The Yale expositor., 1906-08-17

killed in the railroad yards while cou-
mother also was dead-having spent
the small life insurance money in a
heart-breaking dressmaking venture
for which she was eminently untitled,
and then succumbed to pneumonia.
So Nina was left alone TO work out
the problem of life-and in its work
| ing ont she had finally landed in a de-
partment store as "saleslady." True,
the salary was not much-only four
dollars per week-but to her it was
untold riches, especially when she re-
hected upon the status. of the other
girls-Jessie, Maud and Ethel and
countless others who were getting only
horrent. For be il known Nina was
in the stationery department on the
first floor, which was comparatively
well ventilated, and she served people
who had some sort of an idea as to
what they wanted, while Jennie and
Maud were in the bargain notion de
partment in the stuffy, ill-smelling
basement, where women shoppers,
knowing not what they wanted, ell
bowel and fought for vantage
ground from which to paw over the
stock; and Ethel was under the side
walk in sort of tunnel which the
store lad stolen from under the street,
where she mechanically handed out
tacks and nails to people who had pur-
sued them to this grewsome lair.
In the meantime Nina was living
with half-sister whose husband re-
ceived $50 per month for mailing COW
ers on boxes in the shipping depart
ment OF great wholesale house. On
this income he supported his wife and
four rallid children. who never had
seen green things grow nor smelled
fresh country air
They charged Nina two dollars a
week Tor her board and cot under the
stairway thought it was great
luck to get it. Then she paid 90 cents
week car fare. ten cents week for
| her dues TO the Salesladies' Union and
ten cents per week TO the Medical Aid
and Burial association as sort of in
! suranCe against sickness or death She
was driven to this latter extravaganza
| by the gloomy forebodings of her half
sister and her husband regarding her
possible, indeed probable impending
sickness and death, the query being,
! where's the money coming from to
take care Of you and bury you?"
The astute mathematician can easily
! figure that Nina had S1.10 per week
with which TO clothe herself and buy
ice cream sodas and chewing gum. 1t
was Tot a hilarious life.
In the meantime she was growing
thinner and paler and more tired every
week. 1t would have been plain to any
intelligent person, were such interest
ed in her, that she would not last long
in such environments. About this
time there was another addition TO her
sisters family, and her brother-in-law
being pressed to extremities, informed
Nina that he would have to raise the
price of her board to three dollars per
week. This was staggering blow to
the girl, already carrying far more
than her fair share of burdens.
All day long in the hot, sitting store
she bTooded over 1t, wondering vaguely
how in the world she was to get along
at all If she handed three precious dol
lars to her brother-in-law each week
And then there was that muslin dress
she had been coveting so fiercely for sc
many rlonths-and nearly attained, too
OF course that must be given up, and
all the other nice things of life. She
must hereafter toll on enduriasly with
only the hone of paying her brother
in-law for her board and lodging and
money enough over to pay car fare.
Communing thus, heart-broken and
sick with fear, she staggered forth
from the store to catch her car home
home, oh! what travesty on the wore
"a dismal, squalid cottage. filled with
the walls of neglected children, the
complainings of an overworked wife
and the sordid demands of an incom.
petent master. Her cup indeed wa.
full.
The gong OF a street car changed
fercely just before her, and awakened
quickly back and found herself directly
in the path OF an approaching spirited
team of blacks, the control of whom
the driver seemed to have lost. To &c
forward was to meet certain death I'M
der the iron wheels OF the street cir;
to remain was to fall beneath the hoof,
OF the horses. On top OF all her siren
nous mental strain Nina collapsed anC
sank to the ground in a swOon.
A cry OF horror went up from tn,
passengers on the electric car anC