The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-02-07
TdE ROSE RUOTs.
+ Haperis Magazine.l


at must be delightful to earn ones own
living, as you do, Dolores. AS for me, be-
sides having no special necessity, l never
had any special talent for anything that j
could End out; was made to I'LL a chink,
supposa."
aAnd you do your duty beautifully, if
your ehink ia your chair, and filing 1t COM
pletely the end and aim of life."
DOLORES, / an not always sitting"
"Nsy. know it. When Felicia is not
lounging, she is probably lying on the Sofa
or if net their. she is swinging in the ham,
mock. If not so engaged, perhaps she is In
bed"
"AmI so useless, then, or is Dolores envi-
GUST"
"In our social system that Felicia and ale
of her ilk have their appointed place there
is no doubt. For dozen perfect roses lifted
heaven ward thsEe must Be thousand rootless
deIving in underground darkness Do the
roots envy the glowing blossoms2 Nay,
but they domsnd that they too shall do their
duty"
"Don't tell me, estbetic one, that the very
flowers have duties. Would you
"'soil these pure ambrosial weeds
With the rank vapOr of this sin.w mold,7"
"'Ilks blade O. grass carries its ain drap
o. dew and every lower can csst the CRATE
full shadow which protects its roots from the
s7orching sunlight In that PAYABLE of
Dives. do you know what l grudget him
most2 Not the sumptuous fare, nor the
purple and fac linen. Taese he was born
to. no doubt. aud they impressed him as little
as the air we breathe and never think of
But envied him his leisure"
Tell me now, Dolores, If you had the
leisure which l at times find it so hard to
dispose Of, what would you do with It'll"
al, who am one of the r1ote, who have
scarcely one waking hour which is not
spent in work, OF the preparation for work,
how can l advise what the life of rose
should be2 At least distill your dew, and
cast your shadow below. But you who have
hours and hours 10 call your own, you who
like prodigal s-e spending the golden sun
chine and drinking the wine of the winds.
do you know. Or can yeu dream even, how
we live, some of us1 Did you ever smell
the mould above the rose'2 Let me tell you
the story of ore of my girls-not q rare
nor exceptional tale, but simply such q one
as we hear every day.
at was one OF those trying days when
we advertise for hands that I first saw Ma
rio Antoinetts Moore. When she told me
her name, L wondered in wardly why any
mother ever consecrsted her child to the
mlsfortun's thai eem to cling TO the very
memory of that unhappy qusen. | never
knew a prosI erous Marie Antoinette 1
sat 1T my desk on the Ihir floor of that old
warehouse. where everything is covered so
richly with the bloom of Time as Oscar
Wilde calls dust. 1 had interviewed q
small srmy of pDor women and girls; for
Il. n \
piled. Every one brought different man-
ner, 8 different CO stume, and q different
odor within the narrow limits of my shabby
throne. nd their histories were as distinc.
ss their aces. Not beggars, you remem-
Der; though beggsry might have stood in
the same relation to most OF them as Mi
rabeau said the sun did TO God: Isl ce
NEST pas Ia Dieu, 'c'est du moins son cousin
igermain.'
"Work they asked for. ard my business
was to Sc ect the most likely to become use
'fGl, and give them --lal. Simple as that
task seemed, you can never dream of its
difficulty. The wofE must be done in the
building. and so many asked the impossible
favor OF taking It home, go many knew
nothing ab iut IT, 50 few knew anything
about i'll All we're willing TO try it, and
all were driven by ard necessity At last,
toward night. tn girl whose story shall
tell you app oscbtd my desk. If as TIE
French say, a woman ~ only "a old as she
looks, she may have been twenty-five or
twenty-three, not strikingly pretty, but tall.
decidedly graceful, and what women call
''nIce looking As she came toward me she
did not walk with that awk ward gait born
of moving in crsmped spaces; she bore her
self like one used to long room and a
trained skirt; she impressed me as we'll
dressed, yet on closer inspection her mourn
ing was old, and her SHOE visibly bad Her
manner was certainly the manner of lady;
indeed, when she SPOKE she reminded me
vaguely of a Sister of Charity whom had
met 81 the desth-bed of another worker.
You do not hear the tone they use in the
voices of many working girls 1 have not
looked into so man faces without having
learned to read something of the souls be-
hind the masks, SO I knew this one was in
trouble. In our business, too, 60 much de
ponds upon the hands and 6ngersl They
need not be handsome, but they must be
clean and long add slender. hers were all
three. as / saw by the one sne had I'M
gloved, and noticed that che wore a ring,
20 heavy that it must have been mans.
The seal was turned inward toward the
palm.
"I have never done the kind OF
work you want done she ssid,' and
shall detain YOU but few minutes, you
look so tired, sna there are still 30 many
for you TO talk TO. am willing to come
and Try, and will be very patient. / hope
you can give me trial; l am quick to
learn, and would be u h'tls trouble as pos
sible In slmost any corner-glsnciDg
anxiously sround-.I would do my beet
"Of al l tad seen fiuce morning, she
was the only one whom asked: Are you
not capable Of doing something better
thsa running . sewing mschinef What