Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 31, Number 363, 17 February 1907 — Page 11

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In the Complete Story of "The Busiest Dollar," the author, Marion Hill, presents, a decidedly piquant picture of the bright, light-hearted girl frivolous, if you will brimful of the wider life of the city, who finds herself enrolled among the staid Dorcas workers of a country village. It is a realistic picture, and in this case realism gives sharper spice of humor and surprise than highest flight of imaginative fancy could convey. The illustrations that accompany the story portray its characters with a touch as faithful as was that that guided the pen describing them. They contribute another instance of the harmonious, intelligent sympathy and fellowship of spirit that unite author and artist throughout this series of stories, and give to it a rank of its own above any hitherto placed before the raders of a newspaper. They arc pictures that do not merely present the characters to us as if seen upon a stage from our seats in the auditorium; they permit us, as was permitted in Elizabethan days, to stand beside them on their stage and be as if at one with their living, moving presence.

aging forty children with ease, but married life anf one baby were proving too much for her nerves. "He should remember that to us mothers every minute is precious." "Don't you call yourself no mother yet, Mis' Setzer," prohibited Mrs. Shunk severely. "Not till you've had eight on 'em, like I have, all living." "Ladies, I crave your pardon for being late, for keeping you waiting," said a gentle voice behind them. Mr. Glynne was there. The mere sight of him wa3 a balm he was so guilelessly young. His handsome face wore perpetually a propitiating smile, before which resentment and criticism fled away like chaff in a wind. The sewing society smiled back at him contentedly, and followed him into the meeting house. They trod heavily and seated themselves with business-like thumps, very different from their devotional caution of a Sunday. Mr. Glynne took a chair in the aisle whence the sunlight of his smile could flitter impartially over each and all. That is, he strove to be impartial, but Jerrie's charming head came into his line of. vision astonishingly more often than any other head,

MARION HILL

"Eh?"' shot sharply from Grandma Transue. "Sounds sometirin' like," said Miss Piper, coughing jnd chuckling happily. "Hoaw is 'invest'?" asked Dazalia Dewey, in a fearful drone. Droning was her method of showing imprcssiveness. "Why er, why er," stammered Mr. Glynne, his assured smile diminishing to a glimmer of pleasant acuity, "why er buy crude food stuffs, for instance, snd by the industry of your hands transform it into die finished article, more valuable." 1 Mrs. P. Shehan, who kept the store, had an ache for defmiteness, and demanded: "Do you mean, buy flour for one dollar and make it into enough bread to sell for two dollars?" "Vesl'' cried Mr. Glynne radiantly. "Bread. For

two dollars." His smile widened as he acquired hardihood and said, "Or three dollars. Bake bread? Bake read!" he finished, beaming instructively upon them all. "Where all bakes none buys," observed Miss Teague oracularly. "We'll make jell." She spoke for herself and two sisters. The jelly of the Teague "girls" had been famous for forty years. This idea of investment and rivalry seemed electrically to suit the Workers, and they showed themselves eager to get to their homes and begin. As manv of them arose resolutely, Mr. Glynne knew cnougn to propose adjournment. "Providence permitting us," he went on, reaching into his pocket, "we are to reassemble here two months from date to return this dollar, bringing with it its earnings." He produced ten- silver coins they were lukewarm and distributed them among the Dorcasses. As hers lay in her pink palm, Jerrie eyed it with anything but favor. It might have been an earthworm, and squirming, for all ihe pleasure she appeared to get out of it.

