The Nebraska independent. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1896-1902, May 17, 1900, Page 6, Image 6

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    6
THE NEBRASKA INDEPENDENT,
MAy 17, 1900.
THE LAST
MARCH BANKS.
" . .
i f CfTr5S4, Ua lr Tt Cerr Cmgzf
T? yon wJ3. Just step over tSere to
4&m JLdJ&g?oa desk, she will tali
.with you, jsiz&xx&f' I L-ard the saa
- aglrg e&tar ay la tones a Ertle Store
reirtJ than were uscal to Lisa.
I looieJ vp frcta my half Catebrf!
tt &i saw coming toward me,!
., , . . , !
If prpel3d ty tie wa,e cf the U-f
torial luuad. latie. shabby, dainty,
'delirate old lady. Her white, withered f
face w etarmisgly pretty la tbce
.faadasDesUl lixes cpon which time has
least effect.
Brstfst aweUrd within me. The
Es&t-agJag editor always pat it oS a
to deal with the pitecms feminine
izmexSLpeiezA cemtisteaUy tricUiag la
mssA tmt of the oc.
f I'm afraid I'm takiag cp your time 1
w&ea yes are very busy. said the J
U4j, with tracJous little "society I
J Ic-oLcd mp frrum mj haXf JLnUfaed en
UtC.
trarcer. In which, cevrnbeles. a 1
tremor cf timiety asd anxiety was a3 I
looefldest. f
U, s!se was a &atbrz'rl 'There
" tclstakiag flat gentle drawl a
the vewe sj&d upprmskn tf the coa
oafitSu. I shall xot try to rt"prdue
the pecid.ia.rlty cf her p-rh- The
writtea irtters cannot crmrey what it
was except as ywu kiwsw it alreadr.
ad they eet to c.r-a ft.
Fhe fead a mai.urTljt r!:h hr that
she ht& might be adapted to the col
cmns 4 The Creelag X; be al
ways " enjoyed The Apfapal m very
tiara.
111 i f '
Her macnv-r.pt wss drt..t-S to pic- i "widow in her widowed father's house,
turteg dt ails of life ti a southern j Pbe was his only child. He bad died
fJLsstatiea is the autumn, fcfoe had 5 c?ar tEe beginning of the war. Most
tried to make it tiax-Iy: she tad heard f their property had been lost. Mrs.
that thet was desirable for Sa3y pa- Orermaa had since then madewhat
rera It was not about the far south, j blft she could, and now in her old age,
lut SfclJ f thiegs as they might be ia with a courage rooted in inborn gallan
Tsxte or Kentucky the sorghaai try of soul and also in ignorance of
fmmsZ&s aad sweet potato dfg;:sg and i this rough world, she had come to this
l?g klSisg. ; etrange land, -the north, to try to
MJh. 1 know It aS so well. I broke i make her living by writing,
forth. : How foreign and far away this part
"Yoa? lo ytm? Why. my dear I oor common country seemed to her
child, are yoa fn the south?" I probably only a southerner can realize.
: Whra sh fvund I was from Tetiaes- ! FundamentxJ Ideas affect many rami-
se and that my name was Addington. ;
we were straight way iaenenl on a
tide of laterehaiige al ivminbuetr&ee.
X waa not surpr!t4 to fiad we knew i hemeick pang in many a traveler and
all ahut r other's family. I had , exile still ia his own country.
Itr.!y spfod we did when X heard That Mrs. Overman succeeded as
Xser sps-ak. AH mihmr do know r well as she did was a continual roar
ksow cf all the tm ajsd I had been I Tel to me. There was a dauntlessness
glvea i lite years rather to escaping j about the frail, delicate, lady bred old
than s-ki2g tho kindly istiaiade woman that made me pnmd of the civ
they etsUlh as a matter of course I ilization if you will permit the word
tea they tseet away frwta hme. The that had produced her.
ex!grs-S tt lire had forrd tse to ap-prrite-
tJLesa cxre la the abstract
than In. th coocrrtr.
" Bat cJy a brute- eM Ijve withbeU
A cordial rrpoe frota this Utile gen
tSewomaa. and. m&rioTr. btr .name
atood for a go&d i-al to my 1 marina- ?
UV Xt was. t-hc told tie. Faaay
Jfarehbank. Overmaa.
