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Copyright, 1907, by Davi
. Cook Publishing Company.
Vor. YI. No, 42, {| Rgpiisuey
DAVID CG. COOK PUBLISHING CO., Exern,
ILLINOIS, AND 86 WaAsuINoToN Sr., Crrcago.
October 19, 1907.
when pesca Came Home
. ADELINE WAREHAM was
coming home!: The post-
mistress told Louise
“Gresham ; and from her. the news spread
‘ike until. every girl in. Pleas-
y Addie was prepared to
. Meanwhile, by
twos and threes, they talked the matter
over, It was four years since she went to
the city to finish. her education, and every-
one wondered what she would do when she
eame back,
Would she enter with her old-time spirit
into the interests of the village, or would it,
‘with its quiet, shaded streets and its beau-
tiful, well-kept homes, seem dull and pro-
_saic to her after her long absence?
Pro and con, they discussed the matter
without reaching a satisfactory conclusion,
for Addie, clever Addie, had. a dozen tal-
ents where most girls had but one.~ She
played well, recited even better, cooked like
_a_veteran housckeeper, and the gowns she
“made for herself were at. once the envy
and the despair of’ every dressmaker in
‘town. In addition to all this, she had a
“happy faculty for managing things. The
parties she gave were the jolliest ever held.
The socials. she took’ charge of . sent a
“steady stream of silver trickling into the
treasury of the church, Every: thing she
touched felt the thrill of her restless vigor.
So it was no wonder that her friends
indulged in speculations about her future.
~~. Fortunately, they had not long to wait.
The day after her arrival a group of her
nearest and dearest friends gathered in the
pretty living-room with welcome on their
lips and questions close behind.
_.That she was the Adeline of other days,
“unchanged and unspoiled, was evident from
“the first. There was the same sunny smile,
- the little quick turn of the head and the soft
; slurring of the r’s that made her speech a
delight to listen to. And above all, the old
‘friendly ways that won their hearts.
“Girls,” she* said, with.-an odd _ little
shrug of her shoulders, ‘* you'll Jaugh when
I tell you what I am going to do. It
_.sounds like a practical joke, but I was never
more serious in my life. I am~ going to
- start a millinery shop. I can neyer hope
to do much with my music, and I don’t
-tecite well enough to make-a ‘success of
that, but I can trim hats, so hats I shall
trim.”
The girls nodded approval. For Adeline’s
fingers, so slender, so deft with a needle, had
.a way of pulling ribbons into the most fas-
cinating bows, of twisting braids and alter-
ing shapes until, under one of her hats, the
plainest face grew almost pretty.
“We'll all patronize you, Addie,” said
_ Bess Anderson, her black eyes snapping at
“the prospect. ‘There is no one here, you
s Kimball, and she is los-
, Hier hats are. frights,
every one of them!"
“Poor dear!” said Adeline. “T must go
and see her. She to be good to me
when I was a little ee . Do you think she
will feel hurt when she knows what I am
going to do?”
“Why should she?” asked Bess.. “ She
has been in business nearly thirty years,
and ought to have maae a lot. of money.
Besides, if you don’t, someone else is likely
to come here and start a shop.
This’ was very true, and the fact that
Pleasanton lay in the path of the summer
tourist, with a big’ hotel barely ten miles
away whose guests came almost daily:to the
HOWARD CAMPBELL
village, made it a very good
point for the articles in-
tended to carry. So she
rented a paint shop, the only building avail-
able on the main street, and. proceeded by
means of draperies and rugs, to transform
it into a very charming roo!
Then she arranged her stock—the fairy-
like embroideries that were her chief pride,
then the hats, bewildering in their variety
and picturesque in style and trimming.
Three weeks later everyone in Pleasanton,
together with the people at the hotel, re-
ceived a daintily printed card inviting them
to Miss Warehain’s Opening.
It was a great success. Little Miss Kim-
ball, watching behind the closely drawn
curtains of her shop, saw with a sinking
heart. every one of her best customers trip
through Addie’s hospitable door. They sipped
tea-from the pretty little cups which Mrs.
Wareham filled. They burst into rapturous
exclamations over the pretty room with
its old-fashioned mirrors and quaint furni-
ture, then they tried on the nats with low
murmurs of approval. Addie had done her
best and the hotel girls bought
lavishly.
“My dear,” they whispered ;
to one another, “she has the
real ‘French touch. I> never
saw anything so exquisite in
my life, and the prices are
ridiculously low.”
By and by they straggled
forth, and the little spinster
noted, with fast failing cour-
age, that almost every other
one either wore a new. hat
or carried one in a crisp paper
“Tndoors Adeline counted up
announced, “and taken orders
for almost as many more. £
trade only keeps up, mother,
we'll have our European trip
sometime.”
