The Wrangell sentinel., 1909-10-14

fhe maximum or rent revenue rom the area on which he had to fit the structure.
 If there were any flats in Harlem of smaller dimensions than the one of four rooms occupied by Mir. and Mrs. Joseph Brooks the most experienced and persistent hunter after a place in which to lodge his family with rela- tive economy and some semblance of comfort would have had the time of his or her life finding 1t. And if other flats there were more luxuriously fit- ted up, as easily might have been-in fact, certainly must have been-the case, at least there was none, what ever It's size, that was kept cleaner or heater or in which more effective use of available material had been made than that over which Mrs. Emma Brooks presided as mistress and fac totum.
 And Mrs. Brooks herself-how she graced it, altogether unconsciously! As the elder of two daughters of Stan- ley Harris, who, while not rich, had  up in the comfort of good home and had enjoyed the advantage of an edu- cation at a private seminary. Her fa- ther, whose constant companion she had been and whose sense of democ- racy in the matter of association she had inherited, had adored her, and when she had given her heart to Jo- seph Brooks, electing him from among numerous suitors, including James Smith, he gave his consent to their union against his own judgment and in face of the strenuous opposition of his wife, esteeming the girls nappi- ness superior to all other considera- tions.
 Brooks, who had been in the employ of the Latin-American Steamship com- pany for one year and had been brought into relations with the family by virtue of his selection as secretary to her father, the general manager. had no means whatever of his own. and his salary, then S60 month, was desperately small income on which to begin housekeeping for girl reared as she had been. But her father helped them, and the young couple counted upon his influence to procure the ad- vancement of his son-in-law to a more remunerative post
 Unfortunately for them, however. Mir. Harris had died few weeks after their wedding, and they found them selves thrown upon their own re- sources. Mrs. Harris, selfish, shal- low, upfeeiing woman with social pre- tensions. who regarded her daughters marriage with the young clerk as a mesalliance and Brooks himself with disdain. left them to shift for them. selves and with her other daughter, Beth, who was seven years younger than Emma and shared her mothers views, as she initiated her haughti- ness, settled down to the enjoyment of the modest fortune her husband had left her and the indulgence of the os- tentation she loved, but which during MT. Harris lifetime she had never been able to gratify to the top of her bent. She did not for this, however.
 
 with Emma and Brooks and continued on more or less amicable terms with them. Now and then she condescend- ed to call upon them with Beth, but her visits. as a rule. were good deal of trial to the young couple, for she regarded Brooks failure to get on in the stea mship company as a vindica- Ntion of her opinion as to his ability and the judiciousness of their mar riage and was prone to condone with her daughter. assume an exasperating I-toh-you-so attitude and lament what might have been.
 During the four years of their mar rfed life Brooks salary had been raised only S20 month. although in addition to his work as accountant. to which be had been assigned after Mir. Harris death, that of collector had been thrust upon him. It had been a hard, bitter experience for pretty little Mrs. Brooks. this unaccustomed drudg- cry of homework, this continuous securing of greasy pots and pans and washing Of dishes. which she loathed this deprivation of comforts and luxu- ries that she had known all her life: this privaIion of many personal things considered indispensable by the dainty woman; this necessity of perpetual rigid ecoDonizing. which barely suf- feed to make both ends meet. She de prived herself of much needed cloth ing, to say nothing of fnery, that Joe might. 20 properly clad to his office,