Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-12-21
the change made, the checks written

the change made. the checks written
out.
Afterwards 1t seemed to her, that her
whole year had been rushing toward
this Christmas climax. Most Of that
year she had worked in a cheaper store
worked nine n one-half hours a.
not enough to live on. she had boarded
with an aunt in Hoboken. paying her
$1.16 a week. But 1t took her an hour
and a quarter to get to work and h
rose early before dawn to get to her
counter at 8 sharp. Carfare cost her
20 cents II week. No recreation, no
fresh air. And every few nights she
was up till midnight laundering her
clothes. that she might be neat appear
Ing. This work, she felt was killing
her. 30 she left 1t and tool a position
In the larger store for - a 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 consisting
OF coffee and rolls for 10 cents each,
laundry was rs cents a week. Clothes
and extra came close to 81. In this
way she spent all her wages. toiled
from 8 a. m. to 6 p. m., and on Satur-
days till $3.50. Strength does not come
on coffee ana rolls, nor on nine and a
half hours of standing indoors, nor on
lack OF pleasure and mental growth,
Mamie grew sickly, wrinkled, weaker
day by day; she was afflicted with
already a sapped and aged woman,
unfit for marriage and collaborating
and house work, with no future but
tncessant toll, n no savings against
sickness or old &
This was bad enough. But then tho
holiday rush began. TIL store was
kept open until 1880 at night. Mamie
grew feverish, had dizzy spells. was too
sick to eat. Her condition grew worse
each day n now on his last day she
came to work at 8 in the morning
feeling that h could not endure q
half hour of standing up O the
crowds. nor the noise nor the bad air,
That day was q wild, slow torture.
measured by minutes, endless and pitt
less. IN and on 1t went. on to noon,
on from 12:45 to 6, on from $3.50 to this
very minute.
This snow? How much? Sec here.
w WI s my ~, csangs? DO you think !
ticorwalker. Yes, wrap me up six. in
two packages please. Isn't there any
n else waiting at this counter?"
Sunburst after sunburst of faces,
sea-roar of talking, dazzling lights.
confusion, hustle. noise, hands flying,
AAl,0 llIONI HI MOulu kO LOT
another hour and a half.
A maj pushed his way through the
crowd. See here, kid" he cried, You
do me up 10 of these, quick!"
Mamie leaned forward on the coun-
ter and smiled diinly.
Ten? Tcn?"
Cant you hear? eight, nine, tent"
Ten? Ten what?"
She leaned further forward, she
sighed. h Slipped and her arms and
fac and hair and thin bosom all
touched among the packages on the
counter.
Cries went up: She's tainted!
Something's the matter! Get water!
Help her up!"
The crowd jammed; the foorwalker
broke his way through muttering.
Mamie down? Thunder! and just
nov when we can't replace her! Why
the devil couldn't the girl stick it out?'
Next morning the nurse in the hos
pital wished her a merry Christmas.
She looked up vacantly and went of
in a delirium, crying shrilly:
It's 5 cents a 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
there lay the mysterious
packages. Little eyes glistened with
awe II wonder. women and men were
blinded with happy tears, and the
Christmas bells pealed love and BROTH
erhood through the tingling dawn.
And n woman said to another:
"Thc jam was awful last night. I
thought I'd never get home. And the
service in the stores vas nsufferable."
Asked the other: why didn't you
shop earlier in the month";"
why? oh. you know how it ISL"