X scpfse he hal t--a Mrs. Over
tata crly . Vi yesrs ; but, being a
Motberxter. s'be wa still to herself and
luerfrietids Fsssy MareLLacks as welh
Tbe Ma.rchbaats fart was what in
terested de. My gracif3ihT oott
Istfa&at friesd aad his partner for
ccy years had tea Judge Mareb
taaka. and evra la my half foreign
tlsgiag . cp I had Ifsrtil the tradi
tioas et. that stoat old Whig's loyalty
and Stlircwdaes and eccutririiy. 1
tad 2eardL too. of his daughter Lad
iarrS of her as the brilliant young
beOe wfe had-lxra my mother's child
ish Ideal of beauty and now, after all
the year and gf"rat jc.es aul up-
Xearals, 4-r were Fanny Marrhbarxks
as-d X meeting la the ef3ce of the Nw
Yrk . Eremisg Appeal, and ! was a
poor old woman wat!ag to sc-U aa ca
fsarkrtable mafjufccrtf.
That Z3&TLcript! The thmght of it
fell cpa me like a pan. The worst
fraa her eecdesce ia me. la my ac
eeptan of It. I bad been stealing
glance at ft wb! the told m what a t explained to me as we sat side by side
potihi gentleman my grandfather i on aa Immense haircloth sofa In the
was and hew smooth tsy mother wore i c!ia, mournful, self respecting parlor.
ht hair when she was a little girt. j M!?s Mary Barnwell told me about
X saw It wuld be as much as my pa- ! ft before I came on here. You never
irioa was worth to hand tz to the man- saw Miss Ma, did you? Your mother
igiag editor. t knew her. She Is lovely woman. She
X ask-d her If she Lad been doing was Timothy Barnwell daughter, that
mscn wrlHag ia ?Cew York, t endowed the college in Wexville, and
Yes. be had beea wrSt'ag here for a Mls Mary teaches there. She comes
y-sra5 m half. She lad written same a to New York Iti the summer some
stcrW for ooeof the dyiag. old fathion- times, and she stoia here. It made me
ed magazla; be bad tad a southern j feel so much mbre at home to come to
ketrb la a g&d weekly: she had sent a place I'd beard Mary tell about, and
some letters to !r ehcrcb paper la the j I think it Is very sheltered and protect
south: she had even had some negro 1 ed to be la a house without gentlemen
tsecdsrte r3tXhed ia one tf the when one Is quite alone so.
mctmm" JtJraals. - - It was a big. old fashioned house,
X evulfroewi vknt that dear, s'mple. and the- rooms were divided up Into
jrlrnike oil rhlss had gase through.! long and narrow ones by wooden par
iLe ttrcrg'.e s4 the poverty and the i tit ions, aed each contained two little
heart strair'Esr arxSety ft had et to Iron bedsteads. The Inhabitants of the
ch5rre this much. Now she wanted I business woman's boarding bouse were
t9 d more She wasted to get into- j united as roommates without reference
S'-lsT tines cf writias. and she thought j to anything but a rigidly Inspected re-
there must be a great field In the flail
papers. .And she looked up at me with
the light of hope and the waver of fear
la her faded, pretty old eyes.
A bright thought carae to save me
from di- pair if only she could be
made to share it- A Tennessee senator
tad jost made some kind of sensation
la congress. I said: "Ton know Sena
tor Lawton, don't you? Then . why
can't you take this paper and fix it all
cp as happening on Senator Lawton'g
place? You're been there. You can
easily make it accurate, then. You see.
a make it fit in with some-
? wfii Z Tu
are full -of Just now It will go. It is
eooub to e it slmpiy about
tbe prat season, though that is well,
tmt It you show what the Lawtons
home is like I am sure you can sell It
to The Earth. and they will pay you
better than this paper will." - , -
She looked pitifully dubious, . "You
don't think It would be Infringing on
the laws of hospitality r she said.
-You don't need to be personal and
Jeokinsy." X hastened assure her,
-and you might write t Colonel Law-
ton for permission to tell about his sor-
ghum presses."
I know what you mean,! she said,
"about the new, cert, tmick way of
writii.gr. I hare noticed It In the pa
pers, only I thought perhaps it was be
cause they couldn't write any other
way. But I can try to do It, too. If
that Is what they like up here In the
north. And 111 tell anything about the
Lawton place that seems unobjection-
1 able. I'm riad you think he won't dis-
like It. And now. my dear, 111 take
I myself away. I am sure you are giv-
lag me far too much time, but you can
Just ten them, my child, that you don't
i see one eTery day up here who knows
all about you for three generations.
