Willmar tribune., 1908-07-29

The WOoer.
lOriginal.1

and it occurred to me that she was the
girl had been looking for. She didn t
give me any encouragement; but, you
know, faint heart ne'er won fair
lady" and concluded when the spring
came on to 60 down to the Briggs
country place and call on her. | sent
up my card, and she obliged me to
wait some time before she made her
appearance, but when sne did she was
quite cordial. l took courage at this,
because, you see, hadn't had an In
vitation. Besides, Miss Briggs father
Is lawyer, and well to do lawyer,
standing high III his profession. while
am foreman in children's waist fac.
tory. Besides. Miss Briggs is highly
educated and intellectual, while / don't
make any pretense at that sort of
thing. ! know my business. and that's
all want to know. can take hold Of
sewing machine and do more work
on it in given time than any trio of
operators in my department.
Well. we hadn't been chatting but q
few minutes when Miss Briggs looked
absorbed in something passing in her
mind. Presently she said: MIR. Bea
die, Pm in a peck of trouble. Next
week we're to have the house full of
guests, and when we came down this
summer we found the rats had cot
into our linen closet and made havoc
OF our sheets and p1llowcases. We
have the material for new ones. but
the woman we expected to make them
up has disappointed us. l was trying
to do some Of the work when YOU
called, but there's something the mat
ter with our sewing machine. won
der if you could fix it for me-"
II should SMILE" l said, pleased to
have an opportunity to be of service:
that's just In my line There isn't q
part of sewing machine that don't
know all about. l can put your ma
chine in order and then make ner
hum
She took me upstairs to sewing
room. There was machine at one
end of 1t, and the rest of the room was
taken up with white goods. 1t looked
to me as If there were thousand
yards. l sat down at the machine and
started it up. 1t went very slick.
"Why, the machines all right"
said.
"1s It? Well, you might try it on one
of these pilowcases."
She handed me the top one on big
pile, and in few minutes l had fin
lshed it. She moved the pile up where
l could reach 1t and said:
II must run downstairs for q LITTLE
While. Mothers not we'll, and have
to go into her room occasionally to see
that she doesn't want for anything"
She gave me an encouraging smile
and went out l looked around at the
piles OF cotton and linen all ready to
be seWed and remembered the princess
to Whom the bad fairy gave impossible
tasks. l had often boasted Of my prac-
t1cal knowledge of my business and
the amount of work can do in a given
time. but I had never calculated on
anything Hike this. I thought would
be good natured about It and let Miss
Briggs see by the time she came back
how many pillowcases l could turn out
She didn't come back. worked
about an hour when. getting tired,
concluded to make an excuse to stop
l broke the needle. Going downstairs
met Miss Briggs coming up. told
her why l had to stop, but she said
there was no need to give up for lit
tie things like that. since there were
plenty of needles in the house. She
got me another. put it in and went
to work again reluctantly.
Miss Briggs stayed with me little
while. chatting pleasantly. and was
getting satisfied with my work when
her mother called her. and she skipped
out again. l expected she'd be back
soon, but she didn't come. An hour
passed, and began to think up an
other excuse for stopping work. This
time l concluded to break something
that couldn't be fixed. I took a stout
brass rod out of window curtain and,
inserting it In the curved arm that
holds the needle. broke it off. Then
l sat still awhile. Il knew when Miss
Briggs heard the machine stop she'd
come up, and she did. When she saw
the damage that had been done she
looked grave for awhile. Then she
smiled. looked ruefully at the broken
arm.
Sorry" said. "Theres no way Of
repairing that damage Pm afraid
can't help you any more this afternoon.
There must have been Q, weak place in
chine anyway. We never use it at the
factory"
Don't disturb yourself in the least"
she replied amiably But I'm afraid
III have to ask you to excuse me, for
mother is worse and needs my atten-
tion every minute"
We walked out of the room together
and downstairs. At the door she said:
"Goodby, Mr.. Briggs. I'm ever SO
much obliged for your kind effort to
help US out, and I've no doubt you'd
have done a lot more If the machine
hadn't given out"
II could have cleaned out all the
work in the room before 6 O'clock" l
said In q disappointed tone.
"Well, don't worry. When you come
again we'll have something else for
you"
"Do," replied. "1'll show you what
I can do"
"1've been thinking what shall do to
follow up my affair. I've placed Miss
BriacnS Anilor n slfuht ohlioatiox L. L.