, 1891-11-13

WhlrrlnSi gathering sewing maCulhes,
with eyes intent and fingers flying as
she had lone six days a week for ten
years. There was no beauty around
her, nothing to call the attention from
work. nothing pleasant to dream over.
And the ten years behind her reflected
no brightness that she should pause and
look back upon them. Always her sur
roundings had been like these today
big, dusty rooms, given over to the ugli-
ness of manufacturing and trade; bare,
poor plain ones, high up in a human
hive, where she ate and slept and
heightened out the days drudgery by
lamplight. Long before there had been
dear ones, who only bequeathed her
poverty and the knowledge of how to
bear it; now they were gone. She was
so weary of it all. 1t seemed so useless,
this constant struggle barely to exist
when existence meant only toll. She
had a mind to stop forever and accept
whatever fate brought. Or was there
any better portion in life for women who
must work in order to live?
The half remembered words of some
lady writer came dimly floating to her
consciousness, she scarce knew how. at
is mysterious" they ran. ''why young
women will crowd to the cities and the
factories when they might have nice
homes in comfortable houses With refin-
ed families; domestic service is health
full, honorable worG-why not choose it?
Or why not go to the wide, beautiful
country and join that Independent class
of farmers daughters who breathe fresh
air n imbibe a love of nature from
their very work and surroundings"
The toiler felt "a heaviness stealing over
her that she could not resist; her head
fell forward on the table. The noise of
the shop died away; the heat and oppres-
sion of the room seemed to lift, and she
was far away from the old familiar
dreariness. She thought she was walk
ing through a field of sweet clover, with
the great blue sky-she had seen only
smoky patches of it Notwithstanding
in a magnificent dome above her. A
pure, fresh breeze swept over the mead
ows and came fragrant and delicious to
her heated brow and parched lips. On
the distant rolling hills sheep were graz
ing, and at the right, where n slow
stream wandered through willows and
PUSHES, contented cattle stood.
"Oh, is this real p she wondered.
Might L stay III Lnlb DeduJlIul place Z
1t seemed true. She walked through
a wooded field where a dewy shade rest
ed on the fresh earth. The green, rus.
ting branches were so new, SO delightful
to her; she kissed the leaves that swept
across her face and blessed the birds
singing above her. The world was beau.
tiful after all-she would never go back
to the hot, dusty shop again-that sure
ly did not exist in the same planet as
this.
Presently she came upon n small house
standing under some fine maple trees,
: with a grassy yard in front furnished
with an old mossgrown log and a bench
for seats. The place looked pretty and
inviting from it's nature, not that any
one had tried to make it so, and the
dreamer seemed impelled to examine
closer. Passing around the house she saw
n woman working in a cellar with milk
pans and churns; her face was not a
happy one, but fretful and wrinkled as
though the woman was worn old before
her time.
The kitchen door was open and the
dreamer entered. A young woman stood
at a table washing dishes, and neither
did she look fresh and happy as one who
breathed that air and gazed upon that
scenery should. The same look of weari-
ness was in the eyes that she saw in her
own when she looked in the cracked
mirror at home. In the kitchen and
about the house fingered the same air of
overabuudant woodwork that must be
lone within a miraculous time by hands
that were too weak. Looking at the
young woman at the table with her list
less, sunburned face and pathetic stoop
TO her shoulders, she seemed to feel all
at once the weight of years of hard toll,
the starved mind and heart, the lonely
monotony of the girls isolated existence.
She vaguely experienced the vain long.
ing for leisure, human society, intel
lectual food, music, books and pictures,
that ever haunted the girls spirit. She
turned away.
mot here. l cannot exchange my old
place and my little measure of freedom
even for this"
And then the farmhouse and the green,
wide country scene faded away. There
was a moment of darkness, and then the
dreamer found herself walking down a
broad stairway leading to a lofty hall,
where paintings and carvings inter,
iuluBleu IN tne sOlJ, Jnleu uRnU. stat
ues occupied inches in the turpings Of
the stairway, rich curtains fell from
frescoed ceiling to velvet carpeted floor
and as she passed along a spacious CORR
dor open doorways disclosed beautiful
rooms beyond. She came finally to {
large kitchen, well lighted and fittet
with every possible convenience.
at must be a mere pleasure to worl
in a place like this" she thought, ant
then began to wonder where the peopl,
were. She noticed a small door in on,
corner and openedit. There was a plain
small room-a mere recess-left from
partitionihg off closets and pantries, ant
it was poorly lighted and ventilated
But a young girl occupied it and she wa
weeping.
The dreamer tried to ask her what he
sorrow was, but could not make he
presence felt. But through some strang
intuitive sense she became conscious o
the GIRLS emotions. and in a r%etrospectiy
WORTHY OF u Trial.
If YOU are troubled with rheumatisi
or a anne back. bind on over the seat
pain a piece of flannel dampened wit