Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-11-23
THE PINK CALICO DRESS

the purpose of picking up trifles to inter-
est the readers of the local column of a
city paper, often purchased apples,
nuts and candies of young girl who
had a stand near the junction of two
business avenues.
She was not handsome in the common
I aceeptation of this much-abused word,
I but there was an artiessness and yet a
| winning grace. in her manner which
! convinced me that her situation IN life
should be above the one she then Occu-
J pied Her dress was invariably close
/ fitting pink calico one. [ felt that her
parents must be very poor, and as saw
I her day after day in the same attire. j
1 had my suspicious that her wardrobe
could not be very extensive; yet, as she
always appeared neat and tidy, il was
mystery TO me how this striking neat
ness was secured, and why there was
/ not ever any variety in her apparel and
! that it was tasteful and becoming, butt
! knew that The ladies are pTOverbial for
! love Of variety IN dress, and l had an
/ interest in knowing why this simple girl
was so remarkable an exception.
I have always delighted to study char
/ acter either in high or low life, and
! took il uDon me to investigate the pret-
/ ty ample girls popularity. Her fruit
was ever clean and tempting, but often
made purchases merely for the sake OF
! forming an acquaintance. AT length,
/ known to her as a liberal patron, she
| began to have less reserve with me than
when I first noticed her, and finally /
was enlboldened to make inquiries inref-
| erence toher family. Itwas sometime be-
| fore she conVersed freely, but by dintof-
perseverance, / learned that she lived
with her mother in a pleasant cottage
on quiet street in the suburbs of the
city. I knew the spot-its attractive
ness had often intesested me, and 1 now
| become more curious than ever to hear
the story of the apple girl in the pink
] calico dress.
| l Iventured TO ask permission to call on
! her mother, and make her acquaintance,
under the plea of a love of birds and
! flowers. with both of which the cottage
was surrounded. I did not receive the
/ announcement wished, but still was
| left to hope that my curiosity might some
dav be oratified As obstacles to my
| DuTpose increased I became more deter
| mined, and I resolved to change my tac-
| ties, ] could understand the girls dis
inclination to allow our acquaintance to
/ become, in any respect familiar, but /
/ knew that she would not dare to treat me
Tudely, and watching my opportunity
! one Sunday afternoon, ] addressed her
as she stood at the street gate of the cot
| tage and as I admired some flowers
which grew in bed near the house, she
could not escape, politely, from the ne
| cessity Of inviting me to walk through
/ the yard Accidentally we met the
mother. | had an invitation TO enter
| the cottage. OF course l accepted with
! pleasure, and finding the mother to be
! more communicative than the daughter
| I managed to learn that they were
French people, although they both spoke
| English remarkably we'll. Tie cottage
| parlor was furnished plainly but elegant
/ ", There were upon the wall several
] pictures, and upon the mautel a number
/ of delicate works of art, which / was
satisfied could not have been purchased
| by the limited earnings of an apple girl.
Why young girl who lived IN cot
| tage, with so much evident taste and
cultivation, should invariably wear
pink calico dress, and sell fruit, nuts and
candy on the street, was to me a per-
| picking query. There was a web of rO-
| nance weaving round the mysterious
apple girl, which became more and more
! interesting, and every day my resOlu-
/ tiOn to unrayel it became stronger
| There was so much modesty in the girls
bearing at her apple stand-she seemed
so much afraid of scandal, should any
/ converse with her longer than was ne
cessary to make a purchase, that there
was no way left for me to solve the nlys-
terry of her life but by visiting the cot
ltage.-Again went without an invita-
ton, and boldly made known the Curl
Osity which led me to force myself upon
their acquaintance.
Il The daughter laughed heartily, and
said, gaily:
we have been just as much at fault
/ to understand your curiosity as you
thave to reconcile our circumstances with
our employment
sThen we should be mutual conf
Idents,' l observed; Il have been very
frank with you, and hope you win re-
IciprOcate.'
4 but our relations are not similar she
replied. we are not responsible for
your curiosity, but you for ours
| why so% asked.
1T was forced upon u.s.
Indeed and was not mine forced up
on me, in such a manner, too, as left me
no choice but TO seek out the mystery 2
i But truce to this bandying Of words;
YOU will not take advantage of my frank
ness for any other purpose than to re-
ward il with full explanations
She looked at me a moment as if ques-
tioning my apparent honesty, and then
said, pleasantly:
well, as you have been so good q pat
ron of my apple stand, land you take so
much pains to know the romance Of my
history, if you will promise secresy, I
will tell you.'
! 1'll accept any condition that can
fulfill, Il answered eagerly.
! walk with me into the garden; theTI,'
said the girl.
We had pleasant seat under a rustic
arbOr, when the lady remarked:
Mother told you that we -onced lived
in village near Paris
'She did,, answered, 'on my first
visit
rWe were notrich, but we had q pret-
ty cottage, and an income sufficient to
Support us. Father died when I was q
little girl. I had no brothers, but I had
a playmate who was deaTer than q
brother. As we grew older, his parents,
who were rich forbade him to visit our
house We went in the fields, we low
ed each other, and would not be sepaTat-
ed. His father learned that we still met,
and he was very angry. He told his
son that if he visited me he could not
stay at home.
Our fathers had been bitter enemies,
but we could not understand why that
should make us enemies when we loved
each other, and Emile declared that he
would not neglect me, if his father did
shut his doors against him. One day he
said to me, 4 am going to run away, but
not from yOu-from father, and you
shall come to me, and then we never
shall he parted twas hard to consent,
but Emile insisted, and we took leave
of each other, and he did run away. Tt
was a long time before we heard from
him-then we got a letter which told us
he was in America. had changed very
much since Emile's absence, and moth
er was afraid | would die. l cOa1ed her
to letme 90 to America; Emile told us
in his letter that he lived in Cincinnati.
z When we arrived in Boston We inquired
of Cincinnati, and were directed to this
place. Mother bought this cottage, and
here we have lived, expecting to meet
Emile
Have you ever heard from him% /
inquired.
4 only once, she answered. .ea
n do you know where he is nOw%
NO, indeed; If we did we would not
7 stay here long,
Have you never written him "
= we do not know his name He has
j, changed it, as he told us in his letter.
r but he neglected to tell US what name he
now bears
DO you think you will ever find him?
I. =