Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1921-09-29
MISS MARTHA
BY ELIZABETH v. M'NAUGHT.

1
! tired. She was far from youth, each
she climbed the incline of the narrow
street leading to the small lonely
| apartment that she called home.
For over twenty years life had been
but round of work. In what should
| have been her playtime of life she had
awakened to find her frail shoulders
| burdened with a responsibility so
great that she must seek the city,
enter great store, become nOnentity
! like so many other girls, and if she
felt the usual pangs of longing that
fills the very heart of the poor girl as
/ she sells to her more fortunate sisters
the pretty silks and laces that she, too,
Graves but can never have, no one was
the wiser
Now she had reached the spinster-
hood of life She craved nothing
| fragile or pretty and found her only
| Joy in watching a small nest egg grow
| year by year, each year bringing a
fresh assurance of at least an indie
| pendent old age
| Lie responsibility WAS uOW SOiC.
Miss Martha was free, with but her
self to look after. However, the hab-
! It's Of lifetime are not easily broken,
| and the instinct for saving had been
| instilled far too deeply for any change
to take place In her mode of living.
Saving she had been, saving she was
and would be to the end. Where 9th
ers counted dollars, she counted pen
nies-where others saved pennies, she
| saved dollars. To her, nickels were
| as sovereigns and to be boarded. To
spend a five-cent piece in order to ride
a distance that her feet could carry
| her would be sacrilegious
| She lived alone. Every winter morn
| ing the wind buffeted her small figure
around the corner and the hot, muggy
nights Of summer found her dragging
| along, coat in hand warm and per-
spring, after long walk from her
! place OF employment.
| To the neighbors She was a pity and
a mystery They pitied her In her
loneliness and they marveled at her
seeming good nature, for she had a
ready smile for anyone who glanced
her way
The house In which she lived was
| divided into a score or more of beehive
| apartments.
Each evening on entering Miss Mar
tina habitually stepped into the phone
booth, not to answer the phone, nor
yet to make a call, but simply to see,
If by any chance, f1ve-cent piece
might have dropped back from the
coin box and lay in the open slot.
| Economist was Miss Martha. Find
ing was keeping. IT was not sJeaIIng.
Such would be her replies to a ques-
tioning conscience, and, to be sure,
nickel was q nickel.
On this particular July evening she
had just emerged from the booth as
| young woman, flushed and apparently
excited, faced her inquiringly. Miss
Martha began to mount the stairs The
| young woman inspected the booth,
ure
"My money, my money. You have
It," she screamed, gesticulating wildly,
and small child Juggling at her skirts
began to cry in fright.
Miss Martha was almost too over
come to speak. Feebly, trembling, she
| made denial. Later an inspector
called, but after fruitless questioning
went away, Struggling his shoulders.
But a thousand dollar bill had mys-
teriously disappeared. 1t had been
handed to the young woman by her
husband just a few minutes previous.
| On hearing the ring of the phone bell,
and being accustomed to answering 1t,
she had slipped the bill into her apron
pocket and missed the money just
few moments after returning to her
apartment She had hurried to the
| booth, discovered Martha, and-of
course the older woman had found the
| bill and was concealing it.
I For days and weeks tongues wagged
and meaning glances followed the sus-
/ pected woman. To all appeals Miss
Martha was adamant. Her spirit was
proud She would not let these crit
ical people into the one secret of her
life.
OF course she was innocent, the bill
having been discovered the following
| day serving as a blanket on the wee
crib In which the mothers small child
laid her doll, the little girl admitting
that she had taken 1t from her moth
er's pocket the day previous. How
ever this bit Of news did not travel
as fast or as far as Its predecessor.
One evening few weeks later, just
as the gathering dusk was assuring
the i'll and the convalescent of the city
hospital that another day had come to
its close, Miss Martha was weakly re-
| peating the whole sad story to a SYM
pathetic nurse.
"'Twarn't stealing" she asserted In
her queer nasal and as her eyes shift
ed from the scenes Of this world to
those of the next no doubt, the soul