The Lamar register., 1917-08-01

Copyright, BY W. G. Chapman)

81 don't care" exclaimed Bessie
Turkeen with bitter emphasis; I've
worked like n slave, and done the best
could to keep up the interest on that
horrid old mortgage, and just because
/ had to get i'll and lose that two
weeks, and can't come right up to the
scratch with the money, we get this
contemplate letter from that old skin
flint !"
Bessie was undeniably pretty, with
golden glints In her hair and blue eyes
so dark and deeply shaded they always
reminded one of spring ylOlets hidden
in the grass. So when she gave vent
TO grievance the rest of the family
invariably sympathlzed. The family
consisted solely Of her mother, her
younger sister Jane and herself. In
this case they seemed to have very
good grounds for sympathy. Bessie
was II bookkeeper in mercantile
house in the small town and the bread
winner of the family. Jane, Just out
of the grammar school, was learning
the millinery trade, and beginning TO
earn a little while the mother kept
the home, sewed mended and did the
thousand-and-one things that unseliish
women do, but which are never
charged up to their account. George
Turkeen, the husband and father, had
departed this life about three years
previously, leaving nothing much but
handsome gold watch and diamond
studs, which had been sold by the
widow to pay the doctors bill and fu-
neral expenses. The deceased had In
his youth sown a too-plentiful crop Of
wild oats, which had estrunged him
from his elder brother Jared and had
depleted his energies TO the extent OF
rather uniting him for efficient sery-
ice in the battle of life. True, he
earned his salary. but he never got Il
raise, and the mortgage which his
brother held on the little home had
never been paid off. Jared Turkeen
had always been referred to by the
younger brother as that old screw"
"'niser," or "skinfint," and the fact
that he took interest on his mortgage
us almost n criminal proceeding, so II
was not strange that the family had
come to regard him as a grasping, inhu-
man monster. He did not attend his
brothers wedding, and had lived in
Australia much of the time, so Mrs.
Turkeen and the daughters had never
seen him. She had written to the law
yer's office where the interest was sent
and informed Mr.. Jared Turkeen Of his
brothers death, but had never received
so much as the courtesy Of a reply, so
1t was not strange that there seemed
to be good and sufficient grounds for
the unpleasant reputation of the terri
BILE Mr.. Turkeen.
After Bessie had given vent to the
emphatic protest with which this story
opens, little Mrs. Turkeen looked up
from her sewing in a troubled, help
less way.
81 don't know what we're to do, I'm
sure" she sighed.
Suppose you write and explain
things to him." ventured Jane.
''Yes, a lot of good that would do,
when he wouldn't even answer moth
er's letter about his own brothers
DEATH" retorted Bessie.
well, suppose the next thing he'll
walk in on US, and foreclose,' said
Jane.
Perhaps" added the mother, in the
same helpless way.
I'm always seeing him coming in,"
went on Jane; "a great, fat, pompous
brute with red face and new clothes"
And hard mouth, and whiskers,
and creaky shoes and cane" added
the elder sister. Yes, 1 dream Of him,
and wake up so glad it isn't so. oh,
L wish somebody would deliver US from
Uncle Turkeen."
II suppose" ventured Jane, rather
timidly, tom would help make out
the payment, II we'd ask him."
"Of course. But do you suppose I'd
let him know? Not on your life"
Bessie spoke with heat and tinality.
She had been engaged to Tom Barrett
for some months, but as he was only
a clerk in the house where she was
employed, they were both waiting for
better financial conditions before mar
rying. Barrett was an industrious,
capable young fellow, well liked by his
employers, and very much in love with
the pretty bookkeeper.
The outlook for the three women
was certainly rather gloomy, when to
make matters worse, a strange man,
almost the prototype Of James night
mare, came to the front gate. He took