Dear, dear. It does seeta too bad to
? leave you here all by yourself so, and
f you so young! What would your
grandfather tb But, then, your
grandfather would be very proud of
your talents, Adeline, and he was a
; man who knew that we have to adapt
; ourselves to circumstances, and I'm
; sure these gentlemen all seem very
X(rT Inoffensive," And she overlooked
the hardworking, scribbling crowd
bent rer their desks. "
Softly fluttering over me in this fash
ion to the rery elevator door, she final
ly took her lea re.
X soon learned what stemed all the
main facts of her little story her
rreat. tragi:, human story filled, as
everybody's story is, with experiences
at once terrible and commonplace.
J FIe had been left a widow with two
little children while etill a young wo
man. The children, boys, had both
died only a few years later, and she
i had spent most of her life as a childless
fi cations of feeling as well as thought.
J and the weakness of the Idea of nation
i ality at the south sharpens many a
I sympathize with the point of view
that finds southern aristocratic preten
sions humorous. They certainly had
far les basis of material splendor than
the simple minded aristocrats them
selves imagined, and I doubt not that
there Is and will be in the future some-
thing better in this world than any
kind f aristocracy, but for the bless
ings of a commercial democracy we
pay a good deal, and my provincial lit
tle old woman exempliSed the high
hearted virtues of the old regime in her
unioa of fine pride, courage, cheerful
cess and gentleness as nobly as if her
claims to blae blood were based on
something more Imposing than an an
cestry of two or three 'generations of
backwoods dignitaries. The obliga
tions of an aristocracy were strong
upon her.
I a little dreaded visiting her la her
boarding house. I thought I knew
i.
what it would be like, and I felt it
would le rather wretched to see her in
the midst of it cheap frivolities and
poor pretensions, but I found she "had
1 discovered for herself a place very dif
; f erect from my Imagination not vul
! gar, though oGVrlrg hardships enough
J to ncb a one, as Miss Fanny, as we.
must now ia common friendliness be
; gin to call her. - '
! -It Is a woman's boarding house.
I dar. a business woman's house." she
ppectabllity all around (surely none bul
the most .respectable of women ever
wanted to live there), but each was
given a bed to herself.
Miss Fanny found it a little painful
to explain these things to me, and a
faint red spot came In each withered,
delicate old cheek as she said: "It
seems a little like what they call an in
stitution up here, doesn't it? But it
Isn't, The landlady is a New England
woman; her name is Martin, and, you
see, she has planned to have the cheap
est place that that a nice person can
live In, and, you see, it Isn't so bad, for
It is clean, and it is quite comfortable,
I assure you, and you know you are
sure that your roommate is respecta
ble, and everything is arranged for it,
60 you have a great deal more privacy
than you would think. I must take
you to my room," she went on, "to
show you my father's portrait. Oh,
yesI always have that with me, and
you must be able to say you know how
Judge Marrhbanks looked.
"Of course," she said on the stairs,
"these northerners are very strange.
The lady I am with is named Miss
Boggs. You'd think she was well,
rather a common sort of person, from
very plain people, you know, on first
meeting her, but she Is very highly ed
ucated; she ts studying medicine. ".She
hasn't the polish. one finds in our peo
ple, but I am sure she has a very fine
character, and she is religious and
and settled iri her views; not In the
least like we used to be apt to Imagine
at the south."
She was interrupted by arriving at
her door. Miss Boggs was not in.
Looking" very large upon the walls of
the cell-like little place hung the por
trait in its dingy gilt frame you know
the kind the clothing looking like so
lidified smoke, the linen as if molded
out of vapor and the flesh suggesting
painted wood. Yet the creature who
painted It had not succeeded In evad
ing his subject altogether, ample as
were his incapacities, and something of
the man the large minded, able, ro
mantic man that I had heard of was
In it. I even thought I could see in It
qualities I already knew in Miss Fan
ny, especially the receptivity, the open
ness to new Ideas that made her seem
jbo young and made it possible for her
to wage such battle as she had entered
upon.
I could imagine as-I looked at the pic
ture that the judge, if put down alive
In the queer room, would make some
sort of intelligent effort to comprehend
the conditions around him.
