The Mineral argus., 1884-06-12
Dolly White.

Just after the stroke of noon Satur-
day a Chelsea and Boston car was go
ing up Broadway past large manufac-
turing establishment, when the at
tention of the passengers was called to
queer little woman in an old-f fash
ioned poke bonnet, who hurried down
the street with tin pail in her hand
and went to the factory gate and
knocked for admittance. An old gen
tleman who sat in the forward right
hand corner of the car looked up and
said:
Hello! there goes Dolly again"
Dolly who?" asked a girl who sat at
his side.
"Why, Dolly White Crazy Dolly
as she is called by all who know her"
"What makes them call her crazy?"
queried the girl, puckering up her pretty
little mouth until it looked like period
under her hooked interrogation point
of a nose.
'Oh, it was long time ago, when
she and Charlie hadn't been married
but few years and she used to cone
down here every noon and bring him
his dinner, that the story commences.
They lived in a house on Washington
avenue and had two little children to
take care of and they were just as hap
py as they could be, for Charhe was
making good living and had the prom
Use of boss-ship in the fall. Well,
one day ut noon she came in with his
lunch, as was her custom, and lust as
she got to the gate it flew open and out
came four men bearing the dead body of
her husband, who had Just been killed
by a falling timber. Dolly tainted away
at the sight and fell into a fever that
did not abate until long after poor
Charlie had been buried and another
man hired to take his place in the fac
tory. As soon as she got able to go out
she went to work and secured up the
old dinner pail and put up a meal for
her dead husband just the same as
though he was alive and working as
usual. At 10 minutes before II she put
on her bright new shawl and gay
bonnet, and, taking the pail in her
hand tripped off down the street and
knocked at the gate. The men came
out and she told them that she want ed
to go in and wait for Charlie and LET
him have something to eat. They tried
to reason with her and told her that he
had gone away on a long job, and
wouldn't require any dinner Tor many
day-never, perhaps. But she would
not listen to them, and waited there un-
til the bell rang for the men to go to
work again. Ever since then, and that
was nearly ten years ago, she has done
the same thing every day that the fac
tory has been running.
Sundays, holidays, and in vacation time
she stays at home, but all bhe rest of he
time she puts on the same old shawl
and bonret-they are faded and thread
bare now-and starts down the street
with a tin pale in her hand"
"Does she carry the same old dinner
or is it fresh every day?" asked the girl.
at is fresh and hot every day"
"But what does she do with the old
one when she finds that Charlie don't
como out to eat it,"
"Well, she takes it home and sets it
down on the table, and going into her
chamber to take OF her shawl and bon
net, she stays there and cries and cries.
Before she comes out her two children
steal into the room and eat the dinner
all up and leave nothing but the empty
pail They are hearty children, their
mother is poor, and good hot dinner
isn't bad for anybody; so they eat it and
asked no questions.
"Oh!" said the girl, relapsing into
silence and losing all interest in the story
Boston Globe.