The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1908-07-23
Three Wage Farmers
By NJ. S. Bakcr.


cants but she had been u success
Yul teacher had managed her busi-
ness affairs with wonderful shrewd-
poss and also had influential friends
10 pull" for her.
eyes. It will take Just that to
make me thoroughly Independent"
reasoned Miss Martha-10 years !
hack IL was Matte. Forty dollars |
is not big salary but with my other
revenues 1t will enable me to take |
a trip every summer. Perhaps In
two or three years | may even go
abroad" and she glanced around her
comfortable room with an air of con-
tent.
Meanwhile. in different parts OF
the town, two other women were an
xiously looking forward to the same
thing. One of them had an invalid
husband and five children dependent
upon her, and the other, alas, was
older, poorer, and alone in the world.
"Oh, Ben, please try to hope for il
as | do" Mrs. Hartwell was urging.
school will be out by then so that
Ethel can be here to take care of
YOU and the house. Then by the
time the fall term opens you will be
well and strong again"
You ask me a hard thing, Ag-
nes," was the sad reply. 1T has
CALLED me unspeakably to have to lie
here and see you wear yourself out
at that sewing machine, but at least
you were under the shelter of home
Besides, / mean to be we'll long be-
fcre fall, then there must be rest
for you, who have toiled so nobly.
And you have been such manager,
too. Just to think that you have
really made the last payment on
the house In spite of the odds. l
want you to take some rest on the
strength of that. Everything else
can walt"
And what of the third-the old
est, the poorest and the loneliest Of
the three?
For many years she had been che
music teacher" of the little village.
Highly cultured and tenderly reared,
poor little Miss Conway's ignorance
of the practical things of life had
gradually brought her to a state Of
actual need.
She sat in her scantily furnished
room and with trembling fingers
smoothed out a worn paper. 1t was
the mortgage on her piano and in
three weeks it would be due.
Not that It matters so very
much" she murmured brokenly.
people say my methods are anti
Quated and that | have lost the art
OF imparting knowledge to others. y
"Oh, if l could only get It," was
her unconscious prayer.
The town was small and the snug
little library, which, as one enthus-
iastic supporter declared, stood on
its own legs without any Carnegie
crutches." was the special pride of
its inhabitants. 1t lacked just four
weeks till the date of the appoint.
ment Small wonder. then. that
every man, woman and child became
interested in the election. AS soon
as the names of the applicants be-
came known partisanship waxed
warm and strong. though, of course
no one expected the board to be in
fuenced, oh, no indeed!
Il have got to give 1t up, Ben,
said Mrs. Hartwell. There are
other things for me, but as far as
! can see there is nothing else fol
poor little Miss Conway Besides
have you and the children and she
has nobody"
But what about Miss Talley? She
has been grabbing things all hel
life, and 1t looks as If this plum wal
going to drop her way, too"
I'm going to see her and If sh'
doesn't fall in with my plan, theI
will lay 1t before the committee,
and plucky Mrs Hartwell went.
At first Miss Talley refused t
listen. She had set her heart ol
this particular post. Then. too, sh
was not used to giving up thing
for others, but finally Miss Tale,
gave in. Hers was not nature t
understand the gracious art OF gra
cious giving, so she did not surrend
er as pleasantly as she might hav
done; still she surrendered.
1t was one of Mrs. Hartwell
stipulations that the gossipy littl
town should never know the secre
OF the withdrawal of their applica
tions. I'VE will lay no burden @
gratitude on Miss Conway" she saio
Let her think she has won on he
merit, as indeed she might easil
have done"
Nobody knew exactly how it cam
about but presently the atmospher
became charged with "Conwa
wave" so to speak, ard when tn
grateful little music teacAer was fo'
mally elected nobody seemed SUI
prised.
The surprising part of the whoj
affair eliminated few days late
IN the Hartwell home, when Mis-
Conway appeared there and aske
for hoo and lp1yipp