Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1905-11-27

she lett tn6 lights OF the stores D6nlnu
and turned down the dark, lonely
street which led to her room, she was
startled by every football, and hErried
past the alleys, more from fear than
because of the wind which swept
through them.
Her room gained, she drew her
straight-backed chair up by the little
wood stove with a sigh Of relief, and
prepared to write her first letter
home. Like all first letters after the
old home has been left, the pages
were dotted here and there with sus-
picious looking spots, but the account
Of her trip and minute description Of
her tiny room bravely covered the
ache in her heart.
Up in the modest northern home
when her mother read the letter to
Emily's younger brothers and sisters,
she detected this undercurrent, and
that night after the great mending
basket was put away, she wrote a
long, cheerful reply, making the most
possible Of the bright things Emily
had mentioned and Of the gratitude
they ought to feel toward her fathers
friend for taking Emily into his fac
tory.
The letter had the desired result,
land, conscious Of the assistance she
was giving her widowed mother,
Emily heroically crushed down her
loneliness. Unfortunately for her,
she had incurred the dislike of Sue
Bixby, who was the acknowledged
leader among the girls in the factory.
Every newcomer must win Sues
approval before the others would
notice her If she so decided "the
new hand" was worse than ostracised;
she was subjected to the slurring re
marks of not only Sue, but Of all her
| followers.
Emily, while reared humbly, natur
ally was more refined than the girls
with whom she now was thrown. Sue
recognized this difference, though
she could not have defined it, and
this very feeling of inferiority led her
to show as much Immature as pos
sible. On the day of Emily's arrival,
Sue surveyed her critically, and then,
purposely loud enough to be heard by
all in that end of the room said: Il
say, girls, is that a widow"
The unkind reference to Emily's
black dress was greeted with giggles,
and from that time she was known as
"the widow" Naturally Emily man
aged to see them as little as possible,
hurrying to the restaurant as soon as
the factory whistle blew Here. at
least it was bright and cheerful, and
the waiter who looked like "the min
lister up home" often stopped to talk
with her. For this reason she always
went to the little table at which she
had first been seated. Her table COM
panion of the first night was always
there before her, but, beyond handing
her the card or passing things occa-
sionally, he seemed to take no notice
OF her.
What a moody, disagreeable man.
observed Emily to herself one evening
as he sat gazing vacantly before him
while waiting for his order to be
served.
Suddenly, as though recollecting
something, he drew newspaper from
his pocket and spread it out before
him. 1t was a small paper, the Week
ly Badger, evidently from some vii
lage. The man became so interested
in it that he did not notice when his
order was brought, and the waiter
/ was obliged to set it down near
Emily. At last, having read the pa
per through, he folded it and looked
for his supper
Emily was amused by his look of
establishment on seeing everything be-
| side her. He smiled as she handed
him his dishes, and some way he did
not seem SO much like a stranger to
her after all. He was evidently from
| the country, like herself, and his in
terest in his old home made her feel
differently toward him.
MAY be he is homesick the reason
he looks so gloomy she thought, and
for the first time she noticed how
threadbare his suit and loose the but
tons,-that pathetic evidence of the
poor man who must take care of his
| own clothes.
Emily soon became accustomed to
going home alone through the dark
streets, and, instead Of hurrying as
she had at first, she walked slowly
past the houses where the shades
were up and she could see the family
groups in the cheerful rooms This
was her only glimpse of homelife, and
it afforded her almost her only source
of pleasure, though at the same
time it touched a tender cord and
aroused that indescribable longing
which only the homeless can know.
The factory was of course closed on
Thanksgiving day. Emily wished it
were not, for she could not go home
The day was unusually cold for the
time of year, and high wind made it
III fl IN Iyoop from 70 11ipc ~, tho inv