VI
 

THE  FEELINGS  OF  THE  CITY FATHER
 

IN the great city are many, who, leading thor¬
oughly respectable, quiet lives throughout
the week, feel themselves inclined to be either
Bohemian or, even, really " devilish " on Saturday,
which is the pay-day of most of them. The great
majority of these persons are of the tribe of
" furnished roomers."

Harry Sloan and Mary, his wife, belonged to
this class. Married almost a year, they had not yet
reached that state of affluence of being able to
" keep house," and were still waiting in a third-rate
furnished-room house for things to improve. In
the meantime they did not droop or worry, but
went to their respective employments without grum¬
bling, knowing that Saturday would bring its usual
" good time."

They were of sociable disposition and not at all
selfish. Noticing that their neighbour, the occu¬
pant of the little ballroom on the top floor,
dwelt in pronounced solitude, perhaps enforced by
a justified despondency, Sloan and his wife de¬
termined to be her Samaritans. Social barriers in
furnished-room   houses   are   easily   surmountable,

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