One of the most interesting of the privileged girls I met one morning
going to work. It was her third month in the office. "One of the finest
in the city. There's a chance to work up, and me for the top," she told
me, her face beaming. Her father had come across the sea from Sweden
when a boy. Long generations of honest folk were behind him and he made
good in the new land. He saved a good share of the wages he made in the
bicycle shop, studied with a correspondence school and assumed more and
more responsible positions with higher wages. At last he was able to
build a house for his young family, at the end of the car line where the
children had room to play and the cow and chickens kept the boys busy
and taught them to work. Olga was the eldest and it was a proud night
for the family when she graduated from grammar school. Going home on the
trolley her father determined that she should have the desire of her
heart and go for two years to business college. There was great
rejoicing on the part of the family when he made his decision known and
Olga hardly slept that night. When the two years were over the principal
of the school had said such fine things of her work that Olga had
blushed to hear them. More than that, he offered her the best position
open to his students. He was a little astonished the next morning when
Olga's father came down to ask in his careful English regarding the
character of the men in the office where his daughter was to work. To
Olga's great joy he was able to satisfy the father to whom the matter
was of enough importance to make him put on his best clothes and take
half a day off, in order to make sure that all was right.
It was a great day when Olga came home with her yellow envelope and laid
the money on the table. Not a cent would her father take. "No, Olga," he
said, "the money is yours. You shall keep the account of it and show it
to your father. You shall buy the new bed for your room and the chairs.
Your mother wants the house made pretty. Perhaps you will help. That
will be very good. But the money is yours." No one seeing the girl's
face as she related her father's words could doubt the appreciation in
her heart. Her girl friends had "paid their board" and she had expected
to do the same. That night she refurnished the house in her dreams and
the memory of that dream room of her mother's, with paper on the wall
and rugs on the floor, helped her save her money until the dream came
true.
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account