-jl-JEXES AJDVOO-A-TJEI.
been the board of county commission
ers the "consistent-church-member poor
commissioner" would have been'
promptly told to "get out and go to
work" at something heaven meant him
to do if heaven took any note of him
at all; but in Kansas men with Lena
Graham hearts are seldom chosen
county commissioners. "My dear sir,
were we to treat the poor sympathetic
ally, or even civilly, we would be over
run thev'd swamp the treasury. We've
got to have a man for poor commis
sioner that will talk rough to these
paupers. Taxes are high enough as it
is." Such is the logic of the average
county commissioner. It was not Lena
Graham's logic. After a whispered con
sultation with her aunt, and having
obtained more specific information as
to the family's residence, she immedi
ately left the meeting, and, utterly re
gardless of the beneficent teachings of
political economy and the oracular wis
dom of county officialdom, went her
unscientific way to "pauperize" these
suffering people by extending to them
Christian charity. She visited the af
flicted household, and going out to the
nearest grocery, hurried the delivery
man around with food in such quanti
ties that the poor woman said, as her
tears Uowed, that the house "looked
like a wholesale grocery." lieturning
to the little house she went about put
ting it in order, and then held the baby
while the wife prepared supper, for
she had tasted no food that day, and no
sufficient food for weeks, and gave the
sick man some of the delicacies Lena
had brought to tempt his palate. liy
this time it was getting dark, and the
general manager's daughter, carefully
concealing her identity lest it might
arouse prejudice, was about to depart,
all aglow with the glorious feeling
which comes of doing good, when the
poor woman she had so generously be
friended, embracing her in impulsive
gratitude, said:
"God bless you, dear! We have suf
fered more than I can tell, and you
and a. workingman as poor as ourselves
almost, are the only people with hearts
we have seen. Mr. Cotterell has paid
our rent, or we would have been in the
street. lie has given us money to buy
medicines, too, and I have had to pre
tend we had plenty to eat when we
were starving or he would have made
us take his last cent. And I have
found out he walks to and from the
shops so as to save car fare and think
of his helping us! lie has a father to
help, too. God bless you, dear! There
are some angels yet, heaven be
praised!"
The tears came to Lena's eyes, but
they were not tears of sorrow. Already
her benevolence had been rewarded of
heaven through this poor woman's
words.
"Where does this Mr. Cotterell live?"
she asked.
"lie boards at the 'Cottage,' " said
the woman; and further inquiry elic
ited more definite information as to the
location of that public institution.
l'romising to return on the morrow,
Lena hastened to the point some blocks
distant where she could catch a car,
and happened to take one filled with
men going home from the shops. As
the car got further up town, one shop
man said to another near Lena:
"John Cotterell is going to kill him
self walking away up town that way
after working hard all day. lie oughtn't
to do it, even to save his daddy's farm.
See yonder how tired he looks. He can
hardly drag one foot after t'other."
Lena looked out the window, and at
the - next crossing she got out, went to
the sidewalk and waited for John, who,
with his head down in a brown study,
as had been usual with him of late, did
not see her till they were face to face,
and her voice had roused him from his
reverie. It was the corner where he
usually turned into an almost deserted
side street which led to his boarding
house some blocks away. He was as
tonished and confused, and feared he
might be dreaming, as he wiped his
blackened lingers on his coat and made
arrangements to clasp the gloved hand
extended him. She joined him and
walked along with him as she talked,
John carrying his tin dinner pail on the
side opposite Lena and trying to keep
it out of sight; but, of course, that was
the time for the lid to fall oft and make
him go after it into the gutter.
"Mr. Cotterell," said she, "I heard
one of the men on Jthe car say you are
killing yourself walking home after
working hard all day, and you look as
if you were. Don't wear yourself out
this way. Excuse nie for my imperti
nence, but it pains me to se you look
so worn and weary."
"Oh, I'm not tired," said John, try
ing to brace up and look spry. "I'm
not tired."
Would you have had him confess it
in such a presence? Then you have
never loved a pretty girl and you have
much to learn.
"Were you on that car that just went
up?" he asked, much as he might have
inquired if she had been to the moon. 1
"Yes, and when one of the men said
that, I looked out and saw you. Why
do you walk V"
John was silent from embarassment,
and she continued:
"The men on the car said you walk
to save money for your father. But
that isn't so. I have found you out in
your sins, Mr. Cotterell, so you had as
well confess. You are saving money
for somebody else in Graham.
