The daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1904-1905, 1904-04-22

n
upon the sheets of paper with one of
the pencils. though l am sure she had
no consciousness of doing SO.
"What is the nature of this employ
ment?" she asked.
There was a longer pause than be-
fore. l could see clearly enough what |
the poor little girl expected. Burnham
and others had suggested her peculiar
powers as a means of earning her liv-
ing, and she felt that had come upon
the same errand. Seeing how she
shrank from that theme, had not the |
heart to take it up.
You have heard about me-" she
said. "You think l am some phenome-
nally gifted monstrosity. Really am
nothing of the sort. 1 am just like any
other girl. I can guess things. So can
| every woman. My aunt was interested
in-in that subject, and so l did it. l
am not interested and shall never do it
again. i
1t was a pitiful protest. and it car
ried the day with me.
81 think you mistake my errand."
| said l as gently as possible. Have
| you ever had any experience in teach
, ing?'
She dropped the pencil and stared at
me.
| 1--WE are planning to open an evening
school in the town where l live l
! continued. a great part of the popu-
lation consists of people who work in
my factory, the Hackett & Harrington
carpet mills. Some Of these people
and l am thinking now of the young
women especially-have lacked educa-
tiOnal training in their childhood. We
are going to give them Il chance to re
cover the lost ground. They are obliged
to work in the daytime. but many of
them will welcome the opportunity to
study and to acquire some simple &C
complishments in the evening. We are
not slave drivers. Our people do not
have to drop exhausted into their beds
as soon as they have eaten their sup
pers."
At this point Miss Vaughn interrupt
ed me by suddenly falling forward,
with her head in her hands. l think it
must have been five minutes that she
wept and sobbed. and was both dis
tressed and alarmed though she kept
assuring me that she was not i'll and
that she was very happy. When she
had recovered some share of self com
mand. she begged me to give her a
trial in the school.
81 should so love that work. she
said over and over again. Il know
should succeed
| The idea seemed to enchant her. She
spoke of her own powers with conf
|
tic, splendd-in fact. precisely the sort
of girl to inspire the right feeling in our
young women of Tunbridge who must
take up too late in life the heavy men
tai tasks of childhood.
| l was greatly embarrassed and a vic
tim of that nervous dissa tisfactior
f which comes to Il rational. practica
: man when he blunders into good anC
: judicious action. 1t is species of i'm
g posture. I perceived that it was 6
most fortunate thing for both Of Us
= that I had come to call upon Miss
e Vaughn, and it distressed me to know
that she would always credit me with
kindness, even though I should con
fess in the most open manner that
n had come upon u wholly different er
I rand.
Il While I hesitated the poor girl wa
on the rack. Her nervousness was un
comfortable. She began to scribbl'
with the pencil and to twist the Sheet
Of paper in her fingers without know
ing what she was doing. Seeing this,
! came straight to the point.
Its a simple matter of business,
said 1; rather sudden, Of course, blu
you mustn't mind that. The position il
I yours if you'll take it, and, for my owl
part, I'm more than content. Wei
make the salary satisfactory and let i
begin Immediately, though the schoo
| doesn't open for some weeks
The crazy pencil stopped, and tn
dear child who has been like my OWL
daughter from that moment looked VI
into my eyes while the tears shone up
on her cheeks.
Now, this may seem a small matte
to cause so much emotion, but it mus
be remembered that Dorothy had beel
at her wits end since her aunts death
We forget sometimes that the term g;
living has close connection with tn
verb Ito live" Whether a pennies
girl is alone in the world or mai
fighting in the heart Of a mob feels
pistol pressed against his head, it i
much the same. We should not lool
for perfect calm. And that is the evi
of our present social system, that i
puts the poor and the distressed eve
at their worst and their weakest. 1t i
grand to see human being stand I'm
moved in deadly peril, but as bust
ness man cannot say that we prOduc
the best possible results in this worl'
by making life one long, mortal emer
gency for the majority Of our species.
While l was endeavOring to max
| norOthy up1nrstapI that was No ar