seemed to make an especial appeal to his protective chivalry. She was his most beloved worker, Not that she was one particle of actual assistance to him or to the society. No wren on an ostrich farm could have been more useless. And yet and yet had the chance been his, how gladly would he have swapped off any, every, ostrich for 'this tiny wren! Her shining hair tied with its big black bow, her innocent face upturned to his, were so magnetically fascinating to him that he easily credited her with power to satisfy him in all directions, and he therefore burst out enthusiastically: "Who knows? It may be you, the youngest sister in our busy circle, to be blest above the rest in energy and success your dollar may earn much, even more than any, for this good cause of ours." Jerrie looked far from hopeful. "I haven't a useful sturt in my bag." she protested. "Can't sew, can t cook. Wouldn't it I could. Won't it do if I just dig down in my own pocket at the end of the two months and cough up another plunk or three to match this?" Shuddering his way through the corrupted portions of this speech, Mr. Glynne grasped at the decent expression "my own pocket" and replied to it. "Oh, no, no, no. Miss Jerrie. By so doing you would defeat the very object of this crusade which is to prove that organized endeavor pays its own wage in coin. You say that you cannot earn money; pray, and a way will be shown. Hard work, perhaps, but that is what I expect of you work, labor, toil." "Toil?" Her long lashes fluttered far up, and she gazed at him in blank dismay. "Toil," he repeated. "Great jumping Jerusalem," she murmured sadly, and turning quickly, fo lowed the others. His glance strayed with her as sire sauntered down the lane; and he thought, first, that she was fairer and fresher than the hedge roses which she kissed in passing; secondly, that he had done ill for his cause in insisting tint she contribute from the fruit of her industry rather than of her generosity. The Bennisons were rich. It is impossible to do more than merely hint at the wide excitement which thrilled Mapledale for the next two months. The entire village espoused the scheme and each soul in it stood by the Dorcas Workers as valiantly as circumstances allowed. Whenever a family purse permitted, that family's table boasted a loaf of Mrs. P. Shehan's special bread or a glass of the Teague girls' jam. ... , . "Tis said them Teagues be making money hand over fist and I don't rightly know as it's fair, seeing they have the fruit on'the place and don't need to buy nothin but the sugar," shouted Mrs. Shunk confidentially down Grandma Transue's hose. . Mrs. Shunk was embroidering doilies and finding them hard to finish and more hard to sell

S EEN from the train track which circled contemplatively many times around it from the wooded distance of hills before swooping down into the valley and cutting triumphantly across its shady streets, the treeiringed village across Mapledale looked ever peacefully idyllic. And, in the ordinary course of events, peaceful it, certainly was. vln proof, nothing more' convincing can be offered than the statement that on Sunday the worshipping portion of Mapledale, no matter of what religious persuasion, all gathered together under one roof to listen to a service which with discreet and broad tolerance was designated merely as "DreachinV But peace was not Maplcdale's lot just at present, And the cause of disturbance was that same unprejudiced little meeting house or more properly speaking, it was young Mr. Glynne, the dealer out of preachin' for the term. True, the meeting house was too liberal in its entertainments to pose as strictly sacred ; a strip of bunting across its platform transformed it into the town ball for political speakers; a few kerosene lamps for footlights and a denim curtain strung head high on a clothes line changed it into the glittering rostrum of school exhibitions but still, when hymn books were planted regularly two feet apart on the benches, and a reading desk was adjusted solemnly in the center of things, it had a sacred side, and it was this side which Mr. Glynne assailed when he tacked upon the door this notice:

To Every Member attending' the next meeting- of THE DORCAS WORKERS The Pastor will loan . . . . ONE DOLLAR

