Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1928-06-15
WHEN SHE
TRIED MEMS
WORK
8 by D. J. walsh.1

AASh ApAh VI ob6CNt SOuhby
were very chivalrous toward
l. women so long as they kept on
their raised pedestals But when
they descended into a mans place
they lost their right to homage
Margaret Fitzgerald forfeited all
when she stepped into her brothers
inefficient shoes and tried to run the
Fitzgerald plantation in mans way
"a real mans way Her brother had
not been a real man.
Her downfall was owing, perhaps,
to her mothers being an invalid. It
left her without the proper training,
the proper idleness The overlooking
Of the household intensified rather
than toned down her natural energy.
Both children had been left education
money by their grandmother and both
went counter to that grandmother's
wishes Ralph's ambition had been
to evade study and all other RESPONSE
bllities. Margaret took her money
and went to practical instead of
fashionable school, and from there to
coed college, where she competed
with men, generally to mems discOm-
future.
Padgett county was rural, and its
chief Industries were melons and race
tracks. The climate and soil had been
found exactly suited to melons; and
the large sums made sending train
loads of them to Northern markets
had, in her second generation, gone
considerably to fast horses.
Margaret returned home just In
time to attend her brothers funeral.
But I was too fast In saying she
stepped into her brothers. shoes.
Rather she stepped into new shoes OF
her own that were more serviceable
The plantation had dwlndled to less
than fifty acres of poor untitled land,
divided by broken fences. Margaret
promptly substituted the word farm
for plantation, to her mothers horror.
and at once began plowlng and har-
rowing and repairing fences with
such shiftless labor as she could get
Negroes are copylsts, and, therefore,
they inwardly derlded woman who
tried to do practical things. Though
she was obliged to pay more she could
not get nearly so efficient labor as
her male nai0bhorr
Through good management and
economv sbo bod hrought bocL no ~
of ber school NANCY Th,s sbe trIod
to make go as far as possible. In fact
she was obliged to, for no more was
in sigbt pnnI har me,on cron sborId
mova toward morLot
Now +horo 10 uor,, ,,,.oi soo. oho,,.
pado,o.. oa,,,t,, a,s rSo -.
MFR Moi, rrioos ond ao,,t,,,,, -,
IittIa faII,na ~ Co., oonhans ton 49,
or tyo yoaIs thoo tho oonnt,oa 49, 49,
hoain 90 shin ond &c. sosn" SOto
o,,en,nr % o.. aa,Sau uop pS a..
onnnt, T. daoa otn 49, 49," lause.'
u,,th Ho s,aiaL. 80. 49, s..,,, ~
thind, 20 hon 80, ~ o,,",, ~ -. wv
IN tho eoIds u,tb snu 90, - % ia Ion,
and monthly Rut mona tho loss ia sho
iuhilant For tho oor,y'croom nr,ons
have turned in ber usnaI eood .tido ~
money
Margaret knew all this md urood
and ordered and caioled her jndIffer.
ent workmen toward an early plant.
ing. even though It should necessItate
protection from possible frost.
But in vain They snent unnecoS
sary hours I'm fence.renairInp They
Ioitered over the Moving ana GOO
slped and shIrked ot the harrowlno
neighbors got their seeds I'm. saw their
plants rise above tho surface and no
gin to grow. and still Margaret strue.
gled with her preparations.
Instead OF following the usual ems
tom Of getting the most for the money.
Margaret had expended $50 OF he,
hoard for FIVE ponds of seed when
she might have had such as her
nelghbors bought for rs cents a
pound. But this was wonderful
new variety, Of 'ested worth and
much advertised.
The neIghbors were naturally kind.
hearted and cordial. Had stranger
come among them, man. and started
into melon growing, they would have
been quick with sound advice and
with help I'm an emergency.
This was different They beIIeved
tho hest wav 70 helm Margaret wac m
hasten ber n a knowIedOe NJ her
folIv II would no less fine wastad
A naIgbbor who had boupht aftv
mounds NJ seed for much loss than
Margaret had maid for ber Ave com.
nored tho dIeparance 40 a nroo, tbot
Tho woman wae IN a false nosttIon
ana shnuId no oncouroood ont ~ /,
uaon,ht,a uouaana, haa go "a.
e., ,S 80, -, In, -.