Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-09-09
Evening Story
A LABOR DAY DENoUEMENT.
BY Ellis Graham.
Copyright, 1915, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)

Copyright, 1915, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)
Are you really going to give ur
your job, Katie?"
Yes, John"
Have you told Seeley?"
Yes, and he was real decent about
it. OF course, he began all that stuff
about the growing business and my
opportunity to grow with the firm,
but l cut him short"
How on earth, Katie?" asked John,
for Seeley was something of an ogre
to his employees.
II said: Look here, Mr.. Seeley, you
can't soap this situation enough to
make me slip into seeing it your way.
I've got an old mother and father who
need me and I'm going home He
said: Now, Katie, you're just a bit
homesick. Forget it. You'll miss
your salary before you've been home
a week, and a village don't offer a
girl anything unless the butcher or the
blacksmith marries her"
well, Katie, that's all So" Mention
of the village eligibles made John
bold to side with the unpopular
Seeley.
Yes, nobody knows that better than
/ do. But I'm making just $12 a
week, and how much of that do you
think l ave after paying board and
laundry and carfare and buying what
few clothes I have?"
"Not much, I guess"
I'm three years since I started in
here at SO a week I've managed to
pinch along and save just an even
SIS. That's $25 a year, see? If I'd
get sick that SIS would go in a fifty,
and working nine hours a day in a
stuffy office and sitting up nights to
mend and sew and wash half her
clothes don't help to keep any girl
healthy. Besides, my mother and
father need me there. They don't say
anything, but I know they. need me,
and they looked SO old and frafl when
I was home Christmas. i told Seeley
some of all this and he said: I guess
you're about right, Katie. but if you
want to come back. there1l be a place
for you here"
John stood helplessly with his
hands in his trousers pockets and
turned the waste basket this way and
that with his feet. Katie slipped a
purple carbon paper between the
white letterhead and yellow second
sheet and nimbly twirled the trio
around her typewriter roll. Then she
paused and John spoke very softly:
You'll miss the life here, Katie.
You'll miss the car rides and the band
concerts and the movies"
Eyes, but not any more than they
miss me now at home" Katie looked
pretty solemn, for she was young and
loved gayety and music and the
movies. John managed to find a scrap
of paper on the floor and as he stoop-
ed to put it in the waste basket, ne
whispered: "Will you miss me a little
bit?"
Yes, John, lots
Looking up, she caught such a pain.
ed look in Johns eyes that she quick
" stopped to blow the dust from her
dictaphone record. There were tears
in her eyes as she adjusted the long
rubber tubes in her ears and turned
on the electric current.
= = y =
Katie's first week at home was de.
lightful, but when she had cleaned
and Strengthened up the whole house
and planted her flowers she was
pretty tired and felt the need of some
diversion, but, alas! no music or
movies or car rides were available in
Plainville. Sunday was a long, still,
lonesome day. and she did not enjoy
the gossip which followed the morning
service at the church here her par
ents always sat in a, front pew. AS
summer came and her flowers grew
and blossomed she felt better salts
fed. but the small outlay for a few
necessary repairs and furnishings had
made quite a hole in her little savings.
There was no income save the few
scattered dollars from her fathers fees
as a justice Of the peace and h u
ter and egg money her mother contrib
uted. Nobody in Plainville had the
slightest need of Katie's skilled ser
vices as a dictaphone operator. She
was resourceful, though, and hit upon
a plan which netted her a small
amount each week. She engaged half
the space in the hardware merchants
show window for Saturday afternoon.
Then she baked some loaves of bread,
an angel food cake and some little tea
cakes. She made an appetizing salad
All these she displayed in the window