The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1918-12-13
TIE DAILY
HORT STORY
Ambition and Ablity.
a, . pm gAKER

~ q RAY BAKER.
copy1tght, 1913, ty the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndfcate)
SAIiPH LONG lacked two essen
tfafS TO success-ambtfon and
business ability. said he didn't
have them. And those two essentials
we're among the things she admired
most IN men.
.How do you ever expect to get mar
RED on SIS week?" she wanted to
know when they had their final reck-
ontng on the night he asked his EN-.
plOyer Tor 50 raise and was told
arenot worth It"
ut can't be done" Fisher went on,
abbing loose PIN back into her
fnfEg red hair II old Wilbur won't
you a raise, why don't you dig
tand try New York? Cat loose from
I'M this dead town, Ralph, and show
mem what you're made of in a regular
city
You've been holding down that of
Zee Job in Wilbur's canning factory
I'VE years for that same measly SIS
week, and Il you'd had any ambition
you would be manager by this time
or you wouldn't be there at all"
Ralph demonstrated. He had worked
hard but simply had been unable to
make the grade he asserted. This
IS pretty Socd job, anyhow" he'said
tsand might not be able to get any
where IN the big town..
Esther's attractive red lips curved
downward in disgust, and she forth
with severed relations. There was no
>Ting to hand back, because he had not
been able to procure one, but she let
him know IN words, that could not be
Eislnterpreted that their engagement
SWasa thing o1 the past.
You can keep your good Job for
en- years more II you Like" she said,
but I'm going to the big town N.Y.
sell, and Pm going to make good in a
regular position"
She resigned her place as saIeswo-
man IN Boorbon' department store,
Sand week later carried handbag
and a suitcase to the railroad station,
resolved TO bid Brown City good-by
forever. Ralph was there to see her
OF ana to ascertain her decision was
irrrevocable.
g Cope on, Es, forget that big talk
andSettle down here" he pleaded.
Never was her reply, a steely
glitter IN her blue eyes. cts an over
between as Ralph I like you; in
fact I'm very fond OF you, but / must
forget you, because my husband mus:
be man w1o has enough ambition
and ability to get to the front in the
business world"
he set his lips firmly and shook
ends with her and went back 20 Ii
SIS in the canning factory, but made
miserable failure OF his work that
aftaFnoon and for several days there
ntter. He did deal OF serious think
1nG{ and his Jaw seemed to become
frmer and q resolute light shone from
bis gray eyes.
Things went wrong with Esther. She
arrived in New York with thirty dol
CARS Ia money and a fortune OF ambi-
sS9n. In one month the thirty had
WindIed and the fortune was ebbing.
u he had had folk at home" he would
have written for assistance, but her
parents were dead and the only rela-
tive she could claim was an uncle
whose address was somewhere in
Amerfca, jut where she could not tell
because he was a wonderer.
True. there we're many good friends
back home-Ralph among them-but
he preferred starvation to letting them
know that her prospects, which had
tuIped out to be mirage.
For there seemed to be no position
not even a mere job-for Ether Rem
fngton in all New York. Her written
recommendation had no effect, because
e1periece was what counted-and ex-
perience In Brown City was not the
anne as experience in New York
Although she answered every help
wanted advertisement that seemed
TO At her abilities even remotely, she
y could not md work. Either she was
TOO late. with her application or she
lacked training for the Job. Thus, at
the eud OF month weary earch, Es-
therwas In dire strait.c
eored her. The goddess didn't smile
at her but he did lend helping hand,
and Esther chained work in laun-
Gry-sorting dirty clothes!
She kept this Job a month, In lieu
Of something better, and lived from
hand to mouth on Sc week eating
cold food IN Ter dingy room In a d;
Iapidated houe on a dismal street.
Then something better turned up. Il
was IS a week. with meals thrown II
Is waitress II q restaurant, where
the food was given a liberal coat o.
crease to make It slip down easily
instead Of being cooked. However, the
patron OF the place appeared to like
4s@tueG6 way GOE ILAey CLue DICK 4O1
more each day. Esther was allowed t.
keep an her tips, but the tips were IN
sratiatfng smir1s from the male 6lut.
tons and an occasional cold thanl
poIs or pleasant day" from the fem
mine diners.
L Esther had been able to save
enough money to pay her fare back t.
Brown City he would have been tempt
edto return. But she would not have
yIelded 70 the temptation. because she
feit that she had burned her bridge:
hen She turned her back on tho place
q her birth for the great oportunftie.
That bec1oedn.
Every night when she crawIed be
tween the torn sheets on the 2x4 bed
be Vlsioned the clean, hady old towr
!. there she bad grown up, and sht