Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1917 — “Unto the Least of These" [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

“Unto the Least of These"

By Alice E. Ives

(.Copyright, by W. G. Chapman.) Gusie Felstrom worked all day in the box factory. It was monotonous, wearisome work, and very small pay. • She saw on the avenue, when she went home, other girls, no prettier than she wearing becoming, beautiful clothes. When she went in to buy a pair of cheap cotton gloves she saw women buying long kid ones, and a kind of rebellion surged up in her heart at the existing state of things. But there was the worn-out, overworked mother, and four children, all yonnger than herself. The father’s small, intermittent earnings barely kept a roof over their heads. Had Gussie not been a girl who hought, she might have drifted along, 1 erhaps in the footsteps of her mother, or worse, have become a girl of the streets on the downward road to despair and death. She determined to fit herself for something better, so she went to night school, and then learned typewriting. She began working in an office at $5 a week. This was not much bettej than the box factory wages, and she required better clothes, in order to make a decent appearance, so from a monetary point of view her condition was not much improved. But she felt she had taken a step upward, and the family regarded her advancement in life with considerable pride. As the girl grew older gnd wanted more, and her wages did not correspondingly increase. After she had been a typist for two years she’was earning only $8 a week. » ■ She was now nineteen, and her association with other girls in offices had shown her homes cleaner, brighter, and altogether more livable than her own. She determined to have something better for herself. Two of the younger children were now working, and she resolved to seek a room away from the home roof. Both father and mother endeavored to show her how ungrateful, unfeeling, and utterly inhuman such a course would be to them; but in spite of upbraidings and entreaties Gussie found a room, and installed herself therein. As there had been an unpleasant scene

at the parting, she cut loose entirely from the family, not even letting them know where she had gone. Her room, though small, was neat and comfortable, and in a good part of the city. She got her breakfast over the gas in her room, and her other meals at a cheap restaurant. At home, when she came from the office, she was expecjed to wash dishes and help with the housework. Now after office hours she was free to sew, keep her dothes in order, read, rest, or go where she pleased. If there were hours when she missed the companionship of mother and the children, they were more than balanced by the joy of her new freedom. She had more opportunities for going out with her friends, and making new acquaintances. On one of these occasions she met a man who told her he was about to open an office, and he offered her a position as typist with a much better salary than she was getting. Frank Austin, the man in question, was a good talker, well mannered, well dressed, about thirty-five years of age, and to all appearances a gentleman. Gussie accepted his offer, and found her new quarters pleasant and attractive. On the glass door in gilt letters were the words: “Pyro Mining and Investment Company, Frank B. Austin, President” Gussie was kept busy addressing hundreds of letters and circulars all over the country. Besides this she wrote a great many letters at Austin’s dictation. She was working harder than she had been, but she reasoned she was getting better pay. It seemed very wonderful to her to be writing about millions, and enormous returns for money invested, and one day she ventured to say she wished she might own a few of those shares, whereupon

Austin told her, if she worked well, and kept quiet about the business, not discussing office affairs with outsiders, he would make her a Christmas present of some shares. Gussie was notlso innocent and dull. After a while she began to have'suspicions about the business, so one day as it drew near the holidays, she ventured to suggest that she would rather have her Christmas present in money than a larger amount in shares. “So,” said Austin, “you doubt their value?” Gussie didn’t know what to say, but he read her mind, and jumped to the conclusion it was better to have her friendship than her enmity. “Very well,” he said. “You shall have the money Instead, if you wish. I like your work, and I don’t think you talk about the business, so I’m going to make you a proposition. If you’ll help me still further in ways I shall suggest, I will make you my confidential secretary with a percentage of profits. But it must be ‘confidential,’ you understand. The moment you speak a word outside that ends it.” Gussie promised faithfully, and kept her prom4S<?. Money began to come in to her in such amounts that she started a bank account. T*hen one day Austin did not appear at the office. When she telephoned his hotel, she was told he had left town the night before, and they could not say where he had gone. Worried and anxious people began to call at the office and ask for Mr. Austin. Gussie answered their questions with suavity and tact. The next day officers of the law closed the office and took charge of Gussie as a witness, while newspapers had astounding revelations regarding the enormous swindling operations of Mr. Frank B. Austin,

In the Jail where Gussie was confined Mrs. Travers often came to help any hapless woman prisoner she could. She pitied Gussie, rwhom she believed to be innocent, and asked her about her people. At first the girl evaded her, but finally told how she had not seen them for a long time. Mrs. Travers, whose religion had made her very patient and loving with all humanity, came often to see Gussie, and her talks with the girl had the effect of making her see many things in a new light. One day greatly to her surprise, Mrs. Travefs brought her mother. Gussie stood still in her astonishment, but the mother, with streaming eyes, cried out: “Gussie!” and took the girl in her arms. Gussie’s head, like a very tired child’s, went down on the comforting motherly breast; and Mrs. Travers, knowing that if ever a girl needed a mother, it was just then, left them together.

Everyone believed the little typist innocent, and the time of her -release was only a few days off. Mrs. Travers had secured her another position, and it was all planned that a neat little flat was to be rented for Gussie, her mother and the two children. The father had died almost a year ago, and the brother next to Gussie was working in another city. ,

It was the day before Gussle’s release, nothing had been proved against her, and the good little woman, Mrs. Travers, had come to tell her how she had everything ready. The girl stood up to meet her with a new, strange light in her eyes. Her face was pale, but resolute. “I am not going tomorrow,” she said. “I must tell you. There is only one way. You have shown me the way. I knew that business was crooked. I must tell them so. There are a few hundred dollars in the bank, he said was my percentage. I want to give that up. I shall go to prison instead of home to mother. But It is right, isn’t it?” •' “Yes,” said the little woman. “It is right.” And she took the girl in her arms and kissed her. Then she went out and had a conference with high and mighty powers in the law, and the girl’s confession apd her poor little money she returned, together with Mrs. Travers’ plea freed Gussie. But out of the prison came another girl than she who went In. The light of a new, high ideal shone in her face. Mother and the little home were a haven of rest, and life took on a greater meaning.

She Got Her Breakfast Over the Gas in Her Room.