Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-12-04

the schoolboy pot-hooks and hangers OF my
only and very juvenile clerk.
took the package and ran my eye over its
contents. They were written in neat plain
hand, just stiff enough to show that the con-
sciOusncSs of copying for lawyer had marred
the writer's case. AS copies they were scrlI-
| pulouSly correct, and finished even to the num-
bcring of the folios in the margin. silently
! reckoned the price, and, as did, it occurred
to me that could only pay it that evening by
the sacrifice of my half-eagle 1t was in vain
| that once more opened my purse, which, GER
tainly, was not FortunatuS', for found uotE-
ing more there than | had seen in it an hour
before-small change of the very smallest va
ricty. Could | put her off until Monday ?
Without that haIfcagle, my Saturday nights
marketing would be very small affair
But what Will hers he without it ~ said
my conscience " If you feel the Inconvenience
OF an empty pocket 50 much, what must it be
to those who earn food and shelter from day
to day Daily Bread is something more than
a mere form Of speech 10 them p
Perhaps a little will serve her immediate
wants. SclfiShneSs received this suggestion
very approvinely and turned, from my pa
perS to the copyst, to make the suggestion.
She stood, on the other side of the Fireplace
as motoness as if she had been a ed pill
lar, placed there to support the mantle, against
which her shoulder rested. One foot-a neat
one, even III its worn, wet Shoe-pccpcd from
beneath her dress, as if drawn irrcSiStibIy to-
ward the grateful warmth. Indeed, her whole
attitude seemed to express the same feeling
/ 81" did not bend and crouch over the fire aS
beggar would have done She did not sit
before it and court its cheerful heat as if it
had biazcd on her own heartl-stOne. Scarce
/ ly SWcrylng from the most erect position as
she leaned against the marble, her clasped
hands hanging before her she seemed to be
bracng herself against an attraction that
woald draw her completely into the fame. |
could almost fancy that, if left to itself, her
slender form would be drawn closer and clos
cr, till finally, it mingled with the iIickcring
blaze and, with it, passed into vicwlcSs air.
But When | fitted my eyes to her face,
saw that she was, at least, unconscious of the
! tancicd impulse. Her fixed eyes and faint
smile on her lip, told that some pleasant tho't
had bcgulled her, even there, into day-dream.
Following the direction of her gaze, saw that
1t rested on the same solitary coin which had
been the subject Of my own mcditatioms, and
which lay just where had droppedit, on the
table, when startled hy her knock
Modern critics are very fond Of talking
about thc SHggcStlcc i'll art and literature. TO
my own mind (bccauSc it is hackhcycl and
wGr'dy / suppose they would say there is
no word Ill the language SO suggestive as mo
! HcB-no work of art that brings up 80 varied
! thoughts as those very remarkable proiilcS and
/ clilTicS which adorn our current coin. DroSS
IN Itself, II the philosophers will have it so ;
! yet as Il means, tool, path, is it not won-
dcrtul IN the versatility of its power What
| magician ever worked such wonders in the ma
! terlal world? What spirit works so univer
sally, so umtailngly, SO INCREASINGLY, i'll the
moral Even that single coin on my table
| that inilnitcsilnal drop in the great ocean of
wcalth-how much lies within the circnmfer
cncc oi such a small piece Of metal I? TO my
own mind-worldly and hackncyed as | have
before ObScrvCd-lt had been suggestive of a
great many things. Compressed within its
disc, had seen my Sunday dinner, ample,
done to turn, rich with dripping gravy, and
| smoking hot from the roasting jack. From its
metallic rim had already slipped, in imagna-
tOn the rare old AmontilladO. 4 fragment
OF the gold had curlcd my lips in fragrant
wrcathS Of smoke. And if l. to whom even
ha!f-eagIcs were not unfrCquent visitors, and
who, If | had known poverty at all, had known
him only rs ncighGor to he stunned, and not
as an inmate to be fought ; who, even in my
worst estate, had been spared the pain Of see
Ing him enter at my own door, and sit down
with my dear ones at their scanty meal if |
could see so much in hail-cagle what world
wide prospect of happiness might it not open
to that poor girls eyes | dared not dwell
on the things she might see there, lest should
| loath myself and the wcl-fcd Christian men
around ne, who so rarely grant such visions
to the starved cyesght but | Immediately
gave up all thoughts of sending the girl away
without her money
Yes, ter money For hers it was, by all
that can make good title in law or equity
earned by the fragment of her young life she
had given for it earned with the very flesh
from her wasted frame, and the blood from her
pale checks.
What business had to be speculating and
scntimcntazng thus about the affairs of a
Young lady with whom had only little bIl-
siness transaction l might have known that
such an unprofrSSional train of thought would
lead to some blunder the earthGn pot and
the iron one can never swim safely together,
in fact or fable. Consequently, broke in up
on the poor girls rcverie with the most awk-
ward question in the world =
Have you any change, miss ~
The scarlet blood rushed to her face, as she
shook her head and mine was already on its
way there, when tried to mend the matter by
hurrying out =
No, no. of course you haven't y
And there | stuck and if ever middle
aged counsellor-at-law felt like fool, in his
own Office, | did. .--
Her eyes were flied with tears at what must
have seemed the rudeneSs of my remark. |
could have gone on my knees to ask her par
don, if had only known in what words to
phrase the entrcaty The scene was so en-