The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1905-09-01

eight cents apiece, and | come here to-
night thinkin you didn't know it, or
wuz as poor as poverty yourself or yoi
wouldn't scrimp her down to that price.
And come prepared to give some work
10 you and pay you in advance so you
could pay your help more. And Jest
See" sez !, wavin' my hand round, the
place I've got into. a palace richer than
Mr. Divees ever owned, to say nothin'
of Solomon and the wilder Sheba. And
want to know" sez sternly, what it
means to spend $4,000 in flowers for
idle eyes to glance at few hours and
then give eight cents apiece for maxim
shirts to starvin' girl.
Are you crazy?" sez he, lookin' at me
eoldly.
No" SEE /, "but l guess I've got
among crazy folks, for nobody but lungs
or them whose hearts are harder than
granite-stun would act so heartless.
Madame" SEE he, you will see my
name in yesterdays paper as one who
gave 10000 to help the sufferers in Fur
Their Injy."
Further lnjy?" SEE /, that's fur
enough, but if you give S40,0en to suffer
ers you never see, so fur away they
can't git no further you hadn't ort to let
your hired girls starve to death on your
back doorsteps, so to speak.
Sez he. kinder raisin' his voice, Ma
dam, You will see my name among the
contributors to every worthy charity
that is mentioned in the public papers,
You will see that | am large contribu-
tor to the Fegee missions, the Hotten-
tots. You will see my name
But seq, Il dino as care about seem
your name. What I'd love to see would
be your heart, and see it sot on reileVln
sufferin' right here to home. 1t is all
we'll enough to set your telescope on re-
mote heathens and send EN- help. but
why not use your naked eye and relieve
sufferin' right under your nose? There
is Helen Noble. your hired girl, not a
mite to eat. not a speck OF fire this bit
ter cold weather. she toiled away till she
dropped at her frozen post of labor.
She's been tempted by starvation and
by her own bleedin' heart. She wuz
starved bodily and with the keener
gnawin' of heart starvation, and
through it all has KEEP her divine limo
cence and hasn't cursed God and died
as 50 many would, and God has not for
got her, she will be took care of and 50
will them that brought her to where she
is. And as for the young feller that
wronged her so. that won her love and
then turned it into a dagger to woond
and destroy her with, may God have
mercy on him, for I'm afraid shouldn;
if got hold of him"
I noticed how deadly white the young
chap looked then, good lookin' Teller.
but sort O. dissipated and weak loollin.
But just then heard Miss Co speak to
Miss Grindem-Downe in dretful con-
temptous way, as if it wuzn't OF any con-
sequence what became of that class,
as she called Helen and other toilers
She said they wuZ always complainin'
and duty made me turn to her and say:
You Jest try it for a spell maxim
shirts for eight cents apiece. Why, seq
y, i wouldn't set in a gusset for that
And you try maxim pantaloons for ten
cents and live on the profit and support
young brother"
4. try it," She acted fairly stupe-
fed wit, amazement at the iiee.
Yes" SCI l, Helen is jest about
your age and she's had to try it,
"She!" Oh, how contemptous that
''she" wuz l never hearn meaner
soundin' she in my life. "She is diff
ferent from me; don't you dare com
pare her to meme"
l looked full at her. She wuz hum
bly, creeter. | didn't like her looks at
all. and l knowed Helen wuz as much
her superior as the moon is above a
grass-hopper, and as she SEE agin,
Don't you dare, woman. to compare her
to MEL | SEE:
Yes. see l wuz wrong, Helen is
made Of finer clay, her flesh is softer.
delicater, her eyes deeper, purer, her
mind brighter, her soul is as much above
some others as light is above darkness.
But that dainty flesh has had to be al
most frozen with cold, wasted by slow
starvation, destroyed with overwork
The bright mind has had to grope
through the shadders of loneliness,
hopelessness, despair, the tender wo-
man heart wrung by bitter wrongs re-
ceived from one she loved better than
herself And the sweet soul almost got
ready to take fight from the hunted,
abused body. But a day of reckonin' is
comm A great hand above is keepin'
the book of accounts; this will be tend
ed to, the pay day will come"
The young chap, white as ashes.
turned and walked off. Miss Grindem-
Downe and the others made contemp-
tous and impatient remarks and see
it wouldn't do no good to stay longer.
see they didn't care mite if their hired
girl wuz dyin' of starvation and
wouldn't give a cent more for maxim
the shirts and pantaloons. So as gay
party come in and went up the big STAIR
case left by side door and returned to
the bosom of my family, which wuz rent
with fear and anxiety for my safety, but
subsidized into quiet as | went in.
Well, the tavern keeper at my request
got good place for Dick to board and
go to school with doctor and likely
man. l guess he means to adopt him.
he's bachelor and rich. And with
Josiah's full consent we took Helen
homo with nc She soempd hotter after