Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-12-12

| In fact, Mamie wasn't "all there" Hel
| fingers. her lips kept working but the
real Mamie seemed in q trance. Sun.
burst after sunburst of faces shot the
air before her, u loud sea noise of voices
swept her brain, and she felt deathly
| sick. Every bone in her body ached
1t seemed as If her feet had broker
| and were bleeding. She was horribly
| nauseated and dizzy She felt as II she
were going to faint. BY sheer force OF
grit she chung to the counter, she KEEP
upright, she moved, talked, worked Or
and on 1t went, minute by minute. and
still the faces crowded, the voices rang
| out, the packages had to be delivered
the change made, the checks written
out.
Afterwards it seemed to her, that hel
whole year had been rushing toward
this Christmas climax. Most Of that
year she had worked in a cheaper
store-worked nine and one-half hours
a day for $2.621a a week. As this was
not enough to live on. she had boarded
with an aunt in Hoboken. paying her
$1.15 week. But it took her an hour
and quarter to get to work and she
rose early before dawn to get to her
counter at 8 sharp. Carfare cost her
s1.26. which. With the board, left her
90 cents a week. No recreation. no fresh
air. And every few nights she was UP
till midnight laundering her clothes
that she might be neat appearing. This
work. she felt was killing her-so she
left it and took a position in a larger
store for 81 week.
But she had to figure close. She
slept nearby in a charity dormitory for
s cents a night. She went without
breakfast, lunch and supper consisted
of coffee and rolls for 10 cents each.
Laundry was u cents a week. Clothes
and extra come close to 81. In this way
she spent all her wages-toiled from S
a. M. TO g. Is p. H., and on Saturdays
till $50. Strength does not come on
coffee and rolls. nor on nine and a half
hours of standing indoors, nor on lack
of pleasure and mental growth. Mamie
grew sicl<ly, wrinkled. weaker day by
day: she was afflicted with violent
headaches. and at II she was already a
Slapped and aged woman, unfit for mar
riage and child bearing and house
work, with no future but incessant toll.
and no savings against sickness or old
age
This was bad enough. But then the
holiday rush began. The store was
kept open till 1880 at night. Mamie
grew fevertsh. had dizzy spells, was TOO
sick TO eat Her condition grew worse
each day and now on this last day she
had come TO work at S in the morning
feeling that she could not endure a
half hour Of standing up nor the
crowds, nor the noise nor the bad air.
That day was wild slow torture.
measured by minutes, endless and pitt
less. On and on it went. on up 70 noon.
on from 12:45 to s, on from 6: 80 to this
very minute.
This snowo How much? See here,
where's my change?-Do YOU think
can wait all night?-Say, III tell the
floor wa lker-Yes, wrap me up six. in
two packages please-Isn't there any
one else waiting on this counter?
sunburst after sunburst of faces, sea-
roar of talking dazzling lights. confus-
ion, hustle, noise, hands flying. lips
moving-and this would go for another
hour and half.
A man pushed his way thru the
crowd. "see here. kid" he cried. You
do me up ten of these-quick!"
Mamie leaned forward on the counter
and smiled dimly.
"Teno Ten"
Cant you hear? Eight. nine, ten.
"Teno Ten WHAT"
She leaned farther forward. she sigh
ed, she slipped and her arms and face
and hair and thin bosom all slouched
among the packages on the counter.
Cries went up: she's tainted.
Something's the matter: Get water!
Help her up
The crowd damned: the hoorwalker
broke his way thru muttering:
Mamie down? Thunder. And just
now when we can't replace her! Why
the devil couldn't the girl stick it out o.
Next morning the nurse in the hos
pital wished her a merry Christmas.
She looked up vacantly and went Off
in a delirium, crying shrilly:
ITS cents package, ma'am!-Just
a minute. Yes. snow-snow for Christ
mas trees"
At the same moment over the wide
spread city, the little children hoped
out OF bed and ran in their nighties to
the parlor There famed the candles Of
the pines there hung the bulgy stock
ings, there lay the mysterious pack
ages. Little eyes glistened with awe
and wonder. women and men We're
blinded with happy tears, and the
Christmas bells pealed love and broth
erhood thru the tingling dawn.
And one woman said to another.
The jam vas awful last night. l
thought I'd never get home. And the
service in the stores was insufferable."
Asked the other: why didn't you
shop earlier in the month";"
Why? Oh, you know how it is
The cohoes Man.