The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-03-12
LOVE ON CRUrCHES.
By REBsccA s. CLARK.

LOVE ON CLUTCHES.
By RRBEcCA S. CLARK.
Persis came hopping in like bird.
Dear, dear Z" said she presently, peer
ing out from q cloud of silks and laces,
whist shall ! do for dress mskers"
Why, where is Rhods Tracy"
"Gone to fill q vacancy, mamma In
other words. she has married a widower."
Mrs. Talbot laughed
Well, LET her go, my des,; you can
have Mrs. Blake"
"0h, but Rhoda is better. Only think
OF her leaving me and becoming some
hody's second wifei For my part I
wouldn't thank any man for his affections
aorHsed 0uer."
my little Persis, don't fret. No man
yTlll ever offer you his affections. either
Ifsssn or warmed over, you may depend on
that"
Then he needn't, and shsn't have to
refuse him." retorted Persis, gayly, as she
dipped, swsllow-like, this way and that,
laying away the silk.
But there was painful flush on her
young cheeks. and q moment after she
swept gracefully out of the room. Unless
you looked twice you would never have
owned the cause of her peculiar side.
ways motion The gold-mounted crutch
which peeped in and out of the folds of
ner dress was like wand of enchant-
ment, and, as was said of Mile. Sale, call
her steps were sentiments"
When Persis was q baby her perfect
beauty had well-nigh wrought her ruin.
The nurse, proud of her superb little
inquire and graceful poses, was accustomed,
with criminal recklessness, to perch her
on broad mantle and show her off to
visitors. In this way the little creature
ssd fall which made one limb shorter
IN the other, and famed her for life.
rsSs had suffered very little physical
,pcah but the modification had been in
eni had given a morbid coioring to
an Heivise rcse-colored life.
NO nan viii ever offer you his affec-
"a e, - 1u nay depend on that" repeat
81 sue, ourylag her face in q sofa-piilow.
Mamma says it, and il is frne. I kneu
IL ali before. Stanley Warner mesns
nothing by all his tender w.T3s and ten.
oerer Chances. He is IS proud as T,ucifer
ana would never abide the mortif;cat;on
OF lame wife. II doe seem cruel Rnt
VIII not eat my heart for any mani en- |
claimed she, spiritedly, springfng m and |
dashing off the unshed tears And now
for the party, and gay neN dressf IN
r. 80 han han, eao NAT Iorn RRboIa, in flying
away with her wiGower, had cropped her
mantle on Mrs. Blake. VINO USED her
needle and scissors like ialry stralgnt
from the land of elves HOW marvellous
q dress she fashioned ont OF " such stuff as |
dreams are made of and how Persis /
Hoated off in II like vision Of beauty |
As fair and sweet said Celia Warner, as a |
awornSaJ Jo,zs" Persis caught the /
words ana tbS little morbid spot in her
heart ached fresh
aNo M Warner" said she, proudly, as
no sskrd Der 10 dance. az prefer to sit in
his winsow; it is SO pleasant to watch
the croTd in motion"
a Psrdon me" replied Mr.. Warner,
bit;sg his mustache, and moving away
VII graceful flourish. ~ was thought
KS to make the request"
And he never dreamed that his words
hurt.
"He forgets sometimes that l am a
wounded dove,'" sighed Persis from the
window-seat; but, sooner or later, he
always comes 70 his senses"
There was one nan who did not forget,
and that was Ephrsim Zelie. But then
Persis did not care very much what
Ephraim remembered or what he forgot
He was worthy young man." and
she said, in her girlish intolerance,
"H there's one thing stupider than
another il is your 1corthy
young manr' He taught school {
and studied law, and am not sure but he
"carried on" a large farm at the same
time; but when you tried to draw him
out IN general conversation ii was like J
drawing sound tooth. He was the most
industrious of men, and the kindest of
sons to widowed mother; but then his
eyes were sea green under rugged cliffs of
eyebrows, his hands were horny, and all
ms angles as acute as a lawyers wits
Seeing Miss Persis alone in the window
seat he vent.Ted to go up and address her, {
though his heart thumped loud opposi- !;
ton TO such boldness.
How do you do, Miss PERSIST" said I
be, Offering his honest hand, while his I
plain face narrowly escaped becoming ex- c
pressive.
Very well, Ephraim; and how are j
your replied she rousing from q sad rev.
erie She always called him "Ephraim," '
because she had known him from boy.
lie had lived 6 year at her fathers, and 8
worked for his board while attending the b
How Ephraim at this moment B
snvied other youths their nonchalance of s
nanneri Here was he standing beside q
he very woman he wished most 10 please, &
1ut he was tongue-tied. She sat there o
elf possessed and beautiful, scanning him @
rom head to foot, he thought She was &
&c. naughty in the least, but she might d
lave placed him at his ease, and she did
i'd not care to do it If she had once g
urned the conversation to old times.n to
nd the well-remembered incidents of 81
hat too happy year, Ephraim would have
cen himself in q moment. Would he W
BASIN" and the efforts he made
D teach her how to skate, having first IL
lodeled for the shoemaker pair of little II
kates which were mismated to fit her nm n,
quail feet? How carefully he had guided
er over the icei He kept the precious sc
ed comforter still, the life prtseryern M
be had called it, by which she had AZ
lung to him Il her efforts to stand nd n,
ght e
In those old times Persis liked him: he n
as sure she did. She had sat in the mr.
itchen while he plodded at his Latin Nv
was a hard student ALWAYS in
and her bright face had been as good as w
D extra lamp. She had confided 10 rim IN
sr childish sorrows, which generally An
rang from one cause-her larneness. M,
Id he had pltled her with al his heart stf
hen his awkwardness ana ugliness had in,
Used no barrier between them; but lat
rly it seemed different Pers;s as young ON
DIV was much admired. She had learned bu
est high value on wealth and appear tn
Icss; much of the childlike simplicity ca,
y gone from her character Ephraim i'm
ver saw her now but he thought of his fee
leainly hands and feet, and every mole
Il ola defect doomed up like mountain. WI
,rsis had spent years at boarding school tor
ming her mind and manners, and of
ough Ephraim was fully alive to all the Lon
quired elegance. be incurred for the de,
l-time cordiality IL had got lost mi
the process of polishing He q
s rising in the world; be thought q .
might see one day that he had cor
|. besp iaboring for naught; but his lit
pe q WANING her for wife was dying Ny
|cw, tard asatf- i