Grand Forks daily herald and the evening times., 1914-08-31

as we'll! And Tommy is too young
to be Of any real a~ssls-ante."
Tommy isn't" de'antly. 1.-THE
MAJ who has the milk business now
:s going tc let him deliver mornings
fol So Il week an he's gong to chore
for Mead's store for S. more Isn't
$500"
When it was made clear tt her how
there were four healthy mouths to
feed, four bodies to clothe and rent
to pay. she listened in stony silence.
Completely out of patience. the
committee who had the matter in
hand at last declared: We'll, Kitty,
if you won't give heed to us. we must
go ahead and do things. Your uncle's
it's out Of the question for o to
pay rent elsewhere. If you're figuring
on using the $500 you're forgetting
one thing-you can't touch a. penny
Of it till you're of age"
Kitty spoke then. her voice and eyes
shrewd, "a girls Of age when she's
eighteen, isn't she? iii be eighteen
tomorrow"
To further arguments she turned a
deaf ear, n presently the commit
tee left her with a parting injunction
to prepare herself for the change be-
fore her.
Left alone the defiant little figure
relaxed, the glittering eyes filled with
tears. The committee didn't have to
move immedite]y. She had known
it since the day of her uncle's death
n had figured on what would be
the best thing to do for "her family
until the weight of responsibility
seemed more than she could bear.
Then she had been told about the
$500, and doubts and fears were swept
away. Why with all that money she
could pay rent for ages and ages.
Until Tommy was receiving g. mans
wages and Elspeth and Buddy we'll
along in school.
With her problem solved, she had
been very happy, but now she knew
obstacles would be put in the way of
her renting a cottage. One she had
the committee. and she knew very
well she could not rent that now.
She was considered too young, too
ignorant to bring up the children,
n the town would take them GU Of
her hands entirely.
Tears came faster. She knew little
Elspeth would die If she didn't have
her Kitty and no one would put up
with Buddy's pranks as she did. Her
mother had told her to care for them
always and she would! The com
mittee should not take them from
her! She didn't know how she would
manage it, but she would figure it out
some way.
She put on her hat and left the
house. When sh- reached the street
h walked rapidly, planning, plan
ming. Distance was unnoticed until
she found herself on the edge Of the
town.
She pulled up abruptly in front of a
small cottage set in a small garden.
It was unoecupied and looked as
though it had been tenantless many q
day. for the paint w. peeling from
it's sides, window panes were broken
and the steps sagged. She knew 1t
belonged to a man named Burton, a
very rich a who owned the big
colonial house just beyond, unoccu-
pied like the little cottage. He had
not been in the town for years. She
had heard that he had had trouble
the death Of wife OF a daughter or
something, she didn't care must Just
what. AS she leaned on the rickety
fence she thought bitterly that there
We're worse things than death. For
instance, there was the raising of a
family, with no place wherein to raise
Sobs were beginning to choke again
when, of a sudden. a dazzling idea
found birth in her bewildered youns
brain. She stared with wide open
eyes at the cottage a moment, then
she skipped through the gate, UP the
sagging steps, around to the rear, and
In an instant wriggled her 1.-the lit
tie body through the window Of the
tiny kitchen. Ten minutes later, az
she walked homeward. her eyes were
daring, her cheeks pink and she. muir
INJURED again and again: "Oh, dear
me. If God will only think it's right
and not let that committee butt INT
A week later. at an hour in the
morning when the committee and the
town generally was fast asleep, ar
express wagon unloaded at the little
Burton cottage various pieces Of sec.
ond hand furniture. and Tommy and
Elspeth and Buddy. Kitty. on the
inside, received the things radiantly
She had been sweeping and scrubbins
since daylight, and had the three tiny
rooms clean as a whistle. ready fol
the lengths Of bright ingram carpe'
and cheap pine furniture, and wher
the factory whistles screeched on,
the intelligence that I o'clock had
come, she was resting in the from
room already conscious that her fam.
lily had "possessionsy which We're pail
for and that to her credit in the banl
!, was $3.50.
Il may have been that her audaests