Miss Fanny flecked at the frame with
her pocket handkerchief, she carried
me to one side and the oher'to see the
picture, and she Impressively told me
the name of the poor soul who painted
it. Then she sat herself down in front
of It and told me about the Polk and
Clay campaign In which Judge March
banks and, my grandfather had "stump
ed" the state together, trying politely
but fruitlessly to remember as many
instances of triumph and adulation for
my ancestors' as for hers. 'That both
gentlemen were on the, losing side ;ln
that contest had never occurred to her
as dimming their honors.
I always remember her as she looked
that day, like some quaint little priest
ess before a shrine. She sat in a chair
close against the wall that in the nar
rdw room she might be able to see the
picture opposite. Her white hair was
crimped a little and drawn softly back.
In a very good compromise between old
styles and new Miss ' Fanny was not
the person to cling to the old for its
own sake and at her wrists and neck
were, of all things, bits of "thread"
lace. Her figure was girlish rather
than otherwise and pretty, too, with its
nice flat back. But the old black gown
made me sorry, because I knew the
little woman was not and never would
be indifferent to her dress. As she
talked away so proudly, so feelingly,
of "my father," I wondered what place
in memory had all the rest of her long
past the wifehood and widowhood
and motherhood, the common, blessed
warm joys and common, crushing
griefs that fate had bestowed upon her,
and which, good and ill alike, she, so
little and tender still, had survived.
All seemed to have sunk out of sight,
to be buried, and only the first ties to
be still active and operative despite
time and death. ,
I reflected that after all she had
spent most of her life with hfer father,
that It was as his daughter she had
chiefly found her title to existence, but
I did not know at that time the thing
that really explained her special devo
tion to him the fact that she was then
spending herself in his service, for his
good name. The filial tie was re-en-
i loawi uuw uy uue yei stronger, uy
I perhaps the firmest of human bonds.
that which binds -the server to the
served, and at last something like a
mother's love mingled with the daugh
ter's loyal adoration of the long dead
man..
I staid to dinner with her supper
she called it, and In fact the bald little
meal might as well be termed the one
as the other, but she was unapologet
Ically hospitable and graceful over It.
It was not till I came to go home
that Miss Fanny's adaptability failed
her. "Oh. my child. I cannot let you
go out Into the street alone. It is bad
enough for me, but you I can't think
of it at all."
"Very well, then. Miss Fanny, I'll
r:J3g for a messenger boy."
-"What for. dear?"
"To go home with me."
"A messenger boy?"
'"Why. yes; that is what we do when
we are too proper to go "alone."
"Mercy on me! My lamb, it Is to
save you -from messenger boys and
their like that I'm going with you my
self "It is perfectly safe anywhere In this
part of the town." volunteered Miss
Boggs, a big boned, dust colored young
woman reading a calf bound volume
at a drop light. : ,
"Yes, Miss Boggs, I know; I suppose
It Is. and I think It is lovely to see you
northern girls so strong minded and in
dependent,. You could go anywhere;
but, you see, Adeline was not brought
tip to take care of herself as you were,
and I feel a sense of responsibility for
her. I ofght to be a fairy godmother
to her, but I can at Jeast take care of
her when she is my guest." And she
went on getting out her shawl .and set
tling her bonnerwIth the cheery deci
sion of a dear, damaged old canary
bird. f-vrV', 9 ;
Miss Boggs looked at me with curios
ity. 6he had not recognized me as a
fragile young southern blossom before.
Let me give myself the pleastSfe of
saying that I sent my protectress home
in a cab, a form of luxury which in the
course of bur acquaintance I found she
particularly appreciated. She never
became accustomed to the city streets
She went about always in a flutter of
fear and nervousness yet she must
have done a deal of "going" to get to
gether her little articles and sell them.
I saw her down town sometimes, pick
Ing' her way about among the rushing
crowds and cars and trucks, going
through the great buildings, with their
Incoming and outgoing streams of hu
manity eddying around the rows of ele
vator doors, and In the grimy newspa
per offices, where the air was tense
with silent activities, and-as I looked
at the quaint figure, the gentle," half
frightened, high bred old face, I won
dered why she was there. She must
have lived some way since the war.
Why did she not go on now as she had
before and satisfy her ambitions,if she
had them, by such ladylike efforts with
genteel journals as. she had made in
the past, which had brought her much
neighborhood consideration and a little
money and which did not tear her
away from the dingy, dignified, green
old home where she was born and the
simple, fixed, old time life in which she
was surrounded by friendliness, albeit
Umost of the friends were gone?
