The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-06-06

her work we'll and feeds your bodies on
wholesome well-cooked food Is she not ac-
complaining quite as much as the one
who labors to buy the food? one produces
the raw material. the other serves Up the
finished product.
Last night / was resting on a couch
back OF the library curtains when the
girls came In from riding party, ana as
they sat around In various attitudes or
comfort known to girls. they began 70
tdlh ABOUT Ellen. Some or them, notably
those VINO had been reared In more
conservative manner than Dorothy and
Eialne, doubted the wisdom Of the step
She had taken. | was pleased TO see.
however. that they talked in a sensible
way ABOUT II, and that they were not dis
posed 10 cut her acquaintance, though
tney We're positive that society" would
close 70 her the doors that were once
open. mat Is true. but IL will be small
Toss, society Is a great big octopus that
swallows up good many more souls
than II saves. after all.
Society is sometimes sorry for It's at
teInpts at ostracism," said Elaine. as she
Snoothed her gloves out on her lap. And
nave known instances when IL all but
went down on its knees TO coax back peo-
PIE OF note whom It had sighted. unwit-
Srssay Oh course Society Is dun. generally
IPedklng, and likes To have precedents,
NE NE the senate. l know q woman in
Sncago that society would Ike 10 get
P2GSSSesslon Of. but It never will"
vi course there was n chorus OF go. tell
Us ABOUT her,' and she smiungly complied
Ut Eidlne Is right clever. She saw that IL
Hou'u snow the more conservative girls
, eIiat her Ideas Of ennobling labor were
~, ,Cnllierlcal' as they had been practical
~ demonstrated.
The woman l speak of has been
, ,.1.eio LOT me FOR good many years; her
nto.lc, was my mothers friend Her
~ uesIe Tor competence was a long
=, - siiOus one, but there is much in
- 49, 'n . may cheer other girls who have
sne same hard hill 10 climb. she began
her Datte with the world when she was
just llIteen. She was then on n home
s,eau IN Nebraska. one morning I'm June
tNeut! -HNe years ago, she stood on the
steps or her prairie home and with won
dering eyes gazed upon the devastation
made by the grasshoppers in a single
night. The little brown pests had swept
the earth clean OF every vestige OF vege-
tation had set the labor of a whole
year at naught. kate-that isn't her
name, but IL Will dO-knew what that
meant for herself and parents. and there
was a little baby sister besides. They
were pioneers Of a years standing. and
ton for their first crop. To save the
expense of a man, Kate had helped put
the corn and wheat in, and the money
thus saved had been promised her tor
the university course which she crayed
Instead Of that however, pinching
face until another crop could be raised.
/ suppose you have heard your parents
talk of the aid that was sent 10 the grass
hopper sufferers of the Westy But Kate
was too proud to accept such aid. She
said that people who were In poor health
and had helpless children dependent upon
them were the ones who should be aided,
and not bodied women like herself
i am young and strong, and can work
she said Her mother was one or the
IND .n4 90 al
what she would do, as the school was
supplied with a teacher, and Kate had no
piano upon which to teach music, even
il there were pupils, and everybody III
the country was not as poor as them-
selves: neither was there any sewing 10
Kate laughed merrlly at her mothers
notion OF work for her, tOr, as she ue-
clared. she didn't know enough OF n,uSiC
10 desecrate the divine art by mentioning
H. and couldn't sew a straight seam 10
save her soul Then she almost para
lived her mother by announcing ner IN
tentiOn OF starting a laundry! one SA
blamed that the wife Of the man VINO
owned the big Cottonwood ranch adJoih-
ing sent her fine clothes TO the city 10
have them done, and was paying I'VE DOL
lars week for the privilege. she was
willing to pay Kate four dollars, II she
wished to take the work There Is one
thing / can do said Kate; i can WASH
and clear starch and iron with the pest
of them I'm going TO take Mrs. John-
sons washing. and can get enough from
town people 10 pay me at least five doll
lars more a week. ] can study nights,
and IN be ready 10 go 10 school neNt
winter. in spite OF grasshoppers. Ana
she was.
"she had quite surplus over end
above the family expenses when the WIN
ter storms began 20 sweep over the psaiua
The LIST of February the teacher or the
district school fell Ill., and Kate was asked
- f-k h "a
month. She took II and tramped Two
miles through all the SHOWS and bilzzards
OF a terrible spring. she SAID that the
laundry paid her better. for she did not
wear out so many clothes or so much
shoe leather, but she felt that she was
getting rusty and needed the stimulus
that she knew she would get In trying
10 keep ahead Of some OF the young men
who were almost as good scholars as her-
self. After her school was out the ~O-
man for whom she had washed offered
her live dollars n week 10 90 her COOKING,
She took that till the harvest began, then
she went home to help in the house, ana
more often out, for her father was not
strong.
"She drove the harvester most Of the
time and helped sack the grain for mar,
ket. The harvest was good one, ana
that winter she went TO the university.
She worked for her board TO save Tor the
second year, which she saw would De
greater strain on her mental forces, ana
she might not De dDlt 10 SldIu H. tlht
summer everything failed. Everything
but the sunhowers.' Kate said They
looked so cherry and happy all the time
that / imagined that they were trying
to tell me that brighter times were com
ing They were a long time about II,
though That summer her father died
and her mothers health failed. and she
was ordered 10 a milder climate for the
winter. Kate mortgaged the farm and
took the baby sister and her dying
mother South. Six months later she ana
the little sister were alone In the world
and homeless. for Kate could not pay
even the second ihstal'iheh' Oh interest
on the mortgaged farm.
Finally, in desperation, ana Tor the
sake Of the child Kate came 10 Chicago
and applied to friends there for assist
lnce til she cou ID get started al earn
Ing a living IL is a shameful thing 10
Tell. but IL Is a fact, that none OF them
would aid her beyond Offering her a little
money and some old clothesl The work
that she wanted. they would not give her,
because they did not want 10 be troubled
With the child. They all ignored any
former friendship. and were so coldly
polite 10 her whose father had given
them their own start in life. that she
inally turned from them In disgust. She
ook little room, and, with the child
'or her companion. worked at all kinds
of nakeshifts that offered a few cents.
Kate had an inventive brain, and during
he long hours that she bent above her
,ewins-in the hard school OF adversely
he had learned TO do even that-she
amused the little sister by telling her
tories. original stories which she invent |
81 as she went along without thinking |
much about what she was saying.
at last Minnie the sister. fell III. and |
n her restlessness begged for stories, |
III Hates poor. tired brain refused 10 \
invent any more new ones; so she trled !
o put her of with reading some from
child's paper. Fretfuily Minnie de-
Jared that Rates stories were best.
Sister. you write one and send II Tor 1
Their girls 10 read she begged. and de-
nanded 10 be held while Kate was .1rit-