St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-12-06
STORY or 4 ywomAM's SLIPPER;

prettleSt DIT OF delicate prOnze klQ IN the
world, ornamented with coquettish velvet
rosette, but now despatched and bespang-
led with cruel clay and with slight rent
on the left quarter, as though the foot It
once encased had torn itself away by vgiito5 vio-
lence, and left the little thing 10 perish:
It was a mute appeal to. my chiValry, and
with Quixotic valor 1ishedit out; Of tho
obstinate mire, with the ivory eagles beak
that tips my walking stick; and proceeded
to wipe away the dis6guring marks of its
dishonor with my unread morning paper.
! suppose I had passed this old mill "a
score Of times during the past three weeks,
and yet I had never: given it more than a
careless glance until this very serene and
sultry August morning; when the cool even
sounds: Of dropping water invited a closer
investigation Of its peculiar beauties. The
great mill-wheel was tufted with yellow
moss; it ran up and downithe roug gh boards;
! it peered from. between crevices it over
hung the roof; it twined itself around the
stump of an aged elm, playfully determin-
ed to get the upper hand Of Everything
unslghtly, and to cover the traces of decay
with its tender fingers. There was also an
abundance of dropping yellow blossoms,
lady's year.drops the children: call them,
and a long line Of stately cardinal flowers,
magnificent: in their robes of34bright Grim
SON.; I am neither artist nor poet and yet
I experienced very agreeable sensation
of. inward satisfaction as I surveyed the
dropping water, the huge mill-wheel, the
clinging moss, the gay flowers, and the
slipper inmy hand. lam somewhat given
to dreaming in moments of idleness, and
So, as ] turned the, latter article over and
over it brought forth from some inner
shrine Of my heart q certain, ideal woman,
| Of whom I had been long enamored, and
I slipped it on, her foot. It fitted to a t.
My lady-the ideal was small creature,
a Titania in fact, crowned with sunny hair
that rippled and foated over her dimplcd
cheeks and fair shoulders :; she had the
softest of blue eyes, the dewiest of lips,
the loveliest of hands ; and I pictured her
standing beside the old mill-wheel, her hat
hanging by its azure strings, her; hair in
beautiful:confusion, her hands full oftblos-
SONS (for of course, the cardinal flowers
had lured her hither, her cheeks; flushed
--7not, bloWzed---her lips pouting with yex-
atioa as the. .mud-imbedded slipper refused
to return to. Its allegiance; and so vivid
was my fanoy;I was on the point Of leaping
across the stream to- her rescue, when a
Shiny, shining, villainous snake wriggled
out from the tall grass close to my feet and
restored my scattered senses. I put an
untimely end to his existence, tucked the
slipper into the breast pocket Of my coat,
and gatherisg;a bunch OF cardinal flowers,
made. my way back to my lodging at the
village: inn. - t.. :,yc4 =, .:a., -
Hitherto my observation. at the table
had been confined to my immediate neigh
bors. I knew that the man on my right
was a yellow d dyspeptic, who drank spring
water and ate stale bread; my vis-a-vis
was a fuss =, feshy woman, with, an i'm
mense quantity Of showy jewlry, while
the neighbor on my left was an elderly
young lady in false curls and gold bowed
spectacfes, Further than these r,l7 eyes eysss
had not wandered, but now I had an OBJ:
ject: Perhaps my z"Cinderella" was
dwelling under the same roof, partaking
of the same fare and atthe same table
with me; and I had not beheld her!
walked home ina contemplated yet iexal-
ted frame Of mind, and was proceeding to
examine my person in the seven by nine
inch looking glass, when there fell a has
ty rap on the door followed by the intru-
sion Ct =; black 81 , !ace cap, trimmed with
snuff cofored ribbons, which I recognized
as the property of ny landlord $ good wife.
Shfe }l q was was in buff Of excitement, and burst
forth with. " ... -..,5.:( >,5s,: ~ ~, e
=. ttrThere T am glad to see , you, m Doctor .
She was always parti icular to call ne doc.
tor. ,"'Come right along to No. s, and see e
to that poor Miss What's her name. Don't
step t9 pink, for she'll never know lwheth-
e yog y; are l?' black p, Of gray, She's in such
- "t'Cholera . mor1bus 1b I" / suggested. =. !
""Lord no, child ankle ? With disaa-
greeable emphasis on the ttchild.''@" -; 'ot3
=: followed Miss Keyes across tie ENTITY,
and was met on the threshold of No: s, by
Miss Whats her name 5 maternal 1relattiv9e
in Il tears, She bad put her daughter to
bed, drawing, down the scant curtains of
sixpenny patch, and: filed the room INV with ih
spirits of camphor and hartshorn,... o. "GeoGr! "GeoGr
giaanna is always II il trouble . She sighed,
ttshs i 50 dating aaa nov sks IDS spsain ai
ed her1he1M do look at it, Do;tt Doctor go gu
In q moment the delicate eoa oabkle nwvlaaas WAS
[inaama aid fapidnlJy J ssa~sl1iings: !: I dispatc