Families -- Fiction; Married women -- Fiction; Mothers -- Fiction; United States -- Fiction; Women -- Employment -- Fiction
Sam, the elevator boy, didn't know a single lady as was out of work.
Catherine went on down to the basement. Perhaps the janitor would know.
He called his wife. Catherine, in the door, glimpsed the rooms with
their short, high windows, full of white iron beds and innumerable
tidies. Mrs. O'Lay filled the door, her bulk flowing unrestrictedly
above and below her narrow apron strings.
She had a mind to try the job herself. Her daughter had come home with
a baby, and could mind the telephone when Sam was off, and all. Her
double chins quivered violently at little Mr. O'Lay's protest. Right in
the same house, an' all. "If I try it, he won't be all the time leaving
the fires for me to tend, and I'll turn an honest penny myself."
She's a fat straw to grasp at, thought Catherine. If she can get
between the stove and the sink----
"Sure, I been cooking all these years, and himself ain't dead yet. Nor
one of the eleven children. It'd be a fine change for me."
They decided finally that Mrs. O'Lay should come up that afternoon to
"learn the ropes." "I'd come up right now, but himself asked in his
folks for dinner."
What luck! Catherine hurried back to her own apartment. Her own rooms
look neat, and she is at least a pair of hands.
The children were waiting impetuously for Catherine to take them
coasting. Marian had suggested Sunday School. Miss Kelly thought they
should go, she explained.
"Miss Kelly may take you, then, on her Sunday," said Catherine. "I
can't, to-day. And I'm afraid the snow is almost gone."
Spencer and Marian, their leggings already on, wiped the breakfast
dishes, while Letty dragged a battered train up and down the hall.
"You come too, Daddy." Marian tugged at Charles's arm.
"No. I'm going to have a nice, quiet morning with my book." He stepped
hastily out of the path of Letty's assault.
"I've left the potatoes and roast on the shelf." Catherine looked in at
his study door. "Could you think to light the oven and stick them in,
at twelve, if we aren't back? Mother's coming in for dinner."
"I'll remember." Marian giggled at her father's grimace, and they were
off, the four of them.
On the slope Catherine chose as safe, the snow had been worn thin by
countless runners. Spencer and Marian had one Flyer, and Catherine
drew Letty on the small sled up and down the walk, to the loud tune of
"Gid-ap! horsey! Gid-ap!" until she was breathless and flushed. Then
she coaxed Letty into the construction of a snow house, while she sat
on the bench beside her. The river was gray under a lead sky; the steep
shores of New Jersey were mottled tawny and white. Spencer and Marian
puffed up the hill, to sit solemnly beside her, their legs dangling.
Letty, a small scarlet ball in her knit bloomers and sweater, an
aureole of yellow fluff about her round, pink face, crooned delightedly
as she patted her lumps of snow.
"An', Muvver," went on Marian, "the little boy made his dog drag the
sled up the hill, and the doggie cried."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account