"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
It was good to get out into the fresh air of the street, although Arabella couldn't help noticing the journalist shift the weight of the trunk to his shoulder to save his arms being dragged out of his sockets.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr McVey, it's that great big bible in there that's makin' it so heavy." she told him "Course, the Word of The Lord weighs heavily on my shoulders, too."
"So you never said where the two of you would be staying." Addressing Arabella as the stepped out onto the boardwalk. Not that it was any of his business, but he had shouldered her trunk, and he was not a young as he once was, no invalid Phin McVay, but the thing was beginning to show it's weight.
"Well, since Lorenzo, er, Mr. Crabbe up and died, ol' Bridget owns that Old Funeral Parlour, all fair and square and legal like; 'cept me and Frances Grimes are gonna move in and we're gonna rename it to "The Kalispell Refuge for Young Christian Women". We're gonna make Crabby's photography studio into two more bedrooms and then we'll have room to take in three more girls, you know..."
She looked around to make sure nobody was listening, as she thought Mr. McVey might be embarrassed by the subject she needed to touch upon.
"... for girls that are orphaned and got no place to stay or ones who are in trouble. You know, got their roof rusted. My friend Mrs Adams, well, I don't know if you realise this Mr McVey, but she herself is a... a soiled dove, I'm afraid. She told me that how most girls end up as fallen women: either they have to do it cause they got no home and no work to feed 'emselves or some boy gets 'em in the family way and then don't wanna know. Y'get my drift?"
"I told Mr Pettigrew about it and he was so nice about it and says he'll help pay for the little bit of building work downstairs and we think we might be able to get Miss Chappel's brother to do the work cheap. Me and him's like that!" she added, trying to indicate her crossed fingers while still carrying all her her impedimenta.
"Now about Pettigrew, I had assured him that what he had said in anger, would not be part of the column." Phin said. "He has his position, and I applaud that. It does not align with mine, and that too is fine. He may well be one Kalispell's favorite entrepreneurs, and I believe rightly so, a Mayor? Perhaps not. Then again young lady, I could be wrong about that."
"Oh, are you still jawin' on about that silly old Mayor business?" Arabella complained, shaking her bonneted head. For her butterfly mind the subject was now well past its sell-by date.
"Now, you wanna be writing a nice little story about our refuge, instead. But don't mention anything about Bridget, cause everybody knows she's a imbecile; and don't mention me, cause folks round here don't think a lot of me fer some reason, but say Frances is openin' it: she's... well, you know what Mr McVey, she might be just as poor as the rest of us and be as blind as a bat, and keep bumpin' into things and have them sorta scary googly eyes and all, but she's... she's a real, proper lady, you know what I mean?
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"No, no just telling you I intend on keeping my promise to Mister Pettigrew. And without mention of Mister Reeve." He explained, the trunk more comfortable on his shoulder, a bit easier to manage. Mention of the good book answered that question for him. "Yes, it can, and does weigh heavy on many of us."
"Now this project of yours, the Refuge, I like the idea, the name, everything about your plans. This is certainly something that is needed, and, unlike the hospital and orphanage, does not have to be built. You young ladies are to be applauded for this effort." He affirmed. He could see the need, now and in the future, he was trying to recall the layout of the place, knowing it was two stories, he could not quite recall what was on the second floor, most likely bedrooms, or perhaps storage.
"I suppose that your plans are written down?" Of course he was thinking as a man, and for all he knew it was currently just being discussed among themselves and not quite ready to start upgrades. "I can see an article about this plan of yours, yes I can. With it we can raise awareness to it, and Arabella, who knows where it will go from there. Honestly, there is no telling." An idea was forming.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Now this project of yours, the Refuge, I like the idea, the name, everything about your plans. This is certainly something that is needed, and, unlike the hospital and orphanage, does not have to be built. You young ladies are to be applauded for this effort." He affirmed.
"Oh, we're just three simple young spinsters of the parish with room to spare, wantin' to do the Lord's Work." she shrugged airily.
"I suppose that your plans are written down?" Of course he was thinking as a man, and for all he knew it was currently just being discussed among themselves and not quite ready to start upgrades.
"Uh? Written down?" frowned Arabella "Well, Frances is blind, Bridget cain't read nor write and I'm... well, I ain't made o' pencils and paper y'know! Written down, huh?" She didn't really see why it needed writing down. It was just something they were going to do. Why, at a push, they could take someone in right now.
