The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1866-05-22
SHE Is A HEROINE.
- b. - -, -.

pulle. have puzzled ever il from m0rning
till night, have dreamed aboat il. and grown thin
upon ii and can dni 20 ssluti0n thereof
Her name wss Minnie isiAel, and she lived
among The hills No matter vhat hins There
are great many 10 this oun;ry uuknown to
fame. and che h,ol among some q them. She
dwelt IN rough frame house. and there we're
1alenly more like it among these hills The situ-
alton was bleak. and the soil % poor that the
old men and small boys ala an the farm work !.
vhlo tho rest Of the people worked 10 the
mines under the hills, Of il the fae,oric. II the
diugy smoke town that lag near them. These
last were the aris,oeraoy and they look down
upon the miners who sere foreign ana
.'low' -
The people never carried their lives about
I them Ike clogs" hard labor was not "dul
| pain to them (unless tkey we're rheumatic,
| tbey did not look at strangers with "pitiful.
dumb. animal eyes, they did rot stalk along
with hanos over their brows and hearts, ''press-
\ iFG down their miserics TO keep them silent. 4"
Nothing Of the kind. For relief 10 their physical
misefies they resoried to intoxicating liquors aud
as soother Of mental miseriss, opinious we're
/ pretty equally divided, between the Bible and
the tavern. They did not sslriye to make out the
problems Of their lives" for they had extremely
vague IDEAS in regard TO problems, aud life to
them was simple thing enough.
They got pretty fir wages aud ate and drank.
and slept, and alkel politics, and some said
1 prayers and some dill not, and they all expected
to go to heaven when they died. They shuilcd
along through life, half educated and happy, and
soo'hy, and couceited, got married, and died and
that was the end Of them. Let them 90; for il
is clear that such unnatural specimens Of the la
boring class eau be Of no manner Of use in sto
! ry.
Minnie Black worked in factory. She was
not in the habit Of standing by the looms, and
thinking how they were eru.bing the beauty and
sweetness ont Of her life (she did not know that
they were, she was 50 stupid nor did she wonder
if they were weaving the web of her destiny .
nor did she walk among the whirling wheel,
with great thoughts whiriing through her dizzy
brain. If she had done these things, her wages
would have been docked, aud she knew it
| Neither did she live fruit aud cream in the
summer; and in the winter on ''corn cakes tint
ed a delicate brown, and spread with golden but
ter" The fruit thar grew on the hills was
scraggy and sour, and the grass Thin aud poor,
and huff the year Minnie saw no butter. Mush
and moasscs, bacon, an brown bread constitute
ed her ordinary food. When tie war broke OUT
she did not urge her only brother 10 20 and pack
his knapsack With snjiing lips snd fearful eyes,
not she. For when AT last be was drafted. she
hui him IN the day IN eighJors barn and when
he was dragged out an marched III, she nearly
cried her eyes out. And after bis first battle,
when he was reported "missing." She did not 90
INTO state Of musing melancholy, and fancy him
lying in lonely spot in iar.of forest, with his
musket resting at his side, and tho waters of
still brook ripping gently over his still feet
The picture thai filed her mental vision was a
room in Canada tavern with the 'missing"
one seated at table, with other choice spirits
playing the instructive game Of poker, and with
still other choice spirits in junk bottles on the
tables. And SO she dried her tears aud was con-
tent
1t was plaiu enough 50 far That Minnie was no
heroine, and so different was She from any other
factory girl who ever lived or breathed--in books
that i had not seen her last week, should
be disposed TO believe that she never did exist at
all, but that dreamed all that am going TO
tell you.
One pleasant Sunday morning, some two or
three summers ago, Minnie went to church ar
rayed in her best. She wore a blue dress; not
because il was "ihe color Of truth and heaven, -
nor because il WIS "tbe outward symbol Of the
deep, liquid purity Of her SOUL" not for any
other reason Of this kind, which factory girls
have for wearing blue; but simply because il cost
ten cents less In the yard than any other of the
nice goods at Pools store, She also wore . straw
bonnet trimmed with green rosettes, black silk
shawl. and pink kid gloves This was Minnie's
idea Of elegance. ] know that working girls who
have any claim TO be heroines, have an iutuitiye
perception Of what is refined and harmonious and
II sreyes me much 10 be compelled to admi, that
Minnie had not
have been particular in describing her dress,
not that il has anything to Do with the incident
am about 10 relate, which would have happened
all the same whether she wore baize or broad
cloth, but because heroine's dress is always
described y hen anything is going to happen to
her. Minnie had bright active face, and look
cd pretty in spite Of the conjunction Of pink.
blue, green, aud black upon her small per-
son.
When she arrived a, church she found nearly
all the congregation assembled, but the service
bad no, begun; 80 after setting her dress and
opening her fan, she looked dsmurely round to
see what Was to be seen. And the first sight
that met her eyes 50 arrested her attention that
she saw nothing more. Tom Hartle was looking
a, Kitty Smith! young man gazing at young
girl is not 4 wonder upon the earth, but this |
young man was MiHnie's property. They had
been engaged for some time, ard until the Smiths
came into the neigbborhooi, be bad been very
attentive lover. Kitty was The prettiess girl in /
81 that country. She had rcd lips snd pink |
cheeks, and great innocent brown eyes, and the .
ioteliest golden brown hair that vas alysys kep,
shor, and eured Itself into shining rings ell over