Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-03-27
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INDUSTRIOUS
DAUGHTER
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By Fannie Hurst
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OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES bVAkVAkVASVAbf><VA
20 by Mcclure Newspaper syndicatel
TT THE president Of the Colombo
Gunnysack Company had ever
i had time to feel sorry for him.
self, he might have experienced
some righteous qualms of self-pity. As
a matter Of fact, he did not have
time. The small factory Of which he
was president and treasurer occupied
and, alas, too many Of the hours that
should have been devoted to sleep. It
was that kind Of business; one that
needed lncessant coaxing, surveillance
and study.
AS Tom Clausson's wife Media did
not hesitate to put 1t, 1t was one of
those cussedly little businesses that
yielded its profits begrudgingly and
then only after exacting unremitting
toll and worry.
There was plenty to keep Tom
Clausson worried. The house on u
ster Street was one of those large,
rambling, pretentlous affairs that,
even with the persons of his three
grown daughters and wife In it, re-
Quired more help than any other home
on the street. Media, as you would
naturally expect of a good and consci-
entlous mother, demanded the best for
those three girls and for her son Mil
ton, who, at twenty-One, was still In
college.
Media had a philosophy of life.
That philosophy was that her children
were to be reared with the instinct to
get something out Of life. Whatever
Of her own experiences, or lack Of
them, may have gone into this deci-
sion, she never divulged. But here was
woman with formula. Her three
daughters and her son were being
reared on the principle that life was
an orange to be squeezed dry OF con.
tent. In other words, Media Causson
was like a general campaigning the
lives of her children. And, strangely
enough, campaigning 1t to their salts
factions.
1t kept Toms nose to the grind
stone, no doubt of that. At flfty-five,
he looked ten years older and his
knees were bent, but his three
daughters were college graduates, his
son was about to become one. and the
big house on Ulster Street was one Of
the most exclusive social meccas Of
the city.
Media, who privately considered
her life lusterless affair of economic
strife, had the satisfaction Of seeing
her daughters launched with i'm
pressive debut
1t had been her misfortune TO marry
a man destined for only the petty sue.
cesses OF the average. She was de-
termined that her children should not
suffer the handicap Of such lettering
causes.
The three daughters Of the Tom
Claussons, one by one, made marriages
worthy Of the ambitions OF their
mother The eight years covering the
period Of those marriages were the
most taxing In the life Of Tom Claus
son.
In Its effort to meet the demands
put upon II by the burdens Of it's presl-
dent, the little gunny-sack factory
staggered past one financial crisis
after another. There were nights
when Tom Clausson, lying beside his
wife, did not close his eyes, planning,
figuring, manipulating, scheming one
more way to tide over what threat
ened to be a disastrous climax In the
financial affairs Of the firm
Indeed, after the marriage OF his
third daughter, bankruptcy was so
narrowly averted that Tom Clauss0n's
hair committed the miracle Of turning
practically white within month. And
then, to cap that climax, there came
upon the house Of Clausson what In
Medals eyes amounted to blight
that obllterated all three successes
which she had achieved In her
daughters.
Frank Clausson, college senior,
eloped with a showgIrl The blow fell
on Tom with fnality that was crush.
Ing. For years he had looked forward
to the time when this boy Of his could
bring into the business shoulder to
the wheel. Money, hope and affection
had been expended upon him. Tom
Clausson, who was steeled against
complaint, felt despair. ..
In the end, Media Clausson was
obliged to resclnd her stern refusal
ever to permit Frank and his bride to
enter the home on Ulster Street
Frank fell III OF pneumonia In the col.
lege town where he was trying to earn
precariOus living as a haberdasher'a
clerk and Media and Tom we're sent
for as the situation began to seem
critical.
In the end, Frank and his bride re.
turned with the older pair to the
house on Ulster Street.
Frank was fair. frail and magnetic
fellow and his wife, named Marlgold,
was just TINT. Her prettlness was
perfect kind Of thing. It astonlshed
old Tom Clausson. Her bright beauty
had a quality to II that he had never
before seen. II made the more studied
perfection Of his daughters pale 10 tho
commonplace. .
But all In all, the coming home Of
Frank and his bride was at an I'M
propltlOus time for the Clauss0ns. The
business, as II reacling from the long
stralR Of years, sluiDped into what
was u chronic pre- brlnus state. There
were dIy- "ha y ~ iln IT'S OF