The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-01-20
We'll, dear, anything doing,"

N'i"iinea. lhe lanltor was here
again for the rent. He says they'll
serve us with dispossess. | told him
70 chase himself. l was that mad"
Ahnles vocabulary was emphatic.
rather than choice. Entirely without
education, she made no preteuse at
being what she was not and therein
perhaps lay her chief charm. AS
howard stopped to kiss her, she said
reproachfully:
you We been drinking again, How
ara. You promised me you wouldn't"
1he young man made no reply.
With an impatient gesture he rassed
on into the fiat and flung himself
down in chair in the dining room.
from the adjoining kitchen came a..
welcome odor of cooking.
Dinner ready?" he demanded. I'm
devilish hungry"
Yes, dear, just a minute" replied
MS wife from the kitchen. There's
some nice Irish stew, just what you
like"
The box-like hole where Howard
sat awaiting his meal was the largest
room in fat which boasted of five
and bath" There was a bedroom of
equally diminutive proportions and a
parlor with wall paper so loud that it
talked. There was scarcely enough
room to swing cat around. The
thln walls were cracked, the rooms
were carpetless. Yet 1t showed the
care of a good housekeeper. Floors
and windows were clean, the cover on
the table spotless. The furnishings
were as meager as they were ingen-
lous. With their slender purse they
had been able to purchase only the
pare necessitieS-a bed, a chair or
two, dining room table, a few kitch-
en- utensils. When they wanted tn sit
In the parlor they had to carry a
chair from the dining room; when
meal times came the chairs had to
travel back again. A soap box turned
upside down and neatly covered with
chlntz did duty as a dresser in tne
bedroom, and with a few photograpns
and tacks they had managed to I'm.
part an aesthetic appearance to tae
parlor. This place cost the huge sam
OF $25 month. 1t might just as we'll
have cost 500 for all Howard's ability
to pay It, The past months rent was
long overdue and the janitor looked
more lnsolent every day. But they
did not care. They were young and
life was still before them
Presently Annie came in CARRYING
a steaming dish of stew, which she
laid on the table. AS she helped How
ard to plate full she said: $50 you
had no luck again this morning?"
Howard was too busy eating 70 an.
swer. AS he gulped down huge piece
of bread, he growled:
Nothing, as usual-same old story.
nothing doing"
Annie sighed. She had beer given
this answer so often that it would
have surprised her to hear anything
else. 1t meant that their hard hand.
to-mouth struggle must go on. She
said nothing. What was the use? II
would never do to discourage How.
ard She tried to make light of it.
"Of course 1t isn't easy, l quite
understand that Never mind. dear.
Something will turn up soon. Where
did you go? Whom did you see? Why
didn't you let drink alone when you
promised me you would?"
That was Coxe's fault" blurted
out Howard, always ready to blame
others for his own shortcomings.
You remember Coke! He was at
II N~s
with blue eyes. He pulled stroke in
the varsity boat race, you remem.
ber?"
II think I do," replied his wife. in.
differen'y, IS she helped him to more
stew. "Nhac die he want? What's
he doing in New York;
Hes got a fne Tlace in q broher'a
office in Wa'' stree. felt asha led
to let him see me NV down Ike his.
He said that could make a good zeal
of money if only had a little CAP tai.
He knows everything going on in
Wall street. If went in with him I'd
be on Easy street.
How much would 1t reauire?"
1.-TWO thousand dollars
Inc young vile gave sign as Sne
answered:
'Pm afraid that's day dream. Only
your father could give you such an
amount and you wouldn't go to him,
would your"
Not if we hadn't another crust in
the house" snapped Howard savage
ly. You don't want me to, do you?"
he asked looking up at her quickly.
mo, dear" she answered calmly.
II have certainly no wish that you
should humble yourself. At the same
time | am not selfish enough to want
to stand in the way of your future.
Your father and stepmother hate me,
! know that. | am the cause of your
separation from your folks. No doubt
vour father would be very willing TO