The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-10-02
What She Found

One sultry July afternoon, about five
| years ago. an accident occurred on a
crowded street of Philadelphia A
/ wagon trying TO pass a basket phaeton
| had wrcached the wheel off and broken
! the shaft. The lady who was driving wa
| forced 20 take refuge in a shop until
/ her carriage was repaired. She would
| be obliged to wait three or perhaps four
/ hours. She looked about with i'll con-
cealed disgust. What had induced her
to make the short cut out of town
which brought her to such a quarter?
Mrs. c. was a refined, wealthy
woman, whose ruling taste for years
! had been 4 love OF art, of the beautiful
or sublime in nature. If she had been
wrecked in one of the miserably poor
districts of the city she would not have
! been so bored. There was ALWAYS some
thing picturesque AMI interesting in
poverty and crime. But she was in the
neighborhOod of the great wooden
mills, and mile after IL:le of little
dwellings and shops stretched out about
her-a wilderness of cheap groceries.
| cheap ready-made clothing, cheap tin
ware. The streets were narrow as lanes,
the atmosphere hot and foul. The
room in which she sat was an eight
by-ten drug shop; the smell OF cop
peras and ipecac heavy in the air. The
| apothecarv. little, old. keen-eved
man, watched her as he worked hi:
pestle.
You do not find much to interest
YOU in this street," lie said, after an
hour had passed.
Il think Inever saw any place Sc
| drearily commonplace she said
And the faces Of the people who pass
have but one meaning: Work for
your bread"
The old man smiled quietly, grinding
away in silence.
Take that woman who bought n
stamp Just now''-Mrs. C con-
tinued, to relieve the monotony of
her wearisOme waiting 'middle-aged,
neat to fault, and half-fed; | suppose
the history of her life is: Work for six
days for money that will barely keep
her alive five?''
That's about it! That is Anne
| Scott. She makes wOmen's skirts on
the machine at 4 dollar dozen. She
has been engaged to be married for fif-
teen years to John Furlong, that
stopped shouldered man on the other
side of the street."
''Why don't they marry?"
Its Johns mother, ma'am. She
had fever and it touched her brain
and she went quite mad. 1t takes all
| John makes ct the loom to keeE her in
private asylum. There's sOnI men
that would have quietly put her il the
almshOUse. But Furlong'u never de-
sert his mother even to marry poor
Anne Scott. He's fond of her, too.
He waits ut that corner half of his
noOE-hour every day, just to see hsr 60
by"
Fifteen years. said Mrs. c.,
under her breath.
"Iou see, the old man continued,
'Furlon@'s not skilled weaver. His
earnings are smaller than those of the
other men. He is q shepherd by rights;
q herder from Scotland. But he
landed here without dollar. And
what could he DO in that case? There
are no sheep in the streets OF Philadel-
phia. :"
Mrs. c. rose quickly, and went
to the door. The stopped, high-featured
working-man and the prim little wo-
man who passed each other with 4 sud-
den tightening of the face, were more
interesting after all than any piece of
old Satsuma or Capo di Month Yet
what prices had she not paid for these!
She followed Anne home and spent
On hour in her solitary little room.
Then she went to find John Furlong
She was eager, enthusiastic. Never
had any chase for Capo di Monti in
Europe been 50 exciting rs this. Mrs
C was widow, the owner Of g
country seat, b farm and many focks.
She wanted Il trusty shepherd and a
woman who could take charge of the
house in her absence.
John Furlong and his wife have been
established in pretty cottage on her
farm for four years. They have gained
. home and happiness, but her gain is
greater. She has found higher uses
for her life than artistic devotion to old
china and brio a-brac The heather
maxim for life was know thyselfr'
bat the Christians is "Know thy
brOthcrr'- Iouth'S CODlgGRlOR.