Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1910-01-04
P A | D
Novelized From
Eugene Walter s
Great Play ~
CHAPTER III.

deed who first devised the
handbook apartment houses so
common now In all parts Of
New York and must have sat up many
nights working out how to extricate
the maximum of rent revenue from
the area on which he had to fit the
structure.
lfthere We're any fats in Harlem Of
smaller dimensions than the one Of
four rooms occupied by Mr.. and Mrs.
Joseph Brooks he most experienced
and persistent hunter after place
which to lodge his family with rela.
tive economy and some sembance of
comfort would have had the time of
his or her life finding It. And If other
flats there were more luxuriously fit
ted up rs easily might have benin
fact. certainly must have been-the
case. at least there was none. what.
ever its size. that was kept cleaner or
neater or in which more effective use
of available material had been made
than tsat over which Mrs. Emma
Brooks presided as mistress and fac
totum.
And Mrs. Brooks herself-ho sh.
graced it. altogether unconsciously.
AS the elder of two daughters of Stan
ley Harris, who. while not rich. had
been we'll to do. she had been brought
up in the comfort of good home and
had enjoyed the advantage of an edu-
cation at private seminary. Her ia
Their. 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
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-
tons.
Brooks. who had been in the employ
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
II 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
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 q
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 haC
left her and the indulgence of the os
tentation she loved. but which durinl
Mr. Harris lifetime she had never
been able to crafty to the top of hel
bent. She did not for this. however
withdraw altogether from association
with Emma and Brooks and continued
on more or less amicable terms will
them. Now and then she condescend
ed to call upon them with Beth. bu
hnr visits. rs rule. were a good dea
of trial TO the young couple. for sht
regarded Brooks failure to get on il
the steamship company as vindica
ton of her opinion as to his abilit!
and the righteousness of their mar
rinna and 1,.as To, .,.itI