"I can see an article about this plan of yours, yes I can. With it we can raise awareness to it, and Arabella, who knows where it will go from there. Honestly, there is no telling." An idea was forming.
"Well, now, don't you go gettin' over excited about this here thing, Mr. McVey, it's just a little refuge for a couple of needy girls who might need it. Don't go blowin' it up outta all propulsion!"
She looked at him seriously from somewhere inside the recesses of that poke bonnet.
"This is it with folks, everybody gets carried away, get so busy makin' highfalutin plans ambitions and discussin' things in meetin's and councils and committees and tryin' to make a mountain out of a moleskin, that nuthin' never gets done. Look at Miss Steelgrave and her hospital. If'n she'd just opened a little one to start with, maybe a couple o' beds, a roll of bandages and a bottle of snake oil liniment, why, she'd be sittin' pretty right now: stead of sittin' on a pile planks and bricks that ain't no use to nobody." Arabella informed him. She admired Miss Steelgrave immensely, but the pretty young woman's ambitions would be of little use if one of them were to collapse in the street right now.
"It's the good deed I do today that matters, not the good deed I hope to do next week" she finished her homily, with words that sounded like they had been lifted off the kind of religious pamphlets she delighted in handing out around the bar.
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"Ahem, Yes young lady you do have a point about Miss Steelgrave and the problems with getting her project underway, but I have to say that it is not the normal way things are done. She has one big factor that she's fighting and that would be her father Elias Steelgrave who has connections that make things as difficult as possible for her/" He explained.
Of course, yes, she could start with little to nothing except good will and a bandage, however, that is not what she wants to do, far from it. A hospital in this territory would almost be a Godsend. It is needed. Now, about your plan, and believe me when I say that it too would be a Godsend, because it will be. Regardless, Arabella, of what anyone would say, help for those who are in need is always welcome."
"Now then, about what I might put in the Union regarding your project. You want folks to know it is there, and will soon be available, don't you?" He asked, "Well, advertising at no cost to you would, I believe, be most helpful to your particular cause."
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Now then, about what I might put in the Union regarding your project. You want folks to know it is there, and will soon be available, don't you?" He asked, "Well, advertising at no cost to you would, I believe, be most helpful to your particular cause."
Arabella stopped walking for second and looked up the hard-bitten, grizzled face of the newspaper man. "You know what, Mr Phinias G. McVey" she said seriously "You're actually a pretty nice feller, aren't you?" As they started walking again, she began composing the notice for the paper.
"How 'bout: 'Miss F. Grimes is pleased to announce that henceforth, the Old Funeral Parlour, Kalispell, will be called The Kalispell Refuge for Young Christian Women. Any girl who would otherwise find herself on the streets is requested to apply for a bed..."
They were passing Wigfall's Boarding house and she noticed Mrs Wigfall's sign in the window "No Blacks or Irish" Arabella immediately turned to Mr McVey again, as he struggled under her trunk.
"And can we add at the end: Applications from Black, Jewish and Irish girls especially welcome'?" Her abolitionist Father would have been proud of her, her cracker Mother would be spinning in her grave: both ideas made her smile. Then she laughed "Let's hope we don't actually get any Irish ones though, huh?!"
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"Why Miss Mudd, I believe you have a winner. better than even I could have composed. That is exactly what needs to be said, and believe me, I did not miss Misses Wigfall's sign in the window, not for a moment."
He had fought for the south, but not about slavery, or anything like that, it had been about northern aggression that threatened his home. "Now don't get me wrong, I rode with Forest's Third Virginia Cavalry, and Forrest's Cavalry Corps right to the end. But end it did, and now, well I don't see the need to be discriminating out here in the west."
He grinned at the reference to his being, as she put it, 'You're actually a pretty nice feller, aren't you?' "Well thank you Arabella, what a kind thing to say. I'll be starting the edition the minute I get back to the office."
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
He had fought for the south, but not about slavery, or anything like that, it had been about northern aggression that threatened his home. "Now don't get me wrong, I rode with Forest's Third Virginia Cavalry, and Forrest's Cavalry Corps right to the end. But end it did, and now, well I don't see the need to be discriminating out here in the west."
"Oh, Mr McVey! Even though you're a Georgian, you fought for The Old Dominion! I should marry you!!" beamed the native Virginian.
