The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-02
CHAPTER VIII.

THE CHRONICLE OF WASTED TINES.
In this way did Katharine lose her
situation and join the ranks Of the
multitude of ladies unemployed.
It is a great and a doleful multi
tude; nowhere can be seen such an ar
ray of rueful visages as where this
crowd is assembled. 1t grows daily
greater and more doleful, for reasons
too numerous to relate. 1t consists of
all those women who, having been
gently bred, and for the most part
without expectation Of labor, and
therefore with no special training and
no apprenticeship, find themselves per-
haps without the least warning COM
PEELED to work for their living.
Two of these girls were talking to-
gether in a cubicle of Harley House.
One of them stood in the doorway with
Joined hands, the other sat on the bed.
The former had been six months long
er among the Ladies Unemployed than
the other; she was therefore wiser
than her friend.
~ have averaged eight shillings a
week." she said; Eight shillings a
week. Katharine, during the whole
time that I have been trying to get
work I have never possessed more than
a single sovereign at a time to put be-
tween me and starvation. Oh! it is
worse than the life of a slave and there
is no way-except one, Of course-and
for that we have to wait so long,"
Courage, Lily" said the other;
'you will find something presently"
Lily shook her head impatiently.
"Well," Katharine went on. 81 have
fifteen pounds stored up. Think Of
that! Fifteen pounds! 1t ought to
keep us for more than three months"
mo; there are boots; you may go in
rags if you can hide them, but you
must have boots to wear, and they are
frightfully dear. Besides. I am not
going to be so mean as to take your
money, Katharine"
"How rich I thought I was" said
Katharine, when Tom asked me be-
fore he went away if I had plenty Of
money, and I thought Of my hoard Of
fifteen pounds, and told him that I had
no anxiety at all about money, and Of
course I hadn't so long as I had my
situation. And now he is dead" Kath-
arine sighed. And my place is lost.
Lily, you must and shall share my
money"
"Oh, Katharine, you will want it
ALL"
"My DEAR" Katharine took her hand
and held it, 1--WE must be sisters, be-
cause of all the women in the world 1
do not think there are any other two
so desolate and so %friendless as we
are"
II am sure there are not. I wonder
what we have done to deserve it."
'There cannot, surely, be two other
girls in the world left without any
friends OF relations. Fancy not having
a single cousin, to say nothing Of
father or mother, brother or sister.w
my father" said Lily, with a touch
of pride, as if the thing showed dig
nifty and independence, always said
that sooner than return to his rela-
tions he would sit down and starve."
mime" said Katharine, without any
pride at all, refused to let me ever
speak of my relations. You see, Lily,
we must have cousins"
"And perhaps they are generous
cousins who would help us-if we can
ibe helped; but mine at least cannot
be rich-I am sure they cannot be
rich. When father was i'll I forgot to
ask him who they are and where they
live"
"My father" said Katharine, carry
ing on the comparison, would have
told me, 1 suppose, where he got his
money, but he fell down dead, and had
no time. poor dear"
what have we done to deserve
it,"
Lilly, it is always what your father
does; the responsibility of a man must
be terrible; it isn't only the income for
his own lifetime, it is the future of
his children to the third and fourth
generations that he has in his hands,
I wonder if they ever think Of it. |
wonder if our fathers, Lily, ever
thought of what would happen to
their daughters when they should die"
milne didn't. He thought about his
invention, and the man who stole ii
and made a fortune out Of it. He
sprooded over it all the time"
"Mine thought about his club. Does