Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-03-20

1t is malicious, 1nhuman, crushing.
Why did he wait until this moment?
She turns back to the room with white
face, throws herself upon the lounge IN
reckless disregard of flowers and perish
able corrections, and lies there with her
face buried in the pillow in an agony of
humiliation.
By-and-by the situation is cemmuni-
Gated to the assembled friends, who take
their leave, marveling greatly, and 60
home to speculate for days with greater
or less accuracy upon all that has not been
given them to know.
Where a few hours ago there was
| laughter, cOngratulatiOn and anticipation,
all is now sorrow, Indignation and re-
sentiment. There is mOckery in the
| flowers scattered everywhere, and bitter,
intOlerable remembrance in the odOr of
| baked meats.
The afternoon passes, and still Alice
| lies with her face among the pillows,
| thinking how it must all come out finally !;
! how everybody will know about that
brutal note, and how they will pity her.
| She wishes she might die now, so that
| the time would never come for her to
| lift up her head and face the world, with
its knowledge of this dreadful affair, and
its soul-sickening cOmmiseratiOn. One
! thought is always uppermOSt; to fly from
| the scene of her humiliation and the Off
cious sympathy of her friends. Filial
ties, luxurious surroundings, the perils
and hardships of flight, every considera-
ton whatsoever dwindles into invisibility
in the presence of this great indignity.
Her mother comes and sits by her, and
after several hours Of remOnstrance and
persuasion induces her to go to bed, but
when she comes in the morning hoping
to see her somewhat sOothed she finds
only an empty room and hasty note:
It is seven a. m, and the mammoth
retail dry goods house of Gray & Gordon
begins to show signs of life without and
within. For the last half hour cOntin-
uous stream of statesmen, shop girls and
cash boys have been pouring into the
great building like so many swallows
into chimney. but that it is the wrong
time in the day. Shades are raised
covers are taken off, and simultaneously
in every part of the house begins vigor
Gus busting and putting to rights.
The new cashier, young man with
fine eyes and pleasant manner, who
has been some three weeks in the estab
adjustment, comes in and goes behind
his desk. AS he does so he notices tina
there is new girl at the glove counter
just opposite Only her head is visible
above the pile of boxes she is busting
y II. is crowned with red-gold hair, and thu
e face is very beautiful in spite of thu
hopeless depression it expresses.
Presently the business of the day be
gins. Whenever there comes pause IL
his mOnOtOnOus labor of stamping bill
and making change, and he looks GU
over the green wire network that inclose
his desk, his eyes rest naturally upon tn
10 n oil
they are directly in front of him, and il
the course of the day he learns withou
making any inquiries that she is No. Al
AS for the girl herself she is thinking
of nothing but that terrible day and won
dering whether she will live through il
k Her face is flushed, her eyes glistenin
and feverish, the joint result Of bad ven
tillatiOn and bewildering transactions.
To her this first day behind the coUn
ter seems a shOreless eternity. She Cal
a scarcely remember when it began, an
Z has almost lost faith in its possible end
a ing. Two hours of this new and tryin
ordeal are enough to make her unuttera
bly, weary before the day is half owe
she is aching miserably in every linn
and Joint. After this, standing is tn
purest agony. And all day long the fem
mime division of humanity bears dow
upon them en- mass. The proprietor
welded to quick sales and the larges
possible profit, are positively ubiquitou
in their efforts to enforce the strictest al
tentiOn to duty; obsequious salesme
with an eye to premiums and percent
age step briskly about cash-bOys scurr
hither and thither, and GRAND boys fin
no rest for the soles of their feet. TIL
{. silk man spreads his stock upon tn
e counter and displays the popular shades
l. by daylight, by gas-light, singly and i
Y combinations. He gathers them up int
If soft, rich folds, spreads them, gather
l. them up again, talking glibly all tn
is while, and is borne to the utmost linn
e Of deferential patience before the exaC
is shade is found and the final decisiO
J. made. The lace man, on the alert fC
? whom he may beguile, is bland and cou
e teOus, while the girls at this same GLOW
IS counter dive along the boxes and becom
% breathless in the attempt to COnVinC
some dubious customer that pearl-gra
If glove is an exact match for the pale-blu
)fi sample she has brought, or vice Versi
It smiling, dropping words of honey all tn
i time, and wishing in their utmost COZ
r. seriousness that perditiOn may ultimate
e ly collect all wOmenkind.
v But it does end at last The customer
II are gone; the curtains are up, the couI
= making the long aisles look like so man
r wards in a hospital, and these huma
IS swallows begin to pour out of their gres
d chimneys.
n The cashier on his way to the cloal
room sees No. AZ crouching on the ledg
II behind her counter. She is thinking
It the long dark streets that lie before he
O and of the aching feet that protest againi
d further service.
o When he comes back she is still therr
He stops, and says kindly: IF you don
: hurry out they will lock the door
IS Everybody else is gone now"
l. How will ever get home, i" she moan
o rising YEARLY, her eyes still red froI
/ caying.
y "I'll go with you if you are afraid. ]
e it far2'S
n ooh, yes, it's far, and then Pm s
tired" He is the only person who hs
n - 10 =