The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-02-27
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By Fannie Hurst
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&c by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate-l

&c by Mcclure Newspaper syndicate.l
TT THE president of the Colombo
Gunnysack Company had ever
Il had time TO feel sorry for him.
self. he might have experienced
some righteous qualms of seIf-pity. As
3 matter of fact, he did not have
time. The small factory Of which he
was president and treasurer occupied
practically all of his waking hours
and, alas, too many of the hours that
should have been devoted TO sleep. II
was that kind Of business; one that
needed incessant coaxing, surveillance
and study.
As Tom Clausson's wife Media did
not hesitate TO put If, it 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, pretentiOus affairs that.
even with the persons Of his three
grown daughters and wife in IL, re-
quired more help than any other home
on the street. Media, as you would
naturally expect of a good and consci-
entious mother, demanded the best for
those three girls and for her son Mil
ton. who, at twenty-one. was still in
college.
ho nh he - 20
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
a woman with a 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 Clausson
was Ike a general campaigning the
lives Of her children. And strangely
enough, campaigning it to their salts
factions.
II kept Toms nose to the grind
stone, no doubt Of that. AT fifty-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 a lusterless affair of economic
strife, had the satisfaction Of seeing
her daughters launched with i'm
pressive debut.
II 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 deterring
causes.
The three daughters Of the Tom
ClaussOns. one by one. made maria ges
worthy of the ambitions of their
mother. The eight years covering the
period of those maria es were the
most taxing in the life Of Tom Claus
son.
In its effort TO meet the demands
put upon il by the burdens of its presi-
dent the little gunny-sack factory
staggered past one financial crisis
after another There weres 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 10 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 CIaussnn's
hair committed the miracle of turning
practically white within a mOntk. And
then, to cap that climax. there came
upon the house of Clausson what in
Medals eyes amounted to a blight
that obliterated all three successes
which she had achieved in her
daughters.
Frank Clausson, college senior,
eloped with a shOwgirl. The blow fell
on Tom with a finality that was crush
ing. For years he had looked forward
TO the time when this boy of his could
DL4AS LAIo lAe DuSAASSS d suouluer 10
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 rescind her stern refusal
ever TO permit Frank and his bride 10
enter the home on Ulster Street.
Frank fell i'll Of pneumonia in the col
lege town where he was trying to earn
a precariOus living as a haberdasher's
clerk and Media and Tom were sent
for as the situation began to seem
critical.
In the end. Frank and his bride re-
turned with the older pair to the