Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-27

Of her life as though she had given them
| breath. And they were grateful. For
mere babies their excessive gratitude was
abnormal. 1t told sadly that food and
clothes anu love were strange. Laura
Hale, remembering her brother Harry s
shiftless ways and selfishness. was not
surprised. She was We Y pitiful and glad
when gradually the gratitude faded into
tfon-that is, on the part of the three
youngest. Harry. the oldest always re-
manned acute'y conscious of the cost Of
keeping them. and soon learned how
sales had dwindled.
Laura Hale was glad to see nothing
of his father in him. She could think
of her brother now without bitterness,
but there had been a time when she
could not. Twenty years before she had
been engaged to Franklin Haag and
ready to marry him. He and Harry. who
was two years her junior. never agreed
Afterward she knew that 1t was Harry $
fault At the time she had taken the
side of the spoiled brother whom her
mother. when dying. had urged her to
be good to. Harry had threatened to run
away and go to the bad unless she gave
Franklin up. He would not live in the
same house with him. She had tried to
temporize by asking Franklin to wait
two or three years till time had smoothed
away the dislike. Franklin had refused.
Marry me-" he said. irritably, land I'll
whip that cub into decency.
With her nerves already unstrung by
the long effort to make them friends she
had retorted with equal irritation, and
after scarcely five minutes of hot quar-
reling refused to marry him at all. He
went away from the small town. Harry
loafed around for two or three months,
then coolly declared that the small town
got on his nerves. He was going west
And he refused to take Laura along.
Didn't want to be bothered with any one
She had never seen either since. After
a year she sold the house left her by her
father and came to the city and put the
money in the delicatessen shop. She
knew of no other way of making her
living
Three months after the children came
sales had dwindled to almost nothing
and there was money to buy fresh
stock. The big store still slashed prices.
an apology. But with shoes and meat
and coal so high we just got to do the
best we can for ourselves one woman
said. Laura could not blame them.
DIDN'T she herself buy from the whole
salers who sold the cheapest?
| She lay awake at night trying to think
/ what she would do. She could not move
to better locality; she had no money
lert, and. besides. her lease held her.
she began to read the Help Wanted"
| coiunlh. But there were no openings
| FOR an unskilied middle-aged woman with
/ four children.
| If you didn't have TO poster with
| US. Harry said, despondently, one night
She hastily stuffed the classified Sec
| ton out Of sight. She supposed that he
] was In bed But want you,'' she said,
! promptly It's awful lonesome living
| along.
IF l was Older" he sighed. 1T takes
| an awful long time to grow up"
You'll grow up fast enough" she told
him. And then the time seems awful
long And she sighed
he went to bed and she followed slowly
The next morning at the breakfast table
| he announced that he wasn't going to
school The big store wanted an GRAND
boy. oh" Laura Hale cried in dismay,
Il don't want you to go to work. Why.
you're too young"
Il look older briefly. Anyway, I'm
going. Or else I won't live here
She sighed. But she could not stop
| him. And she fe.t helpless. His money,
| little as 1t would be. could help some.
That afternoon two of her old Gus
what they wanted. She writhed I'M
der the look that they cast at the empty
/ shelves. Harry did not come home
at noon for lunch. But at $3.50 he jumped
through the open door with a whoop.
| Gee. I've worked hard!' he told her. Il
was delivering at noon. so the head de-
livery man told me to eat some crack
| ers and an apple. And, say. the man.
ager Is coming over tonight to see YOU
told him 1 was fourteen-had to. you
didn't hardly believe me. So you'll have
| to bolster up my story"
ooh. Harry" she told him, 'yo,
know l couldn't do that. I'll have to tell
And lose me the job" he cried, re-.
Il can't help it," firmly.
Then the small front door SWUNG