Interrupted

A common interest possessed them. They had a leader; such an one as they had never known bef

No time now for loitering over lessons, no weary

imperfectly-prepared lesson, while the others hastened to Miss Benedict's room, to be met with her questioning as to the where and

The voluntary offerings were all in, and though each had done her best, all knew that the s

e a good many ways; and we must think them up. Earning money is never very easy business, and we must begin by unders

to save money, the most of them, provided they could get hold of any to save; but as for earning it,

n an unbroken stream. But her courage was contagious, as true courage often is, and the girls laugh

g on her hand in the attitude that she used to assume, when Dora said she was planning a

ne shrugged her shoulders as an evidence of dis

and she sold just four books. A good book it was, too; but the people who had money to spare didn't want it, and the people who wanted it hadn't the money. I was never more sorry for anybody in my life than I was for th

errily. Ruth's voluble

lained. "There are other thin

of the gleaming things at that moment from her hair; but there was that in her voice which

epeated Ruth,

ute scrutiny. "Blued steel, they are, you see; that is the trade mark; each one is finished to a high degree of smoothness. One who has used a single paper of them could not be persuaded to content herself with any other kind. Cheap they are, too. Actually cheaper than those instruments of torture I bought last night. I sent to my sister by the morning mail, to send me a box forthwith. That suggested the busines

s a laugh on her face, but the slightest upward cur

-to-do, and owned and lived in one of t

e such as Mary Burton could not even imagine, "pedlers, if you like the name; why not

and flowers, and nuts, and candy, in the church

work as this, and those girls knew just how "wicked" the prices were, and how

like some of them myself; we always get wretched ones down at the corner store

people do not think of, until they are brought to their doors, and that are so cheap, it seems a pity not t

author, in verse, you know; exquisite little selections, just suited to children; on each Sabbath the card contains the Golden Text of the Sabbath-school lesson. They are just as pretty as possible, and retail for twenty cents. I don't believe there are

for pies you ever saw! I know people who have a pie of some sort for breakfast, dinner and s

t looked her

ed your mother on Saturday, which I suppose is baking-day. How many times have you bli

aturday I tipped a pumpkin pie upside down on the floor; mother's clean floor, it had just been mopped. The tin was hot, you see, and the clo

our mothers; you girls would be more likely to 'squeal and drop it,' as Nettie has said. But now I want to know what is to hinder us from being benefactors to our race, and earning an hones

h an institution." "What in the worl

nly much more gracefully; they adjust themselves to the size of the tin, or plate, and close firmly, so that even a novice

nk they would

phraseology, was

nuisances out. Look here! Did you ever see

It shone with a lovely polish, the means of secur

I find they don't keep them at the corner store, and your young gentleman friends would like them, I am sure. They can be had at the factory very reasonably, indeed. I shouldn't wonder if we would better invest in some. But that w

among two of the girls, which the

e fusses and struggles to get the buttons in so as not to break the cuff. He is just at the age, Miss Benedict, to be very particular about such things, and sometimes he gets in

the button was standing perpendicularly across the butto

d and exclaimed. They had n

re they not?" This question cam

sh of memories swept over her. Those heavy gold cuff buttons, with their rare

e device for opening and shutting is introduced into plain buttons, which can be had fo

re of the articles, keep her individual account, and thenceforth go armed; hair-pins and cuff buttons in her pocket, ready, as opportunity offered, to suggest to a friend the advisability of making a desirable purchase. If she went to a neighbor's of an errand, she was in duty bound

unlady-like pressure, but simply to courteously offer their goods at honest prices; if, after such effort, they received replies that were hard to bear, they must just bear them for the sake of the cause. Thus decreed the heroic leader; adding, by way of emphasis, that all ways of earning money had their unpleasant side she supposed, and all workers had moments in which th