The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1920-02-06
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY
From Heaven by Way

Caroline.
BY X. LOUIS RAYeoLp.
Copyright, 1920, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.)

IN OWN on their knees before inc
bed, their scant front hair twist
ed in grotesque curriers', the two
Nelson sisters were saying the.r
prayers. To be accurate, 1t was Sarah
who was doing the actual petitioning,
but her words found an ardent echo
J in Fanny's heart.
Dear Lord, send US sign. We're
at the end of our rope. Lord. you
know we must decide tomorrow. II It
be meant that we keep our little place,
send US a sign from heaven. Let 1t be
that the money we take in over the
counter comes to five dollars-was 1t
five, Fanny? II we don't get that much
We'll know that 1t was best for US to
sell. Amen"
solemnly rising, they climbed into
their high four-poster and, without a
word. folded their withered hands be-
meath the patchwork comfortable and
sought refuge from their worries in
fitful slumber.
The last of their line, except for an
Grant, harim-scarum nephew "out,
West in Kansas, the Nelson sisters
had been facing for some years a
steadily decreasing income. So far
they had managed to hang onto the
old homestead by closing up the main
portion OF the house and living in an
ell, one rom of which they had turned
intosa tiny shop he,proceeds of which
seldom averaged four dollars day,
but served to pay their taxes and very
semi occasional repairs.
Not many people nowadays in Farm
ingdale remembered when the Mel
son girls were young. To the newer
generation they were just two old
maids who kept little store where
You can buy anything you want, my
dear, from little cakes and souvenir
spoons to Chinese lily bulbs that grow
in stones set in water
School children stopped in on their
way TO school to buy pennys worth
OF candy, out-of-town visitors drifteo
In and poked around, and-there was
Caroline.
The sisters often said they would
nave had to go out of business long
ago had 1t not been for Caroline. Ever
since she was brown-curled little
thing of five she had been regular
customer. And she was the only one
who heard at all regularly from Billy,
the harum-scarum nephew.
To Caroline, and indeed to every
ItaSf tAip WV WOlAGll OlltH utCldTBu II
was great trial to them to keep the
shop. 1t was not right that women,
particularly of their bringing up,
shesild have to work"
AS matter of fact, interest in their
little store was the one thing life held
to color their gray days. Without II,
they could have done nothing but sit
IN the; windows of the big house and
watch lffn ON NV n t,a,,
turning to wave a hand at them No
therewas one other thing they could
do besides that, and it seemed more
than likely that thai was Just what
they would have to do. They could
sell the old house, and with the pro-
ceeds take out lease until death of a
brightly furnished, uttery unindivid-
ballroom in the Home for Aged Wom-
4 en-.
For several years, Charlie Wallace,
Farmingdale's very up-and coming
real estate agent, had pestered the
life out of them with offers for the
house-not very large offers. AS long
as the meager earnings of the little
shop had been Just sufficient to carry
them by, they had refused. But re-
Gently, since thrift campaigns had
swept the country, people hadn't Seen
so DESTROYS of buying their wares
eyen Chinese lily bulbs guaranteed to
bloom by Easter.
Letters to Bully, whom they had
brought up as their own son until he
had grown old enough to seize a wild
opportunity to go West and make a
pile" had not been answered. Earn
cstly and often, the aunts assured each
other that the {, letters had never
reached him. Yet deep in their old
hearts, each felt that the only man in
the family to whom they could go,
even for advice, had failed them.
And now the day of decision was at
hand. Charlie Wallace was coming
AROUND at eight o'clock that morning
to get their final word as to whether
they would sell. And true to their
New England tradition, they had laid
their burden in the hands of the Lord
IN the morning, Sarah arose an hour
earlier than usual to take down the
shutters. A passing milk man forti-
lying himself with cruller might
make the very difference between five
plus and five minus.
Little by little during the day.
tficHed in the pennies and dimes and
occasional quarters. Along about
three O'Clock, the tin box held nearly
Ihree dollars. At five, Jimmy viii
hams's purchase OF crackers and
cheese brought the total up to three
nifty. A few minutes later a neighbor
paid up small account of one dollar,
Four.fifty! Then came Caroline.
Her purchases came to 80 cents. Then
she decided on bottle of fountain
pen ink-she bought a great deal OIL