No one understood it. The Dorcas Workers were as much in the dark as any one. There were but ten of them, all told, and they attended this particular meeting in an unbroken body. Even Miss Jerrie Bennison went. Jerrie's name was probably Geraldine, but as her immediate world called her by the pert diminutive, Mapledale elected to do the same, though she was a stranger to them all the Bennisons being "city folk" in Mapledale for the summer, Jerrie had joined the workers, not because she was particularly inclined either to religion or industry, but because there was nothing else to join, and her companionable disposition was such that she had to belong to whatever there was or else feel lonely. Because of Jerrie's extreme prettiness, her beaming good humor, her fashionable gowns and her genuine and gentle aristocracy of bearing, Mapledale's matrons very much? desired to love her. What made it impossible was Jerrie's language. That they condoned with her at all is due to the fact that they imputed her fault entirely to the account of her brothers, of whom there were six surely enough to corrupt the English of an only sister. Jerrie looked much more entertained than shocked when she studied the placard on the meeting-house door. She, with the others, was waiting in the open for Mr. Glynne to appear with the key and unlock the door for them. "Who asked him for a dollar?" she queried. Her voice was soft and her manner shy, for she acutely felt her youthful .lack, of value among these extremely middle-aged and aggressively active Workers. "1 never did. s help me Jehosaphat." "Eh? What?" interrupted Grandma Transue testily. She was a deaf old lady, and firmly of the opinion that her inability to hear was entirely the fault of those speaking to her. "Ef folks 'ud jes quit mumblin," she muttered, fumbling among the voluminous folds of her skirt for her car trumpet. Jerrie gave her a friendly little smile but edged resolutely away. It embarrassed her greatly to have to translate herself down that hose. - "Mr. Glynne is very inconsiderate to keep us wait- - In," fretted Mrs. Setzer. She was the postmaster's wife. She had been the village school teacher, man-

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l!!ALL THISXOT ACCRUING FROM THE EORROWED DOLLAR, SURELY ? M. '

and when he clipped his righteous eyes to the floor, her small low shoes apparently usurped more space than the otC Dorcasses' nine pair of copper-toed leather-laced boots "toad-crushers" is how Jerrie mentioned them at home. ' Incidentally, of course, she listened to Mr. Glynne. To-day it was the same old story the meeting house had to be painted, the parish purse was empty, the cost of painting would be the heavy sum of sevent3'-five dollars, and a most heart-breaking rigorous canvass of the community had resulted in a collection of only ten. "But," climaxed Mr. Glynne, his voice becoming sweetly clarion as he approached the pith of his harangue; "but, that small sum, matching in amount the number composing the Dorcas Society, gave me an idea. Yoa have all of jou repeatedly assured me that although you had no wealth at your disposal you would gladly give your labor. And this is to be your opportunity! I intend to intrust to each, as a consecrated loan, one dollar. One dollar! For the space of two months you are to work jour noblest to double or to treble this dollar. I expect you to invest it in labor, in devoted labor."

"Be not slothful. Be no improvident steward. Bury ' not your talent in a napkin," exhorted Mr. Glynne, smiling a benediction after his departing Dorcasses. Only Jerrie was left. She alone got the benefit of the reference to the unfaithful steward. "That man must have been pretty much of an all 'round slouch any way you look at him," she remarked diffidently. Conversing with divines was contrary to her general practice, but she felt that her remarks should be biblical or nothing. "An out and out slouch don't you think? Or he wouldn't have buried a napkin when any old rag would have done as welL" Mr. Grynne's smile sternly died. "Surely my joung friend does not presume to criticise.' in levity and slang, a passage from Holy Writ?" "My good gracious, no! Is that what I was doing? Chew it up and forget it," begged Jerrie, flushing with honest contrition. . In her shocked penitence she looked so spiritually fair and slight that Mr. Glynne falteringly restored her to grace. No, this old-fashioned young pastor failed to realize how very dearly he inclined towards Jerrie Bennison; but, compared with the ample solidity of form of the older Dorcasses, her slender prettiness

