The Washington times., 1911-05-04

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Indians. AS / thought the naked ad-
venture of il appealed to him. That was
all l wished; 1t was enough to work on.
The next day l brought out second
hand furniture dealer and made as good
a baragni as l could with him for the
contents of the house. We saved notn-
ing but the sheer essentials for light
housekeeping.
These consisted OF most of the cook
ing, utensils, half dozen plates, cuIs
pieces Cor the table, four tablecIoths
all the bed linen. all our clothes, ih-
cludfng some old clothes we had been
upon the point of throwing away. a
few personal gimcracks, and for fur
niture the following articles: The fold
ing wooden kitchen table, a half dozen
chairs, the cot bed in the boys room,
the iron bed in our room, the long mir
ror l gave Ruth on her birthday, and
a sort of china closet that stood in the
dining room. To this we ad led bowls,
pitchers, and lamps.
All the rest, which included a full
dining room set. full dinner set CT
china, the furnishings of the front room,
rugs, pictures. and two or three good
chairs, a full bed room set in our room
and a cheaper one in the boys room,
piazza furnishings, garden tools, and
cost me first and last something like
1000, I told the dealer to lump together.
He looked it over and bid $500.
saw Ruth swallow hard. for she had
taken gocd care of everything so that
to us 1t was worth as much today as
we had paid for it, Rut / accepted the
offer without dickering, for it was large
enough to serve my ends.
1t would pay off all our debts and
leave us a hundred dollars to the good.
that | had been that much ahead.
That afternoon l saw Murphy and
hired of MIN the top tenement of his
new home. 1t was in the Italian quar-
ter of the city and my fiat consisted of
four rooms. The rent was So week.
Murphy looked surprised enough at
the change in my affairs and l made
him promise not to gossip to the neigh
bors about where I'd gone.
"Faith, Sor," he said, and they
wouldn't believe it if told them
This wasn't all I accomplished that
day. I bought pair of overalls and
presented myself at the office Of con-
tractors agent. l didn't have any trou-
BILE in getting in there, and l didn't feel
like a beggar as took my place in line
With about dozen foreigners. l look
ed them over with certain amount of
Self-cOnfidence.
Most of them were urdersized men
with sagging shoulders and primitive
faces. With their big eyes they mad
me think of shaggy Shetland ponies.
Lined uD man for man with my late
associates they certainly looked like an
inferior lot.
I studied them With curiosity; there
must be more in them than showed on
the surface to bring them over here
there must be some thing that wasn't in
the rest Of us for them TO make good
the way they did. In the next six
months ! meant to find out what that
was.
In the meantime just sitting there
among them | felt as though had more
elbow room than ] had had since / was
eighteen. Before me as before them a
continent stretched its great length and
breadth. They laughed and joked among
themselves and stared about at every |
thing with eager, curious eyes. They |
were ready for anything and everything
was ready for themt-he ditch, the |
mines, the railroads, the wheat fields.
Wherever things were growing and |
needed men TO, help them grow, t1ey
would play their part. They say there's |
plenty of room at the top, but there s |
pienty-of room at the bottom, too. It's
in the middle that men get pinched. !,
l worked my way up to the window. |
where sallow, pale-faced clerk sat in |
front of a big book. He gave me start, |
he was such A contrast to the others. |
In my new enthusiasm / wanted to ask |
him why he didn't come out and get in |
line the other side of the window.
He yawned at 1e wrote down my name. |
I didn't have to answer more than half !
a dozen questions before he told me to |
report for work Monday, at such and
such place. | asked him what the |
work WAS and he looked up.
"Suhway,' he answered.
| asked him how much the pay was |
He looked me over at this. don't |
know what he thought / was.
Dollar and half-nine hours"
"All right" I answered.
He gave me a slip of paper and I
hurried out. II hadn't taken ten min
utes. And $3.50 day was SO week!
1t was almost twice as much as / had
started on with the United: it was over
after my first ten years of hard work
with them. 1t seemed too good to be
true.
Taking out the rent, this left me IS for
food. That was as much as II had cost
Ruth and me the first year we were
married. There was no need of going
hungry on that.
| came back home Jubilant. Ruth at
first took the prospect of my digging IN
a ditch bit hard, but that was only
because she contrasted It with my
former genteel employment.
why, girl" l explained. ITS no
more than I would haye to do If we
took a homestead out west. I'd as soon
dig in Massachusetts as Montana
She felt of my arm. It's a big arm.
Then she smiled. It was the last time |
she mentioned the subject.
We didn't say anything to the neigh |
hors until the furniture began to go
out. Then the women flocked in ana
Ruth was hard pressed to keep our Sc
cret.
sat upstairs and chuckled as heard |
her replies. She says it's the only time |
I ever failed to stand by her, but 1t |
didn't seem to me like anything but a |
joke.
Of This Story YilI Be