The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-25
4 RURAL HACK WOMAN'S SUCCESS How a Widow Kept Her Babies
 At Home AND FOUND EMPLOYMENT Better Than Working in Shop. Prosperous Business Started With
 Two Horses and an
 Old Hack.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 "A little more than six years ago I be- gan my business as hack driver with an outfit which people said was not worth $20O. Last week I refused an offer of $5O00 for my business, and besides have upward of $4000 invested in stocks and in the saving bank"
 A woman who owns a livery stable and runs a line of hacks at New Eng land summer resort said this to a re- porter.
 ''You see," she continued, i've hadn't been married very long-just three years when my husband died. I had two babies and my husband hadn't been real well for several months, so there was a lot of doctors bills to pay along with the rest After everything was settled besides the furniture of our little home had two horses four seated hack and wagon. All of them, horses included. had seen better days.
 My friends advised me to sell them all off for what they would bring. give at least one of my children away and get a place in shop in our nearest city.
 .Working in a shop would have been very different from having a home of your own, but I could have stood 1t without murmur. When it came to giv- ing up my babies I struck. It may be an easy matter to give such advice, but 1t is certainly not easy to follow. At least 1t was too hard for me even to think of it. I said I'd keep my horses and my children and see if I couldn't manage to
 ''There never had been a regular line of hacks running to and from the sta ton, and people had either to furnish their own rigs or walk. I determined to try having hack meet every train. I let 1t be known what l was doing and that my charges would be 25 cents for each passenger within a mile of the station.
 .'The first week I started in remem- Der that I collected se.25 in fares. All of them were men. The women said I was doing a bold and unwomanly busi- ness driving a public hack instead of putting out my children and getting work In factory. I don't know whether the men were more sympathetic or sim ply didn't want to tramp over wet coun- try roads. It was in March and the roads were still heavy and sloppy.
 '"rhis boycott of the women continued until May, when woman who had been brought up in the village came up from her home in the city to spend the sum- mer She lived in a cottage on the beach which is less than half mile from the station, and although she had always been a great walker the minute she heard what I was doing she stepped into my carriage.
 "On that first drive to the beach told her she was the first woman I had driven and explained the reason. She didn't say very much, but when she was paying she asked my charges for taking her out the next afternoon. She said there were number of things'she want ed to do around the village and was willing to pay me g for the afternoon
 'T was glad enough to get the order though at the time hadn't the slightest idea what the woman was doing 1t for Besides calling at the two village stores and having the proprietors come out to her instead of her going in she paid a visit to about everybody in the place. She explained that though she had only come out the day before she was so glad | to find a good livery service that she | just couldn't help using 1t at the earliest | possible moment.
 This was always said in my presence. | She invariably brought out the fact that | she looked upon my one little hack, which <! she always referred to as a livery, as a | great institution tending toward the i'm l provement of the village and upon me | as the most admirable type of New | England woman. She was really so elo- | quent about 1t all that she almost | made tears come into my eyes through l sympathy for myself. |
 "As a result of this, praise three of the l women who hadn't found it convenient | fn Graao fn rf,n tnon T ayr1a hoo nl~ woman engaged me to take them back | and forth to the station during the week. | One of the store keepers said he had a | few loads to be brought from the station l within a few days and if I were only a | man he would try to make terms with l me about hauling. told him I was ready for the job, and right there and | then in the presence of the woman from l town we agreed on terms.
 ''The success of the afternoon pleased | me very much, and was entirely happy | as I drove home after dropping my | friendly fare. Just as entered the will | lage I met a man who had been one of | my first patrons He was walking from | the station.
 "He was vexed down to the ground | He stopped me to demand to know why | I didn't keep my business engagements. 1 I replied that I had no engagement to | bring him from the station, as he had l uOI SalQ what day ne was to return
 "He contradicted me as fiat as you | please and pointed out that had adver- | tised to have hack meet every train | and in not doing it I had failed to meet |, my obligations to the public I was pre- tending to serve.
 The fact that I had earned Q, whereas | had I gone to the station I might not l have earned moro than an eight of the ! amount didn't alter the fact of my being | a poor business woman. I was threatened l with loss of trade and all sorts of | calamities if I didn't mend my ways and | this by man who three months before l had walked back and forth to the sta wkypfw vbfwy cmfwdlu cmfwlyu mfwyl | tion in all sorts of weather rather than | take his hired man and team out
 Tt served as a good lesson and made | me at once that if my custom in- creased as 1t now showed signs of doing I | would be forced not only to get another l carriage but also to keep a hired man l Had I been doing all my work before | this? Yes, indeed, and glad enough to get | 1t to do.
 Being fond of horses 1t was & real | pleasure for me to care for those two | old fellows. They were like children to mo. I used to talk to them and tell them | when anything went wrong and whether they. understood my words or not they | certainly knew that I needed their sym al 1Wa ahn hxr~ |