It was gallant res. surely there was
something to stir the blood In seeing so
frail, so jmarmed a creature take up
the gage of battle against such odds
but it was painful too. I, all but re
sented the pangs she gave me. - One
day I said to myself, "This is worse
than living one's - own struggle over
again," and that was a bitter saying.
I was standing in one room of a news
paper office when I saw her enter an
adjoining one. She went up to the
managing editor's desk with her little,
soft, unbusinesslike manner and seem
ed to be asking something. The tman
did not look up. If -he had, he surely
would have spoken differently. But he
was desperately busy, and he simply
put his hand in a pigeonhole and drew
out a package of manuscript, saying
irritably as he . gave It a shove along
the desk, "Not a thing there , that's
worth a cent to us." .
Oh, just the most ordinary business
Incident In the world, but poor little
Fanny . Marcbbanks ; Overman! She
took up her papers I noticed again
how old her hands looked and moved
away as if she dfd hot quite see where
she, was going, .drew back put of
sight." There are'spme pains that sym
pathy can only doubled v - . ?
I often had Miss .Fanny at the little
flat I ; kept with a friend, a girl who
painted and taught. She never came
to regard our establishment as a nor
mal one, and she always hovered about
me with a futile overflow of maternal
care that was not In the least checked
because it reversed the facts of our
relationship.
"My baby child," she exclaimed be
neath her. breath as she first sat down
In our microscopic reception room and
looked about her, "to , think of your
trying to live in all these Yankee ways.
I hope you take good care of her," she
said to Amy, patting me softly. Amy
looked blank for an instant.
. She had an air of relief as well as
pleasure when she found me one night
dressing for a reception. All her in
nate love of the decorative and roman
tic came bubbling, forth. "Ah, how be
coming that is to you!" she exclaimed.
"My father used to say -that it was a
test of blood and raising for people to
dress up that If there was anything
common in them It would come out
when they were in their best clothes.
And shall you see any of the gentle
men of your office?" she asked in an
elaborately incidental way, and disap
pointment was in her face when I said
I hardly thought I should.
"And they don't any of them come to
see you?" she went on. "I suppose
you don't let them." . ,
"Dear Miss Fanny, it has never come,
up. I don't think any of them ever
thought of coming to see me."
"Dear me! Well, these northern men
are beyond me. I never knew of any
gentlemen before who did not think of
paying some attention to a charming
girl whom they had the privilege" of
knowing." "
Amy, who was standing behind Miss
Fanny's ' chair, turned her eyes and
hands to heaven and then for one in
stant placed her palms In an attitude
of benediction above Miss1 Fanny's In
fantine old bead. ' - j
"I suppose you , have to have your
meals according to these. New Yrk.
ways, with your dinner in the evening,
on Miss Amy's account," she said.
"Yes." I replied. "Amy prefers it so."
It was a safe assertion, though I had
never heard her express herself on the
subject, Like the true southerner she
was. Miss Fanny never ceased to re
gard New York as the outside phenom
enal thing and the standards of Wex
vlUe as the normal and accepted ones,
although In her writing she flexibly
enough assumed the other tone. That
was mental; the maintenance of. an
cient standards personally .was Inartic
ulately felt to be a matter of loyalty
and character. V
Miss Fanny and I each experienced
some good luck about the same time. ;
The Evening Appeal found occasion
to send me abroad, and Miss Fanny ob
tained a little regular work, the super
intendence of the correspondents col
umn on a weekly" "paper. "This brought
her In only the most trivial sum, $4 or
$5 a week,, but It did not take much
time, and I knew from experience hor
happy was the change from total un
certainty to even this sum assured.
I hoped to see her make herself a lit
tle more comfortable and treat herself
$o a new gown. But when I sailed she
came to see me off In the same over
brushed little outfit of rusty black that
she had worn the day I first saw her. -
A number of people visited me at the
dock that day, and It has been a bitter
ly intruding thought since that I did
not give Miss Fanny all the attention
that God knows was in my heart for
her, and it does "not soften that-reflec-tion,
but brings the keener pang, to re
member that she was too much ab
sorbed and delighted by my momen
tary social Importance to have any
thought of herself, i.
She went about giving my acquaint
ances disjointed . bits of my history,
personal and ancestral and telling
them, with tears ia her eyes, how
brave X was living here in New York,
away from everything I'd been used
to and starting off now all alone on
this voyage, though I was naturally of
the most shrinking and feminine dis
position. . Dear Miss Fanny!
