want, and how can I be of service to you?"

"Oh, it is a long story, and I thought it was so easy to tell, and I
find it isn't easy a bit. I want to do something--to help my parents--I
mean they do not need any help--but they can't help me. I have tried
lots of things." She was now stammering and blushing in a way that made
her hate herself mortally, and the innocent man in front of her tenfold
more, but she pushed on manfully and concluded, "I thought may be you
could help me get something I would like."

"What would you like?"

"Most anything. I am a graduate of the high school. I write a good
hand, but I don't like figures well enough to clerk. I hear there are
plenty of good places in Washington."

"I could do nothing for you if there were. But you are wrong: there are
no good places in Washington, from the White House down."

"Well, you are president of the Library Board, ain't you?" asked the
high-school graduate. "I think I would like to be one of the
librarians."

"Why would you like that?"

"Oh, the work is light, I suppose, and you see people, and get plenty
of time for reading, and the pay is better than I could get at anything
else. The fact is," she began to gain confidence as she talked, "I
don't want to go on in the old humdrum way forever, doing housework and
sewing, and never getting a chance at anything better. I have enough to