The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1886-08-26
TWO LESSONS.

"Well, papa" said Emma, MADAME
Farine says that l need ten yards of trim
ming at four dollars a yard. / am ashamed
to ask. but / was obliged to do So"
Very we'll, my dear" replied the mer-
chant. There is the money, but, dear me!
forty dollars for trimming! Women are
getting worse than ever!"
So. breakfast over. and Mr.. Rome off for
that mysterious region known as "the city"
Emma started on her shopping expedition.
On the way thoughts of her new dress
ran through her mind. She intended TO
wear il on an occasion which 10 her seemed
very important. Someone was TO be
present whose opinion she valued-some-
one she herself admired very much. Did
he admire her?
Thus absorbed, she suddenly found her.
self some distance beyond her destination.
There was nothing for il but 90 walk back,
and the way lay through streets filled with
miserable houses. The fashionable girl
hurried along until. all at once, she found
a sort of barricade across The street. The
middle object of this bariicade was sew
ing machine. to which on one side clunga
woman, Oh the other man. An attendant
crowd of residents contemplated this scene
with evident interest, and Emma Rome be-
came. perforce. one of their number.
Forty dollars I've paid YOU on that
machine. and now you'll not give me time.
/ only ask time. I'm an honest woman. I'll
pay you. Man, do you know it's all there
is between us and starvation? Let me have
it. It's but so owe you"
you've owed that two months, replied
the man. Come, let go, missus. / don
want to hurt you. I've got to obey orders"
But the woman did not relinquish her
LA1l "A. L
turned her agonized eyes upon the by
ISLANDERS.
Forty dollars" she repeated, "and the
machine but $50, and he's taking it. /
never failed until jim broke his leg, and
his work stopped, and his wage with it. and
Id doctors bill, and all.
"No, that she didn't" cried a voice from
the crowd.
and he'd better be off with his cart.
cried a man who had stalked out of the
entry of the house near which the crowd
had gathered, rolling up his sleeves.
Look here, good people, explained the
man who held the machine. Il don't want
to do this. l obey orders. or lose my place.
Shed better so to the master, and talk to
him-not to me.
i've been," said the woman. "He's
made of stone. told him he'd starve u.s.
He will. Take it," And she let 90 her
hold, and covered her eyes with her hands.
But III the place of those rough, red
fingers, others. dainty and small, and we'll
gloved, came down upon the cover of the
machine. Emma Rome had pressed for
ward, and now spoke.
stop" she said. "will You let this
woman keep her machine if 1 pay you ten
dollars?"
"Thems the masters orders, MISS" re-
piled the man, land I'd be glad TO do it,
too"
Then, while the crowd gathered close,
and the woman who had told her piteous
tale sobbed with joy, Emma drew the sum
named from her purse, received in return a
receipt, which she gave to the poor woman,
and experienced for the first time the de-
light which the performance of an utterly
unselfsh act brings with it.
Moreover, when the machine had been
borne upstairs, Emma, who had exchanged
few words with its owner, followed her TO
her miserable room, noted its poverty, heard
all the bitter tale.
But don't mind anything now, miss"
sobbed the narrator. "Now the machine is
my own, don't mind how / work. And
the only great tug is the landlord-four dol
lars month for rent"
AS much n month as q yard of that
diHiiuihk! tuOuBht ElHinu, Win llltle
pang.
And before she turned from the door she
had empted her purse, and had paid three
months rent in advance.
"Your husband will be we'll and at work
by that time" she said; and there were no
regrets for the lost fringe as she took her
way homeward. Nay, she was not even
stung to the soul when Madame Farine re-
| marked, with glance that said volumes.
"The black lace from your old grenadine
dress? Certainly, since 1t is to your taste"
The dress, however was not unbecoming,
despite the refurt ished lace, and Emma
wore it to the party. And, somehow, Arthur
Maine found himself more than ever before
attracted by it, and as she drove home tha.
night, Emma felt that the instinct which
had said TO her, "he loves, had been no
false prophet.
She had learned two lessons in little
while. One, that the poor might be clothed
and fed from the trimmings of the rich; the
other, that extravaganza in dress never yet
won any mans heart