John was astonished. Did she think
he was saving up nickels in order to
marry some woman? Her remark,
much more her manner, puzzled him.
He waited for her to continue.
"I know all about it. You are walk
ing because you have been paying a
poor sick man's rent. Confess it."
"Who told you that, Miss Graham?
I hope no one on the car said anything
like that." And poor John was as
much troubled as the criminal who
fears his wickedness has become pub
licly known.
"No, Mr. Cotterell, your secret is un
known to the world. The sick man's
wife herself told me about your good
ness to them, and about your walking,
too, in order to save and help others.
She told it to me while tears of gratitude
were in her eyes, poor woman!"
"How long have you known these
folks?"
"Oh two or three hours."
"Where'd you see them?"
"Pray, where could I have seen them
but in their own house? The poor man
is down ill and his wife cannot leave
him."
"Miss Graham, you've convicted
yourself of the same crime, for they
wouldn't have been talking so freely
unless you had got their confidence."
And he laughed as does the policeman
who has "got the deadwood" on some
poor wretch and gleefully sees a prison
yawning for him in the distance. "Hut
how are they tixed? She's kept tell
ing me they've plenty to eat and keep
'em warm, but I'm almost sure they're
starving. Did you lind out?"
"They had nothing whatever in the
house to eat, but they have plenty now.
I left the wife at a good supper and
even the sick husband was able to eat
some fruit."
"Miss Graham, you're an angel!" ex
claimed the blacksmith impulsively. "I
didn't believe there could be such a
young woman among your class of peo
ple." "And what have I done but spend a
little of the money which my class has
taken from yours? You see 1 have
profited by your lecture. Compare
what 1 did with your noble self-sacrifice!
I gave of an abundance which
will be made up to me again without
privation or ell'ort on my part, while
you gave outright what you have
worked so hard for. And, then, see
how you are walking after your hard
day's labor! If you call me an angel,
Mr. Cotterell, you must confess your
self a god."
"Why, what would you have a man
do? Let people suiter and not try to
help 'em? I couldn't act like that, Miss
Graham. It's not in me to do that."
"I would have you do the noble thing
you have beeu doing only you ought
not to walk. That is going too tar.
Think how few men are like you if
any are; and if you ruin your health
you will be unable to do anybody good.
Don't walk any more. Please don't.
Won't you promise me that?"
"I'd promise you to die if you'd ask
me, Miss Graham," said John em
phatically. "No, I don't want you to die. I
want you to live and do good. Promise
me you won't walk any more. Do,
please!"'
"It's foolish in a nan," said John in
a trembling voice as he drew his coat
sleeve across his eyes, "but it breaks
me all up your kindness to those poor
people."
"No, it is not foolish in a man to
have tender feelings. You know 'the
bravest are the tenderest.' But, you
will ride hereafter?"
'Yes, I'll not walk any more. But
how'U you know? You re not likely
to see me again."
"Why? You're not going to leave
Graham V"
"No, but you will not likely be down
this wav."
"By the way, Mr. Cotterell," said
Lena, seeming not to have heard his
last remark," "I want you to promise
me another thing. Promise me that,
while I remain in Graham, you will
allow me to take care of that family
without any interference on your part.
Promise me that you will not give a
cent while I am here. If you do not
leave them entirely to me you will de
prive me of a. great pleasure. 1 am
going down there, to-morrow evening
to remain for supper, andl shall make
them promise to drive ypu away if you
attempt to help them unless you
promise me now you won't try to.'
"I wouldn't want you to say any-"
thing to them. I'll agree. I'd like to
drop in on 'em, though, since you've
been there, and see how everything
looks."
"I shall be there till 8 o'clock to-morrow
evening. We shall dine- as soon
as you arrive. But I must be going.
Good-bve." And she was gone.
John s step was wonderfully light as
he trudged on to his boarding house,
thinking of to-morrow's supper; and
his fellow boarders noticed that he was
giyer that evening than he had been
for days before.
