She was all alone. She had nobody, no family, no friends. She didn't even have a person to talk to.
Marguerite was sitting on a train heading towards Chautauqua, New York. She got a job there, a new beginning perhaps. She kept telling herself that a milliner was not a bad job and it gave her the chance at knowing all the new fashions and especially to know the gossip around town. She was going to make a life for herself. A good life.

"Marguerite! Come here girl!" Mrs. Hampshire screamed.
"Yes, mamma?" Marguerite replied.
"Do you know how much money was spent so you could wear that dress?! And! What do you do? You tramp through the streets like a whore and roughhouse with those boys!! You ruined your dress!! I have had it! You're never getting another dress ever again!"
"I'm sorry, mother" Marguerite said as she bowed her head in shame. All this 15-year old wanted to do was please her mother but Marguerite loved playing with the neighborhood children and hated dresses.

"So, where are you headed to?" a strange voice said, interrupting Marguerite's thoughts.
"Chautauqua, New York. Yourself?"
"New York, New York!" said the stranger coming into the light. Marguerite got a good look at the speaker. She was female, normal height but incredibly skinny. She had blonde hair and sparkling green eyes.
"Why don't you sit down? This seat is free." Marguerite asked.
""Why, thank you. May I ask then the name of my company?"
"Marguerite."
"Susan," she said holding her hand out, as if to imply that a hand shake was needed. Marguerite was startled, proper ladies never shook hands. "Sorry, I have lived with boys for too long," she said laughing at her stupidity.
"Boys? Like your brothers?"
"Um, not exactly."
"Then, you're a prostitute? Or a teacher at a boy's school?" Marguerite tried to guess.
"Newsies, actually. I am one myself." Susan said sternly, she didn't want this young girl to get the wrong impression of her, she was very proud of her work.
"News-ies? What are newsies?" Marguerite asked very puzzled, she had never heard of such an employment, and she had grown up in the city.
"Oh, dear you poor thing," Susan gasped, she thought everyone knew what a newsie was. "Newsie is a short hand term for newspaper boy or girl. The people that sell the newspapers on the street."
"Oh! I see it is a slang word, that makes more sense now." Marguerite smiled at her mistake, her background certainly did not allow for slang.
"That's okay dear, it was my mistake." Susan said, patting Marguerite on the knee.
"So, you said that newspaper people could be either girls or boys, why then do I mostly see guys working on the streets."
"Let's see. That's an easy one, the majority of the newsies are guys, but the girls are mostly taken in for ladies of the night, so they also dress up like a guy to avoid any comments." Susan tried to explain.
"Then, since you called yourself one of these people, do you also dress up like a guy? Like in a pant and shirt ensemble?" Marguerite asked, trying to figure her companion out.
"Yes, at first when I started out as a newsie I dressed like a guy because I believed that if I looked like a girl they wouldn't accept me, and I needed work badly. I started to like one of the guys in a romantic way so I decided that it was time to show my true self, and if they kicked me out, they weren't really my friends anyways. It turns out half of them already knew, so I stayed in the outfit because one, it was comfortable, and two it was easier to sell papers that way."
"So, what happened with your friend?"
"My, you do ask a lot of questions. My friend and I never did date, for shortly after he found a new girl, which was fine because I found that I really like another person too."
Marguerite sat thinking for a while; this girl had everything going for her in New York. However, it did seem like she was leaving details out. What Marguerite wanted to know was why this young lady, in a profession not considered decent was sharing all this information with her openly. After all, Marguerite was a complete stranger.
"Why are you headed for Chautauqua for?" Susan asked the quiet girl.
"I am starting a job as a milliner there."
"A milliner, you don't sound too happy about that, why not?" Susan was trying desperately to get this girl to talk. Marguerite looked like she had a story and needed someone to share it with. She looked lost, someone needed to show her it was alright to live again. Susan didn't mind sharing her own life story, if it meant getting Marguerite to talk. Susan didn't know if she was the person best suited for this job but she knew she ran into her for a purpose.
"It is an okay job, and it is a job. You know how important that is." Was the only answer Marguerite gave.
"I see." Susan got the hint and the two girls sat in silence.

The New York World

The A-Train from Boothbay, Maine was run off its tracks last night after colliding with a branch that had fallen from a recent storm. 119 were killed and many were injured. Victims were sent to neighboring hospitals.