The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-03-18

a lS TO SAY, sthey were men ABOUT 4llLty OF
ilfty.fivc years old-ard one OF them
said tho saddcst hour he over experienced
In his life, lie believed, waa when he
went back to Asheville, North Carolina,
and won't to look at tho place where he
was born. and where he lived Until he
was seven or eight year OF age. He snid
9 he had been away for twenty-five years
had travelled about a great deal, but he
could shut his eyes during all these years
and SEQ the old hoineplace. The house
was II great big house Us lie reinein-
bered II; there were some steep hills on
tho place and little branch used to run
down by tho barn. There were great
trecs--hc remembered their shade and
knew Just how they looked 81 those boy
hood days. He could have taken a pen
or pencil and written such a description
OF tile place nnd surroundings, and made
1t so plain that any one could have gone
to Asheville. and, without inquiry, have
found the place. 1t would lave been
recognized by the barn; by the big trees;i
by tho largo house; by the branch; by.
; tho high hills and deep rsivines OF
course No one who read the descril-F
ton such as he would lave written could
llavc possibly failed Indicating the place
on sight.
And He journeycd to Ashcviile. He
had money and leisure, and ne was going
to visit the old home plucei--would stroll
around OH the green grass and stand DC
fore the bahbl;ng brook and muse with
himself on tile long ago After trying
for several hours to locat,, himself he
found the place. He was assured by the
old citizens that 1t was the place. The
house which no had fancied large was q
very small affair. There were no trees
and nature or tho elements or Something
or other had washed away the hills and
the branch was gonc-in fact, 1t was a
very ordinary and commonplace land
scape that met his gaze and he stood
only for g few momcnts--wents back to
the hotel and sorrowed for the vanished
dream.
And it lis the worlds way-that retro
spcct which allures ,ls in our dreams, and
which varishes when we go up against
1t. It werc not sacrilege for meuto re-
late how once upon a time-ln that dim
and shadowy past-I looked with more
than passing fancy upon girl. She
was about ten or twelve years old. and
I was seven or eight. really thought
that that girl was the Ane girl in the
universe Of worlds. She sat just across
The aisle from mo at q little wooden
bench in tho school house. and she chow
ed gum and she was Just too cute for
anything. do not think I loved the
girl was just smitteh With what to me
seemed her charm oof manner-of speech
I could not have told the color OF her
eyes six months after I saw her last
really did not remember the color OF
her hair-but somehow or other, for
several years I remembered her-and 1t
happened that when / WAS about the
tender ago OF twenty or tWenty-one i
CHANGED to be in the same town again,
and recalled that "once upon time"
: know this girl, and inquired concerns
ing her. She was there, and was told
where she lived, and I conceived the
idea of calling on her--just dropping in.
She came into the parlor-a large,
awkward. ungainly girl, with red hair,
and freckles on her face and q voice
like n megaplione in distress. She dis
tincty remembered me-and explained.
hat l Just dropped inland like my
friend in viewing the old home at Aslc-s
Vile, I just dropped out. also-a dream
forever shattered! Had I gone on the
witness stand / should have sworn that
the girl as / remembered her was beau
iiful: that she was small and plump and
ptctty-bnt slio wasn't and never was.
And 1t was from an experience like this
That the poet got his proposition that OF
all the things that :the wandering eyes
might see," there was nothing as false
us the dream of the coming home''
had quito an interesting conversation |
with a young lady the other day on the
subject OF the new woman. or, more prop |
hriy, on tho girl ut work." and she was |
Insisting that a woman should receive |
The same remuneration for her labor that |
q man receives for the Same task and i /
wouldn't agree with her. Sho commended /
teat if she was put in charge OF a type
writing machine, and knew her shorthand |
and could take dictation and transcrlbe
y as correctly and as swiftly as a man.:
u she had sense enough to go ahead with
her work; II she came In the Office and
put In as Elany hours MS a man, she
certainly 'ltad'n right to demand and re-
cetVe Just as many of the golden dollars |
as the man. In other words, she said she
earned them. and put 1t up to me to tell |
her why she shouldn't have EN-.
sks.
And | undertook to tell her that it
seemed that wages were not always made
according to what the traffic would bear:
that n woman naturallyylived cheaper than
a man. i told her that a young man
must go to the barber shop two or three |
times a week; lie must get shaved; lie
must have his hair cut. lie had inhcr-
tied a passion for chewing tobacco and
smoking cigars; that 1t was u custom |
OF society that the young man must take ]
the young lady TO the opera and pay the |
bills; le must hire the carriagcs--and / I
Went on with a long list Of reasons but I
she denied every statement made.
She insisted that II man employed
worth 50 much money. and the price PAID
WAS for what it was worth. One man
might have facilities for doing work
more rapidly. than another ,n,an--he might
employ machinery TO assist him-1but II |
,,e did and the other man didn't. 1t was
The good fortune OF, the other man. She
said that II She was, employed to writeyl
fifty letters a day and wrotcAthern, there
was no reason why man who wrote fifty
letters, q day and wrote them no better
than she wrote them should have n price
and half. she said that i she had
money. instead of going about over the
country making speeches fog woman S
lights. and expecting TO md tncin in. tho
4baIlox- box--shc would organize WoniaIl's
anions in ali branches and that no
stenographer or clerk or anything else.
could work cheaper than a >nan. She
srointed out hat such was the law i'll the
printers Union and the consequences vas
that but few women worked ut the print-
Slit, trade where the union was in control.
tt,,,r l,,I,,