Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-07-31
promise of rapid Increase if the work

promise of rapid increase If the work
was satisfactory.
"Goodby, father. Don't give away
your overcoat before you get home,
!, will you?" Faith called out of the win
dow as the train started.
Malcolm Kirk smiled and waved his
hand. Then he ran along the platform
and handed up an envelope to Faith.
She managed to kiss his hand as she
took the envelope and then leaned back
in her seat and cried.
When she opened the envelope, a
check for $25 dropped out.
This is good companion my
dear. You will find it good company
on the road. Your father" This was
written hastily in a note with the
check. Faith understood It was the
price of a story Malcolm had written
that fall. She tucked the check into
her purse and cried harder than ever.
But when she found herself in Chi
cago next morning, she set herself res
olutely and with courage toward her
new life.
! The work in the studio was extreme
ly interesting to her. Her letters to
! the people at home were very entertain
ling and even funny. But after she
had been in the city few months she
was obliged to face serious condition,
one that she had not anticipated.
| In the first place, it cost her nearly
every cent of the So week to live.
But economic as she would after
counting out rent and fuel and light,
with what her clothes and car fare
cost with everything that must enter
into the account Of daily existence, she
had very little left when Sunday came.
One day she realized, with shock,
that she had been obliged to draw on
the $25 check. She had used all the
money her father had been able to
spare. The work in the studio had for
several weeks been piecework, and it
happened that business was dull, and
several weeks she had been able to
earn less than SIS.
| Then came a crisis that she had not
counted on. The studio changed hands,
and the new proprietor began to cut
down expenses and dismiss some Of
the retouchers. Faith was one of the
latest arrivals, and one evening as she
| workshop under the roof she was noti-
| fed that her services would not be
wanted after the next week.
| She went out Of the studio, and in
stead Of taking the car as she usually
was obliged to do on account of the
distance to her room she walked on
until she was at the corner of Madison
and State streets.
She plunged through that boiling
crowd Of humanity and started to walk
4 up State street the four miles that yet
/ lay between her and her room. And
as she walked on she was deeply
thinking of what she would do. The
idea of writing home for money was
SO distasteful that she could not bear
to entertain it. Her lips closed firm
ly, and she said to herself: 81 never
will do it while I can live. 1 have
made a failure out of it SO far here,
but I can't burden father and mother
right now. I know how matters are
going at home with all the expense
there and Hermon's illness last month.
No, no! started out to be a bread
winner. must earn my own living"
She was suddenly brought to stop
by crowd that filled up the sidewalk
in front Of a large window. There
was picture on exhibition there, and
Faith. after running into one or two
people, seeing what was the object Of
attraction, stopped herself and grad
ually was pushed up to the window as
the crowd went and came.
1t was an oil painting with life size
figures, representing the deck Of an
ocean steamer. A man was holding a
baby in his arms, and the baby was
looking up into the mans face and
smiling. The title Of the picture in
| gilt letters on the frame was simply
'Motherless."
| 1t was one Of those pictures that ap-
| peal to a common humanity, and the
crowd on the sidewalk was irresistiblyI
drawn to it. But the effect on Faith
| was electrical. AS soon as she had
seen the face Of the man on the can
| vas she exclaimed aloud, why, that's
| father!'
Those nearest her looked at her in
surprise. She checked herself and was
silent. But there before her was the
likeness Of Malcom Kirk as she had
seen him in the sketch her mother had
often shown her. And the story Of
the baby whose mother had died in
midocean was familiar to all the chill
dren at home.
| She looked at the corner Of the can
vas and saw the artists name, Francis
Raleigh. A card in the window an
nounced the fact that the picture was
| sold and that the artists studio was
In one Of the new blocks on Randolph
| street.
| Faith slowly pushed out Of the crowd
and went on her way. But the picture
! affected her deeply. The sight of the
dear father protecting that motherless
baby made her cry. And It also
strengthened her purpose not to appeal
for financial help from home. She
could not have told why that feeling