-'" "Babies is mighty lew and lar, mighty few and far," crooned Grandma, shaking her Iread dismally. She was answering the underlying current of the conversation, not the froth on top, and she was explaining the reason why she too might be behind the Teague girls in profits. Grandma was knitting infants bootees and socks and sacks. A topic for conversation quite as absorbing as the work done by the older Dorcasses was the lack of work done by Jerrie. Her brothers had come down to Mapledale, bringing with them two or three schoolfellows apiece, and Jerrie chummed with the whole boj-ish bunch, so that she had a very good time, but found her parish interests shoved into the background. Once, questioned by Dazalia a 3 to her progress, Jerrie had made the startling admission that she feared she had lost the original dollar! As for adding to it, she had not a shred of hope left This piece of gossip relentlessly went the rounds, and Jerrie's name was dropped from popular discussion Before the summer was over, Mapledale's excitement grew health-disturbing; for, aded to the exasperation that always accompanies competition, there was finally fear. The visionary Mr. Glynne, relying too implicitly

upon the nnanciensg of bis dock, had had the paint applied, and had thereby thrown his penniless peopl into the bondage of actual debt If they could not raiso the fatal sum of seventy-rive dollars by the allotted tim they would become a reproach to themselves and a mock to parishes near by.' The summer sped inexorably to its close and brought the day for the final showing or rather the night, for Mapledale made an evening lunction of it. And it was a function ! The little meeting house, brazenly immaculate in its new, unpaid-for white paint, was packed. As was the custom whenever the building was used for a 'estival or a reception or a lecture, Mr. Glynne, to show Jrat it was not "church," forsook the platform and the reading desk and sat in secular places. He had before him a common kitchen table, borrowed for the occasion, to serve as a counter for the disposition of the dollars and the profits. The exercises were opened with an invocation by the pastor, and he invoked such an awful amount of success that the listeners who were most directly interested moved restlessly. M Then came business. "Are we all assembled?" asked Mr. Glynne sonorously, addressing his Workers who sat well up in front. "All but Jerrie Bennison an' Mis' Setzer, announced Dazalia, droning in her joy of being spokeswoman. "The Bennisons," interjected Mrs. P. Shehan, "are packed up and go off on to-night's train." " You don't reckon the dollar s packed too, does you ? croaked Mrs. Shunk, hoping for the worst. "Jerrie said," continued Dazalia, still droning unctuously, "as how she an' her folks 'd have to pass the mcetin house on their way to the deppo near by, an as how she'd leave 'em a moment an attend to her duty here; leastwise, that's not what she said. Jerrie said as how 'she'd bust a G string an rly the coop to roost on the gospel perch an cackle a spell. " A reproachful sigh rumbled around the little building. "As for Mrs. Setzer, hastily interposed Mr. Glvr.nv, drawing a letter from his note book. "I have a communication from her here which it will be my pleasure io read to you." Ifis smile was so wide and deep as to hint at big riches. It proved, however, to be but the Christian smile of resignation, for Mrs. Setzer wrote that owing to the teething of her baby she had been too worried to occupy herself with money making and herewith returned the original dollar, regretting that it had earned nothing. This was a dampener and aroused subdued but scathing comment. "The idee of one child mulflatherin' a woman out of her few wits," hissed Mrs. Shunk. "W hat Mis' Setrrr needs to bring her back to her senses is tzvins!" Dazalia had brought twelve and a half yards 'of gingham at eight cents a yard and hail fashioned it ir.to a dozen aprons which retailed at twenty-five cents three dollars. Thus she was enabled to return the loaned dollar increased by two others. With Irigh color, Dazalia stepped to the table and laid thereon her coins. The assembly rustled approvingly. "Well done, good and faithful worker," said Mr. Glynne, beaming. Then the doxology was sung. This vas to arouse in the whole company a feeling that they were actively participating in the proceedings. Miss Piper's recital reduced that usually jovial woman to tears. She had invested in chickens. But they had eaten much, laid little, set not at all. and 'fought fatally. Fifty cents Mas the sum total of prolit. She meekly waddled to the table with it, so tinutterly crushed that Mr. Glynne felt impressed to press