The times., 1901-05-26
A SENTIMENTAL SYNDICATE.
Marriage Made Easy for Some New
England Girls.

1
A map who spent several months on
ranch near San Diego, Cal, in the winter
of 1898, told this whimsical tale of adven-
ture to a correspondent of the New Or
| leans Times Democrat"
There was d crossroads store a few
! miles away, where we used to get our
| supplies, and one day l dropped In and
bought box Of light cottes- socks. In
looking over my purchase when 1 reached
home l felt something in the toe of one
of the socks, and, much to my surprise,
pulled out letter written in girl s
hand. 1t said In substance that the writer
was employed in the New Hampshire fac
tory where the hosiery was made, and
knew that this special consignment was
going 10 California, which mad always
| been the land of her dreams. She drew
graphic picture of the deadly dullness of
life in a small factory town, and admit
ted with half-humorous frankness that
she had sent the message in the vague
hope that something might happen to re-
! lieve its grinding monotony. Altogether
ii was an amazingly clever letter-bright,
breezy, and at the same time, deeply pa
thetic-and. considering the way 1t turn
ed up, it naturally made a profound i'm
preston on my mind. 1t was signed Bar
bara Hollis After thinking 1t over
few days with increasing interest and
curiosity, ! sat down and wrote reply,
which l mailed in care OF the general de-
livery, as no specific address had been
timental correspondence was very allur-
ing just then, for the ranch itself was not
an overlively place, and L was thorough
ly disappointed, q couple Of weeks later,
TO get back my letter, stamped 'undeliv-
cred My next move was to write to the
postmaster. asking whether he would sup
ply me with the address of the lady named,
and he replied on an official blank, giving
me to understand that postmasters are
not required to do anything except draw
their pay. Then / tried the owners of the
nd tl,aKy a. INV fatf or Ttifh
No such person now employed here PEN
ciled on the bottom. With that l gave
UP in despair.
Barbara Hollis haunted me for a long
time" the broker went on, but she finally
faded out of my mind and l thought no
more of her until she was recalled by mere
chance fully a year afterWard. | was
North at the time, and had been sum
moned by business 10 Manchester, n. H,
where, In looking over a timetable one
morning, / happened to notice that the
town in which the hosiery factory was To-
Gated was only short distance away and
connected by trolley. 1t seems rather
foolish thing for a man of my age 10 adj
init, but 1 Immediately became excited,
and could hardly wait to secure directions
as TO the route. ] soon got a car, and in
less than an hour l was on the ground
without anything definite In my mind ex-
cept a fixed determination TO find and meet
the mysterious Barbara II / had to turn
the whole place inside out to do II. ! con-
cluded to first go to the factory and make
some guarded enquiries, on the preteXt
that / had q message to deliver from a
friend. It was an immense, tremendously
big concern, but they received me very
courteously in the Office and one of the
boOkkeepers went iearefully over the pay
rolls for several years back in a vain ef
fort to find the name. At last he bright
ened up. IL tell you what 10 do he said.
Go upstairs and see. our Mr.. Ferguson.
He's been superintendent of the knitting
rooms ever since We started, and can give
you a line on any girl that ever worked
here l rushed upstairS and found Fergu-
son at rolltop desk. s--
He was big and genial, but when |
stated the object of my visit strange,
startled look flashed across his fat face
Barbara Hollisr he repeated in an awed
years! IS she dead, them l asked,
greatly shocked. Wen, yes-er-that is
to say, she isn't exactly alive he replied
Not exactly aliveT l exclaimed in amaze
ask? What do YOU know about her? 1
thought 1t best to, be frank and made a
clean breast Of Il but 4 =, before l got
of eephantine mirth 'Ha, ha, ha, he
roared, IL that don't beat am Then he
caught his breath and explained: Bar
bara Hollis isn't a girl. he said, and
never was. She was a syndicate. There
were nine in II at the start. That was
away back in 1888 or 1886, and they were
the best lockers in the shop. They
thought up this scheme of sending out
notes in socks, and the smartest zone in
the crowd did the writing They We're all
signed the same haIpdtd HONS and
when the answers began to come in they
divided them up. according to taste Well
sir. you would hardly believe it, Fereu-
son went on, but blamed If the whole
nine of those girls didn't get mar
ried on correspondencei They made the
one that die the writing hold OF until
the last and then the story leaked out
1t set the rest Of the girls in the shop
so crazy that The boss had to issue
strict order against anybody else trying
the same scheme. If ne hadn't every
sock we sent ont would have had ten
page letter in the toe. But ii beats the
world he added, how you got hold of
one of those old notes. That California
storekceper must have a dandy fresh