The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-04-27

recovered speech again. Then
she sighed little and shook her
head.
"She might have stayed and
helped me-" she said. jim
Dowd wouldn't think less of her
for it. l s'pOSe she imagines |
dom know what's the matter with
her, with her airs an her graces
an her new ties an her sittin' up
till midnight to copy Miss Ruther-
ford's shirt waists an her askin'
me to stop CALM her Mary Ellen"
Again Mrs. McNulty shook her
neat gray head, but this time she
laughed comfortably to herself,
though her laughter ended wear
lily.
"She might have helped me to-
night, for Pm tired"
Meantime Mary Ellen, though
she found jim waiting at the cor
ner and though ne told her with
hattering prOmptness that she
looked out er sight" did not ex-
perience the delight she had an.
ticipated. Independence, to be
enjoyed, should have no inter
mixture of remorse, and Mary
Ellen's cup of freedom was bitterly
tinctured with the thought of Il
stout, tired old woman journeying
ceaseleSsly from an ironing board
to the stove and back again.
Whenever silences fell between
her and finland they were i'll
the state when silences are many
and Sweet-a picture came before
her of her mother, toiling, toiling,
t0iling She was a little girl,
waking from sleep and seeing
from her cot i'll the corner the
ceaseleSS work of the woman She
e remembered guiltily how she had
been used to say at such drOwSy
times : " When I'm big yOn shan't
/, have to work SO. She recalled
her pride when first she had been
a allowed to carry Miss Rutherford S
clothes home, the bOundlesS dign-
ity she had assumed when she pre-
e scented the Scrawl of a bill, the
eagernesS with which she had
clutched the silver payment and
had borne it back to her mother
And today
"No | don't want to go on a
boat" she heard herself saying
1 GROSSLY.
h The boat had been the last OF
Jim's suggestions. lie looked at
e at Mary Ellen, bordering deeply.
t "Come on over to the park,
V them" he said, can sit down, for
5 have somethin' to say to yer
n Mary Ellen walked on. Hell
h feet kept dragging time to dia
n logue in her mind, i'll which one
y voice said: "You might have
g done that for her; it wasn't much,
r an think of all she's done fOl
= you," while the other replied
r ''Any way she needn't have ask
ed me to lug basket of clothes
o home on Satiddy afternoon.
$ Mary Elem began jim sol
| EMMY, when he had seated her on
a bench opposite fountain that
0 showered pearls upon a pond OF
floating lilies, pink and pale and
5 languid, Mary Ellen"
"What are you calm me
a Mary Ellen for ?" inquired Miss
t McNulty, suddenly ceasing to at
tend to her two voices and listen
ing to jim instead. Jim belong,
| ed to the " Mamie" set of her ac-
quiantances.
! "The old woman calls you
that, " replied jim.
, " Well that's no reason why
, you should" said Mary Ellen
smartly.
Eyes, it is" said Jim sturdi
ly, though he was slowly growing
red beneath his tan and freckles.
I" Yes, it is, Mary Ellen. For |
: i like you like the old woman
does. An | want to take care er
We like she always has Il and say,
Mary Ellen, l can call We Mary
Ellen, can't I?n
In Mary Ellen's breast was a
tumult as though flock of birds
tluttered their tiny wings. The
spray from the fountain was a
shower of gold; the lilies swan
in opalescent beauty.
Say, l can, can't II" jim per-
sisted, whispering =" Mary Ell,
len-Dowd 2"
And Mary Ellen shut out the
dazzling vision of the enchanted
fountain by covering her happy
, face with her hands and saying
temyestuOusly and irreleVantly:
"Oh, jim, you'll always be
, good to mother, won't you "
? 1t was dark when they walked
, eastward again through the gilt
, tering, busy Saturday nigh
streets. They held fast to each
| others hands and trusted the
wide folds of Mary Ellen's crash
, skirt to hide the embrace. They
. talked ana planned, and dubbed
! with joy, or were silent in swift
dreams of happiness. And Mary
+ Ellen's heart yearned toward her