Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1893-05-20
MARGERY'S SITUATION.

fashionable appearance with mad
equate means to support 1t.
Upon Mrs. Emerson and Harry,
the only son, the yoke did not weigh
heavily, but it sorely CALLED Mr.. EN-
erson; and Margery, the only daugh-
ter, chafed against it with all the in
effectual impotence Of her seventeen
years.
Lie would be so much easier if
we could only give up pretending"
she cried: but her mother and Harry
scoffed at her philosophy. The striv-
ing and pretending. the staving of
one debt and getting into another
went on apace.
Lying alone in the hammock in the
fragrant twilight Of a late May day,
Margery was thinking over things in
general with a noble discomfort when
suddenly from the room beyond she
heard the voices of her mother and
father. Mrs. Emerson's tones were
conciliatory, as they were apt to be
when she sought some new favor;
her husbands accents were shrill and
impatient, as if his last thread OF
endurance were strained.
II thought, Henry, you'd like the
idea Of Margery taking this trip with
the Pages"
"Like it? Yes, immensely, but I
think we shall all be called upon to
take triU to the poor-house instead.
/ came to that conclusion this morn.
ing when three Of Master HarrY's
bills were forwarded me, each of them
four times larger than it ought
to be-"
well, but Henry, you can't expect
ayoung man to get through Harvard
without bills"
The conciliatory tone was dashed
with defiance now, and the sharpness
Of the answering voice was increased.
II don't expect it. Considering
the sort of young man Harry is, 1
should be fool if l did. And yet I
don't blame him half so much as
blame myself I started him wrong.
He'd be twice the man he is now if
he had been making his living for
the last two years, instead Of yying
with millionaires' sons, acting as
though my poor little bucket of re-
sources were an inexhaustlble spring.
And though it is different with Mar
gerry, the principle is the same.
With all that her private schools have
done for her, doubt il she could earn
dollar for herself, and who knows
how soon she may need it,"
Ali this was so wildly unlike her
much enduring, indulgent father that
for a moment the unwilling listener
on the piazza felt inclined to
doubt both his identity and her own;
but her disposition was so like his
that she felt an inpatient pity for
the feebleness Of her mothers reply.
''But Henry! Harry will be sure
to repay you some day, and girl as
bright and pretty as Margery cannot
fail to marry we'll"
"Now, May" he answered, with
added Vehemence, that is just where
the rottenneSs of our system comes
in. Harry will never repay me, for
he has not been brought up to any
sense Of moral obligation. If he
would put his shoulder to the wheel,
/ could manage to get through some
how. But l have no hopes of him.
"Why, to-day my friend Sinclair,
proposed giving Harry a place as
clerk for the summer, in his summer
hotel in Maine But none of that
sort Of thing for my son and heir!
He is going with a party to the
AdirondackS
'Margery-bleSs the chIld!-would
take a chambermaid's place, l be-
lieve, if she thought that by doing
so she could save me one pang. But
/ doubt if she could do even that
All her chances, it seems, are staked
on wealthy MARRIAGE pretty poor
ambition, it strikes me, for days like
these"
Then it was that Margery, like
some modern Joan of Arc, heard a
voice which whispered of a conflict
beyond with the hope of victory.
Then it was that, leaning over the
piazza rail, she said excitedly to her
self:
81 will! I'll give Harry a chance
first for he could save papa more
than half this worry. II he refuses
to help me, I'll give him lesson he
will not forget soon"
The next evening Harry came home
to spend Sunday. Margery attacked
him with all her might and main.
Keeping her own project completely
in the background, she appealed to
his sense Of justice, his sympathy,
his maniinesS, and every other virtue
It might be possible for him to pos
seSs; but there was not a shadow of
care upon Harry's handsome face as
he said:
''Now, Margery, you were always
an agitator, but l think it's a little
unfair to work on my feelings so near
the end Of the year. You'd be eaten
up with remorse If you got me so
unstrung that 1 couldn't pass And
anyway, old girl, fathers all right.
This sort Of thing has been going on
ever since / can remember. There's
always more or less racket but we
get there just the same"
Sand to save him a little of the
n