The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-07-31
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
Charity's Patient.
BY IzoLG FORESTER.
LNnn...InL.L AIaElaarn
Copyright, 1919, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Synd!clte.D

beth IN the Hanscomb family,
- fact which had always madeNher
walk Just little bit straighter, and as
Nab said,- moro topliftical" than the
other{our girls in the old gray house
near Fountain Square. When one
bears the name of great grandmother
and mother and a great great aunt.
1t behooves one TO watch ones step
along the primrose path OF youth, Char
1ty had long since decided.
But the day after the doctors fu-
neral, Charity had taken stock OF her
self as we'll as Nab, Tom and little
David, and she had discovered an en-
ttrely new element in her, new cour-
age and ambition to win out despite
the winds OF circumstances that had
nearly blown the home nest to pleces.
you'll never collect any OF fathers
bills, Charity, and he wouldn't like 1t
IL you went to law about It," Tom,
overgrown and husky at sixteen, look
ed down at her in worried bewilder-
ment. 1t had not seemed as II the
splendid, hearty old doctor father could
ever pass away from their midst. "Ev-
erybody's owed him for years"
pm not going to try charity re-
sponded I'm going to take in wash
ing"
Now, listen" Nab ruffled her blonde
hair excitedly, with hands very white
and pretty from much care and little
housework. Just because you're going
to start at the bottom OF the ladder IA
no reason for going down in the cellar,
dear heart. Who's going to do the
washing and where are you going to
get 1t to do?"
We'll" Charity drew in deep
breath, and explained her plan serious
ly. Three miles up IN the hills was the
big new granite quarry, and down in
the valley the huge new dam only half
constructed. Over hundred and fifty
men were working on 1t, and living in
camps.
''Tll get the orders and Tom can do
the delivering with The team. You can
keep accounts, Nab. That will suit you
to T. and Davie can count bundles
for u.s."
IL presume you will handle the
tubs?" scathingly from Nab.
Charity leaned her arms on the ia
BILE and laughed. No, she would not,
but she proposed to keep De!ora, the
colored standby of the house of Hans
comb, and likewise hire Delora's three
grown daughters. They would turn
the summer kitchen into a laundry
and use up some of the nest egg in
the bank towards few modern labor
saving machines.
1t had not sounded at all attractive
that day. In fact, when NAB went back
to school. she carefully avoided the
subject, but some way, the yellow
road cart and stout Brown Betty made
the trip back and forth day after day
between the old gray house and thal
camps, and Charity found her conf
dence returning when she balanced
books the end of the third week
The first shock her pride receivef>
was one day when smart gray road
ster pulled up before the side en-
trance to the lane, and young man
leaned out and called to her as she
superintendent the washing of some
pongee shirts.
My shirts done yet?"
Charity met him with dignity AMI
spirit. Her cheeks flushed from exer-
else, her blue apron covering her pref
ty white smock. But her brown eyes
met those of the young man with calm
disapproval OF his manners.
The name, please"
Doug Lewis. They're pongee. II
told the boy to hurry them up and be
careful. Send him up with them by
six"
They wont be done by then, Mr..
} Lewis" Charity said, evenly and cold
ly. I'VE are too busy"
He looked down at her keenly, blue
eyes clashing with brown, and then he
smiled, with flash OF even white
teeth, and CLEAN of fun.
you the boss, here?"
Charity flushed. but acknowledged
that she was. His glance Travelled
quickly over the old rambling man
sion, with all the evidences Of bygone
grandeur and opulence, and now the
lean years that had descended on it.
Then he looked at the substantial
forms Of Delora and her daughters
hanging out a spotless washing be-
yond the tall rows of sunflowers and
dahlias.
Ts"l'm the boss up at the camp" he
admitted. This is Doctor Hanscomb's
place. isn't it? My father said he
saved his life once through some oper-
alton"
Charity longed to say she hoped
sincerely he had paid for it, but cour-
tesy held her back. And her caller
added, as If she knew all about his fam
lily, that they were the Lewises from.
oneonta Point.
That's near Narragansett," Tom
told her at the supper table. rThey're
rotten rich. Amt he driver, though?
The fellows up at the camp say he
builds that dam in his Sleep"
Charity did not answer. The pongee
shirts were finished, and she was sew
ing on three missing buttons VIII.
steady fingers. But her thoughts went
back to two years before, when her
father had tried to start the move
ment for the dam, and local politics
had worked against him. The Lewis
money had made it reality, and she
knew all it would mean to the valley.
opening up its fertility and bringing
prosperity to the farmers, an the old
isolated farms her father had visited
for forty years. She told Tom she
would drive up herself in the morn
Ing with the laundry bundles.
And at the same time, over a blazing
camp fire Doug listened to the story Of
Charity Hanscomb's pluck, and how
she had saved the nest from being
blown away. One of his forenen told
hfm-I1pn Allan PrNro A. ..:I1--