A Mail Order Bride Arrived With a Sewing Machine and No Money—By Winter, She Employed the Whole Town
Chapter 6
The following spring, Anna received a letter from Pennsylvania.
It was from her youngest sister, Rose.
She had married at nineteen and now had a baby.
The letter contained only two pages.
The first was news.
The second was a request.
Rose needed money.
Her husband had lost his job.
Anna read the letter twice.
Samuel found her sitting at the kitchen table.
“What happened?”
“My sister needs help.”
“How much?”
“Fifty dollars.”
Samuel didn’t hesitate.
“Send it.”
Anna looked at him.
“We have payroll.”
“We have enough.”
She shook her head.
“You always say that.”
“Because you always find a way.”
She smiled.
They sent the money.
Three weeks later, Rose arrived.
She stepped from the train holding her baby.
Anna ran toward her.
They embraced.
“You came.”
Rose cried.
“I had nowhere else to go.”
Anna took the baby.
“Then you came to the right place.”
Rose eventually began working at the factory.
She had never used a sewing machine.
Within three months, she was supervising a production line.
Anna’s family grew.
Not just by blood.
By workers.
Neighbors.
Friends.
The factory now employed more than one hundred people.
But success brought attention.
A larger company from St. Louis approached.
They wanted to buy Bellamy Clothing.
Their offer was enormous.
Samuel stared at the number.
“We could retire.”
Anna shook her head.
“We could.”
“You don’t want to?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because they would move production.”
“Maybe.”
“Out of Mercy Creek.”
Samuel understood.
“If we sell, people lose jobs.”
“Yes.”
“But we’d be wealthy.”
Anna looked at him.
“Wealth isn’t the same as security.”
Samuel smiled.
“You’ve been saying that since the day you arrived.”
“And I’m still right.”
They refused the offer.
The St. Louis company came back.
This time, they offered more.
Anna still refused.
Then they tried something else.
They began undercutting Bellamy Clothing in nearby markets.
Prices dropped.
Orders disappeared.
The factory struggled.
Workers became worried.
One morning, Anna called everyone together.
“We have a problem.”
Silence.
“The large companies can make things cheaper than we can.”
Someone asked,
“What do we do?”
Anna looked at them.
“We stop competing with them.”
Everyone stared.
“What?”
“We don’t try to be the cheapest.”
She pointed to their products.
“We make the best.”
They improved quality.
Better stitching.
Better fabric.
Stronger buttons.
Longer-lasting work clothes.
They offered repairs.
If something tore within a year, they fixed it.
Customers stayed.
Orders returned.
The factory survived.
Then a railroad company placed a huge order.
They needed uniforms for five hundred workers.
Bellamy Clothing couldn’t handle it alone.
Anna approached the workers.
“Do we accept?”
They looked at each other.
One man said,
“We’ll make it.”
So they worked.
Day and night.
The order shipped on time.
The railroad company placed another.
Then another.
Bellamy Clothing became known beyond the state.
Yet Anna never forgot the town.
Every year, she established a winter fund.
Every employee received a small bonus.
Families who couldn’t afford coats received them.
Children received shoes.
The factory kitchen served free meals during the coldest months.
Some people criticized her.
“She gives too much away.”
Anna answered,
“Then I suppose we’ll have to make more.”
By the fifth year, the company employed two hundred and fourteen people.
The factory had expanded into three buildings.
The town’s population had nearly doubled.
New homes were built.
A clinic opened.
The school added classrooms.
The railway station was renovated.
Mercy Creek became prosperous.
But Anna’s greatest project was still ahead.
One day, she walked past an abandoned building near the river.
It had once been a schoolhouse.
She stopped.
“What is this?”
Samuel looked.
“Old school.”
“Why is it empty?”
“New school is bigger.”
Anna entered.
Dust covered the floors.
Broken desks filled the rooms.
She looked around.
Then smiled.
“I want it.”
Samuel laughed.
“You want another building?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“A training school.”
“For sewing?”
“For everything.”
Anna envisioned a place where women could learn sewing.
Men could learn machine repair.
Young people could learn bookkeeping.
Immigrants could learn English.
Farmers could learn business.
Anyone could learn a trade.
Samuel looked at her.
“You realize that will cost a fortune.”
Anna nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then why?”
She looked at the empty classroom.
“Because someone once gave me a chance.”
Samuel knew exactly what she meant.
The advertisement that brought Anna to Mercy Creek had changed her life.
Now she wanted to give someone else the same chance.
Not through marriage.
Through work.
