Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-12-26

LUIS ACdAu WV pans " I'LL AoON
steps in the outer room. She opened
the door.
1T is much too cold here. Ny stove
is hot. Come, warm yourselves.
Madonna miai" cried Blanca as she
stepped in, What heat, what COM
fort
For a few cheap purchases and the
magic of a woman's hand had made a
home of the bare room. On the old
stove a tin kettle sputtered, a clean
glass lamp gave a bright light on the
table, already covered with oil cloth.
There were blankets and a patch work
quilt over the poor bed. a cushion in
the creaking rocker. Before the stove
! stood Doris. Her smooth brown hair
was parted away from a broad brow,
her calm eyes met theirs with friend
illness. She wore a working dress and
apron.
Blanca was young but worn and
bent with the weight of the harp.
Francesca was a little more than a
child, straight, slim and with the clus-
tered ringlets Of a boy. Both were
shiyering with cold for the night was
bitter.
= q u ~ poCoIOA NSIl Ii lOOS1
Doris. She went forward and led Fran
cesca to the stove. There was no more
trouble in the room of the R%aiboldini.
The Italian girls arranged that.
The next day Doris set out to search
for work. When she came home at
night she smiled at Mrs. Colbert and
told her that she was employed as
cashier at 4 bakery.
1T is not a very large bakery or a
very large business she said, cheer
lily, but it will be a living. the rent
and coal and meals. | must make a
start"
The women held UP their hands.
Such luck. She would shortly leave
them. Three meals! She would short
ly leave them. Surfeit. To count
much money? What trust. Doris
laughed over their awe. She had them
into her fire again. Mrs. Colbert came
also. Once she had been fond of the
Raiboldini girls. Now she would have
! Blanca play. Blanca brought the harp.
Her thin, dark face lighted with en-
tnUsiasm. She would play as her ia
Their taught her. once more. SO the
street music was forgotten, and again
she struck the wonderful and tender
strains that sent Francesca sobbing to
the crucifx.
In a week the Italian girls were
changed and happier. They had put
their room in order and had mended
their clothing. Doris sometimes
thought of the sewing bees in her
fathers parish. How little he could
have imagined her ~improyising a need
- -1,-;-~ ~. -.:EL k-xz 1A-o1+ / f: -
and a lodging house keeper.
The baker was a young man. One
night he walked home with Doris after
supper and asked to come and see her.
With her usual simplicity she said he
could if her rOonlmateS We're at home,
not otherwise. The next day he gave
her a slight raise in salary and asked
her to change to better quarters. Dor
is thought sOberly.
Il can do more good there than
anywhere else just now she said di-
rectly. and would rather not change
as you desire. | was to marry. My
lovers family objected as | was poor.
| cannot forget and | am only happy
now in living for others"
He had the manliness to continue
her in his employ and to harass her no
more.
Another time Mrs. Colbert sat on her
high stool in her little office. 1t was
evening. Transient dodgers came in,
one by one. The place was cleaner.
There was a fire and a brighter lamp.
The door opened to admit a tall and
stalwart young man, He glanced
around. His eye fell upon a tent upon
the wall over the uesk. 1t read: God
Is Love Then he stood in front OF
Mrs. Colbert.
Madam he said, a little Iremulous-
ly, Il have reason to believe a young
girl, Doris Forbes. lives in this house. y
Mrs. Colbert looked at him with a
close scrutiny.
she Qoes. She has been here six
months. She is upstairs
A light and delicious strain of harp
music came from above, sweet as an
angelic assurance.
The man trembled.
Il have had a long search. Will you
show me the way? | am an old friend.
Mrs. Colbert lighted a lamp from
the shelf back Of her and LED him up
the stairway. The tender and WOoing
harp music was in his ears. At the
door the old woman stopped.
When she anne l asked her two or
three times as she couldn't do better.
But she said no. She's changed the
house.
She opened the door. Blanca was at
the harp, her worn face rapturous
with the expression of the unforgot-
ten genius Of her father. Francesca
looked with a tender JOY at a rough
sketch of her own head which had
been given her and which she had
pinned above the crucihx. Doris was
seated in the creaky rocking chair,
lulling to sleep a crippled child which
had been i'll for days in On upper
room. When the door opened she gave
a bright glance at the newcomers, then
held out her hand silently.
Mrs. Colbert's eyes were misty as she
went down the stairs.
Il asked her if she couldn't do bet
ter. It's been done for her"