Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-03-23

spirits. Her mother and sister had
come to look upon ner as the mainstay
of the little family, because she man
aged to eke out about 50 week regu-
larly addressing envelopes. Marie had
earned a few dollars in the two years
since their father had died, but the
demand for the foolish little cupids
and fierce-looking fairies which she
painted on cardboard didn't hold out
long after Christmas and Easter. To
he sure, they had one roomer who paid
S1.5O a week, but it's quite trick for
three grown women to sustain life, to
say nothing of appearances, on an av-
erage income of about $3.50 year.
Flo tried to make a joke of 1t, but
when mamma really wished to go out
and each of the girls was obliged to
contribute garment, n pair of shoes
or hat to make Mrs. Yoakum's toilet
complete, it was not easy to keep up
the laugh with which the handsome
Flo managed to greet each of their
successive hardships. They lived in
a dingy two-story house that would
have been as squalid within as with
out If it had not been for the scrupu-
ious cleanliness and incessant industry
of the two girls. They kept everything
as clean as new pin, but despite their
gentle ways and everlasting care, the
old tapestry on the parlor floor was
mapped and diagrammed into thread
bare Islands, canals and estuaries. The
old hair-cloth furniture, besides being
q decade out of date, was full of holes.
richety and scared. Never might
mother and daughter. nor vet the two
sisters, go out together. They hadn't
enough clothes to go around. Company
was out Of the question-that is, male
company, for, though both Flo and
Marie were very pretty, pride re-
strained them from disclosing the
scantiness of their possessions even to
the grocer's clerk, who, having fallen
desperately in love with Marie, sought
to improve her acquaintance by call
ing.
She was out. Flo told him, and there
after poor Marie was debarred from
an occasional visit to the store in which
the ardent clerk worked, languishing.
When Mr.. Yoakum died he left moth
Ing but his insurance policy for $4,000.
1t would have been fortune for his
economical wife and daughters but the
insurance company in which the policy
was written became involved about the
time the Yoakum claim was presented,
and the Yoakums knew no more than
that a receiver or something of that
sort had been appointed, and that there
wasn't much chance of their getting
anything out of the policy. For few
months they had cheered one another
with vague hopes that there must be a
settlement, but to all their letters, COM
plants and urgings not word of
tangible encouragement came from the
receiver. Then they sold their piano
moved into a cheaper house and began
to look for positions. Mrs. Yoakum
scrimped and saved in the kitchen, the
girls mended, darned, patched. washed,
Ironed scrubbed and slaved to keep out
of debt. When the roomer, an elderly
bookkeeper, usually very punctual, was
q day late with his weekly rent, the
household menage was Immediately
and unavoidably contracted.
One morning, having discovered that
the last milk ticket was gone and that
there wasn't a cent of money in the
house, Flo encountered the milkman at
the back door and told him, with a
sweet smile, that they didn't want any
milk. This was not a falsehood, since
what they really wanted was cream.
but it didn't help to make the bla ok
coffee and dry toast any more palata-
BILE. While Mrs. Yoakum and her two
daughters were engaged in a kind of
hysterical effort to make light of this
the most frugal meal they had yet par
taken Of, there was loud knock at the
front door, Flo dropped her ragged
napkin and ran to the window. She
should have gone to the door direct
but it was too late for the postman
and-well, proud folks in such cases as
hers have to be diplomatic about ad
mitting visitors. There was a carriage
at the curb! She flashed back to the
dining kitchen room and hastily ap
prised her mother and sister, who flew
at once to the family bedroom to make
ready for a distinguished caller. Flo
put her back hair to rights, and with {
futter at her heart, opened the door.
"Does the widow Of the late FRANKLIN
Yoakum live here?" asked very state
ly and prosperous looking gentleman
raising his silk hat.
Eyes, SIR" gasped Flo, hopes that sht
dare not encourage rising high within
her breast, "did you wish to see her
sir"
Eyes, miss" he said, entering, II an
representing the Janus Life Insurance
Company, in which, l believe, your
was he your father, miss? Yes? So
guessed. Well, lie held policy 70
$4,000 in the Janus and I've called t
pay