The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-01-12
STEPPING STONES.
BY Martha Prouty.
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Victoria Moore, was born in Peter
sham with a predisposition to physi-
cal frailty and an inheritance of fam
lily penury. In due time she showed
signs of a predisposition to all the Pc
tersham prejudices, such as pride of
family, shame of perjury and suspi-
cion of those who came to Petersham
without publishing credentials from
the house tops. AS Victoria grew into
a tall slip of a girl the family re-
sources receded further and further
into the shadows of Petersham's won
derful past, along with the fortunes
of many other Of Petersham's great
families, and Victoria was forced at
the age of nineteen to go to work or
starve.
Over Petersham's valleys and hills
there then arose a wave of protest,
and the burden of it was not weighted
with a single word of sympathy or
kindness to tighten the effect of Pc
SSlSudlu . ulSp1CdSu1S. SiSkO1ld was
made to feel it in many ways, espe-
cially when Mrs. Peats' hearts party
came off and that worthy lady ex-
planned that the number was limited,
and when Mrs. Trueham gave a little
dance and ignored Victoria, who was
VIGOROUSLY the best dancer in her set.
It became apparent to Victoria that
according to the lights of Petersham
it were better to starve than to work,
and with n bound she passed up a
step higher, shedding certain preju-
dices as she would her old clothes. In
her heart she felt bitter and hurt and
stormy. Outwardly she maintained a
reserve and hauteur that refused the
advances of her old friends, until she
went among them as an outcast.
Indeed, after the first few years Of
earning her livelihood had gone by
and she found herself able to support
herself comfortably, she awoke to find
that among Petersham's great fam
lilies she vas no longer mentioned save
In whispers, being, so to speak, utter
~ condemned. When this became
clear she shed a few more prejudices
and the dust Of Petersham at the
same time, shaking her skirts furious
ly when she got in the outward-bound
train, and thanking her lucky stars
that she need never come back unless
she wanted to.
Occasionally thereafter Petersham
folks saw Victoria Moore's name in
print over a short story in one or an
other popular magazine, and Peter
sham South shifted and said the sto-
ries were poor stuff, and Petersham
North snorted and said that she would
find out after all what an atom she
was, and Petersham Centre simply
smiled superciliously and waited it's
time.
The time came when Mrs. Peats
and Mrs. Trueham met Victoria on an
afternoon train bound for Petersham,
they in the glory of matinee f1nery,
Victoria in a suit much the worse for
yea and a very weary look upon her
face. Their time had come when Vic
toria bowed with a pleased little smile
and they cut her dead. According to
their lights they truthfully reported
that they had put her in her place.
Victoria set up her few belongings
In her, old home without much trum-
peting. She came and went as she
had done years before, and Petersham
decided she had failed, some ignoring
her, while others treated her with
plying condescension. But Victoria,
tramping over the hills in the early
morning, visiting among the plain
folks, spending a day with some sick
person, playing with everybody's bab-
les wherever she found them, helping
old ladies to clean house and sew and
bake during the day, and in the even
ing taking up her allotted task, went
up one more step, shedding her pre-
disposition to physical frailty and
family penury. For her magazine
work, in spite of Petersham's forebod-
ings, yielded her a goodly income,
and outdoor exercise and work gave
her new vigor.
When she had been back among
them for two years and P%etersham
had let her alone so long that their
interest in her vas almost dead, a
progressing stranger, arriving on a
morning train, asked a loiterer near
the station to direct him to Miss
Moore's home. AS they walked along
this man, Petersham born and bred
felt his curiosity getting the better OF
him.
Il suppose you know Miss Moore
when you see her, don't you?" he
asked, because 1 haven't set eyes on
her for sc long that I don't know my
self as Id be able to point her out tc
you" 1t was pretty weak for a start,
er, but the stranger did his part no,
bly,.
"Oh, yes, 1 know her WE'LL" he an.
sHsred, smilingly; I'm her publisher
and it gives me great pleasure to come
here and visit the scenes where hel
book is laid. It's going to make hel
famous, and I suppose you'll all be