The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-12-29
THE GRUB STAKE.


the hall bedroom next They are
couple OF girls, and I guess, my boy,
that they are pushed to 1t and pinched
harder than we are They came in this
morning ard while was plugging
awav illustrating the fortieth chapter of
. that novel of yours, which is to bring
US both fame and fortune, l couldn't
help overhearing what they had to say
Wei. what was it, Tom?" asked
Billy. It's pretty hard lines for
couple of girls If they are as tar down
on their luck as we are. 1 went to see
Sinclair the publisher today to ask him
what he thought of the manuscript l
turned in with the first lot of your pic
lures and the old fellow said that he
hadn't had time to look at either writ
ing or drawing and he was pretty curt
about it at that. Wen StarVe pretty
soon # there isn't something doing, anG
when YOU say that our new neighbors
are worse off than we are they must be
pretty near the limit"
The transom was open, Billy, and
heard one of the girls-and she had a
sweet voice, too by the way-tell Moth
er Scaggs that they only wanted the
room for a week, and they asked. as
thought pathetically, if she couldn't let
them have it for S1.50 instead of $1.T5
Mother Scaggs told them yes, and
heard them both breathe a sigh of re-
lief.
well. you see the old woman went
downstairs and then 1 heard one of the
girls say to the other: Only 81, Fanny,
for food for a week How in the world
can we do it without starving to deaths?
Then the other girl broke in and said:
oh. cheer UP, Helen; Wen get through
all right, don't you fear.
Hold up, Tom; there they are now,
said Billy a movement was heard in
the hall There they're talking and
talking loud, too. I guess they don't
know they have neighbors as hungry as
themselves"
The tones Of a pleasant voice hoated
in over the transom. The neighbors had
left their door open. Wen have mush
for dinner, Fanny, said voice Light
the oil stove and get out the sauce
pan"
A smell of kerosene was waited to the
nostrils Of the artist and the scribbler
I'm the next room. Pretty soon another
and unmistakable ordor supplanted the
first. 1t was the smell of burning mush.
"Oh, Fanny" walled voice, you've
burned the stuff and we can never eat
il. Nothing but dry bread tonight or
Wen get to the limit of our SO before
half the week is up. Dearie me, but I'm
famished. Mercy, but wouldn't ] like
some fresh crackers and a box of first
class sardines."
Hear that, Tom said Billy Aston;
wouldn't that make YOUR heart Gnaw,
let alone your stomach? Girls aren't cut
out for this bohemian life. We've got
$3.50 between us. Let's take a reef in
our belts to close the aching void lit
tie. go OuL ana get a peer edGH anu
some redhoIs and put the rest into sar-
dimes and crackers, and droD them qui-
city at the door of these famished fe-
males"
Good scheme. Billy said Tom. 1T
couldn't enjoy a square meal with the
thought of those girls going hungry.
Come along"
An hour afterward. when one of the
girls in the fourth floor hall bedroom rear
opened the door she found two brown
nnrrplG the threshold She Mt
tered a little exclamation. picked up the
packag es and went back into the room.
In the next room two listening young
fellows heard. "Oh. Helen, somebody
has dropped a large can of the best
sardines here with two pounds of crack
ers. Oh my. but how I would like to
eat them"
oh but we mustn't, Fanny. I believe
it's just somebody trying to tempt us to
eat We mustn't really, dear" And then
the voices became so low that the artist
and scribbler heard nothing further.
Every day for a week Billy Aston
and Tom Porter heard occasional
snatches of conversation over the tram
som. The burden of the speech was
always that of semi-starvation. with an
occasional reference to the facts that
crushed rice Is cheap. and that round
the corner one might get two loaves of
stale bread for a nickel. All this cut
deep into the sensitive hearts of the
eavesdrOpping bOhemiaTs. They daily
LOOK uU announcer mole IN their belts. ate
more redhOts, which cost nothing but
the price of the beer. and dropped tooth
some contributions surreptitiously at
the door of their neighbors. When they
listened, hoping to hear sounds of a
feast after they had grub-staked the
girls they could catch nothing but a
word or two of whispered conversation,
the drift of which seemed to be that
somebody unknown was tempting some
body else to eat
once or twice Billy and Tom passed their
neighbors in the hall. They found that the
famished ones We're poorly but neatly
dressed. apparently rather pale from pri-
Nation, but Withal astonishngly pretty.
The young women had been a week in
one morning overheard these words: Well
fele n. our & are gone. our seven days
Helenp ana VIE sn must st go am not hungry
Great Scott, Tom. listen to that and
~ es, answered Tom. its tough, but
does it. strike YOU. Billy that we We gone
through the week on a dollar and sixty
cents, nut then were hardened 20 this sort
Of thing, and don't grudge the cash that
We put into the sardines, etc, that We
passed into the starving ones
Shortly after there were signs of an
exodus from the fourth floor back hall bed
room
-Four DAYS afterwards Mother Scaggs
she was Mrs. Wlhelmina ScagSs but the
dodgers called her mother beeaHse she was
good TO them-bOarded "a North State
street car. pretty young woman with n
Sealskin coat and jaunty hat smoke to
nen Good morning, Mother Scaggs
Mrs Scaggs looked at her a moment
puzzled "Oh. Miss Sinclair" she said, II
etdn't know you at first. You look so diff
Ierent. Well, now your experiment is over.
how do YOU feel2'
Better than ever before, Mother Scaggs.
ana much more charitable. Helen and /
tried the experiment of living on 8 a week
In chean room in nrder that NC might
more thoroughly appreciate the struggle
or the working girl. We're going to pub
lsh the result of our experiment and l
nope IT will lead some people to raise
the wages of working girls Nv bat they
must have hard time of it. We nearly
starved TO death, but We stuck to it and
never touched the sardines, cracker and
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