The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-08-09

Pterson family and othera-Ihe Enter
! prise market and $40 a treek - Mis-
HILARY Cor Grape - From the side
srdlk- The company Of successful ad
| venturcrs-1he great Strauss.
"EV) ELLO! Here you be! Amt
| H glad l found yer this soon.
| Hi and Eds brown eyes were
| @ looking into mine. His seem
ed to me just then about the best fact
| in the world. Seems though wa.
! bound to be chasin' some one in this
! city," he shouted. grabbing me by the
| arm. But I've found all Of 'em now
He had missed me at the police sta.
ton by few minutes. and I had left
no address. After looking up and down
few streets near by. Ed had thought
Of lying in wait for me on the lake
front. feeling that unless some extraor.
binary good luck had happened to me
I should bring up at that popular re-
sort He had not seen the little Incl
dent when the detective grabbed me
In the great store. for just at that mo-
ment his attention had been attracted
to a girl at one of the counters. who
had called him by name. The girl,
who was selling perfumes and tooth
washes. turned out to be his cousin
Lou. his Aunt Persons youngest
daughter. After the surprise Of their
meeting Ed had looked for me. and the
doorwalker told them OF my misfor-
tune. Then the cousin had made Ed
go home with her. Mrs. Pierson, 1t
seems. took in boarders in her three
story and basement house on West Van
Buren, street. She and the two girls
had given Ed a warm welcome. and
for the first time in many days he had
had the luxury Of a bed, which had
caused him to oversleep and miss me
at the station.
All this l learned as we walked west
ward toward Eds new home. At first
was little shy about putting an
other burden on the boys relations
but my friend would not hear Of let
ting me go. When Ed tucked his arm
under mine and hauled me along with
country heartiness, saying could
share his bed and he had a job in view
for US both. l felt as though the sun
had begun to shine all over again that
day. Through all the accidents of
many years l have never forgotten
that kindness. and my heart warns
afresh when I stop to think how Ed
grabbed my arm and pulled me along
with him of those city streets.
So 1t happened at dinner time that
night I found myself in the basement
dining room and made my first bow to
some people who were to be near me
for number of years-one or two of
them for life. can remember lust
how they all looked sitting about the
table, which was covered with a muss-
ed red tablecloth and lit by a big,
smelly oil lamp. Pa Pierson sat at the
head of the table, an untidy, gray hair
ed old man, who gave away his story
In every line Of his body. He had
made some money in his country store
back in Michigan, but the ambition to
try his luck in the city had ruined him.
He had gone broke on crockery. He
was supposed to be looking for work,
but he spent most of his time in this
basement dining room, warming him
self at the stove and reading the board .
ers' papers.
The girls and the boy, Dick, paid him
sven less respect than they did their |
mother. They were all the kind of chill
1ren that don't tolerate much incompe- |
;ence in their parents. Dick was a put
y faced. black haired cub, who scrub |
BED blackboards and chewed gum in a |
BOARD of trade mans Office. Neither
lie nor his two sisters, who were also !
working downtown, contributed much
o the house, and. except that now and
hen Grace, the older one, would help
lean up the dishes in a shamefaced
way or bring the food on the table
when the meal was extra late or she
to go out for the evening, not
ne OF the three ever raised a finger to
lelp with the work. The whole place,
rom kitchen to garnet, fell on poor old
Ia Pierson, and. the boarders were
Under to her than her own children,
1ank and STOPPING, shortsighted, with
faded, tired smile, she came and went
etween the kitchen and dining room,
ooking the food and serving 1t, wash
az the dishes, scrubbing the floors and
taking the beds. never saw her sit
own to the table with us except one
AAA ASSAA0O NoS, WHICH, sue W68 COO SICK
, cook She took her fate like an In
Ian and died on the steps Of her tread
ILL.,
There were two other regular board
rs besides myself and Ed-a man and
woman. The latter, Miss Hillary
OK, was cashier in the New Enter
rise market. not far from the house.
he was rather short and stout, with
lick ropes Of brown hair that she piled
her head in solid mass to make ,
er look tall. She had bright little 1
res, and her rosy face showed that
lie had not been long in the city. !,
The man was q long. lean. thin faced !
lap somewhat older than I was. His {
anne was Jaffrey Slocum. He was 6
udying law and doing stenographic {
ork in a law Office in the city. When ,
first looked at him 1 thought that he {
ould push his way over most of the Z
cks In the road. and he did. Slocum &
as a mighty silent man, but little f
Used before his eyes without his
lowing what it meant i learned e
ter that he came from a good Maine t
mily and had been to college in the '
St And he had 1t much on his mind =
do several fhinOS NTH hts re- A. 4,