Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-08-20
SYNOPSIS,

TIC lllllo lOWH VI SEdNlOTu, nave uCSi
greatly worried with the servant girl
problem. not being able to keep one Tor
over few months. The constant recur-
made them both irritable and cross. and
members Of the Nsrbi s SQUARE d Rss the
s serewn With many little t e and as re
The last girl has just left and Mr.. Ward
has advertised for another. Barbara Clark
applies for tho position; Barbara is an
and although qualified to teach school, has
been unable to obtain employment of any
kind; She; with her widowed mother , has
coaxing she persuades her mother to per-
nit her to apply for the position of servant
girl. which she obtains.
drudgery Barbara Is extremely down
hearted and decides to give up her position
for many reasons. She notifies Mrs. Ward.
help she had been and is begged to stay.
Mrs. Ward promising to make her life with
them more pleasant. That night she re-
teacher. but decides 10 remain with the
Wards, believing she can be of some good
there. She has a heart-to-heart talk with
sion that the difficult servant girl problem
is. one that can be remedied, which they
plan to do The following Sunday she IS
invited to accompany the family to church
which she gladly docs.
CHATTER 1II.-The act Of the Wards in
taking their servant girl to church creates
Sers amonf
that daH ter. sssSp:. the pulpit
Mrs Mr. W Ward nHS = .b 9po
Ing day. Barbara is quite interested In
Mr.. Morton. and she wonders If In her po-
sition she can ever socially meet such as
heI few days later Barbara calls on Mrs
Vane, wealthy member of the church
whom she had met there, leader OF Craw-
ford society, and who Is called eccentric be-
girls. She takes quite fancy to Barbara
and they become very familiar.
CHAPTER Iv.-Barbara ana Mrs. WARD
Visit v. MIS- Ms yans to hold conference to dis
hired SRI Hiida. lEs mo.. servant iat sirI.
takes little intsreat in the movement for
bettering the conditions Of her class. and
est obstacle. Barbara attends church quite
i meet. many an q tn: members 81. !, simply
pastorate Of the Marble Square church, Dr..
~! Law being forced to retire on account OF
her mother who tries to show her the wide
s servant SRI and other oceupations and
Breaches 70 Mrs.. VS Vans. pan "h'eh 'h'
CHAPTER V.-Mrs. Clark had remarked
under any conditions and Barbara's plan
Is. with the help of Mrs. Vane. to meet the
lattsr's friend, at q social gathering at her
bsr learns har Is m sssfes o %er and Ban
too true. Mr.. Morton 10 there and is very
KIND ana pleasant to her. and after the
a ans ma nave isft Barbara co1fessss to Mrs.
weeks later Alfred, Mrs. Wards oldess
s sHfn, comes home from college and imme-
IL . SasaFs sy WITH Mn. Mara snd
drink. Mrs. Ward will not believe the
nn ssH;;, angry words soon enspe. and she
nnal!y tells Barbara she may leave, which
she does.
She explained to Barbara Aunt Wal
lace's legacy, and added that Mr..
Ward had offered to put $500 more
with it to make it $4,000.
II think Mrs. Vane and some of the
other ladies in our church and society
will give something, SO that we can
begin with pretty good building and
have enough to equip and run it. Sup
pose you go over and see Mrs. Vane
some day this week and have talk
with her about it."
81 WILL" said Barbara. tingling with
eagerness. Something real and tan
gih2e seemed about to come to pass in
her career. She grew excited as she
thought of possibilities. A building
of the kind she had dreamed of was
not by any means an answer to the
servant girl problem, but it was at
least real thing, and if the idea was
properly worked out it might result
in great things.
So she talked with herself as she
sung at her work that afternoon and
resolved to go over to Mrs. Vane's at
once, and yet even in the midst of her
growing excitement and her genuine
interest in her career, Barbara was
pot altogether free from depression
that had its origin in the best feeling
she had ever known. This feeling
was her love for the young minister,
Mr.. Morton. Barbara no longer tried
to conceal from herself that he had
become real part of her life. The
trouble in the Ward household had all
tended indirectly to increase her adj
miration for him. With the tenderest
sympathy he had entered into the
family's grief. 1t was only natural
that In the weeks that followed Carts
death Mr.. Morton should call fire.
quently at the house where he had
become such familiar guest in col
lege days. Scarcely day passed
when he did not drop in for meal,
or to spend part of an evening.
In one way and another Barbara
,at HI In,l 10 Of,
the same earnest, gentlemanly, kindly
speaker and listener. Gradually in
little moments of conversation when
Mrs. Ward was not able to come down,
and Mr.. Ward and Morton had lin
gered over little talk on social ques-
tions after tea, Barbara had taken an
unconscious part in the discussion.
More than once she had with almost
guilty haste gone out of the sitting
room after one of those important
discussions In which she had revealed
a part of her ambitions to the young
minister and Mr.. Ward; and in the
midst of her work, as she finished
some kitchen task, she reproached
her heart for yielding to what seemed
like hopeless affection. But the
girls life was opening into full bios
som under the spell of power as old
as the human race, as divine an in
stinct, as religious hunger, as hui
manity ever knew. She was more
than dimly conscious of all this, even
In the midst of her self-reproaches.
But the consciousness of her posi-
ton as household servant and of his
position as leader in the pulpit of the
most influential church in Crawford
was sharply painful. The gulf be-
tween them was not very deep per-
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