Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-03-11
Pitiful End Of a Brave Struggle


erty. Grief and illness soon subtract
ed her little strength and courage
adding also to the malady which she
had borne in secret all these years,
and worse than all else, at this time
came the knowledge Of further wrongs
to her children-because OF the sad
neglect which they were forced to
endure.
You mothers OF little girls, answer
in your own mether-hearts why 1t
was that during the last three weeks
OF her service at the cafeteria she al
ways took Espey with her-ostensibly
to help her with her work but does
not your mother instinct tell you more
than that? What would you do, dear
mothers?
And she, remembering the hard,
hard days of pinching want, the suf-
ferlng Of mind and body-the cold and
hunger and misery, she could not face
1t all again.
She took her babies with her be-
cause she could not leave them to the
mercles of world that had given her
nothing but torture She could not
bear the thought Of the undesirable
citizen" that to her clear mothers
mind they must some day be, because
Of their early environment, and the
lack OF the "mothering" that she
could never give them.
Her mother-heart could not permit
them to grow up in society that was
only waiting to punish their mistakes
Of life with bolts and bars.
0, mothers! You who read these
lines! What would you have done?
She had even sold their school
| books to help pay for food know,
for | sold Of them for her. Her house
rent was due, and the illness with
which she had fought for 80 long had
returned with all its torture.
Does honor mean so little, after
all? Does 1t mean nothing to you
that she held fast, her woman's crown
of chastity, through all those eight
long years of wearlness and suffer
ing, and watching her babies starved
before her eyes? To me her life is
like beaco might shining out before
all the world Of tired, hungry moth
ers, who are bread-wlnners for their
children.
All the loneliness and heart-hunger
and suffering only made her strong
er in her purity, and so at last. when
the burden became too heavy for her
tired shoulders, she laid It down in
fear and trembling, but brayely to the
very last, doing the thing she felt best
for her babies and herself.
Vague rumors have drifted about
the town of a "farm' that she owned
That farm" consists Of three lots and
q miserable two-room cabin In little
out-of-the-world place of some two
or three hundred inhabitants down
near the coast somewhere. She could
not possibly make a living there. Then
came a rumor that she had an "ele.
CANT bedroom suite and q piano. ]
have been in her house many, many
times and | never saw such a thinl
as a bedroom suite" of any kind. Az
to the piano-she did have a piano
that her mother had helped her tC
buy more than ten years ago. It was
shipped from Kansas, and stood in the
freight office over seven' months, til
she could finally get 1t out. That was
several years ago. l, myself, have
been trying to sell this piano for hel
for $50. ! tried for nearly a month
and couldn't get It.
o, It is so easy to be angry and re-
proachful toward those whom VIZ
have wronged.
And now, comrades, | must say
word to you, for you can understand
this pitiful tragedy as no one else
can. Your hearts are brave ant
strong to face things as they are.
A constant stream OF the morbidly
curious filed through the morgue, t
gaze upon the dead faces that in life
they had never given more than 9
passing glance.
Strange hands placed great clusters
Of beautiful flowers over the little
silent hearts, and in the little deat
hands that but yesterday reached ou
to them for bread.
Hush See-no flowers are In thu
mothers thin, worn hands! She whc
had borne all the years Of crushlnl
sorrow and soul torture; who had ev
er tried to shield them from pain ant
cold and hunger, always with tn,
smallest portion Of food for her own
and with the hardest tasks for hers
she who risked even the anger of he
God to do what she felt to be bes
for her "babies,' was ignored I'm thl
last tribute that the living can pa.
to the dead.
Not that It mattered to her now
she never had flowers given he
when she could enjoy their Fragrance
and their loyeliness. 30 why shoult
they be offered now? Only this-th
outward expression OF the things tina
people think o, society! Have yol
not even a flower for her chastity
Not one?
Dear dead heart, slain by the gree
: and advice Of present day economics
. What do you care for their flowers
You asked bread for your babies an
they gave them-ilowers!
And do they hope thereby to cove
up all these years Of neglect and IN
pangs Of hunger and the heartach
and the sorrow that in life they ney
er once thought about?
A lady brought an armful Of pal,
| spring flowers and laid them loving
ly about the sweet, wan face and owe
the tired heart. Another stood By he
, side and added clusters Of purple vic
7 let's One said "what a mockery II
to offer her flowers, when It wa
) bread she wanted"
Then she OF the violets replied
, "yes. dear, but ] feel that ! have IN
{ right to offer flowers, for many, man
times have I given her bread
d A man looked pityingly uDOn all m
childish faces. and then turned di,