Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-05-05

wish to be hard on Il woman-a young
woman. his uncle's widow. He will
not expect or wish you TO leave such
purely personal things as these behind. "
II prefer it, - said Mary.
Most ladies in Your circumstances
would have stripped the house. - he per-
sisted. land would have left nothing
but the bare chairs and tables. =
perhaps. but am not one of those
ladies, and besides l wish to take moth
ing away to remind me of-of"-
"Yes?"
THAT | once lived here" she said,
with sudden flash of feeling, the first
that she had shown.
"Oh, well, of course if that is the
way the'-he had been on the point of
saying 1.-The cat jumps" but broke the
homely simile off short-'.if that is how
You feel Mrs. Conway it is no use my
suggesting anything else.
''But it is very kind of you to feel an
interest in me" said Mary, smile
breaking over her face for the first time
81 shall never forget it. | thank you. "
A few minutes later she had passed
out of the house and away from her old
life forever.
She had made her plans carefully
with view to furthering her resources
To the uttermost- she had taken a single
room in respectable house in Blooms
bury. She was not destitute, for she
had still nearly e100 to call her own.
Mrs. Hamilton S life had been insured
for sum which had almost covered the
cost of her illness and burial. and Mary
had bought her mourning with keen
eye to economy; in fact, she had spent
and meant to spend nothing that she
could possibly avoid. She knew that, if
need be, she could live for a year on her
little store and she knew, too, that it
was totally different thing to seek
living free and Independent, as she was,
to seeking it while tied and hampered
with an invalid mother.
But she did not find it an easy thing
to drop into pleasant, comfortable po-
sition, such as she wanted, by no means.
For several weeks she tramped to and
fro, here and there. always seeking
something more or less indefinite, a
something which she found it difficult
to describe in words.
Then she pulled herself up short and
began TO think the situation out in
different way, and she came to the con-
cluSion that she could not go on in this
vague, indefinite way; that she must
make up her mind to follow certain
course, and she must follow it. The
question was what. She went over all
the openings which she had already
tried to follow mp, and she came, after
much anxious cogitation, to the con-
clusion that there were only left to her
now-either of which she might take as
her meter and train herself to become
proficient in-nursing and typewriting.
She inquired fully into the merits
and demerits of both. She found that
she could properly qualify for nurse
under training of at least three years.
Even then she would not have got to
the top of the tree, and it was more
than likely that long before three years
had gone by she would have broken
down, for she was not physically or
-constitutionally an especially strong
person. If all the tales she heard of
hospital or infirmary training We're
true, she felt that month or six weeks
would about show her how fruitless it
was for her to attempt career of which
magnificent health and nerve are the
very first requisites.
SO practically the career of nurse
was disposed of and put on one side as
an impossible one. There only remained
then open TO her that of typewriter
The accounts which she gathered of
this way of making a living were more
hopeful. She would pay 10 guineas to
be taught the trade, and six months
would see her in fair way of earning
decent living. She could, until she
was proficient, live very cheaply and
quietly in her modest little room, and
she would have every interest in forcing
herself ahead as quickly as possible.
There WAS nothing in the manipulation
of Il delicate and intelligent machine
(this was tEe WY that "A young girl,
whose acquaintance she made in tea
shop. spoke of her typewriter) which
could be in any way revolving to her,
or which was in any sense beyond her
powers.
''And Of course. said the girl. IF
You go in for shorthand Is well. you
just double your value from the very
start -
"Is it difficult?" Mary asked, rather
diffidently.
''Yes, it is difficult, y the girl replied.
'but by no means insurmountabe And |
the advantages are enormous. Oh. it is
grand life for a woman. Any woman
of average intelligence can make Il liv-
ing at it, and a woman whose intelli-
genee is above the average can do more
than make living. She can command
her own price. Then it is free life! L
mean in this way. If Il woman goes in !
for nursing, she needs years and years
of training, and goodness only knows
whether she will prove herself really |
skilled nurse at the end of it. She needs |
strength, endless patience, |
Infinite tact, and for what? To earn at |
best gIineas a week. to be treated n |
little better than servant, to be al |
ways ina position that is entirely tenn |
porary. A typist, on the other hand, es-
n