Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-21
THEIR RISE IN LIFE

A few weeks ago 4 very beautiful woman
OF thirty-fye OF 10. superbiy dressed
ahghted from victoria pulled By pair OF
perfectly matched. blooded bays, in front
OF modest Columbia Heights home. The
handsome woman assisted her two pretty
children. a boy antea girl from the car
riage, and the three mounted the steps Of
the modest hpmes Before the woman had
chance to press the electric button the
mistress OF tbs hosne appeared At the door
with cordial greeting for the handsome
woman and many hugs for the children.
The woman and the children entered the
house and remained there for an hour or so,
while the coachmans,exercised the blooded
bays up and down the street and the foot
man stood in front or the house holding the
robe. the neighbors In the meanwhile rub
herring out Of their front windows to their
hearts content.
dren had driven away one Of these women
neighbors ran in to see the mistress OF
the modest home.
I'VE and our swell visitors" she said,
banterinsly, to the latter. to draw her out
The woman who had had the swell Wis
itors smiled. "
Did you think her fandsome?' she in
quired Of her neighbor.
Superb was the enthusiastic reply.
And such a costume! And such furs!
And such an air of distinctions! And. par
ticularly. such lovely children! Who is
she?"
First" replied the mistress Of the mod
est home, Il shall tell you who she was.
Up to sixteen years ago she was my house
servant"
Incredible" exclaimed the neighbor who
had run in"
Not only not incredible, but perfectly
true" said the mistress Of the home. Now
the state of Washington. They are visiting
w ashington before going down to visit their
old homes in Virginia, and they have
suite at one of the hotels. She has become
and yet when took her as my house ser
want she could barely write her name"
This sounds Hike one of those yellow
backed roHances." said the neighbor FOR
goodness sake tell mo all about IT.
We'll, there Is nothing so terribly ro-
mantle or strange about it." said the mis-
tress of the home. eighteen years ago
this coming spring my husband and l went
down to Old Point Comfort for a few days
for the salt air. We stopped at the old
Hygeia Hotel. Our attention and sympathy
were attracted by pretty. girl who was
acting as nurse at the hotel for four slriy,
badly behaved young ones belonging to a
soured. peevish mother. who not only
treated the nurse girl shamefuliy herself.
but permitted the children to abuse her
from morning until nigh without ever
dreaming Of -. correcting them. The
young ones spent all OF their time
pinching and biting the nurse girl,
Wllie Inc mOGQGr SeEeueiy tOOhSu vi,
and one OF the little boys seemed to take
a particular delight in kicking the nurse
girl on the shins and seeing her vince wath
the pain. For thu first and only time In
from another woman I got into conversa-
ton with the nurse girl. found her to be
a et-dispositiened, though entirely I'M
educated girl. She. was an orphan and al
most entirely alone in the world, with only
a few very distant relatives. poor Virginia
farming folk. asked her If she would like
to come to Washington with me. She re-
piled that she would be deEgnteo TO- and
when we left Old Point I brought her with
me- not. however. before the girls peevish
mistress had made, scene with meIn
which I don't believe came out second
best for the woman was intolerable;
''Perlaaps I reed not say that the girl
was treated kindly in my home. Ny
daughters, one of whom was OF about the
same age as the girl, took her IN hand ana
began to teaSh heF-she was dreaatuiiy y
learned rapidly. We were living On Capitoi
Hill then, and the girl allied herself with
one of the churches, and became a great
church member. She became handsomer
all the time, and more Hkable. we were all
very fond of her. - e. -- ,.f
Zone day found her porting over ma tri-
moniaf paper. and took her severely 70
task about It, stelling, her OF the evil likely
to follow from that sort of thing. She
looked constrained. But after, a month or
so letters written In q stiff, school-boyfsh
hand, with tie post1nark OF one of the
Puget sound towns IN the state OF Wash
ingtont began. to arrive at the house for the
/ girl. She kAew W that was her friend and
she brought some OF the letters to me to
read. She confessed THAT she had begun
the correspondence through an advertise
ment for a wife which she had seen In the
matrimonial paper. The letters were awk-
wardIy written. but 1t was plain that the
man who had written them was honest.
Curiously enough. he. too, was Virglnfan.
who had gone to the northwest to seek his
fortune, and he was In a fair way to make
it. He was running big general store OF
his own. and was making money fast, he
said. But marriageable girls were still
scarce out his way, he said, and he was
delighted that tue girl with whom he was
in correspondence was a Virginian. I ad-
vised the girl, nevertheless, against all that
sort OF thing, but she looked unconvinced.
few days later the young mans photo
graph arrived. He was square-jawed and
had honest eyes. and he was far from bad
looking So I began to wayer g. trifle.
Along with the photograph was a letter.
inclosing a money order for 500, and a re-
quest-indeed. a supplication-tiiat my house
girl meet the sender OF the money order on
such and such a date at st. Paul, Mimi.
and, IL you think You can like me as
know I'll love you, why, we'll get married
in St. Paul. the letter concluded with q
sort Of simple frankness that appealed to
me. The girl asked me what she should do.
and, after thinking 1t over for night, I
came right out boldly and told her that
thought that she had better go-that the
man seemed honest beyond a doubt My
husband agreed with me- I went to work
and hastily fixed the girl out with such an
outfit Of clothes could be got ready with
in the short space of time at her disposal.
meanwhile having her wire to the man in
the state OF Washington that she would
meet him in st. Paul on the date he speci-
fed She went-we were sorely cut up, too,
and missed her dreadfully-and- she met
him. They were married on the same day.
That's ALL He has made her a magnifi-
cent husband, and she has made him a
splendid wife, besides developing into the
charming woman Of whom you caught a
glimpse today. Her husband possessed the
money making faculty. and became rich
SO fast that he hardly knew what to do
with his wealth. He graduated from a
keeper of a general store into a prosperous
contractor. then into timber merchant
on a great scale, and so on. He and his
wife set deliberately to work to cultivate
their minds. obtaining the very best tutors.
and both of them are far better educated
now than me average man and woman.
They have got magnificent home out on
Puget sound, and they go to Europe fire.
Quently, or to the Hawaiian Islands and
Japan when tho fancy strikes them. They
called upon me for the first time seven