The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1885-01-21
polly White.

just after the stroke of noon Saturs
day a Chelsea and Boston car was go-
ing up Broadway past a large manuiac-
turing establishment, when the attei;-
tion Of the passengers was called to Il
queer little woman in an old fashioned
poke bonnet. who hurried down the
street with tin pail in her hand and
went to the factory gate and Knocked
for admission. An old gentleman who
sat in the forward right hand corner of
the car looked up and said:
"Hello! there goes Dolly again.
dolly whoPn asked girl who sat
at his side.
"Why. Dolly White. Crazy Dolly, !
as she is called by all who know her. !"
.EWhat makes them call her crazypn
queried the girl, puckering up her pref
ty little mouth until it looked like pc
riod under her hooked Interrogation
point of nose.
''Oh, it was long time ago, when
she and Charlie hadn't been married
but few years. and she used to come
down here every noon and bring him
his dinner, that the story commences.
They lived in house on Washington
avenue and had two little children to
take care of and they were just as hap
by as they could be, for Charlie was
making good living and had the
promise of a bosship in the fall. Well,
one day at noon she came in with his
lunch, as was her custom, and just 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 afalling 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 meal
for her dead husband just the same as
though he was alive and working as
usual. At fifteen minutes before IL
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 wanted
to 90 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 long job, and
wouldn't require any dinner for many
a day-perhaps never. But she would
not listen to them, and waited there
until 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, holi-
DAYS and in vacation time she stays at
home, but all the rest of the time she
puts on the same old shawl and bonnet
they are faded and threadbare, now
and starts down the street with tin
pail in her hand.
s'Does she carry the same old dinner,
or is it fresh every dayP" asked the
girl
.'Tt is fresh and hot every day.
ssBut what does she do with the old
one when she finds out that Charlie
don't come out to eat it?'
'.Well, she takes it home and sets it
down upon the table, and going into
her chamber to take off her shawl and
bonnet, she stays there and cgies, 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. As they
are hearty children, their mother poor,
and good hot dinner isn't bad for
anybody, they eat it and ask no ques-
tions. =
.'0hr' said the girl, relapsing into
silence and losing all interest in the
story, Boston Globe.