Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-07-24

eaOop'Ss iiO bJohtby
graciously, to his cutter, who was
busy chalking out a pair of trousers,
which were for Herr Fleischman, the
walking gentleman at Amberg's Thea
tire, and which must be finished in time
for the premier of the new comedy on
the following evening. His question
was as to who would carry home a GER
tain riding habit for ''Mees Sturgis."
The errand-boy was out. Karl knew
that it was the busiest season of the
year with his father, and that Gottlieb,
the cutter, could not be spared for
outdoor service. But the garment
was promised and must be sent.
Karl turned away from the door.
''Let me take it, father" he said.
cts only step down to Washington
place, and ] don't mind"
The old German protested, but Krrl
insisted, and eventually the father re-
luctantly consented to allow his son,
of whom he was more than proud, and
for whom he had ambitions that tow
cred to bishopric, to deliver the par
eel.
IN any American city other than
New York the spectacle of young
man SO we'll dressed carrying q large
bundle on crowded thorou ghfare
would have attracted attention, but in
the metropolis people are more apt to
mind their own business than are the
people elsewhere, and so it happened
that as Karl made his way down Sixth
avenue with the riding habit wrapped
in brown paper under his arm,
scarcely q head was turned to look
after him. Had it been otherwise,
however, it is doubtful whether the
young theological student would have
observed it. He was plunged deeply
in thought, and as his feet traversed
the six or seven blocks that lay between
his fathers shop and the Sturgis res
idence his mind travelled once again
over the seven years that had inter
vened since that eventful day when
Madeline Sturgis had come into his
life.
As he looked back at the boy that he
wasthen he wondered how he had ven
tured to let the seed of hope take root
in his heart. The son of cheap Ger
man tailor; his companions, like him
self, the children of poor tradesmen-
it was certainly n wild notion that pos
sessed him to WOO and win this aristo-
cratic little maiden, whose people were
not only rich enough to buy and sell
him and his father q thousand times
over, but were of social stratum far
above that in which the Englers lived
and moved and had their being
He remembered how he had carried
home that first riding-habit when it
was finished, and how he had been
asked to,wait in the dining room until
Miss Sturgis could try it on and ascer-
tain whether it was entirely satisfac-
tory; and he recalled how he had sat
there in that basement apartment with
its extension table and its leather
covered chairs; how he had looked
with admiration upon the engravings
in walnut frames that hung upon the
walls and how he had hoped, all the
time, that there might be some COM
plant, so that the little lady would
como down to show him just what was
wrong, and he could get another
glimpse of her. But his father was
good workman. The habit was all that
could be desired and he had returned
home disappointed.
The days when he saw Madeline he
called his red-letter days, and for q
time they were fewer than those that
are indicated in the printed calendars.
One January afternoon, however, Mrs.
Sturgis had come into the shop and
had asked his father if Karl would not
like to go to the mission Sunday
school on Carmine street, in which she
was very much interested, and his
father, who would have gone through
fire and food to please a customer, SO
fearful was he of losing dollars
worth OF trade, had said that Karl
would certainly be there on the follow
ing Sunday.
From that time on he saw her more
frequently, and his infatuation in
creased in proportion. She taught a
class of small boys across the aisle from
where he usually sat- and on more than
one occasion the maiden lady who pre-
sided over the group of larger boys,
VI hc Nbo onSt "Ho VI
demand with some emphesis his return
to the business of the hour, his gaze
having wey of wandering repeatedly
from his catechism OR his Bible to the
face of the pretty little teacher in the
opposite pew.
One incident that he recalled with
some pleasure had occurred on Sun
day afternoon in early spring. He
had noticed that Mrs. Sturgis was not
present in the chapel; that Madeline
had come alone and he had wondered
all through the lesson whether it would
seem rude on his part, after tho close
of the session. to offer to walk home
with her. If he only could, he thought,
it would be, tho happiest day of his
life; but he feared that she might think
him impudent and presuming, and,
when the school was dismissed and the
scholars and teachers filed out into the
street, he lacked the courage to go
forward and speak to her.
But his happiness had come, never