book. I became very hungry near noontime and the slender lunch I had brought did not satisfy my healthy appetite, so I went into the diner in search of something "cheap." Apple pie was 15 cents without cheese; with cheese, 25 cents. I dispensed with the cheese because I thought I must tip the waiter 10 cents, and I must have a nickel to phone Elizabeth in Chicago in case she failed to meet me.
I presented my letter of recommendation from the George H. Bowman Company, which read, "We are glad to recommend Miss Nan Britton, who has been in our employ for about a year, as a girl of ability and good character," and was given a position in Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company, in the china department, soon after my arrival in Chicago. Elizabeth did wonders with her needle to "fix me up" and make me a little more presentable than I had been able to do on my $6 a week. Moreover, in my new job I received $9 a week wages!
The Brittons were never "good managers." While my father lived we children had everything we needed and more; but father was far too generous for his income, and never denied where it was possible to give. With so little idea of the value of a dollar, mother, Elizabeth and I were all having a pretty hard time.
I had carried on correspondence while in Cleveland with Miss Abigail Harding, "Daisy," as she was more commonly called at home, but the dissatisfaction I was experiencing because of my seeming inability to get on more quickly had inclined me to less letter-writing. In other words, I knew my ability and I was ashamed of my small-waged position.
Finally, without saying anything to Elizabeth, I wrote to my father's favorite college classmate, whom I will call Grover Carter, at that time Vice-President of a coal company in New York, asking his advice concerning the possibilities of my working my way through school. I received an immediate reply in which he assured me of his genuine interest and told me he had written to another Kenyon College classmate of my father, in the offices of the Union Stock Yards in Chicago. In
