Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-22

1t is not generally known that the Lazy Oh
ShalOtt lived last summer in an attic at the east
end of South street The wee-est, thinnest,
whitest little lady! And yet the brightest, still
est and all such a smiling little ladyi
When the Lady of Shalott was five years old
her mother threw her down stairs one day, by
mistake, instead of the whiskey jug. This is a
fact which think Mr.. Tennyson has omitted to
mention in his poem. They picked the Lady of
Shalott up and put her on the bed; and there
she lay from that day until last summer. The
mother and the jug both went down the stairs
together n few years after, and never came up
at all-and that was great convenience, for the
Lady of Shalotts palace in the attic was not
large, and they took up much unnecessary
room. Since that the Lady of Shalott had lived
with her sister, Sary Jane.
| Sary Jane made nankeen vests at sixteen
and three-quarters cents a dozen. Sary Jane
| had red hair and crooked shoulders, and voice
so much like rat trap, which she sometimes
set on the STAIRS that the Lady of Shalott could
seldom tell which was which until she had
| thought about it a little while. When there
was a rat caught, she was apt to ask, "WhatP
and when Sary Jane spoke she more often than
| not said "There's anotherp Her crooked
shoulders Sary Jane had acquired from sitting
under the caves of the palace to sew. Sary
James red hair was the result of sitting in the
sun on July moons under those caves to see to
thread her needle. There was no question
about that. The Lady of Shalott had settled it
IN her own mind, past dispute. Sary James
| hair had been-what was it'll brownf once.
| Sary Jane was slowly taking fire. Who would
not, to sit in the sun in that palace? The only
matter of surprise to the Lady Of Shalott was
that the palace itself did not smoke. Some
times, when Sary Jane hit the rafters, she was
| sure that she saw sparks. AS for Sary James
voice, when one knew that she made nankeen
vests at sixteen aud three-qnarter cents a
dozen, that was matter of no surprise. 1t
never surprised the Lady of ShalOtt
And the palace. Let me tell you about the
palace. 1t measured just twelve by nine feet
1t would have been seven feet pOst-if there had
been a post in the middle of it. From the CEN
ire it sloped away to the windows, where Sary
Jane had just room enough to sit crooked under
the caves at work. There were two windows
and loose scuttle to the palace. The scuttle
| let in the snow in winter and the sun in sum-
mer, and the rain and wind at all times 1t was
| quite diversion to the Lady of Shalott to see
| how many different ways OF doing disagreea-
BILE thing seemed to be practicable to that scut-
| tie. Besides the bed on which the Lady of Sha-
| lott Law there was stove in the palace, two
chairs, a very ragged rag-mat, shelf with two
notched cups and plates upon it, one pewter tea
| spoon, and looking-glass. On washing days,
| Sary Jane climbed upon the chair and hung
her clothes out through the Scuttle on the roof;
or else she ran little rope from one of the win
dows TO the other for drying rope. 1t would
have been more exact to have said on washing
nights; for Sary Jane did her washing after
dark. The reason was evident. If the rest of
us were in the habit of wearing all the clothes
we had, like Sary Jane, have little doubt that
we should do the same | should mention that
there was no sink in the Lady of Shalotts pal
ace; no water. There was q dirty hydrant in
the yard, four flights below, which supplied the
Lady of Shalott and all her neighbors, The
Lady of Shalott kept her coal under the bed,
her -four, pound at a time, in paper parcel
on the shelf, with the teacups and the pewter
spoon. If she had anything else to keep it went
through the palace scuttle and lay on the roof.
The Lady Of Shalotts palace opened directly
upon precipice. The lessor of the house called
it a flight of stairs. When Sary Jane went up
and down she went sideways to preserve her
balance. There were no banisters to the preci-
pce. The entry was dark. Some dozen or
twenty of Lady Shalotts neighbors patronized
the precipice, and about once week baby
patrOnized the rat-trap, instead. Once, when
there was fire alarm, the precipice was very
serviceafle. Four women and an old man went
| over. With one exception, (she was eighteen
and could bear broken collar-bone) they will
not, am informed, go over again.
The Lady of ShalOtt paid one dollar week
| for the rent of her palace.