comfortingly her trembling fat hand. 4 "Well dime," he said, and so cheerily that Miss Piper heartened in spite of herself. Next, Mrs. P. Shehan's bread had not only paid for itself but had netted the fund one dollar and ninetyfive cents extra. "Well done, good and faithful worker," said Mr. Glynne, who, by the masterly expedient of shifting his accents, managed to give a special and individual application to his .words of praise and yet not run the risk of sowing dissension by saying more to one than to another. Mrs. Shunk's doilies had brought the magnificent profit of two dollars and a half, clear. "Good and faithful," was Mr. Glynnc's verdict, the doxology going with a vim. But the Teague girls broke tlw record, returning twelve dollars their original three and nine to boot. "Fruit, was on the place," muttered Mrs. Shunk, , darkly. It is to be feared that the three Teague girls did not get their full meed ot praise for the reason that it was now borne in upon the listeners, w ho of course had been adding returns, that the total profits would come far short of twenty dollars. They already felt the millstone of debt about their bowed necks, and a haggard look of gloom crept over the faces of the most conscientious. What could be done? When paint was on it was on, and had to be paid for. The doxology harbored a wail. Lastly, Grandma Transue bellowed an inspiring tale of Saxony wool which, though knitted into the finest of bootees and garments, had yet failed to bring in more than one dollar and seventy-five cents. She repeated and repeated this tale until Mr. Glynne seized the hose and conveyed down it his words of conclusive praise. At this juncture the far off whistle of the approaching passenger train brought to all present a mental picture of the worldly little Dorcas w ho bad promised to come and cackle. Simultaneously with the vision the reality appeared. ) Looking smaller and sweeter than ever in her trim dark traveling gown, her black bows rampant like wings on each side of her sleek little head, Jerrie darted in at the door,- and, after a swift glance around to assureherself that the meeting was entirely social and not at j all religious, sped joyously up the aisle to the receiving I !hle, rattling 1:1 her hand a bag well filled with money. T he keenest excitement followed her. f "Guess how much I have!" she cried gleefully, piing the string from the mouth of the bag. "All this is not accruing from the loaned dollar, surely!" ejaculated Mr. Glynne in an undertone. "F.very last red," Jerry solemnly assured him. 1 "Earned by the work of your own hands?" he ia(credulouslr insisted. "On the dead. I held birds." "You held ?" "Birds!" She poured her money on the table in a cheery jhight of halves, quarters and dimes. The villagers craned their necks to see. and finally jumped to their fret, while on all sides was beard the whisper, "How much?" "Forty-seven dollars and ninety cents." announced Jerrie.-' The impossible had happened. The debt was lifted. Something like a cheer went up. "Well done, good and faithful worker.' Enter thou into the joy of the unselfish," said Mr. Glynne, choking with fervor. This emphasis seemed to admit "thou" only, and to- ' tally to exclude the less fortunate ; but the grateful Mapledalians did not begrudge Jerrie this distinction and something like another cheer went up. But one voice which refrained from joining in either femonstration now grimly spoke. "How was that there forty-seven dollars an ninety cents risf" demanded Mrs. Shunk. "How? By toil" said Jerrie. She drew out f.cr watch, gasped . w hen she noted the time, and walked . gradually to the door while she explained. 'I knew I could not earn money like the rest of you, yet daren't let that dollar rot.- I had to do something, and I'm line at poker. So I spent my dollar in a . stack of chips bought them from the boys we've had a menagerie of boys at our house this summer and T just made them play freeze-out with me every night.. I wouldn't let them go to a dance or a straw ride or anything. I kept them working for the Lord whether ther wanted to or not. Last night I cashed in, and, wheel that's what I got Good-bye, everybody. I've had a lovely time here. I'm coming back next year. I'd stay longer to-night, but I must hump for that Pullman. Good-by." Nodding -her pretty, beribboned head, waving her friendly little hand, with an affectionate smile of farewell on her spiritual face, Jerrie Bennison was gone. There was no doxology. While the congregated Mapledalians still sat eyeing . each other in dumb dismay, a shriek from the outgoing train told them that the polluted atmosphere was clearing.

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