Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1921-07-27
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John Robin son lay on his bed ID the
hall room which he occupied In the
cheap lodging house, reading a letter.
from his folks upstate. twas signed
by his mother and his two sisters. ss y
I'VE shall ali be thinking 81 you
next Sunday when we eat our din
ner," they: wrote -Father sends you
his love and hopes you are we'll. He,
is glad you are getting, along so5nice-
". We wish you could be with us
but, as you say, business is business,
and you will have to be at work Men
day morning. =. $500: -. =
John. Robinson was only twenty
four, but he knew that If he were for
ty his prospects would be no brighter.
He was just an ordinary clean minded
country boy caught in. the machinery
of the city, and just now earning a
wage of fifteen dollars a week as a
grocer's clerk. That was as well as
he could do.
He wished he were back on the
farm again. But he could not swal-
low his pride. He had gone off amid
the salutations Of the half-envious viii
lage lads Of his own age, and to 90
back would mean terrible down.
fall in their estimation and a confess
sion of failure.
A strange and yet familiar smell as
sailed his nostrils.
. He knew what it was. The girl in
the adjacent room was cooking a tur-
key!
He knew her to nod to on the
stairs when she came home in the
evening from the department store in
which she worked. Fanny-that was
the only name he knew her by-was
pretty and gentle and, had sort of
frightened look in her eyes which
haunted him, since it was so like
the look which he had worn for the
first few months after his arrival. He
had never had the courage to speak to
her,
That odor was very tempting. He
opened his door little. Then he saw
that her door was ajar also, and, as
he went softly out he came face to
face with her. Her hair was dis
heveled and her face red from bend
ing over her gas stove.
"Oh, won't you-wouldn't you like to
join me?' she said timidly. "It's my
dinner" she continued, with q little
laugh. II thought was afraid you
might be hungry. Mrs Higgins said
you cooked all your own FOOD" she
continued.
Johns heart was beating quite vio-
lently for some reason or other, as
he followed her in. Upon the stove
was a frying pan that sent forth the
appetizing odors which he had dis
cerned; and in it lay quarter of
delicatesSen store turkey.
After they had finished eating John
looked at Fanny, and his heart began
beating fast. How nice it would be
to have somebody like that-as nice
as that-as pretty as that-to cook
every meal for him! And how he had
hated to see her start out so early and
come back so late from the depart
ment store! Before he realized it he
had forgotten all his shyness and they
were talking learnedly and delightfully."-
about their homes. She, too, was farm
bred, and she had come to the city in
just the same way he had come. And
she, too, had had letter. And it said
just about the same things as his.
They thought of the free country
air and the roads and fields white
with snow, and the peacefulness Of
a little farm Of their own. And the
stuffy little lodging house room be-
came filled with romance for them,
and they looked wonderingly upon
each other and thought that fate was
very kind.
"And it's this way" said John. II
know that l was fool to leave the
farm and come here. There was just
the one thing l knew all about and
could have succeeded at, and I threw
it UP to take something l never
can succeed att
Same here" said Fanny briskly
IF you knew how tired get of trying
on ladies' shoes!''
And then as they sat there side by
side John found courage to draw his
chair so close that it actually touched
hers, and before he knew what he
was doing he found himself holding
her little hand in his. And she lei
him hold it-that was the astonishing
thing!
Fanny" he said-it was the frs
time he had called her that-'if
could save up three hundred dollars
l could buy little place and make
it pay. l know l could make it pay
But I can't save a penny and never
shall, for I can't earn enough. Blu
if you would go into partnership will
me for just one year, and we ha(
one room instead of two-and tw,
could live just as cheaply as one-ant
after a year we had saved up three
hundred dollars, do you think
But it was more astonishing still
when she let him kiss her. And thei
poor little arrangement seemed like
financial miracle and the heaven
We're ODened in her little bare hal