' I did very little letter writing during
the eight months I was gone. I heard
from Miss Fanny only once, but she
was one of those who had urged that
I spend none of my precious time read
ing or writing letters, so I was not sur
prised at her silence.
When I came back, I went to the
-business woman's boarding house"
the day after landing to look her up.
Amy had just returned fronj a four
months absence' herself this was in
September and could give me no news
of her. . -
The square was dusty and deserted.
The house as I went in seemed pecul
iarly desolate In its orderly gloom. The
servant was a new one. She had never
heard of Mrs. Overman, and an indefi
nite dread began to gather around me,
I sent for Mrs. Martin.
She came in colorless, sad 'dignity
and stood silently before me.
"Tell me." I said. -
"She died in this house three months
ago." f
She sat down.
"I am sorry you were not here. It
was a beautiful easy death. She was
not. sick. We just found her lying on
her bed one day with a letter in her
hand, dead." ';...
In the midst of all the formless
thoughts and feelings crowding upon
me I was pierced by a foolish grief
that my little woman should die on
one of those prisonlike cots, so strange
and unhomely to her.
"The letter," Mrs. Martin went stead
ily on after a. moment's silence, T had
buried , with her, but I kept a copy of
it This Is it" r
v I half hesitated.
"I don't think you need mind reading
It" she said. 1 . ,
It was very brief. In 'half a dozen
lines Anthony Stottman acknowledged
the receipt of a final payment of $50
as wiping out the principal and inter
est of a debt of $3,TXK) left-unpaid ni
the, settling up of Judge Marchbanks
estate. - ' '
Ah, it was brief, but to what years
of pinching and "struggle and high and
tender purpose; that awkward paper
testified! I saw all those years in a
heart bursting moment's glance. It
was love as much as honor that had
sustained . Uttle Fanny Marchbanks
through that long task, so little In It
self, so titanic for her. No stain must
rest on the great name her father left
behind him. Through more years than
I had lived every hour must have been
colored to her by this heroic resolution.
It had become her reason for living.
When she had accomplished this end.
Miss Fanny flecked at the frame xcith her
, pocket handkerchief .
the shock, of revolution in her outlook,
the withdrawal of the great motive,
had been too much; the light that had
been sustained' so long ceased. Mrs.
Martin told me that Mrs. Overman had
been restless, had almost ceased to
write, for two weeks before her death,
although she seemed welh , ,
Yes, I knew. I knew how, as with a
child, the thought of her great achieve
ment had absorbed her and, how she
could not be at ease till "the sensible
testimony of It was In her hand. That
brought her ease Indeed. Truly it was
a beautiful way to die.
"Where where did you bury herT.
I forced myself to ask.
"I was at my wits end. Miss Adding
ton. Those I might have learned some
thing -from about her relatives were
out of town, and I didn't know which
way to turn, but at last I put her In my
own plot, where I shall lie some day
myself. I thought you would .come
after awhile and tell me what to da
She left nothing but a few dollars,
seven or eight, but I had things done
decently. I know Mrs. Overman was
a lady, and that letter showed she was
something mqre. Miss Addington. I
was glad to pay her respect.- Mrs.
Martin concluded with firm, downright
reflections God bless her! , -
f- Miss Fanny had won for herself In
her last strange need hospitality In
stead of charity, and yrith her letter on
her bosom she might well be aa hon
ored guest. .i
Independent
A perfect machine
at a popular price....
$19.50 with all attachments
Why pay three times as much in order to secure a popular name? When you
buy some machines you pay 75 per cent for the name and 25 per cent for the ma
chine. We sell you a Sewing Machine that will sew, and charge you nothing for
the name. If you do not like the name "Independent," paint red over it and call
the machine what youVilL We are doing the advertising, and it does not cost us
much. We buy the machines direct from one of the largest manufacturers in ths '
world at factory cost, and we offer them to our subscribers at an exceptionally '
low price. Our "Indeprndent" Machine is a thoroughly '.first-class Family Sewyjg I
Machine, and is retailed under its original name at $55.00. Our arrangements
with the manufacturers will not allow.us to us their name, but instead we call it
"Independent-"' ' ' ' . .
High Arm, High Grade, Noiseless, -i
Light Running, Self-Threading
SEWING MACHINE
... .. ......
Awarded the Medal Premium
at the WorTd's'Columbian Exposition
at Chicago in 1693. " . ,
Every Machine Warranted!