The days that followed were
almost as busy as the opening
one, Adeline stitched © until.
her fingers were sore, yet still
her custom grew. Sometimes
on her brief walks she passed
Miss Kimball’s shop and felt
a queer little tug at her heart
as she looked in at the window
with its crape paper decora-
tions and rolls of faded ribbon,
“Poor old soul!” she mur-
mured, “I suppose I might
turn some of my trade her
way. Still, she has been. in
business so long, I should
think she’d like to take a good
long vacation, And L’ve got
to look out for myself.”
So the good seed fell on
sterile soil.
the nights to fun and merry-
making, so that she quite for-
got her lonely old neighbor.
One Sunday for the first
time .in many weeks. she
slipped into church. She was tired, and the
eautiful, impressive service seemed a wee
bit. long, though she dutifully followed the
prayers and responses. (Then with a. sigh
of relief, she leaned back in her_ pew to
listen ‘to. the sermon. Thoughts of her.
work would creep into her mind, try as she
would to banish them, until clear and em-
phatic rose the minister’s voice:
Iow much of our religion do we carry
into our daily duties? What of the shad-
ows we cast on other people’s lives?’
Adeline heard no more, but over and over
she said to herself, “ {£ wonder what sort
of a shadow I’m casting on poor little
Miss Kimball?”
On her way home she. walked behind two
old ladies who were discussing the sermon.
“Where is Susan?” said one of them
suddenly. “ She has not been to church for
three Sundays!
“She is sick,” said the other.
“Sick! ‘What’s the matter?”
““*Nothing, only headaches,’ she said,
when I. asked her.. “ It’s my opinion she’s
worryite. ce to death over the shop.”
“The
“Yes, “the “hon. Since Adeline set up
in business, she ain’t had much to do.
Folks is just like sheep, and Addie’s hats
are all the rage. Mebbe if she could afford
to hire a. trimmer, like she did last year,
she’d get her share, but she’s afraid she
would not make enough to pay her. All
she could rake and scrape for these last
seventeen years has gone to support that
trifling scamp of a nephew.”
“ Mebbe he’ll pay her back,” said the first
old lady.
SITE KNOCKED TIMIDLY AT THE SHOP DOOR.
“Tle won’t!” the other returned grimly.
““He up and died this spring and left her
with his funeral expenses to pay.”
That was all Addie heard. Yet it was
enough, together with the sermon, to cloud
the sunshine of the perfect day.
she said in excuse. Then
quick and clear came the answer: “ Addie
Wareham, you ought to have known.
You’vye taken Miss -Kimball’s trade from
her and made her sick, just because you
wanted to save money to go abroad with.
As though you couldn’t make enough of life
without that! Have you forgotten how
good she was to you when you were a
child?”
Once more she saw herself in a pink
calico dress and ruffled white apron, peering
in at the fairyland of Miss Kimball’s shop.
What marvels of doll bonnets the chubby,
childish fingers had sewed under her direc-
tion, while the little tongue chatted like
a mill-wheel. It was Miss Kimball who
first taught her-the secret.of combining col-
ors, and to whom she owed that very love
of dainty. stitchery~ which made her work
a success.
“You are going to do what is right and
just,” -whispered conscience, ‘even if you
sacrifice some of your. cherished plans.”
onday she crossed the street and
knocked timidly at the shop door.
“Come in,” called a feeble voice. v
Miss Kimball lay on the couch in the
inher room, a little gray, worn figure in the
shabbiest of dressing gowns. Pale as she
“T don’t know,”
was, her cheeks flushed a rosy pink when. ~
she saw who her visitor was.
“Why, Addie!” she said. “ What a
pleasure! I was thinking
,, this morning that I would
Adeline,
a “little table and pushing
it up to the couch. “ Just
some . chocolate .and_ rolls.
Mother thought you’ might
like them. . When you have
finished, we are going to talk
business.”,
“Business?” echoed Miss
Kimball, the roses fading
from her cheeks, and leaving
them pale as ashes. Did Ad-
die. mean to buy her out?
“Yes business,” Addie
went on. “Someone told me
you wanted a trimmer, and I
am away behind on my em-
broidery orders.. You like to
do it, so why shouldn’t we
combine forces, instead -of
being rivals?” :
“Addie, child!” \ Miss
Kimball laid a thin, white
hand ‘on the girl’s strong,
brown one; “we've never
- been that, you know. It’s
lovely of you to want to go
into business with me, but
are you sure you won't re-
gret it?”
“Quite sure,’ said Addie,
with a reassuring squeeze.
“TF you say ‘Yes,’ I will
move the shop right over and
have the sign Kimball &,
Wareham up before noon.”
“Dear child, I can’t say
anything else. You don’t
know what a weight you’ye
lifted from me. ”
She paused, uncertain
whether to laugh or ery; but
Adeline settled it by clasping her new part-
ner around the waist and spinning her up,
and down the room.
“We'll make our fortunes, perhaps." said *
Addie, breathlessly. ‘‘ See if v don’t!”
No one i in Pleasanton. ever P knew exactly”