Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-06-06
From the Golden Age.
WHO WAS TO BLAME,

the fourth story of Madame DeVinney's
!" clearinghouse. for women" New
York. ,.-.. uu.:, 49,. .:.,..
Looking straight out, you would see
down q marrow. alley which left q high
streets just below, and grew dirtier and
less respectable. with every step, as it
wound past rubbish.lined back-yards
up,to the square court under Sarah's
window. There it came to q dead stop
between high, thick wallis, and never
got on again-just as many inn ates OF
the great house had wandered or been
driven-who shall Judge of all alike9-
from the pleasanter highways of life,
and had come to q social stand-stil with
the living there. For Madame DeVin-
ney's was not we'll thought of, and those
who never troubled the rusty bell pull
on the front door, took care that both
the fact and the reason should be no
secret.
The other ways You might look were
short and unattractive enough-at least
to an ordinary observer. On the right
q high wall ran at right angles with
Madame De Vinney's, and from it two
brown-shuttered windows looked down
into the same court, and over the same
stretch of irregular roofs, to the rim of
green, which ended both the city and
the third view.
The second view is the important
one. Indeed, I should scarcely have
noticed the others were it not for, that,
whatever place may have had the OPEN
ing of my story in the minds of the her.
oine-m so romantic aytitle may Justly
attach itself to ono who knew no other
heroism than love and duty-they were
once q great deal to her. The dirty
strip of earth that ended beneath her
window at first seemed, by that mys-
terious association. of idea with things,
to lead out to the &ell-kept highway
and to the priceless companionship Of
those who walked therein; and, the
delicate rim that lost all objects and
kept only color for those so lar away,
hiding the fresh country, more like q
vertlant mist than anv real substance.
seemed q remembrance that some day
\ however far away,-be merely q re
memberance no longer. But q few
months changed it all The track OF
mud and slime pointed only in, and the
outline Of hills and fields gathered the
green mists closer around, more, it
seemed to Sarah, to keep her out than
to. tell of the added joy the summer
brought them. So she shut out both
views forever in stony dispair, andturn.
ed to the small brown shutters, as We
shall always do.
The shutters swung back one bright
morning, and Sarah's looks went in al
the narrow panes with the sunlight. II
was not large room, and was plainly
enough furnished. A homemade car.
pet, with stripes of gay and black, with
here and there one of neither, covered
the floor, and with the exception Of neces
sary articles, all of the plainest descrip.
ton, the room was bare. Nothing ol
elegance was anywhere TO be seon.z 1
The occupant had evidently Just en-.
tered, for he laid aside his hat, and sal
down at small table to write. He was
anything but handsome or elegant, sit.
ting there in his poor room, working
over the paper, with q hasty hand, but
to- Sarah he was at least attractive.
She liked the shape of his head and
the expreslonio of his face, and thought
she saw a future noble beauty in both.
How many are those, quick to observe
characters and faces, who have loved
others for what they imagined they
would be! 1t is like buying parcel o.
land, not because the scene is good o.
the soil productive, but because it viii
rise in value-purely a business trans
action. But there was nothing of thi
in Sarah, of course, for it could maxi
no difference to her what he became
She only noticed the fact and let j
pass.
One peculiarly she noticed abou
him. He had q habit of holding hi
eyes closed with his fingers for minute
at a time, as though they panied him
Once, when she saw him throw himse]
upon the he'd to rest, she noticed bar
dage upon his eyes. He has weak eye
she thought, and, seeing that he live
by copying-that eye-blurring work
she began at once to pity him and I
watch his movements close. It grew
be habit with her to watch his vii
dows, and the habit lent pleasure
the watcher. She felt lonesome if sh
did not see her neighbor daily.
So it is with our poor, human natur
Hard and cold indeed is the person VII
can live without some one object near'
to his or her thoughts than all besid
and that object apart from necessa1
motives. Even The hardened Grimm
will seek companionship with whatev'
creature reaches his cell. Companion
4 ship IS as necessary as light and hea
Sarah Loche was an ostracised beipl
= No society would open its doors to b,
save that of her own class, and 81
y hated that. She looked upon her sou
D killing associates as fiends who ba
r rendered her bread when she was star
;. ing, and swallowed up her whole in r
i turn as greedily as she had the cruml
= she got. Yet with this stain upon b
:, she was woman. She had nothing
g hope for in the future; yet she had fe
IS that one day her present life must en-
l. and she would be in a measure happ
e But howe The terrible gulf that sen
" rated her from the very humblest a
'' poorest in all the world had never see,
l. ed 50 broad. The hehappiness now cor
y not be self ccntered, and the gulf III,
g. be crossed. For she loved!