Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-12-05
What S!ae Feunl.
One sultry July afternoon, about five
wear, ago, an accident occurred on a

One sultry July afternoon, about five
wears ago, an accident occurred on a
crowded street of Philadelphia. A
wagon trying to pass basket phaeton
Fad wrenched the wheel off and broken
the shaft. The lady who was driving was
forced to take refuge in a shop until
her carriage was repaired. She would
he obliged to wait three or perhaps four
hours. She looked about with i'll con-
cealed disgust. What bad induced her
to make the short CUT out of town
which brought her to such quarter?
Mrs. C WAS q refined, wealthy
woman, whose nlling taste for years
had been a 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 and interesting in
poverty and crime. But she was in the
neighborhOod of the great woolen
mills. and mile after mile 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
apothecary, a little, old, keen-eyed
man. watched her as he worked his
pestle.
"You do not find much to interest
you in this street?" he said, after an
hour bad passed.
II think / never saw any place so
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.
"rake that woman who bought
stamp just now"-Mrs. C con-
tinued. to relieve the monotony of
her wearisome waiting e-aged,
neat to fault, and half-ied; suppose
the history of her life is: Work for six
day for money that will barely keep
her alive five?"
That's about il! That is Anne
Scott. She makes women's skirts on
the machine at a dollar q 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?'
'It's Johns mother, ma'am. She
had fever and it touched her brain
and she went quite mad. 1t takes all
John makes at the loom to keep her in
n private asylum. There's some men
that would have quietly put her in the
almshouse. But Furlong'll never de-
sert his mother even to marry poor
Anne Scott. He's fond of her, too
Hewaits at that corner half of his
nooE-hour every day. just to see her 90
by"
Fifteen years." said Mrs. c.,
under her breath.
"You see." the old man continued,
"Furlongs not skilled weaver. His
earnings are smaller than those of the
other men. He is shepherd by rights;
herder from Scotland. But he
landed here without q 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 . sud-
den tightening of che face. we're more
interesting after all than any piece Of
old Sstsuma or Capo di Monti. Yet
what prices had she not paid for these!
She followed Anne home and spent
an 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 so exciting as this. Mrs.
C was a widow, the owner of .
country seat, farm and many focks.
She wanted q trusty shepherd and a
woman who could take charge of the
house in her absence.
John Furlong and his wife have been
established in a pretty cottage on her
farm for four years. They have gained
q 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 thyself"
but the Christians is "Know thy
brother!' Youths Companion.