Gloucester County Democrat., 1909-07-22

New York and must have sat up many
nights working out how to extract the
maximum Of rent revenue from the
ture
If there were any fats in Harlem Of
smaller dimensions than the one Of
four rooms occupied by Mr.. and Mrs
Joseph Brooks the most experienced
and persistent hunter after 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 It. And If other
fats there were more luxuriously fit
ted up. as easily might have been-iT
fact. certainly must have been-the
rase. at least there was none what
ever its size, that was kept cleaner or
of available material had been made
than that over which Mrs. Emma
Brooks presided as mistress and facto-
tum
And Mrs. Brooks herself-ho she
graced it, altogether unconsciously!
AS the elder of two daughters of Stan
ley Harris, who. while not rich. had
been well to do. she had been brcalght
up in the comfort of good home and
had enjoyed the advantage of an edu-
cation at a private seminary. Her ia
ther. whose constant companion she
had been and whose sense of democ-
racy in the matter of association she
had inherited. had adRed 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 happi-
ness superior to all other considera-
tions.
Brooks, who had been in the employ
of the 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 $50 month, was
a 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 jad-
vancement of his son-in-law to a more
remuDerative post
Unfortunately for them, however,
Mr.. Harris had died few weeks after
their wedding. and they found them
selves thrown upon their own re-
sources. Mrs. Harris, selfish, shall
low, unfeeling 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
Mr.. Harris lifetime she had never
been able to crafty to the top of her
bent. She did not for this. however.
withdraw altogether from association
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 rule, were good deal
OF trial to the young couple, for she
regarded Brooks failure to get on in
the steamship company as vindica-
tion 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-tOld-you-so attitude and lament what
might have been.
During the four years of their mar
rfed life Brooks salary had been
raised only $40 month, although in
addition to his work as accountant to
which he had been assigned after Mr..
Harris death. that of collector had
been thrust upon him. It had been
hard, bitter experience for pretty little
LIS Ia AOOAS- tlilS uAdtCuStOulEuQ
cry of housework. 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 privation of many personal things
considered indispensable by the dainty
woman; this necessity OF perpetual
rigid economizing, 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 go properly clad to his office.
but she never for that reason descend
ed to slovenliness, never 'let herself
go" as SO many women in their own
households make the mistake of doing,
and never had she allowed one word
of complaint. one indication of regret,
to escape her. She had married Joe
for love, for better or for worse, and