The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-07-17

UT SOMETIMES seemed to Estelle
Winters that she could reckon al
most to the day. when the first
realiZatiOnS that she had reached
a specific milestone in her life had
rushed over her
1t was not so much that her mirror
told her that she was fading and that
the jOnquil-y yellow of her hair was
running TO pallor or that her blue
eyes were weakening, but there was
a tolling note inside the heart of Es-
telle which said youth is DONE"
youth is done" youth is DONE"
A conspiracy of circumstances
brought about this conscious termina-
ton of the golden glow that had al
ways characterized Estelle Winters.
Life had not been easy for her. TWEEN
ty years of singing in the cafes of
the large cities of the Far West had
eXacted their tribute. Twenty years
of the solitary struggle to rear in in
tegrity and innocence, a girl-child
with the beautiful name of ROsalinda,
had told in strain on Estelle.
The latter she had accomplished
and the latter she was willing to re-
gard as her life work. Indeed, Rosa
linda was fair enough monument to
anybody. At twenty she was like a
flower, slim, lovely, fragile.
And so it was that when Rosalinda
was in this early bloom, Estelle Win
tiers, her mother, taking inventory, so
to speak, of her own face. her spirit,
her vitality, came so poignantly to
realize that her youth was done.
The following year, Estelle, instead
of fitting like tired bird of plumage
from one cafe to another, established
herself quietly in San Francisco
cafe of first-rate standing as cashier.
1t was a let-down, but it was let
ting -dOwn that somehow warmed and
eased the tired, bruised spirit that
was Estelle's. The struggle against
the overwhelming crack in her voice
was finished; the uneven race against
the flesh of years, as it settled on her
hips and shoulders, was over. Es-
telle could sit back quietly, now. no.
ticing but unnoticed, and let the years
roll in.
And more than all of these, Estelle
could now keep fastened more firmly,
her watchful eye on ROsalinda.
This girl, whom her mother yearned
to protect from the disappointment
that had been hers, was now also en-
ployed in the same cafe where Es-
telle held the throne of cashier.
Rosalinda's duties were light. At
noon she arrived, attired herself in a
peasant costume that enhanced her
loneliness. and moved with a tray of
hot rolls in among the patrons of the
cafe, offering her dainties as she slid
by the tables. At six O'Clock Rosa
linda came on duty again, and was
free to leave the restaurant with her
mother somewhere shortly after ten
o'clock.
1t meant that through all the work
aday hours her mothers eyes were on
her. 1t meant they arrived together
and they departed together. 1t meant
smoldering in the heart of Estelle for
the daughter Rosalinda, for the pres
ent, at least, her plans for the future
were held in allegiance. ROsalinda was
literally under her mothers thumb,
as well as her eye And the girl,
sweet and submissive enough at
twenty, and at the same time regard
ing her occupation as only a stepping
stone toward the thing her heart
craved, submitted because of the
peace she realized she was able to
afford EsteIle.
They were rather a pathetic pair.
The husbandless Estelle, the father
less ROsalinda. There had never
been husband. So far as Rosalinda
could remember there had never been
a father; just the two of them, play
ing their humble roles with a certain
submission, and yet the younger of
them with quality of rebellion fam
ing in her blue eyes that had long
since died down in the eyes of the
older woman.
II NdS lldlu W uitCl DCHOIu-
ing the loneliness that was Rosa
linda's. that this child had kept her
innocence to degree that was per-
lection. AT twenty she lived like a
little girl. At twenty, she had never
been out in the company of man
without the chaperonage of her
mother.
And it had not all been clear sail
ing. The eyes of men veered quickly
to the loneliness that was ROSalinda's.
Her presence in room made them
conscious Seated I'm her corner be-
hind her cashiers desk. the eyes of
Estelle were relentless in their watch
fulnesS.
If ever girl was protected by the