The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-09-22

despaEr seized bor heart and strange
forebodings made her tremble with
tear and distress.
What an eye it was until his Erst
| et,cr arrived The waiting for 1t 80
| dttid her thoughts that she failed TO
| notice that the dear, frail mother was
growing weaker n palsr each day.
Before the second letter reached Berlin
the mother WAS dead.
For six months the young girl
breasted the storm of poverty. Then,
70 her great oy, her lover in far-away
Americas wrote that she was TO come
to hitn at once. She gathered up the
small belongings and beirlooms that,
although worthless in q money sense,
were OF such priceless value to her,
and with these she sailed away to her
new home.
When the great boat landed her in
the noisy city of New York, she found
her way to an address that her German
sweetheart had sent ner, expecting to
find there a friend of his, who could
put her On a train that would take her
10 the small town in Pennsylvania
where lie had secured work. There
he would meet her at the station, and,
after saying over the holy words that
were to make them husband and wife,
take her to the little home he had pre-
pared. The plan was q good one, but
something was wrong somewhere. AT
the address In New York there lived
no person by the name which he had
written in her letter, and the poor girl
was in despair. She found lodgings, and
the next day journeyed on to the little
Pennsylvania town, whore b was UNI
able to discover the whereabouts Of
her betrothed. With but "a few dollars
left she returned to New York, and by
some miracle Immediately secured en-
ployment as a governess. In another
week she was on her way TO Mexico,
having In her charge two small child
ron Of q wealthy Gothamite.
Then came two years OF hard work,
during which she went from n situa-
tion to another, and finally became u
n%eighbor in 1.-The Ruins"
81 have but two pupils now" she
explained. "One l am teaching
French, the other German. But two
pupils-they bring me hardly enough
to pay my rent and to buy fuel and
provisions. | cannot hold out much
longer-and [ though perhaps you
could tell me where l could get work.
| have tried everything-everything ~
| promised to help her even while
doubling my ability to C u employ
ment for her, for | knew that hope
never fails to warm the heart and that
encouragement is pleasant even to the
doomed. She said goodbye and went
up the dark, creaking stairs. AS she
took my fingers l noticed that her
hand was hot and fevered and that her
eyes looked strange and restless.
After hearing that poor girls story
| almost fancied myself q millionaire,
so much better and happier was my
lot than hers. The old furniture APP
peared less awkward and scratched,
the faded curtains seemed to brighten,
even the old cook stove did not look SO
bad after all, and when Tom came
home | fused we him in q way that
made him say:
"Dear, I'm always afraid of you
when you act like this: it's sure to fore
run aGuarrel." And then we laughed.
The idea Of Tom in q quarrel was really
too funny.
AS we sat down to the little supper
| had prepared l told Tom about my
visitor, and we Immediately began to
lay plans as to how we could best offer
her assistance. AS Tom remarked
I'VE never hear of anyone who wants
lessons in painting they're always on
q mad tear after languages" And sc
we bethougbt ourselves of several per
sons to whom we would recommend
and advertise the talents of our down.
cast neighbor.
l did not see her the next day, but
the following morning [ tiptoed along
the creepy corridor to her room, carry
ing a little breakfast dainty in my
hands and hoping that she would &C.
cept it in the same sisterly spirit that
it was offered. l knocked several
times GA the door but nc answer came.
Then / fancied that l heard some one
moan. Back l ran to Tom, who re.
turned with me, aud after satisfying
ourselves that the girl was thore and
i'll we broke open the door.
What o room it was a bare little
garnet with a bed and table and several
decrepid chairs and footstools. The
one semblance Of elegance was a large
oil painting Of II beautiful woman with
snow white hair and exquisitely shaped
hands, which | Immediately surmised
was q portrait Of the girls mother
On the bed Jay the rooms occupant,
burning with fever and talking wildly
of this terrible, terrible America,
whore people have no heart" and some.
times breaking into Il strange German
love song.
We did what we could for her. Tom
went for q doctor, who came aud said
she had brain fever. He advised send.
ing her to " hospital, and after con-
siderable red tape preliminaries we
had her installed in one Of the large
institutions of New York. She had
been there less than u week when the
kind nurse told us hat such q person
RS our little invalid was wanted by
some one who had beer long searching
for her, who had left word with city
officers to notify him at once in case
she wasfound. How my heart leaped
when | heard the good news. How
happy | was for her. l rushed home
to Tom and cried all over his shabby
old coat, and he scolded me for being
"such au emotional little woman
But just the same, he ha to put on a
pretty bold front to keep me from
noticing that his voice WAS unusually
husky.
We'll. unlike the more artistic
stories of the present moment. this one
ends happily. The German governess
recovered, and when her mind awaken
cd from its troubled illness her sweet
heart WAS the first on whom her pretty
brown eyes looked. Tom and | were
there, but she did not see us, and we
FASTENED n another room, so as not
to inttude upon q scene too sacred for
other eyes.
1t was easy to %untangle the compli-
cations hat before had been SO unex-
plainable. Her betrothed bad ia some
/ tVg ~ srt v,.n 90. Al. ,.,, $40 n 1Tl--