The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1922-12-15


der Twiggs."
FEW years ago the Beasly cir
~ worked In the overall factory
She was pretty girl then, ant
naturally the neighbors talked about
her, for the people who live along
Jersey Creek are really no better thar
they who live on Independence ave
nue., in spite of the theories that pow.
erty and charity go together. SO when
she left the factory the women of the
Jersey Greek neighborhood limited
that the foreman had been too polite
to her. But if she had remained at
the factory they would have given the
same reason for her staying. After
that, she went to the theater with
young men who turned up their coat
collars and wore their hands in their
pockets in the fall and spring, In lieu
of overcoats. During the summer fol-
lowing her discharge from the over
all factory she became a park fiend.
When she gave up her counter in
the cheap dry-goods store, she re-
house for her father. He worked in
"the shops" somewhere over in 1.-THE
bottoms" and came home tired and
grimy at night, and went to bed early
He slept in the room off the kitchen,
and his daughter slept in the front
room. He did not know when she
came in at night, and he did not think
of caring to know. Her father paid
no attention to the little brother and
sister who leased the daughter at
table about the young men who fire.
quented the house. If the other men,
bers of the family had been plaguing
the ten-year-old girl who led in the
railery, the father would have been
equally needless of their chatter The
eldest daughter made him very happy
by simple tenderness, though, of
course, he did not understand that
his warmth for her and the longing
which he felt all day to get home for
supper, was happiness.
But, unconscously, his daughter
grew very necessary to him. He was
not of the world that analyses its emo
lions, yet he could not fail to see her
beauty, nor to be proud of her for it
and when she was dressed to go out
and she went out early and often
his pride blinded him to the gaudiness
of her clothes, her frowZy hair, and
the shocking makeup on her pretty
face. Probably his discernment was
NOT kppO pnn1ph 70 500 tbnca fnn1tc
even had he not been so fond of her.
But other fathers who had daughters
saw these things, and mothers of the
neighborhood who had sons did not
mention the Beasly girl in the family
circle. 1t was only after Miss Beasly
had Joined a comedy company, Or
ganized to play the "Whte Slave" and
"Only a Farmers Daughter" through
the West, that her name was men,
toned at all freely by Jersey Creeks
aristOcracy, and then it was as If |
she were dead. And Mrs. Hinkley,
who took care of the children and |
looked after the lonely old man, often
said to inquiring women of the
neighborhood, ut would break your
heart to see Mr.. Beasly a-grievin' an
a-grievin' for that hussy; an whiniver
he gets a letter from her he reads it
at the supper table before them chill
dren wild that flourish you'd think
knows" And after some discussion
she would sigh, "Well, it's not for me
to tell him."
What wonderful thing is absence.
1t is like the dark in its power to
transform people and situations and
the relations of things. Though she
had grown up under his eyes, the old
man and his daughter had scarcely
spoken serious word to each other
The father had never inquired what
his daughter was or was not She
was only "her" in his thought They
were strangers, but when he began
to forget her presence, he found him.
self continually thinking of things he
would like to say to her. Her" dis
and dreams altogether diff
'erent from his former conception of
ler, took her place. He longed for
NJ, oiiN SNoihCb W lNii liCl lllC great
owe in his heart. Among the noisy
wheels, he mumbled to himself,
speeches that he wanted to make to
Ter, and in the scrawled letter he
tent her occasionally, he wrote some
# these tender things.
One day she wrote that she was
coming home for a vacation, and his
Ieart was very glad. He read and re-
cad the letter, and droned it off at
he supper table to Mrs. Hinkley and
he children. As he read it, neither
he hearers nor the reader realized
ow much feeling the writer had put
nto the matter-of-fact words, 81 want
o be home with you all again."
'hese words were meant to tell a
tory Of heartache and loneliness and
espair, but they were commonplace
nd fell short. For poor people are
S blunt in sensibility as the COM
Ortably rich, and the suggestion to {
IRIS. Hinllley of the possibility of any t
uman feeling in the Beasly girls
apf coll |