In all probability, every one of my
readers, of whatever social condition,
and however liberal in opinions, will
have felt an impropriety in Lena's con
duct on this occasion. Not because
her conduct itself was improper, for
had she been a washer-woman's daugh
ter or a "hired girl," no such feeling of
impropriety would arise. Not because
of John's moral or mental character,
for had he been a mediocre and ignor
ant, spindle-shanked little society
young man, or a fashionable young
libertine, whose beastly nature a pure
thought about women would shun as
an angel would shun hades, would any
one have thought it improper for Lena
Graham to walk with him a block?
Nor does the notion of impropriety
arise out of any difference in nature,
however differently the two had been
reared; for let John inherit a fortune
and put on fashionable garments, or
let Lena become poor and work for
wages, and the impropriety would
instantly disappear. The reader knows
well enough out of what difference be
tween John and Lena arises this feel
ing of incongruity the difference be
tween one having the entree of fashion
able society and one doomed to manual
or menial work for a living. All, even
the poor themselves, have been edu
cated to regard the fashionably idle
and the usefully employed as distinct
orders of beings between whom social
intercourse is a thing forever impossi
ble. Once mankind were all masters or
slaves; later, they were nobles or serfs.
The nobles and their ladies shone at
their sovereign's court, and each castle
in time had a court of its own. These
lords and ladies, and such others as
they admitted to the charmed court
circles, looked with disdain upon the
toiling churls below. Last century
wealth began to imitate the aristoc
racy, and the rich began to have their
courts of money as their social super
iors had courts of birth; they gave
parties and balls, held receptions, vis
ited in summer the seaside resorts, at
tended the opera, traveled in style, and
sent their sons to the universities. This
new "society" was made possible by
the change of serfs into wage-workers
in factories and in mines; and these
new lords and ladies of the court of
Midas looked with disdain upon the
toiling masses below. Since then, class
after class has imitated the very rich,
till salaried clerks of varying grades
have their ourt circles whose mem
bers look down upon wage-workers; the
wage-workers who get $1 a day, and
the ladies of these aristocrats of toil,
look down upon those guilty of getting
only 1. 50; while all alike look down
upon the unskilled laborer and the
hired girl. Each circle fans the hope
of sometime penetrating the next above,
and, hence, each "lady" of whatsoever
grade, avoids being "seen with" peo
ple beneath her lest those above her
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should frown disapproval. Fashion
able society to-day in America is but
the base counterfeit of the court circles
of media val kings and nobles, and it
nurses the same contempt for the
wretches known to be guilty of the
wickedness of honest.work. In Kan
sas, at least, this one sentiment of con
tempt for manual labor is, aside from
finer clothes, the one distinguishing
characteristic of the "best society'
Not intellectual gifts, not mental cul
ture, not good breeding, not moral no
bility is required as a condition of
social status, for the reverse of each of
these qualities is often enough con
spicuous in the charmed circles of
fashion. On the other hand, no power
of mind, no refinement of manner, no
degree of moral beauty, can gain for its
possession admission to invitation lists
if he or she be guilty of manual labor.
The members of each of the various
social circles, beingconstantlyyearning
for admission into the more exclusive
circle above, are all alike moral cowards
slaves to the requirements of uncer
tain social position; and so they are all
constantly "cutting" all in the circles
beneath, while, by means of "teas,"
"high-lives," "progressive euchres,"
etc,, indulging in ostentatious display,
with the hope of gaining favor in the
eyes of those above. 2sro man, no
woman, in this contemptible, trifling
society at all, no matter what the grade,
dares have any opinions out of harmony
with those entertained, or at least pro
fessed, by the particular "set." As
each subordinate grade takes its cue
from the higher grades, it is obvious
that the priests and priestesses of
wealth nearest Mammon's altar give
the law to society throughout all its
circles, and control its opinions abso
lutely on all theological, moral and po
litical subjects whatsoever. This is the
formidable barrier over which progress
must make way; this the massive door
against which the unhappy reformer
must beat in almost desponding impo
tence his honest breast. It is an his
toric fact that, without a single excep
tion, every reformer who has arisen in
any age has been ostracized and exe
crated by the "society" of his time; for
society seeks to prevent change its
ideal is ossified mediocrity, whoso
would be free whoso would he a man
or a woman, cherishing a noble ideal
(ConlifHted v pagt 10.)