The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1908-09-27
THE BADGE OF SERVITUDE-By {

pleasure. Mrs Farley could hear them
all laughing blithely long after she was
in bed. Mr.. Murphy's deep voice in oc-
casional monosyl1abes mingled with her
dreams.
After the young men had gone the
girls revived the pleasures of the even
ing BY long whispered conversation as
they steathily undressed. Impatient
groans from Mrs. Farley, disturbed in
her sleep by their monotonous hum,
obliged them to bury their laughing
faces in the pillows from time to time.
Suddenly Mames tone became serious.
Katie, she questioned TREMENDOUSLY,
"you don't thin Mr.. Murphy'd stop COM
in if l was to-, work. out, do you? You
know his sister Is a school teacher and
he's awful proud
Sure he'll come" Katie said reassur-
ingly, but they looked at each other in
a mutual alarm.
With two afternoons and the evenings
to herself, to say nothing of staying out
for tea every other Sunday, Mamie, or
Mary as Mrs. Cooley called her, felt sure
the winter would pass rapidly. and Mr..
Cooley had promised absentIy that he
would do what he could to keep her
place in the mill. The new work, for a
girl of natural neatness and intelligence.
was easy to learn, and if she could have
lived elsewhere Mamie would have been
quite contented; but this Mrs. Cooley
thought impossible. Mamie shared a
room on the third story with Bertha, the
new Swedish cook, sleeping beside her in
a narrow lumpy bed. Bertha's ways
were almost unbearable. She refused to
have the window opened at night, and
thought it unnecessary to make the bed
in the morning. Her loud breathing kept
Mamie awake as she lay beside her in
the close room. 1t was hard, too, to sit
with Bertha at the kitchen table and
eat the cold fragments that remained
from the Cooleys' table. Confronted by
piles of unwashed dishes, the cook was
chary of using more for herself, and ate
from her hand IN way that sickened
the finer senses of the American girl. 1t
was useless, she OWNED, to complain to
Mrs. Cooley.
Bertha was her fifth cook within the
month, and it would have been almost
impossible to replace her. The first few
days dragged slowly by. Unaccustomed
to standing, Mamie felt, after waiting on
the table and answering the door bell,
that night would never come. Several
days passed before she attempted to see
the Earleys. By the time she reached
their gate she saw with alarm that it
was almost o'clock. Mrs Farley had
gone to bed, but Katie, she found with
relief, was still up. The cheerful trund-
ling of the machine came to Mamie as
she turned up the walk A tall, handsome
girl, with heavy black brows, helped her
sew Mamie had only the slightest ac-
quaintance with this girl. Her name
was Ellen Mullane, and she, too, was a
mill girl. She had gladly taken NAMES
place, paying SO week TO the Earleys
and occasionally helping Kate with the
sewing. Mamie sat idly in a chair watch
ing them sew, with feeling of constrafnt
in Ellen Mullane's presence. Their con-
versation about the sewing had little
meaning for her, and she felt with a
sinking heart that she no longer be-
longed in the little home. The strange
girl made some attempt at conversation.
do you like your new placer" she
asked airily, and Mamie knew she Sc
cretly scorned the girl who worked out"
ooh, I'll only stay until I'm strong
enough to go back to the MILL she hast
ened to tell her.
II hear they make the girls wear caps
at Cooley's," the girl continued. She
looked curiously at Mamie for denial or