But then there was a looking glass in the
palace. | think l noticed it, 1t hung on the
| slope of the rafters, just opposite the Lady of
| Shalort's window-for she considered that her
| window at which Sary Jane did not make nan
keen vests at sixteen and three.quarter cents a
| dozen. Now, because the looking glass was
| opposite the window at which Sary Jane did not
make vests, and because the rafters sloped, and
because the bed lay almostibetween the looking
| glass and the window the Lady of Shalott was
happy. Aud because, to the patient heart that
is a seeker after happiness "the little more and
how much it iSF land the little less, what
worlds awayD the Lady of Shalott was proud
as well as happy. The looking glass measured
in inches ten by six. think that 1.-THE Lady of
Shalott would have experienced rather touch
| of modification than of envy if she had known
| that there mirror in hOusp inst around
| the corner measuring almost as many feet. But
| that was one of the advantages of being the
Lady of Shalott. She never parsed life in the
comparative degree. suppose that one must
| be the Lady of Shaott to understand what
comfort there may be in a ten by six inch look
ing glass. All the world came for the Lady of
Shalott into her little looking glass--the Joy of
it. the anguish of it, the hope and fear of it, the
health and hurt-ten by six inches of it ex-
| actly. at is next best TO not having been
thrown down stairs yourselfP said the Lady of
| Shalott.
To tell the truth it sometimes occurred to her
| that there was a monotony about the world.
| garnet window like her own for instance, would
| fill her sight if she did not tip the glass little
| Children sat in it, and did not play. They made
| lean faces at her. They were locked in for the
| day, and were hungry, She could not help
knowing how hungry thew were, and so tipped
| the glass. Then there was the trap door in the
| sidewalk. She became occasionally tired of that
! trap door. Seven people lived under the side
| walk; and when they lifted and slammed the
| trap, coming in and out, they reminded her of
| something which Sary Jane bought her once
| when she was very little child at Christmas
| time, when rents were cheaper and -four low
| 1t was a monkey, with whiSkerS and a calico
jacket, who jumped out of box when the
cover was lifted; and then you crushed him
| down and hasped him in. Sometimes she
wished that she had never had that
monkey, he was so much like the people coming
in and out of the sidewalk. In fact, there was
a monOtony about all the people in the Lady of
| dirty, their hands were. If they had hats they
went without shoes. If they did not sit in the
| sun with their heads on their knees, they lay in
the mud with their heads on jug.
"Their faces look blue!" she said to Sary Jane.
| "No wOnderP snapped SarY Jane.
"WhyP asked the Lady of Shalott.
"WOnder is we amt all dead!" barked Sary
Jane.
"But we amt, you know" said the Lady of
1 Shalott, after some thought
The people in the Lady of Shalott's glass died,
| however, sometimes-often in the summer; more
| often last summer, when the attic smoked con.
tinually, and she mistook Sary James voice for
the rat-trap every day. The people were jostled
| into pine boxes lin the glass; and carried away
lin the glass; by twilight in cart. Three of the
monkeys from the spring-box in the sidewalk
| went, in one week, out into foul, purple tw-
| light, away from the looking-glasS, in carts.
| "I'm glad Of that, poor things" said the Lady
of Shalott, for she had always felt kind of sor-
row for the monkeys. when the monkeys
| had gone, the sickly twilight folded itself up
over the spring-box, into great feathers like the
feathers of wing. That was pleasant. The
| Lady Of Shalott could almost put out her fingers
| and stroke it, it hung so near and was so clear,
and gathered such a peacefuness into the look
ing-glass. "Sary Jane, DEAR isn't it pleasant"
said the Lady of Shalott. Sary Jane said it was
very dangerous, the Lord knew, and bit her
threads off. "And, Sary Jane, dearP added the
Lady OF Shalott, 81 see SO many other pleasant
things" "The more fool youP said Sary Jane.
| But she wondered about it that day over her
tenth nankeen vest What, for example could
| the Lady of Shalott see?
"WayesP said the Lady of Shalott, suddenly,
as if she had been asked the question. Sary
Jane jumped. She said, "NonsenseP For the
Lady of Shalott had only seen the little wash
tub full of dingy water on Sunday nights, and
the dirty little hydrant lin the glass; spouting
dingy jets. She would not have known wave
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