The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-09
CHAPTER VIII. -! 8
Continued.

COLllllcu.
In the months Of July and August
young and old alike dream of green
delds, Of woods where the shadows are
deep and cool, of the seaShore where
The fresh breezes roll up the blue
waves into light bracken upon the
single, Of rocks with deep pools and
dark cool caves. 1t is hard in these
months to be seeking for work and
finding none, while the streets smell
like a bakery whose windows haVe
not been opened for weeks, and the
reflected heat mounts Cup and strikes
your cheeks as with a hot hammer, and
the air of the great town seems used up
by the breathing of all the millions,
and there is no refreshment by day or
might, and one cannot afford fruit and
ice, and the only place you have got
for the evening is hot and close and
filled with depressed and melancholy
women. Katharine sat there, among
the rest, sad and weary, though Miss
Beatrice sat beside her, and held her
hand, whispering words of consolation
and patience, and Miss Augusta played
solemn music. AS for Lily, she came
no longer to the drawing room; she had
taken a lovely position as fgurante in
a melodrama; she went to the theatre
every night, and stood in the front,
being a pretty girl, and received fifteen
shillings a week. The work and the
-1oao o-l %ho I1rrntn1inO U-Qro moi
exactly what a careful mother would
choose for her child; but, careful moth
ers, reflect that if your child must
work, she cannot always choose her
work, and her reputation will have to
depend upon herself, and not upon the
safeguards and precautions arranged
for her by her friends. 1t is, indeed,
the first condition of woman's work
that these safeguards must be aban-
doned.
Lily was on the boards, but Kath-
arlne could get nothing to do. She
should have remembered that July,
August and September are the worst
months in the year for 4 daily gov
erness looking after work. But she
did not; and she thought continually
pf her dreadful dream and Of Lily's
picture of the long and miserable life.
A girl who has a profession-even if
it be only that Of a nursery governess-
always makes a mistake if she leaves
bit. Katharine made that mistake. She
left her profession and went to the
reading room of the British Museum
instead.
Alas! Katharine was not one Of those
who are clever. Nature destined her,
as she destines all but a very few
women, for the home life; she was in
tended for love; she was meant to be
happy with her lover first, and her
husband next, and then her children.
Mature meant one thing. Fate, who
constantly disregards natures inten-
tions-indeed, they have not been on
speaking terms since the days Of Adam
and Eve-allotted another thing. She
was too weak in spirit for the strug.
Cling competition of labor; she was
not clever enough to excel in any art;
she could not fight; she was not sharp
enough to see the openings, to push
and shove, to apply continually, to
make herself a burden and a nuisance
until she could get what she wanted;
she could not be importunate-other
girls do this with brazen front though
with sinking heart. Katharine could
not. Therefore she got no work eX-
cept at rare intervals-and the little
store dwondled and shrunk.
Then q great misfortune befell them.
Lilly tainted on the boards and had to
ibe carried out in the sight Of the audi
tence. She was forgiven the first time,
but she tainted again. This clearly
showed that she had contracted vicious
habits, and the manager dismissed her.
,And on the little store there were now
two to be kept.