The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-02-06
Eoening Story
From Heaven by Way of
Caroline.
BY H. LOUIS RAYBoLD.

ped their Scant front ndlr twisted IN
grotesque curriers', the two Nelson sis
ters were saying their prayers. To
be accurate, it was Sarah who was
doing the actual petitioning, but her
words found an ardent echo in Fan
ny's heart.
Dear Lord, send US a sign. We're
at the end of our rope. Lord, you
know we must decide tomorrow. If
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 it five, Fanny? If we don't get
that much We'll know that it was best
for US to sell. Amen
Solemnly rising, they climbed into
their high four-poster and, without a
word, folded their withered hands
beneath the patchwork comfortable
and sought refuge from their worries
in fitful slumber.
The last of their line, except an err
rant. harum-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 on to the
old homestead by closing up the main
portion of the house and living in an
ell, one room of which they had
turned into a tiny shop, Ehe proceeds
of which seldom averagedefour dollars
a day. but served to pay their taxes
and very semi-occasional repairs.
| Not many people nowadays In
FarmingdaIe remembered when the
Nelson girls were young. To the
newer generation they were just two
old maids who kept a 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 penny's worth
% fr1rx rfG1fn ri
in and poked around, and-there was
Caroline.
! The sisters often said they would
have had to go out Of business long
ago had it not been for Caroline. Ever
since she was a brown-curled little
thing of five she had been a 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
was great trial to them to keep the
shop. 1t was not right that women,
particularly of their bringing up,
should have to work"
AS a matter of fact, interest in their
| little store was the one thing life held
to color their gray days. Without it,
they could have done nothing but sit
| in the windows of the big house and
watch life go by-go by without ever
turning to wave hand at them. NO
do besides that, and it seemed more
than likely that that was just what
they would have to do. They could
sell the old house, and with the pro-
ceeds take out a lease until death of a
brightly furnished, utterly unindivid-
ual room in the Home For Aged
Women.
For several years, Charlie Wallace,
Farmingdale's very up-and-coming
real estate agent, had pestered the life
@av-
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 recently,
since thrift campaigns had swept the
country, people hadn't been SO desir-
Gus of buying their wares-even Chi
nese lily bulbs guaranteed to bloom
by Easter.
Letters to Billy. 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
estly and often, the aunts assured each
other that the letters had never reach
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 evening
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. passing milk man forti-
tying himself with a cruller might
make the very difference between five
plus and five minus.
Little by little during the day,
I trir lad in Ian Il u
occasional quarters. Along about 3
o'clock, the tin box held nearly three
dollars. At 5, Jimmy Williams's pur-
chase of crackers and cheese brought
the total up to th-ee-fifty. A few
minutes later a neighbor paid up a
small account of one dollar. Four
fiftyi Then came Caroline.
Her purchase came to so cents
Then she decided on a bottle of foun-
taiu-pen ink-she bought a great deal
: of that-that made As cents. The two
old women watched her as she tucked
her packages under her arm and
started slowly for the door, her eyes
sweeping the shelves for something
she might have forgotten. They
looked upon her as holding in her
: small chain-purse the very mandate OF
the Lord: yet not by word or sigr
, would they influence her.
ct guess that will be ALL she said
brightly, one hand on the door. Al
8 that moment the o'clock whistle
= from Farmingdale's one factory broke
shrilly on the air That meant closing
time. The shop never had any even.
:, ing trade.
As Caroline went out, Sarah looked
n at Fanny and Fanny looked at Sarah
and in that BRIEF interchange Of
:, glances was expressed all that the,
saw descending upon them-the fina
i mn inc 1F1f he oh los
: sight of the filled shelves. the lock
ing of the door, themselves on thu
| outside.
a "Oh, forgot" sounded the voice o
the Lords emissary on the doorstep
Dad said to bring him home an appl,
y pie. If you ha one. Have you?"
Thank the Lord, yesi" almos
II lei