The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1915-04-23

shops and rickety tenements. and the
fourth or tifth pawnshop which she
passed gave her happy idea. She
looked In at the next one. 1t was re-
pulsive looking. She remembered a
cleaner one which she had passed and
went back 10 II. She hesitated a mo-
ment, then went boldly in.
There she found pudgy, bowlegged
little man.
rs 1t anything can do. miss7" he
asked her
''How much will you give me fer
this. pleaseT and from her hair she
took an exquisitely carved tortoise
shell comb studded with blue stones
The pudgy little man glanced at It
indiffereutly.
Half a dollar. maybe
"Ohr' And June picked up the comb
In dismay. why, these are real sap.
phires. The comb cost
Excuse me-" The pudgy little man
grabbed the comb from her hand and
trotted nimbsy TO the window, screw
ing a jewelers. glass In his bullying eye
as he went. "Oh, IS, maybe!"
why, the comb cost
Sorry, lady" aud rubbing his pudgy
hands together. he smiled ingratiating-
~ at her. but by the time you dig
them little stones and sell them you
waste so much labor that IL I'd give
you $S.25 Ia lose money. maybe"
June slowly picked up the comb. She
was outside the door before he called
her back. q
wait" He smiled overwhelmingly nj
her. "You need the money, LADY,"
Very much, fear" she confessed.
"And would you give me your prom
Use that you take up the loan some
time, with the interest2'
"Oh, yes This very eagerly. "The
comb is keepsake"
The pudgy little man sighed. and his
face was full Of sympathy.
'Thcn give you $500"
She gathered ny the money with a
sickening sense of humiliation and took
| the ticket he gave her and walked out
| feeling that she had been badly worst
ed, because she had no heart for this
sort of bartering. 1t dawned upon her
| that there We're worse humiiations
than accepting money from ones hus
| band, and yet She conquered the
weakness which sprang fiercely up in
her, which made her heart cry In an
guish for Ned. which made her, long to
desert I'll this h'deoCs struggle and fly
to his sheltering arms. No; she must
| fight to the end!
But what was she to do next? A
| sign at the foot OF dark, narrow stair
way caught her eye:
Girls Wanted to Sew Pants"
Labor Honest toll. Slight as might
| be the pay, was it not better, after all,
| than the occupations in which she had
suffered so much? Timorously June
climbed the stairs, stopping at the first
| landing for a recurrence of that slight
cough which had come upon her
An impossibly dirty man stood be-
hind a long table on which were piled
huge bundles tied in rough paper.
"Well?' he said gruffly.
II would like to sew some pants, IL
you please" said June modestly.
What" The man looked at her,
astounded. You want to sew pantsT'
Eyes, SIR returned June.
The man shrugged his shoulders.
"You go over to that woman there,
and she'll show you what's to be done
and how much deposit to pay" He in
dictated another table.
When June went down the narrow
stairs she carried as heavy a bundle
as she could conveniently lift. and her
scanty store of money was reduced to
very small margin. Little as 1t was,
however, she had yet to make a pur-
chase. In the first little store she
bought an inexpensive little plain black
dress. She had less than "A dollar when
she stopped before a building to which
she had been directed. On the door
post OF the stairway was sign.
Rooms to Let"
June here engaged mean little hall
bedroom from dumpy landlady.
! Down Broadway tore the black cur
| iaiDal liuoousfun tho obonpvad ~ nj