Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1903-01-15

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sre=s=-.===HT seemed to Margaret Aims
Is3 4 Eli lee as she looked over the
MN z I'll wide Ohio wheat fields that
IN R-AW if she could get to Wash
II E&S2S ington life would have
,fTTMzz71l nothing left to offer. Il
n %Ssl6 ii Had been dream of hers
iSETgSs9lk for three years. Twice
lL=M-NV the coveted appointment
had seemed surety, but twice the SUI
perior political demands of some daugh-
ter of henchman had taken the prize
from her. Congressman Sprague had
explained these failures in long writ
ings that said little. When the girl saw
younger sister coming up the hill
waving letter her heart jumped
When she opened it and found that she
had been named for a position in the
treasury department at salary of $40
a month, the news seemed too good to
be true.
She found the life not all that she
had painted. The hours from 8 to
were not oppressive and her compan-
Ions were pleasant, but as the summer
drew on and her lungs we're filled with
the air Of the huge, illy-ventilated
building, she caught herself longing
more than once for a breath Of the
home fields. She noted that of the
hundreds of women who poured into
and out Of the structure daily so per
cent were pale, dispirited and seemed
in bad health. She was at no loss for
cause. Often she looked into the
glass Of mornings searching for signs
OF the coming pallor on her fresh
cheeks. She was of excellent constitu-
ton and bore the confinement better
than most.
There were 200 men and women in
the room in which she worked They
came from all parts Of the country and
in the buzz of talk which arrived
promptly with the lunch hour she got
all varieties of the American accent.
There was one who worked two desks
away, a slender young fellow with
black eyes and straight black hair like
an Indians He had told her Good
mawnin' when he first saw her and
she was not long in finding out that he
was from South Carolina and was sup
porting himself with work for the gov
eminent while studying law with the
Georgetown night class He was a
frank youngster and courteous, sharp
oned her pencils for her, saw that her
ink-well was always full and clean, rem
dering a hundred small services in I'M
cbtrusive fashion and treating her al
ways with marked Difference that was
as new to her as it was refreshing.
His name was Thomas Porter, he had
been two years in the department and
was known to pretty nearly everybody
in 1t as Tommy"
Margaret went little into society, yet
at euchre party one night she met
Hon. Broderick Simms, of Montana.
He was the first congressman with
whom she had held social converse and
she was disposed to regard him with
awe. She knew Sprague, of course, but
Sprague was old and bald-headed and
chewed tobacco voraciously. This man
was young and handsome, with a bud
ding reputation among associates as an
orator. Indeed, his name had come to
be mentioned frequently in the personal
paragraphs In the Washington Post and
his friends looked upon his future as
assured His cheelbones were some
thing high, his lips coarse and his neck
very thick at the base, but he was a
handsome man for all that, with thor
ough understanding of his own value
and an assured manner. He talked we'll
and the girl was much interested. She
| heard him speak three days afterward
! and was more interested than ever.
I She permitted him to call on her, not
knowing any reason why she should
/ not and being totally unaware of the
freedom with which tongues wag in
! Washington. A little while after that
| she noticed marked GOODNESS among
her female acquaintance in the depart
ment. She thought she detected. too,
a certain air Of semi-familiarity on the
part of the men, which angered her.
though she could think of no way in
which to resent It, Tommy" how
ever, was true. She was to him, as
ever, something to be surrounded with
watchful care, something to be served,
something to be protected.
The summer wore on and visits from
Representative Simms got to be fire.
quent Margaret Ainsee was an ex-
| ceedingly pretty girl. The Montana
man had spoken nothing as yet of love,
| though he had paid her many compli-
| ments. She was not in love with him,
though she liked him immensely and
she permitted herself sometimes to
think of what life would be as the wife
Of a rising congressman. who was ap-
parently safe in his seat for years to
come She reflected that IL was only a
step from the lower chamber TO the
senate, and she even had some desire
TO pose as the mistress Of salon.
These thoughts she kept to herself.
In the ordinary course Of develop
ment Of this very ordinary Washington
affair she found herself one Sunday
wandering through the Chevy Chase
lands with Simms as escort They had
come out by electric car and were some
distance from the station. Around
them rose the massive trees of one Of
the most beautiful bits of woodland I'm
America. At their feet a clear brook
ran. Her hands we're filled with late
summer flowers and he was lying at
her feet.
ut seems to me-" he was saying. soft
IT, that have known you always. yet
II Is only few months since you came
into my life. You fitted into II so
naturally, you see"
She said: yes, we have been good
friends. Mr.. Simms."
'Tt is not a great while" ha went