He grinned at the reference to his being, as she put it, 'You're actually a pretty nice feller, aren't you?' "Well thank you Arabella, what a kind thing to say. I'll be starting the edition the minute I get back to the office."
"Well, you'll let us girls give you a slice of cake and a nice cup of coffee or something stronger before you go I hope! I wanna say a big Virginian 'thank you!' fer totin' that there case fer me. I'd ha' been worn slap out if'n I'd had to carry it."
They got to the Old Funeral Parlour Young Women's Refuge and went in to be met by the sight of Frances Grimes, who, without her dark glasses or eye bandages on, was very deftly making up a pot of coffee while her sightless eyes wandered meaninglessly, and Bridget Monahan, who watched her open mouthed and fascinated, sometimes following Frances' gaze, as if wondering what she was looking at. Bridget grinned like mad when Arabella came in.
"Hello, Miss Mudd, whom have you brought to see us?" Frances asked, hearing Arabella's tread.
"Well Hello, Miss Grimes, I have brought Mr McVey: a gentleman of the press, who carries ladies' luggage for them and has promised to advertise the existence of our little refuge in his wonderful journal!" answered Arabella, employing her best diction and grammar, showing exactly how high brow she could sound when she felt the need.
"How kind, and what a pleasure to meet a literary gentleman." smiled Frances, holding out her hand in the general direction of the two newcomers.
"Oh, just shove that ol' trunk down anywhere!" Arabella told Phin, although she had to learn to be more careful where she put things about the shared house, lest the blind girl take a tumble or get confused negotiating the new living space.
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"And I am please to meet you as will, Miss Grimes. This idea of yours is wonderful. It will mean a lot to the community" He sett down the down to take her hand. "This will be an excellent use of this facility, by the way. You do have a good deal of usable space in here, beside what is upstairs."
As he looked over the interior of the building it was clear that they could add rooms with no problem. It would work well for them, what he had a hard time figuring was how they would make the ongoing expenses, which they would need to do for food and other ancillary expenses that were always a part of daily life.
"If you don't mind my asking, how do you ladies plan to make expenses?" He asked as politely as possible, not to embarrass them, but in order to see what might be done to help out, specifically him.
"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows" - Helen Keller
"And I am please to meet you as will, Miss Grimes. This idea of yours is wonderful. It will mean a lot to the community" He sett down the down to take her hand. "This will be an excellent use of this facility, by the way. You do have a good deal of usable space in here, beside what is upstairs."
Frances smiled. "It is our sincere wish, Mr. McVey, that none of this 'facility' ever has to be used for the purpose to which we have pledged it. But yes, we can fit three girls in very comfortably.
"If you don't mind my asking, how do you ladies plan to make expenses?" He asked as politely as possible, not to embarrass them, but in order to see what might be done to help out, specifically him.
"Mr. McVey's big on planning." explained Arabella. "He's a man."
"I understand your fiscal concerns Mr McVey; but Miss Mudd and I are of a single mind on this and while there may be some monetary bumps along the way, and we may find that the old adage that 'two can live as cheaply as one' may prove to be little more than a myth, we have one great factor on our side:..." said the blind girl, as she and Arabella both said in union: "... We Trust in God."
Even Bridget reached her hands to the ceiling and laughed "God!!"
Yes, in Frances Grimes, Arabella had found somebody who was as much of a 'God-botherer' as herself and the two of them were giving new meaning to the phrase 'Blind Faith'.
"Every town needs a newspaper."
"Well Ladies, you may rely on me in support of your 'Young Women's Refuge.' I believe that it is certainly something which is needed, perhaps not all of the time, nor regularly, but often as that need presents itself." He said in praise of the idea."
"Unfortunately I have an appointment to interview one of the men running for mayor of this fine town. But if you don't mind I shall drop by from time to time, at appropriate hours, of course."
For the most part, Phinias McVay was one to doubt that which he saw as untenable, and certainly these three waifs had what certainly appeared as a most untenable situation, unless there were those in town that might wish to help, and that was where Phin McVay came in, as he saw it, he could get out and about, speak to business owners on their behalf, quietly of course. Plans were forming in his head, why he felt instantly involved, he had no idea.
"So ladies, the very best of luck, and I shall see you from time to time." He said cheerfully as he stepped toward the door.