River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-12-04
The Daughter of David Kerr
By HARRY KING TOOTLE
illustrations "a
illustrations by Ray Walters
Copyright by A. C. MsClurg & Co.. .o1a.

AcStnTs q Co., IoI2
This was the day Mrs. Wallac,
asked us to help her at the mission,
Mrs. Hayes explained.
She did not say further that sht
| had telephoned earlier in the morning
and had Mrs. Wallace, the matron
make plans whereby the whole after
noon would be taken up. She be
| lieved Gloria's peace of mind would
be all the greater were she engaged il
some work which would make her fee
that through her the pain of the suf
ferer was alleviated and the bruised
heart Of the unhappy bound up.
1t was just two o'clock when they
reached the mission. They had not beer
| there long before Mrs. Wallace sug
gested that they call on a poor CIR
who was i'll in a room over Mike Moo
mans saloon. The sick woman was
known to her, but she told nothing OF
her story. 1t wasn't much different
from any one of half hundred she
might have told
The two women felt not the slight.
80 ANdA Ill WcAh1nS LDIOuSA 0uCn q
tough quarter of the town. Mrs. Hayes
was an experienced settlement work.
er, and knew many of the persons
whom they passed. They for their
part knew her and respected her for
the kindly charity she dispensed SO
unostentatiously. AS for Gloria, she
could fear nothing since she was al
most in total ignorance of what dan
gers might beset their path. Then,
too, she was busy with her own
thoughts.
Mrs. Hayes had been told in what
room the sick woman lay, and without
word to anyone in fact they saw no
one they went in the door on the side
street and climbed the dark, uncarpet-
ed stairs to the third door At door
just at the foot of the flight of steps
which led to the fourth story, Mrs
Hayes knocked gently. There was no
answer She decided that if there was
no response to the next knock she
would open the door to see if the girl
were asleep. A second and louder
knock, however, aroused her and she
called to them to enter
Gloria and Mrs Hayes walked into
the room, and as the latter went to
the bedside to explain how they hap
pened to call, the daughter of David
Kerr stood stock still and gazed about
her with undisguised curiosity.
The occupant Of the room, frail
little creature with uncertain, golden
hair, was known to her companions as
Little Ella Upon the bIotter at the
police station she was always booked
as LuelIa Windermere She had found
the name in a novel and, liking it. had
taken it for her own. In the unkindly
daylight, without the paint that
Knocked the cheek that once had
bloomed a healthier hue, the pallor of
her face was heightened by the dark
circles under her eyes. Yet the raw
ages of a life too harsh for one so
weak had not been so great as to blot
entirely from her face the traces of a
simpering sweetness.
If Little Elias room could be
summed up in one word, that word
would be-sham. 1t was not a poverty
that honestly confessed itself to be
such, that room. Instead it was
poverty that skunk away into corners
and hid behind the rankest limitations
of better things. Everything seemed
to have been purchased at the cheap
est booths at Vanity Fair There we're
few things of substance, but many
things of vain and empty show Had
Gloria been more skilled in reading
the world Alright, every bauble, every
useless ornament would have preached
a sermon. AS it was, there was for
her in large part only the interest of
novelty.
To the right of Gloria were two win
dows looking out over the roofs of
neighboring houses. Between them
was SCARED maple dresser 1t was
Uttered among other things with post
card photographs, business cards,
calendar with picture in many col
ors and a bottle of Florida water Di-
rectly in front of her was the sick
girls bed a cheap iron affair with
massive furnished brass trimmings.
Beyond it was a frail-looking trunk
painted in imitation of leather. The
only things which boldly confessed