The Washington times., 1911-01-19
Andrew and ImOgene
By Roe Fulkerson.

your day?'
Miserably. dear" she replied. ''Hor-
tense has been here and she has inst
given up her young man and she ia
| aWfully sad about It. She criad all
| over the new red plush cushion in tbs
parior till I believe it's ruined, was
almost heartbroken."
why didn't you get her a towel7o
| asked Andrew, smiling.
oh, 1 don't mean about the crvh
| ion," said Imogene, impatientIv ..h,,+
ABOUT the poor girl. You see she was
engaged to an awfuIly nice young man
| VINO don't smoke, drink, or chew and
| mas a nice fur-lined overcoat that his
mother gave him, but now it's all off
ana Itortense threatens to throw herself
| In the river"
I'll go down and chop a place in the
Ice for her tomorrow said Andrew, all
| sympathy.
But DEAR" insisted Imogene, this Is
real tragedy. You see he is the private
secretary for three Congressman, and
It's his small pay and the high price of
| everything that has come between these
two loving hearts"
| Small pay" calculated Andrew.
| why, great scott! Congress allows ona
hundred and twenty-five dollars a
month for the private secretary Of a
member of Congress-, and il this lad Is
working for three of them he is getting
three seventy-five a month, which ought
| TO be enough to at least buy Hortenss
pecanocha
| Yes, but these pay checks of the
private secretaries are made out in the
name of the member and there are only
| about half a dozen or so of them who
give the check to their clerks, so Hor-
tense'$ young man tells her. He re-
celVed Us a month each from the three
| members he secretaries for and they
kept the rest.
Up to a week ago, though, he got
along fairly well, for one of his MEM
bers was new man and didn't know
what he was entitled to from the Gov
ernment. so Hortenses young man
would sell the 2OOOO packages of seeds
| which he was entitled to for 800 to
member from the Western agricultural
belt, but now the member has found
out about it and sells them himself.
| "1e used to also be able to make a
little off of this mans flower seeds,
but now the man swaps them to an
other member for some agricultural
books about the 'nitrogene accumulation
of alfalfa and other legumes.' which he
can sell in an agricultural college town
in Iowa, and that is gone. too.
He used to get some agricultural
year books which sold we'll in Chicago,
but these have been taken from him,
too, and he has about given up hope
of ever accommodating money enough to
get married. 1 feel so sorry for the
poor things!''
1T does seem sort of hard to take
all his graft away from him. said
Andrew.
Yes" said Imogene: "Hortense tells
ME that few people know how hard life
is for these private secretaries. At
Christmas one of the members for whom
her young man works gave him
United States map, published by the
Government, as a Christmas present,
and another gave him a package nicely
wrapped and told him 1t was something
for his sweetheart, and when the young
man brought it over and they un-
wrapped it, it was a book called Dis
seases of the Horse, issued by the Agri-
cultural Department.
THE third member gave him an order
on Mr.. Smith at the Botanical Garden
for a fern. He took the fern to his
room. and 1t looked so green and ap-
petizing, he sneaked the pepper, salt
and vinegar off of the table at Walks.
and took them home and tried to make
| a salad out of the fern, but the spores
; got into his pores or something, for it
made him awfully sick.
But what is worrying her now Is tina.
she read OF that hold-up at the varnuIn
= Hotel, and she is sure 1t was done by
some underpaid Congressional private
: secretary. She is afraid her young
man did 1t, and they will catch. him,
Her vision of love and happiness is
blighted, and that's why she cried all
over my new red cushion"
"She broke the engagement then?
asked Andrew.
NO." she replied
"Oh, he did it,
NO. she said.
But it's broken. isn't it, he persisted
Yes" said Imogene. she told hin
: what her clothes cost. and he told heI
what his income was, and the engage
! ment just sagged in the middle and
: dissolved in the tears they shed!'
IEos~ Ds1n~ - D1o@-o~