The Washington herald., 1916-05-14

ceiVed his father on a business matter
but he justified himself on the ground
that he was not oeng treated sQuartly
from the other side
Nor was this by any means the last
deception that he practiced in the next
rev weeks. Under Gertrude's tutelage
woman can always Cive a man lessons
IN dupllctty-ho gave the impression that
he was falling in with his fathers wishes
and assiduously courting the daughter OF
old Jordan, thus avoiding the raising Of
any issue while all the time he vas
spending stolen hours with Amy
But L"apinE River was too small a
place and the son Of jeremiah Mccall too
prominent Il person in the community
for his actions long to escape comment:
and when Amy, with only a healed scar
to show for the injury she had received
returned to work. and Jock made Drac-
tice of oscorting her to and from the fac-
tory every day, some Of the gossip that
was rife came to the cars Of the stern,
old head Of the concern
He satisfied himself that the fnforma-
ton was authentic. Then he moved
swiftly to action. First he gave orders
for the discharge Of the "hussy' as he
termed hor-it was not hard to lind a
cause OF dismissal when she was 20
plainly ncOmpetent-thcn calling his son
six vitriolic sentences
Pretending surrender. he promised COM
plianCc to all tho old gcntleman's de-
mands, and that night after a fearful
! farewell interview with Amy, he skipped
out
When the safe at McCalrs was opcn,d
the next morning it was found that five
hundred dollars in cash was missing, ami
N its place lay the following letter:
Father: | have taken 800. suppose
You will say have stolen it. But have
inquired carefully, and have decided that
over AMI above what I have had from
you. there is more than this due me at
the lowest wage rate paid at the factory
You have steadfastly refused me the
| wages and the Independence you give to
NCur cheapest hand. Now | am off to
win my own way
Old jeremiah made no comment when
he read this letter. His hard old face
grew shade grimmer, perhaps; he drove
his working force possibly trile MOI e
rutnlessly; otherwise there was no
change in him. He simply ceased to
mention his sons name.
That all resentment was not dead with
| in him though. was shown by the signifi-
cant fact that when he chanced to learn
that the girl he blamed for Jocks down
| fall was employed at Jordan's, he called
up his competitor on the phone and asked
be discharged.
Jock, through some influence he COM
manded there had secured the place Cor
her before ne went away, telling ner
| that as soon as he was fairly settled and
making his own way they would be mar
/ ried; but of course. old Peter Jordan
cared nothing for that, and was quite
willing to Obige his friend
To the two women in the little cottage
where Jock had spent so many ha DIV
hours. however it was nothing more or
less than a tragedy. The semi-invald
mother, broken by the years in which
she had fed her youthful vgor into those
big machines clankinS away in the fac
tories along the river was incapable OF
seif-support and Amy was apparently
blacklisted.
What had happened at .Tordan's was
almost certain to happen at any othc-
place in Lcaping River whore she mighr
secure employment: for Jeremiah Mccall
was not the one either to forgive or for
get, and his word was very potent.
In short. there seemed nothing for the
girl except to go away.
To make her lot more hard she had
heard nothing from Jock for several
weeks. He had not written her, nor did
she even know where he was.
In her dilemma. New York, with its
countless opportunities, seemed to offer
the only refuge. and likely many another
girl who finds herself at a DISADVANTAGES
against the barriers OF her home environ
ment, she turned her eyes toward me
shining towers of Manhattan.
One afternoon when 5she had been
wearily tramping Broadway all day in
the vain search for work, she turned into