Every machine warranted' A written warrantyacqompanies each machine.
All parts are interchangeable, and we can supply duplicates ! at any time. Each
part of the machine is fitted with such exactness that no trouble can arise with
any part, as new pieces can be supplied with the assurance of a perfect fit.
Our "Independent" is a strictly high-grade Sewing Machine, and finished
throughout in the best possible manner It possesses all .modern improvements,
and its mechanical construction is such that in it are . combined simplicity with
great strength, thus insuring ease of running, durability, and making it impossi
ble for the Machine to be put out of order. It sews fast and makes a pc.Tcct
stitch with all kinds of thread and all classes of material. Always ready for. use
and unrivaled for speed, durability and quality of work.
NOTICE THE FOLLOWING POINTS OF SUPERIORITY: v '
The Head swings on patent socket hipges, and is firmly held down by a thumb screw. It i .
trong, substantial, neat and handsome in design, and beautifully ornamented in gold. The bed '
plate has rounded corners and is inlaid or countersunk, making it flush with the top of the table, i
Highest Asm The space under the arm is 5V inches high and nine inches long.; This will ad.
mit the largest skirts, even quilts. It is Self-Threading There are absolutely no holes to put v
the thread through except the eye of the needle. Thk Shuttle is cylinder, open on the end, en-
tirely self-threading, easy to put in or take out ; bobbin holds a large amount of thread. The
Stitch Eegclatok is on the bed of the Machine, beneath the bobbin winder, and has a scale
showing the number of stitches to the inch, can be changed from 8 to 32 stitches to the inch;.
Thjs Feed is double and extends on both sides of the needle; never fails to take the goods
through; never stops at seams; movement is positive; no springs to break and get out of order
can be raised and lowered at wilL Automatic Bobbin Wixdek An arrangement for filling the
bobbin automatically and perfectly smooth without holding the thread. The Machine does not
run while winding the bobbin. Light Epnninq The Machine is easy tm run, does not fatigue
the operator, makes Uttle noise and sews rapidly. The Stitch is a double-lock stitch, the same
on both sides, will not ravel, and can be changed without stopping the Machine. The Tension .
is a flat spring tension and will admit thread from 8 to 150 spool cotton without changing.. Never
gets out of order. The Xeedlb is a straight self-setting needle, flat on one side, and cannot be
p;t in wrong. Needle Bar is round, made of case-hardened steel, with oil cup at bottom to
ptevent oil from getting on the goods. Adcstable Bearings All bearings are case-hardened -eteel
and can be easily adjusted with a screwdriver. All lost motion can be taken up, and the
Machine willjlast a life time. Attachments Each Machine is furnished with the following set
of best steel attachments free: One Foot Hammer Feller, one Package of Needles, six Bobbins,
one Wrench, one Screwdriver, one Shuttle Screwdriver, one Presser Foot, one Belt and. Hook,
one Oil CanJIlled with oil; one Gauge, one Gauge screw, and quilter and one Instruction Book. "
AS65.00 Machine for $19.50 :
OUR
FIRST Our "Independent" Sewing
braska Independent one year for $19.50.
SECOND Our "Independent" Sewing Machine given af a premium abso
lutely free of cost for a Club of 50 Subscribers at f 1.00 each. -
Persons ordering machines will please state plainly the point to which the
machine is to be shipped, as well as the postofSce "the paper is to be sent to. Give
shipping point as well as postoffice address, ajid botli machine and paper will be
promptly sent, '. ,' '.V ' "
. fj ADDRESS ALL ORDERS OR APPLY FOR INFORMATION TO '
Independent fiub,
Lincoln, Ilebraska.
Ol' IcDrriAi Tiir nimi iiinTni!
SPECIAL
Excursions
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IMDipD
August lid, Unly one faro for round trip plus 62.00.
It's the Burlington service that gets you there on time X
City Ticket OflSce Cor. Tenth
and O Sts Telephone 335.
EWING
Machine as above described
- . v
and Ne-
MACHINE
xo uenver, Uoloraao springs, .Pueblo U Ion wood JT
Springs, Salt Lake and Ogdem. -Also to Hot Spriutrs. O
Spearfish, Deadwood and Custer, S..D., and Shcri- g
dan, Wyo. Dated for the above excursions will bo X
June 21st, July 7th to 10th, inclusive y Julv ISth and O
Burlington Depot ttl St.,
Bet. I anJ Q. Thon 5.
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