Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1863-12-15
MELICENT's BALLOT,
THE TWO ELECTIONS.
BY ELLEN MALYIN,

Have you read my manuscript, sir?
The questioner was a girlish thing
| scarce out OF her teens, who stood before
the editors desk with shy and somewhat
unaccustomed air, as if an editors sanctum
had ny no means lost its ssncity to her,
! Her dress was plain as possible, her man.
| ner uDassuming as her dress.
! The gray.headed, gOld-spectacled indi>
vldual whom she addressed eyed her over
bis glasses and replied, somewhat sharp
ly:
i have read all l found patience to. It
Is pity, Miss Grey, to waste your time
writing in that style.'
A faint color wsvered along the girls
cheek as she asked, in a quiet tone:
viii you be so kind as to tell me the
special taultr Was the style ohjectiona>
| ble?'
The subject was. Why, it is rank abo-
iition. 1t would cost me fifty subscribers
to publish it,
am sorry it doesn't please. couldn't
write differently them
Been reading Uncle Tom,' eh | Well
we'll! Get the nonsense out of your head
and try again2
Acknowledging this gratuitous advice
with respectful bow, she took the prof
te.ed manuscript from his hand and
passed cut with smile good morn
ing
AS the door closed after her. Young
man who bad been seated in the recess of
the window, apparently absorbed in the
morning paper, rose and came forward.
Pray tell me, uncle, what that little
! creature has done to merit such spul;,,;ino
at your hands. I thought YOU were the
PINK OF courtesy to authors, especially the
softer sex. What was there in that untar.
Innate manuscript
What was there7 What was there ue,7
Negro equality, sanitary reform. French
Revelation, Fremont, the Burns, redition.
Ben. Butler
Heaven defend usp interrupted tie
young man. ALI that in a magazine s.o-
ryY '''
AN that-yes, and Hungary and Kos
south into the bargain
Is the young woman out of her mind?
or does she think to carry the tenlIe of
Fame by storm? Is this her frst=saI>
Tyr
She has brought me segearl sketches be-
lore. 1t is the more provoking, that she
can write q sensible story
By which you mean q suleabIe one.'
of course
The young lady looks sane enough. and
quite modest
Modest! She is perfect iaiy: and.
alter ALL the thing wns capitnlly done airs
tistic. and all that
w as It though? lanoied from YOUR
description 1t was tumble of isms NH.
lanthropy IN MASQUERADE, ons.tenth love
story to nine-tenths moral pbilosonbv
You know the kind of thing l mean VIC.
lets and penuyroyal.'
know what you mean, but will do
Miss Grey the justice to say, that her
weapons were we'll handled aud with no
offence to good taste. The trouble was, it
wouldn't read we'll in Baltimore
'Ah and your VirtuOus publication cir.
cula ties in that fastidious region. UNDER
stand. would give something though 10
get peep at this marvellous manuscript
that you denounce and defend with the
same breath. Where does the little inoen.
diary reside p
i have her address somewhere, You
think Of extending your patronage2 l
thought fiction was out of your line
Yes; we are in politics in pretty deem
for that matter. We shall have stout
tussle to bring our candidate through
We'll, don't run the thing into the
ground. (Here it is Melicent Grew.
Il - street, You young fellows are
terribly hOt-headed.'
Thank you, uncle. We shalt be cool
enough after election. Good morning.
Good morning, Charlie.'
While the above conversation was going
on, Melicent Grey was making her way
back to her lonely lodgings with q slow
step and heavy heart.
The story was to have brought her ten
dollars, half Of which she owed. That was
the worst of it. She felt no regret for the
hours of patient labor she had bestowed on
her work. That was its own reward. In
it she had for the first time given rein to
her genius. AS the words glided warm
and living from her pen, her soul had ex-
panded with the glow and exaltation of
true achiev ement Her vision cleared and
she seemed tho barrier of message to man
kind. Under her hand the simple sketch
of an outcast in the city streets grew and
grew, stretching out threads across the
sea, striking roots back into the centuries,
reaching up to heaven, aud down to hell.
The thrObbing heart, the crystal conscience,
the imperative artist scene, wrought with
In her, and how could she choose what
her story should bei
But when it was done, the fervor of COM
position over, the ordeal Of merciless crit.
clsm past, and after all no money earned,
"" hardly to be wondered at that her
neaIt tailed her, and like very girl she
sat down and cried. You will agree that
oLGer women have shed their tears as fool
lS9ly. foor Milly's flowed plentifully for
Few minutes then the aohs caosad tho
goIden-brown head was lifted bravelv. the
tears were brushed away, aud she set
about hdying up the little room that seem.
ed model of tidiuess already.
Ruttlng ones house to rights is the bes,
method for petting ones self to rights. a
ten minutes Melicant was singing bIitbeIv
at her work:
i will go about my house
With cheerful heart and eyes,
To ill llfes possibility
| WitL'the good that in me liss'