Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1903-01-22
| In THE NAME OF
PHILANTHROPY
BY O'RYan O'Bryan
Copyright, 1902, by the
S. S. Mcclure Company

The Dawsons were double cousins
first in days of calm, but second when
storms swept over the land-girls, four
teen years old apiece, bright, fiercely
energetic and up to date.
They owned two adjoining ancestral
places well furnished with fathers and
mothers. and from cellars to attics
particularly the attics, with chairs and
things, and with servants to dust the
chairs and things. They owned also
one grandmother in common besides
two or three others in severalty.
Said their mothers, whom grand
mother in commons illness called
away, How fortunate that school is
in session; otherwise the girls might
be lonely" a maternal euphemism re-
sulting from long years of practice.
The term closed, however, without
the mothers presence to soften the
blow. mother-in-common' illness
necessitated a longer leave of absence,
which was granted in a characteristic
message: Were all right, little moth.
ers. Stay as long as you please. Love
to gram"
This was indorsed by the Fathers
Dawson.
That was what the Fathers Dawson
were for-to indorse. Although much
absorbed in trying to double the output
of the foundry without increasing the
expenses, they still reserved the veto
power at home. But the possibility OF
the overruling two-thirds vote led them
TO preserve the show of authority by
indorsing, always and speedily.
The mothers were becoming uneasy.
The daughters were becoming uneasy
too. Usually when these restless fits
came on the girls were tactfully guided
into the paths of philanthropy. "Great
executive ability" their mothers said
they had, and indeed they could dress
dolls OF make scrapbooks for children's
hospitals if necessary, but they just
dotted ON sales.
When a sale was announced, theiI
OIGM d IOl$3 UlCdLa. 4AS
mothers fell to work with a will, echo
ing the remark of Rosa, the cook: "Now
we knows where wese at. l can stan
on my feets all day maxim canny, an
I doesn' complains, but it's desc yere
surprisin's dat gibs me de misery il
my haid."
The restlessness now worked itself
into a fever, and as it reached its
height simultaneously in both girls
they started on a run from their re-
spective homes and met under the
linden tree on the boundary of their
ancestral lawns.
In breathless duet they exclaimed,
"Oh, Susannah, / have an ideal" "Oh,
Hepsibah, have an idear' .s~-
Their names were neither Susannah
always spelled with an "h'9 nor Hep
sibah. Their mothers in youthful ig-
norance of what good form would de-
mand in name later had called them
Nellie and Oracle. The girls early
came to despise these weakly cogno-
mems, and when some Harvard author
ity in proud spasm of reform chang
ed their Uncle Harry's name to Henry
without so much as saying by your
leave they promptly said, "We'll
change ours Susannah and Hep
sibah they became to each other from
that moment. The fathers and moth
ers at first stoutly resisted, but might
prevailed. The general public now
knew no others.
"We'll have a sale-a fresh air
sale.''
Then the embryo ''lady board put
their heads together and gave their ex-
ecutive ability full play.
At night the Fathers Dawson's in
dorsement was called for.
"A sale? Certainly" What a re-
lief!
When the girls signal lights greet
ed each other from their windows,
each Father Dawson started for the
telephone.
my dear" said Susannah's father,
rest easy. A sale is on. They are
quite capable of managing the Pan
American, you know, and they can
this. The servants, both men and
maid, must by this time be letter per
feet"
When his turn came, Hepsibah's fa
ther said much the same thing.
The mothers embraced each other
fervently. "The little dears,'' they
said and slept the sleep of the unwor
ried
This was Friday. The sale was set
for the next Wednesday. Grandmoth
er-in-common was now recovering rap
idly.
Tuesday night the mothers said to
each other, ''We're homesick."
Wouldn't surprise be fun?'
Lets go home. l should enjoy a
sale when we haven't worked to get
ready for it,"
"We won't even telephone for the
carriage. The girls will need all the
help they can have"
This was true. A sale without the
two faithful henchwomen called for
manual labor as well as executive abil-
lty.
Thus it was that the waning Wednes-
uay afternoon Tound the TWO mothers
hurrying on foot up the street from the
station.
'Look at all the people coming down
the street" remarked Susannah's
mother. 'There must be circus i'll
town.
eyes, or a fire somewhere. They all
seem to be carrying something"
''They are mostly women and look
like the Plains people"
mot all. There's Mrs. Gaines"
Now. Mrs. Gaines was an intimate
friend, and with smiling faces they
stopped to greet her. To their aston
ishment, she only gave vicious little
fiirt to an out of date orange colored
workbag hanging from her arm and
walked by with averted face.
Not far behind her was another ac-