Only a few months before she had established a working-girls' home in memory of a daughter--her only child--who had died in early youth, and this crash from a clear sky had aroused in Mrs.
Bassett the gravest apprehensions.

It was just so much money said to be eighty thousand dollars--out of the pockets of Marian and Blackford; and, besides, Mrs.Bassett held views on this type of benevolence.

Homes for working-girls might be well enough, but the danger of spoiling them by too much indulgence was not inconsiderable; Mrs.Bassett's altruism was directed to the moral and intellectual uplift of the mass (she never said masses) and was not concerned with the plain prose of housing, feeding, and clothing young women who earned their own living.

Mrs.
Owen, in turning over this home to a board of trustees, had stipulated that music for dancing should be provided every Saturday evening; whereupon two trustees, on whom the Christian religion weighed heavily, resigned; but Mrs.Owen did not care particularly.

Trustees were only necessary to satisfy the law and to assure the legal continuity of Elizabeth House, which Mrs.Owen directed very well herself.
Mrs.Bassett encouraged Marian's attentions to Mrs.Owen's young visitor; but it must be said that Marian, on her own account, liked Sylvia and found delight in initiating her into the mysteries of Waupegan life.