Evening star., 1938-09-04

woman. Not one of them had been closer than
half mile to her house. Young, fippant girls,
they were, at the time of her bereavement, =
concerned only with their own affairs, their
boy friends. Every woman and girl in the
laundry at the time Gus first came to it, had
gone her way. Gus alone remained, except, of
course, old Gideon Toman. Even he didn't
know that Gus had lost her father until she
asked his permission to attend the funeral.
The Lutheran minister read the burial
service, and few members of the church were
on hand. 1t was soon over. The next morning
Gus was back at the laundry, and when Lucy
Pillsbury poked fun at her preoccupation,
Gus merely cried little, but said no word in
return 1t was then that they learned about
her father You laugh at me. don't mind.
shust want to be friends init you
1t must have been lonely for her to return
home of nights, cooking her own dinner, and
having no one to talk to. She lived about a
mile and half from the town. up side road
that ended at the old fish house, with no other
dwelling in the vicinity
You'd think it was just deserted old
shack up there until you came near it and saw
roses growing in the garden and neat cult
vation of vegetables such as parsley and beets,
radishes, chives carrots, and peas.
But nobody went near it. Gus did her own
marketing of an evening, and carried every
thing home in her strong, capable arms.
She had one little friend. boy she would
see as she walked home. Sometimes he came
little way to meet her. He had something
wrong with one of his legs, had been born
lame. Gus would give him package of candy,
and when he came to meet her she would
carry him home, tenderly holding him to her
warm breast. Whose sweetheart are you?"
she continually asked him, smiling and fold
ing him close in her arms. Whose sweetheart
are you, Ronnie:?"
lam - Gusta's sweetheart"
"Ya. you vas Gusta's sweetheart - bless
you''
She would have liked to send the boy to
frst-rate surgeon. defraying all the expenses
herself She had almost four thousand dollars
in the bank, money she had saved from her
salary But she didn't know how to put the
proposition to Ronnies mother. 1t might
look presumptuous
One Saturday afternoon, two years after
Hans Lumpke's death, Gus met the faded
woman who had been Emmy Lawrence out
Deriving with her three sons. Gus almost
went on her knees to her, begging her to stop
in her house for a cup of tea. Mrs. Brown con-
sented. and was privately amazed by the
cleanliness and neatness of the little cottage.
There were soft, gaily-colored cushions rows
of books pretty chintzes about the windows.
Flowers bloomed everywhere. inside and out.
And the kitchen, in yellow. sparkled with
polished pots and pans.
Gus fairly won the boys hearts with the
hot biscuits she quickly baked for them, the
pretty glasses of preserves she placed on the
table, and the deliciously- favored tea that
came out of the earthenware pot in a rich
amber flow
"You come nit your mother some time
again, ya?" Gus wistfully invited them.
The boys said they certainly would. But
Mrs. Brown was beset with worries, and the
impression of the cheerful little cottage faded
as quickly as she had faded herself She never
came again.
As time went on Gus began taking moth
erly interest in the new, young girls who came
to the laundry. They didn't altogether resent
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