The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-05-20
The Wooer.



met Miss Evelyn Briggs at So
and 1t occurred to me that she was the |
girl l 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 go 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, l hadn't had an In
vitatlon. Besides, Miss Briggs father
is a lawyer, and a well to do lawyer,
standing high In his profession, while
| am foreman In a chlldren'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 l want to know. | cun take hold OF
n sewing machine and do more work
on it In a given time than any trio of
operators in my department.
Well, we hadn't been chatting but
few minutes when Miss Briggs looked
absorbed in something passing in her
mind. Presently she said: "Mr. Bea-
die, I'm in 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 got
into our linen closet and made havoc
of our sheets and pillowcases. 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 il you could fix it for me-"
IL should SMILE" | said. pleased to
have an opportunity to be of service;
that's just in my line. There isn't a
part of n sewing machine that don't
, know all about l can put your ma
chine In order and then make her
hum"
She took me upstairs to sewing
room. There was n machine at one
end of 1t, and the rest of the room was
taken up with white goods. 1t looked
to me as IL there were thousand
yards. l sat down at the machine and
started it up. 1t went very slick.
"Why, the machines all right"
! said.
as It? Well. you might try 1t on one
: OF these pllowcases"
q She handed me the top one on big
. | pfIn In fpt I I,nl d.,
}, lshed 1t. She moved the pile up where
q I could reach it and said:
: II must run downstairs for little
while. Mothers not well. and | have
!, to go into her room occasionally to see
c that she doesn't want for anything"
e She gave me- an encouraging smile
!. and went out. looked around at the
y piles OF cotton and linen all ready tC
q be sewed and remembered the princess
g to whom the bad fairy gave impossible
" tasks. had often boosted of my prac
teal knowledge of my business and
# the amount of work | can do in Il given
~ time, but | had never calculated on
= anything like this. ! thought would
:, be good natured about Il and let Miss
>, Briggs see by the time she came bach
" how many pillowcases could turn out
She didn't come back worked
20 about an hour when. getting tired,
concluded TO make an excuse TO stop
- | broke the needle. Going downstairs
u | met Miss Briggs coming up. TOLD
le her why | had to stop, but she sale
~ there was no need to give up for lit
K tie things like that. since there wer,
plenty of needles In the house. Sh,
e. got me another. put ii In and wen
Is to work again reluctantly.
y. Miss Briggs stayed with me littl
to while, chatting pleasantly, and wa
ie getting satisfied with my work whel
10 her mother called her. and she skipped
at out again. expected cle'd be bacl
o soon. but she didn't come. An hou
Or passed, and began 10 think up an
NJ other excuse for stopping work. Thl
III time concluded to break something
I'D that couldn't be fixed. took stou
d. brass rod out OF a window curtain and
,e inserting 1t in the curved arm tina
"a holds the needle, broke 1t or. The
m ! | sat still awhile. ! knew when Mis-
In Briggs heard the machine stop She
M come up, and she did. When she SAY
-, the damage that had been done sh
m looked grave for awhile. Then sh
ba smiled. | looked ruefully at the broke
m arm.
Sorry" said "There's no way {
repairing that damage. I'm afraid
can't help you any more this Afternoon
There must have been n weak place
~ the arm. | don't like this kind of mi
- chine anyway. We never use 1t at I'll
" factory"
oH Don't disturb yourself In the least
st she replied amiably. "But I'm ARA
n' I'll have to ask you to excuse me- f
Is mother Is worse and needs my atte
o' ton every minute"
We walked out of the room togeth'
and downstairs. At the door she said
"Goodby, Mr.. Briggs. I'm ever
much obliged for your kind effort
help us out, and I've no doubt you
have done lot more If the machiI
| hadn't oivnn ont