El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-08-13
: One WOman's Story :
By Virginia Terhune Van de water
CHAPTER XVI.

| TINE first year of Mary Danforths
life in the business world
Il dragged its dreary length away
/ In the beginning there had been some
! excitement attendant upon the new
! experience, and this had buoyed her
/ up. To be sure there had been a great
l wrench in giving up the home of
I Which she and her mother were so fond
I but for her mothers sake the girl put
! her own sr1efs IN the background. She
remembered that once, several years
( ago. her father had said of his wife:
She IS singularly dependent and
sensitive, Mary If anything should
as tenderly as 7 have tried to do I
depend upon you for that"
The words required to the girl often
during the Wear1Some months that fol-
/ lowed upon her fathers death. when
she saw the elderly WOman's sad face
grow Sadder as she tried to accustom
nerselL 70 changed conditions When
Mary left home each morning it was
with the appreciation that her mother
must be both hOusekeeper and house
worker, and that she was not used to
Sucn TOLL The girl would rise early
IN order that she herself might make
her own bed and set her own room to
rights, then. help about the breakfast.
Yet in spite Of these efforts on her
part there were the dishes to be
washed, the tiny flat to be swept and
busted. and the meals 60 be prepared
by the widow. Mary would urge her
to eat a substantial luncheon, vet she
always feared that her own ideas of
what substantial meant in this con-
necdon and her mothers interpreta-
ton of the word differed as soon as
the daughter was out of sight There
fore she would order from the butcher
on her way downtown chop or some
other nourlshlng tidbit fr her mother
Delicacles were a strain upon Mary
Danforths small purse. but her
parents strength must be kept up.
Vet Az T--baf fbe s-srI r-o,1Id Sba v,-as
sure that when night came the pa
uent widow was coo tired or too de-
pressed to sleep She also knew-bet-
ter than did her mother-that she. her
self, often went without food at the
noon hour to save the price of lunch
con. A few crackers slipped into her
bag before she left home would take
the place of the MONDAY meal
In spite of these economies the fam
lily finances were very low. More than
once Mrs. DanfOrth had been forced to
use little OF what she called her in
z SCrnce Pi1 heTse cb S fiIne
this was done Mary was impressed
afresh with the hopelessness of her ef-
forts to support two women decently
on her small salary. Business was dull
in all branches, and real estate was
not booming James Pearson, her en-
ployer, had a wife with enough money
in her own right TO support herself and
husband. so the success Of his enter
prise was not essential to his exist
ence- He kept the business because ne
liked to feel that he was not dependnC !
upon his wife. Mary often wished fer
VentlV that she was in the employ OF
some man to whom work was a neces-
sitv and who would be energetic and
progressive. But she dared not aban-
don a certainly for an uncertainty.
It was at this juncture that Her
bert Fletcher ebert as his friends 1
called him). got into the habit of COM |
ing 70 PearSOn'S office to talk over /
possible real estate deal At first the |
girl barely noticed him, so ABSORBED /
was she in the many duties that fell |
that she was not only stenographer and 7
typewriter, but assistant bookkeepeT
and office boy combined Night found I
her jaded and nervous, looking for !
ward eagerly to the letter from Cor (
don Craig that often awaited her when 1
she returned to Ler fiat:
in the inner office talking to Pearson, |
came into the outer office Just as Mary 4
offered to escort her to the elevated, /
where she was to take the train up [
town. Both times the girl had Deemed /
cOldly, yet the second time she did this /
her heart smote her as she saw his dis
appointed expression Somehow. she
thought. as she walked toward the
Cortlandt street station, the look in the
mans eyes reminded her of that in a
faithful dogs eyes. She was so lonely
ton would comfort her she said 70
herself with whimsical humor- Yet
this man Fletcher was common KIND
Of person, she decided-not bit like
the men of her world
Then she smiled bitterly. AT least
not like the men of the world she USED
to live in. Perhaps. after all, girl
who worked in a little office on a mean
salary. and who lived in a five room
apartment in the poorest section OF ]
West saith street. could hardly afford
to sheer at anybody Just because ne
was not educated to the standard that /
mad once been hers, and had not the |
that was traditional in the
circle of which she had once formed
part That circle had melted away
since her fathers death. She could not
Keep pace with her friends, and one by
me they had dropped out of her life.
She did not care, she muttered IN
.lares bitterly that she does not care
hat is usually when one really cares"
And that night there was no letter
Rom Craig. He usually wrote three
lines a week. but this was the fourth
inc in six weeks that his letter had
not come on the day that she ex-
)ected it
Never mind, dearest" she said to
1er mother who commented on the
Who remarked that ''iC was queer that
Gordon had not written regularly late
v" and hoped that nothing was
wrong with her daughters lover
Gordon and I UNDERSTAND eacn otner,
nd ne is extremely busy Just now One
an hardly expect a man TO write as
,ften as a woman does, you know"
Her mother kissed the speaker Cen I
lerIy. That's so, darling, she as
ented "and the buster Gordon is the
more work he will do, and the sooner
le will come for you, dearie-and for
ss''Yes!T the girl assented bravely.
That is true. dear mother"
But in her heart she was saying:
How can / stand this kind of life |
inless he comes soon! How can ]
anu CONTINUED in Next Issue,) \