The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-30
The Life and Romance
 of Rose Harriet Pastor

She read and reread 1t till she knew it almost fro mmemory. In Measure For Measure" Isabel. that most ex- quisite and noble of all Shakespeare's beroines. became her inspiration. To make herself like Isabel-that was the ideal of her girlish dreams.
 The Pastors moved again. When Rose was 9 they came to America and at length settled in Cleveland. When she was in her 18th year she went to work in a tobacco factory. She rolled tobacco leaves into cigars day after day, year after year, as thousands or girls have done before her, are doing today Scant leisure was there; only time to eat and sleep, eat and back to the never ending rolling. The monoto- nv was appalling. But Rose Pastor had imagination and aspiration. She had health, talent and dauntlesS cour- age.
 Everywhere destiny, if we call 1t that, seemed to provide just what she needed. In the factory her employers son, a youth who was great reader, lent her Victor Hugo's Les Misera- bles" It fired her heart and tmagi- nation and quickened her sympathies. already aroused, for the poor and sui ferfng, for all those who never have fair chance over and over again she read that eloquent, wonderful, poetic book and 1t awakened the singers glft in Rose Pastors own soul. She began to write poetry.
 Eleven years without a break the girl rolled tobacco. The scant pre- cious moments were used in studying and writing. Her earnings had to go toward supporting the family. From the time she gave her prize book to the little girl in London her thought has been for others. She lived in the poorest, plainest manner. with ever in her heart the hope of better days. These better days she has through sheer force of genius achieved for herself but she cannot forget those who have not her pluck talent and energy. From | the beginning her verse was always on | the topic of the poverty stricken and | the oppressed. Once she was so poor | she had nothing to eat for two days. Some crumbs from her last loaf Of | bread had been saved to sprinkle upon the window sill for the sparrows. With these she fed the birds and then wrote the poem, Feeding the Sparrows." | Mountain Clouds" is fair sample | of her verse in those grinding, over wrought years of her life, with the | same sad theme always uppermost in her mind. Mountain Clouds begins: | l Low on the breast of the mountains, | Low on my heart on the mountains, 1 Heavy with weight of rains.
 | As the eyes of millions of toilers l Are heavy with tears of want.
 still the girl herself was not unhap- | pv. because she says, q am never un- | happy at work" She sent some of her l verses to a Jewish paper. They were | published and attracted attention from l the editor of another Jewish paper At | length. two years ago, the managers | of a New York daily printed in Yiddish | asked the gifted girl to accept place on their paper. She did so, and life | has never been hard for her since She 1 interested herself from the beginning | in working girls, became a leader in | their clubs and established lively and | instructive column headed, Just Be- | tween Ourselves. Girls"
 She was sent to interview J. Graham
 Phelps Stokes, who lived at the Uni l versity Settlement and helped the East 1 Side poor. She was half scared at the
 idea, fearing to find him "old and
 stiff," and was greatly relieved to learn
 that he was out of town. The editor sent her back, however, with the same | result, equally to her relief. She was obliged to try 1t the third time. She | found a mild hammered young man with
 whom she felt instantly at home.
 The pair seem to have fallen in love
 at once in the most romantic way.
 Charlotte Van Beck.