The Washington herald., 1914-02-17
Daily Short Story
HER AMBITION.
ny sncHAEL >. ronrER.

By 9fiCHAEL j.. FOHTEh.
Icoprisht. lsiIj
McDevitt place, as II WAS called. was
a few miles out Of the city, and con-
sisted of five acres Of ground and an old
mansion. The property had been at law
for n term of years. and although In the
hands OF a man and his wife as care
taker, 1t had badly suffered from neg.
lece. When at last the suit was decided
| in favor OF young Mr.. Jewett Hillson, he
motored out from town to look Il over.
1T viii take five thousand dollars 70
put things in thorough repair" he said
| TO the man In charge.
IAN Of that" was the reply.
"Well. wen have to go ahead ana
make some repairs, but ! don't want TO
! throw away any money. Clear the
grounds and repair the house a bit. and
may get some of the club chaps 10
come down here with me now and tnen
for a week"
II shall need q laborer.
Get one"
And there ought to be. somebody to
boss the job. -,
And, charge me five dollars day.
Not that, sir. DO you see that sum-
mer house over therey
IFS rather an odd conceit. but l think
like it"
III was designed by a young lady who
lives In that cottage with her mother
SOP
and she is learning to be an archit-
tect"
Never heard of a girl architect nor
girl boss"
But they are coming TO be, sir. There
is summer house that you can see Tor
yourself. and you ought TO have peep
at her dog house and chicken coop. No
king has any better.
Mr.. HIllson didn't ask II the girl were
plain-faced or handsome. He didn't say
he'd better have a talk with her. He
had other things back In the city on his
n-.nd, and was in a hurry to have done
with the matter OF repairs. What he
did say was: well. you had better see
her and have her go ahead
Miss Dorothy Clyde was learning 10
be an architect" Her mothers income
was not large. an" TIE two women had
often cast about for some side line that
might exc Il out. They had thought OF
chickens at once. They had begun with
hundred and ended with seven. They
had started a frog farm. but the frogs
had jumped into the next county.
But, mother, there must be some
th:..3 that an ambitious girl can do to
make money" Miss Dorothy had said
Yes. It seems So" had always been
the answer.
Accident furnished the key. The girl
happened to get hold of one of those
back TO the land" monthlies. In addi-
ton TO relating how almost any denizen
OF the city could jump out into the
country and run his weight up to 30
pounds and his fortune TO tens of thou
sans OF dollars, it had a list of things an
ambitious girl living out in Natures pas
ture might accomplis'-
One of the things was architecture.
Not the architecture that gives us the
skyscrapers and the capitol buildings.
but the kind that takes tumble-down
old farmhouse and alters 1t over into
villa.
And with this style went the fancy
to layi out the grounds around said
villa and make them match and har-
monize with the house, the barn, the
pigsty. and the hencoop.
Mother, can do it, exclaimed the
daughter. Il know I can, and I can
make hundreds of dollars a year"
As a result she built a summer house.
a dog kennel. and a chickencoop. She
must have samples to show the public.
Dewitt place. came over and inspected
them.
Young woman, you have great
head on you-a great head"
DO you think shall make a sue
cess at it,"
"A grand success"
Mr.. Barnes was no fiatterer He be-
lieved what he said. When young Mr..
Hillson came and began TO talk about
repairs and a boss there was an OPEN
ing for the girl of ambition. The
haI NH ~,
Mr.. Barnes was proudly Offering the
contract to Miss Dorothy.
'Ts is possibleT' she gasped.
Il stand here to say that IL is"
And what is the limit as TO money!
well, he said things must be put
in shape"
"Oh, dear. what luck"
Mr.. Barnes was for ordering shingles,
lumber, paint, brick. cement and other
things by the carload at once, but the
ambitious girl stayed his hand. She had
read or heard that architects first pre-
pared plans and specifications. and she
would do the same. II would hardly be
fair by the owner to go ahead without
knowing something about the cost. Right
away. at o'clock next morning. she
was "on the Job" So was a laborer Mr..
Barnes had hired. While the laborer up
rooted thistles and burdocks she walked
over the five acres of ground and plan
ned the grand boulevard and the various
paths which should intersect II.
Miss Dorothy put in a month OF pre-
paratory work. and when she and Mr..
Barnes had estimated in the most care
full manner and added up their figures
they found the total to be $1,000. For
this sum Mr.. Hillson had an old feudal
castle, a villa and a manor house COM
bined. There were three ancient draw
bridges and seven modern bathrooms.
There were eight ancient turrets and five
modern billiard rooms. There were
torchholders in the walls, and electric
lights under them.
As for the grounds. they were to be
patterned after the royal grounds at Yer
sailies. There would be fourteen foun-