Gilbert Parker

“ For an instant Meg looked as though she could cut the lady's throat, then she lashed out.
"You come here—the first that ever come to see what we do and how we do it, and help us 'in small ways.' Then, when you find a poor honest woman gives a dance to pay for her man's funeral, you turn up your nose and are shocked—yes! Well, if you don't like it, you needn't. It would be better to let the undertaker not be paid, or the doctor, or other bills, would it? ”

“ You can go into the dress department of his business, and show Fordyce how you can save him much money by planning and cutting dresses for his actresses. Will you do it, if he consents?"
Meg said: "I'd slave myself to death to do it. I think I could—I'm sure I could."
Mrs. Medley grew suddenly grave, "I don't know what the head, Madame Raoul, will say. She's a difficult woman and a snob, though capable. She may not like you, and if she doesn't it won't be quite possible, I fear. But keep up your spirits. You've begun so well you can't fail. ”

“ Work was not steady and the expenses of the home did not grow less. In course of time—six years—two more children came, and now love, as it had once been, declined, and little remained of the old romance. Year by year the struggle to make both ends meet went on.
At last Jean said to her in English, for they talked in that language: "Things go not well, Meg. Wages are low and they'll be lower, and I not feel well—no, bagosh!"
She was in an irritated mood this day, and she replied: "If wages go lower we can as well peg out. It's too hard now. Five children and us two on ten dollars a week! ”

“ At that moment Meg entered, and saw Mrs. Medley with surprise. "It's my mother that made the ball," said Denise, and looked inquiringly.
"I've come to see if I can help you people in this district in some small ways. Things don't seem very bright here now," said Mrs. Medley.
"Things ain't never very bright down here—no. Wages are low, and we've little enough to eat and wear. And when there's death——"
"You give a ball to pay the funeral expenses," said Mrs. Medley severely. ”

“ No philanthropic Protestant ladies came to the district and the condition of the few Protestant families was deplorable.
In one home was Jean Roone and his family. Roone had been a worker in a great sawmill at a low wage, not sufficient to bring up his family of five and to care for his faithful wife, who had been an English girl in a cheap music-hall when he married her, at eight dollars a week. He was good-looking when they were married and she had been as happy with him as poverty and misery will permit. ”

“ You are rich, mebbe, and you come down here to us poor, because you wish to do something good, and when you find an honest woman like me, who gives a dance six days after her man's death, you're startled. ”

“ Medley eyed her house and her dress. "You'd be good in the dress department."
"In the property-room and in the dress-making, eh? Well, p'r'aps I'd know it by instinct. My parents was on the stage. I'd like to go back to it. I would for sure—but yes!"
"I'll speak to my brother. He's hard, but if he takes a fancy he'll do all he can." She turned to Denise and the four smaller children. "There are five children and you did what was right. Dancing to pay an honest debt is no crime. Even David the king danced before the Lord. Dancing is moral if it's a good dance and your dance was a good dance." ”

“ She must keep her word and pay him. But how? She could not go on the music-hall stage. That was over forever. Yet her experience of the music-hall came to her aid. She would earn the money and pay the undertaker and the doctor. Coming from a shop she passed a drill-hall, and then came to her mind that she could give a ball at fifty cents a head, and pay for the burial of Jean. She went at once and secured the drill-hall for fifteen dollars. She had a gift for organization, and it became known in the district that Meg was trying to pay for her husband's funeral by a ball. ”

“ She sent for the doctor and undertaker by the eldest girl, who, like her mother, had not exclaimed when she saw her father dead, but had comforted the other children, and helped to dress the youngest; then after a hasty cup of tea and plate of porridge had gone for the doctor and the undertaker. For one so young she knew her way about well. Her name was Denise.
The funeral took place two days after, and the undertaker, doctor, and others had to be paid, and the total bills for all the funeral expenses, etc., were some sixty-nine dollars. Meg had but three dollars and her home. ”

“ My dead husband would bless me for letting people get pleasure out of his death, if it made his home happier, and paid what he couldn't pay. Christian religion—what is it if it ain't to pay debts honestly made? ”

“ She had found the way to make a living, not very distinguished, yet respectable, and she realized that her gift of talking had helped her with her sales. Next day she cut out more patterns and then she went forth again. ”