e I do."

"Well, then, I don't know a thing about books, and I'd knock anybody
else down that said it, but it seems to me it's trash."

"Oh, Abby," murmured Maria.

"Never mind," said Ellen, though she quivered a little, "I want to
know just how it looks to her."

"It looks to me just like that," said Abby--"like trash. It sounds
as if, when you began to write it, you had mounted upon stilts, and
didn't see things and people the way they really were. It ain't
natural."

"Do you think I had better give it up, then?" asked Ellen.

"No, I don't, on account of your father."

"I believe it would about break father's heart," said Ellen.

"I don't know but it's worth as much to write a book for your
father, to please him, and keep his spirits up, as it is to write
one for the whole world," said Abby.

"Only, of course, she can't get any money for it," said Maria. "But
I don't believe Abby is right, and don't you get discouraged, Ellen.
It sounds beautiful to me."

"Well, I suppose it is worth keeping on with for father's sake,"
said Ellen; but she had a discouraged air. She never again wrote
with any hope or heart; she had faith in Abby's opinion, for she
knew that she was always predisposed to admiration in her case.

Ellen at that time was earning more, for she had advanced, and had
long ago left her station beside Mamie Brady; and now in a month or
two she would have a machine. The girls, many of them, said openly
that her rapid promotion was due to favoritism, and that Ed Flynn
wouldn't do as much for anybody but Ellen Brewster. Flynn hung about
her in the shop a good deal, but he had made no efforts to pay her
decided attention. His religion was the prime factor for his
hesitation. He could not see his way clear towards open addresses
with a view to marriage. Still, he had a sharp eye for other
admirers, and Ellen had not been in the factory two months before
Granville Joy was sent into another room. Robert Lloyd, to whom the
foreman appealed for confirmation of the plan, coincided with
readiness.

"That fellow ain't strong enough to run that machine he's doing
now," said Flynn.

"Then put him on another," Robert said, coloring. It was not quite
like setting his rival in the front of the battle; still, he felt
ashamed of himself. Quicker than lightning it had flashed through
his mind that young Joy could thus be sent into a separate room from
Ellen Brewster.

"I think he had better take one of the heel