls were
all issuing forth, while General May,
the foreman, sat at his desk, a pen be.
hind his ear, and his small, beady eyes
drawn back as it were in the shelter OF
a precipice of shaggy eyebrows.
One by n the girls stopped and re-
ceived their pay for one weeks work,
for this was Saturday. One by one
they filed out with dis contented faces
until the last one paused in front of the
desk.
She was slight and tall, with large
velvety blue eyes aud a complexion as
delicately grained and transparent as
r~ose-colored wax, and an abundance OF
glossy hair of so dark a brown that the
casual observer would have pronounced
it black, and there was something IN
the way the blue ribbon at her neck
was tied and the manner in which the
simple details of her dress were arranged
that bespoke her foreign birth.
swell, Mademoiselle Marie, how do
you like factory life 2" asked the fore
man.
at is not dissgreeable," she an
swered, a slight accent clinging to her
tones like fragrance to a flower, as she
extended her hand for the money
counted out to her.
"You have given me but for 3Jllars,
and it was eight by the eoDsaet," she
said.
The foreman shrugged his shoulders
with an insolent air.
"Humph! you amt much accus-
toned to way of doing things, are
you, mademoiselle? Eight, of course,
but we deduct two for a fee"
ga fee For WHAT" demanded Marie
with flashing eyes.
"FoE getting you the situation. to be
sure. Such places don't grow on every
bush, and you naturally expect to pay
for the privilege"
81 did not"
"Oh, we'll, all right. You amt
obliged to stay unless you choose"
"Do You mean that if 1 do not pay
this money -hesitated Marie.
"You can't expect to stay in the
works." said May, hitching up his
collar.
"But the other two dollars?"
sob, that is a percentage the girls all
pay" said the foreman.
"But what is it for ?"
Mr.. May laughed.
SIT helps out my salary. OF course
you know the girls expect to pay ONE
thing each week for keeping their stu
atoms in a place where there are so
many anxious to get in."
"And Mr.. Elder?'
'Oh, he hasn't much to do with it. ]
am master, if you please"
"Mr. Elder owns the works?"
swell yes, he owns it, but 1 manage
everything. Mr.. Elder reposes the ut.
most confidence in my ability, and he
is a good business man. He under
stands his own interest. And now if
you have any O questions TO
ask -
'I have none but I need this money
myself. / work hard for it /; 1 earn it
~righteously. / cannot afford any more
than the others among those poor
laboring girls to pay it to your greed"
"Eh ?" calculated Mr.. May, jumping
from his seat as if stung.
Sand [ will not pay it." calmly eon-
tinued Mademoiselle Marie.
every well /; just as you like, made
meiselle. only if you won't conform to
the rules of the Dapplevale Works -
"Are these the rules p scornfully de-
manded the girl.
spray consider your name crossed off
the books ; you are no longer in my en-
ploy. Good evening, mademoiselle."
Mr.. May slammed down the cover of
his desk as if it were a patent g%uillotine,
and poor Marie's neck were under it.
Two or three of the factory girls who
had lowered around the place-to hear
the discussion, looked with awe-stricken
faces at Marie as she came out with 81
in her hand.
"You have lost your place,
ma'amselle," whispered Jennie Bass, a
pale, dark-eyed girl who supported a
crippled mother and two little sisters
out of her factory earnings.
Sand he'll eve take you on again !;
he is as vindictive as possible" said
Mary Rice.
at matters not. He is a rogue, and
rogues sometimes o~ut-general them
selves"
"But you can't s%tarve," said Jennie.
"Come with me, ma'amselle. Ny home
is a poor place, but you are welcome to
stay there till you can write to your
friends"