The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1869-07-23

/ a column, and, as you see, the manuscript has
just reached my case.
She pointed.with most busness.like air,
to the closely written sheets before her, as if
their Importance must at once silence
all further pleading on his part But Mr..
Allen did not seem to consider their impor-
tance in the least. On the contrary, he
looked at them very scornfully.
'Noncense! he said, gingerly tnrning over
the manuscript 'Confound the Paris letter!
Let it go, or let Mr.. Lester give it to some
one else, if it must be set up.
But all the rest are busy, she remon-
strated, diligently contemplating her case,
as if trying to locate the letters.
We'll, then, if it must go in, I'll come
back after our walk, and set this precious
foreign twaddle up. Will that do? Come,
get on your hat, an hour in this delicious
autumn air will do you good. The foreman
can't complain smiling at me roguishly,
'can he, Miss Mary"
Thus urged, she acquiesced, and together
they went out, leaving me to moralize on the
hearts Inconsistencies, and to work On the
Paris letter.
After this Alice became strangely restless
and distracted. Her work fretted her, she
said, vowing that see always got the worst
copy, and never had any rest. She appeared
changed in everything, and so one day ven
tured to ask the cause by remarking sudden
ly:
What ails you, Alice? you do not seem
yourself"
Neither am l., she burst out empetuously,
i hate this life. l hate this dirty printers
work. Once | was proud to stand at a case,
mistress of twenty-six letters that unlock the
knowledge of the world. Like silly fool, l
hoo
dirty bits of lead. Now they are my mas
all my life. They are stealing my youth and
fading my beauty. [ hate them!'
Passionately she struck her hand on the
unofendng e's, causing many to fly uncere-
monously over among the astouished i'swho,
in turn, jumped in alright among the star
tied os.
Yet, Alice quietly enterposed, these
little metallic letters have been our best
| books and most patient teachers. We are
but poor girls. What should we have done
had we lacked the ability to become good
compositors? l would never have met Geo.
Lester, and YOU would ever have been a stran-
ger to Allen S.
Better for me if he had never entered
| this room. What business has he, rich, cd
ucated superior, to come among us poor
girls? The world is full of splendid women,
| let HIM mate with his kind, and leave US to
our toll, she cried vehemently, shaking back
her hair, as if its beauty angered her that
she possessed it.
You arc excited, now, was my calm reply.
| Allen is a man of sense and feeling, and l
| always trust those two virtues; for where
they are found, dishonorable act is never
chronicled. You are generally sensible, but
Just now your better indgmcntis is perverted
Look back on the past, and be true to your
heart, and the types, Alice.
But the stick is SO heavy she exclaimed,
pettishly.
Yes, but you are used to it,
Perhaps l am, physically; but can never
| teach my mind to be content with this dull,
wearsome existance. am tired of it all
See my hands, how stained-beautilul, are
they not?' holding them up with a contempt
Gus smile at their soiled appearance.
| was sorry to see her in such mood, and
answered soothingly:
What matters little lead discooration?
A pint of wafer will remove the stain from
your pretty white fingers as completely as if
they had never touched anything rough9r
than lilly leaf
Yes; but only to be renewed with the
morrow. How many thousand times have |
distributed these letters How many times
must | yet do it? The thought makes me
sick. Oh | hate it! hate it!
She turned petulantly away, trying hard
to hide the tears that slowly filled the dark,
sowowful eyes to running over.
TO BE CONTINUED.