The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-01-03

fathers, who prolong your Hofklpg
hours to maintain the family poor
wives who weap and toll over . crxdie;
young men striving to open tor your.
selves road through life, wide enough
to lead therein q chosen wife to you.
ell valiant soldiers Of labor and OF sac
rifce. good wishes! Finally, to oil,
whatever may be your title and your
name, who love the beautiful, who pity
the suffering, who 60 through the world
like the fabulous virgins Of Byzantium.
with arms extended to the human race
Good wishesI Here / am suddenly
Interrupted by chirpings. which grow
more numerous and more loud. Hook
about me and behold my window is
surrounded with sparrows, who pick at
the crumbs of bread which in my absent.
minded meditations I have just scatter
ed on the roof. At this pretty
sight ray Of sunshine brightens up
nv saddened heart. An instant since
1 deceived myself in complaining that l
had nothing to give. Thanks to me
the sparrows of the quarter will have
their etrenness Noon. A knock at
my door q poor girl enters and greets
me by name. do not recognize her
at a first glance, but she regards me
smilingly. All! it is Paulette, but it Is
nearly q year since l last saw her, and
Paulette is no longer the same. The
other day she was child, to-day she
10 verging on to womsnhood. Paul
cite thin, pale, wretchedly clad, but it
is always the same eye, clear, frank,
straight forward the sane mouth
smiling at every word as il to engage
your kindness. The same timid voice,
soft and beseeching. Paulette is not
pretty, she might even be called ugly,
but l find her charming. Not by rea'
son of what she is. but perhaps from
what she recalls OF one Of my happiest
memories. 1t was the evening Of q
public holiday. Illumiaations ran
their lines of fire along our monuments /;
q thousand banners fluttered in the
night wind; the fireworks were just
kindlipg their showers of flame in the
middle of the Champ-de-Mars. All at
once oneof those inexplicable panies
which sometimes seize upon large as
semblages, fell npon the close pressed
ranks OF gazers; they screamed, they
rushed the feeble stumbled, fell, and
the frantic crowd crushed them under
their reckless feet. Escaping as BY q
miracle from the melee, was about to
leave the place when the shrieks of an
almost perishing child drew me back.
forced my way into that human chaos
and after unheardof efforts rescued
;Paulette at the peril of my own life.
That was two years ago. Since, l have
seen the little one at long intervals. and
had almost forgotten her, but Paulette
has the memory OF a good heart, she
comes at the beginning OF the year 10
offer me kind wishes. She brings me
besides, a violet plant in full flower.
She herself transplanted and tended it,
it is a possession which belonged most
fully to her, for it was reared. Thanks
to her lboughtullness, care and patience
The plant was grown in a common
flower pot, and Paulette, who is box
maker, has covered it with vanished
paper, embellisbed with fsuciful paint
ings. The ornaments might have been
in better taste, perhaps, but one feels
none the less the kindly intention. This
unexpected gift, the modest bashfulness
of the young girl and her stammered
ompliments, dissipate like sun beam
the sort Of fog which enveloped my
heart; my feelings change quickly from
the sombre hues of dusky twilight to
the rosy tints OF sunrise. make Pau
lette sit down, and question her gally.
She answers at fret in monosylables,
but soon our roles are reversed and it is
| who interrupt with hasty interjections
her long narration. The poor child lead
q hard life. Orphaned long since, she,
with brother and younger sister, are
under the charge OF an aged grand
| mother, who has kept them out Of
misery, as she now puts it. However,
Psulette helps her nowadays in the
manufacture OF pasteboard boxes. Her
little sister, Perrin, is learning to sew,
and Henri is an apprentice in q print
| ing office. All would 60 well were it
not for losses, and want OF work, for the
need o! clothes that will wear out, and
sppetites which cry for food, and the
winter which compells them to buy a
substitute for the sunlight. Paulette
complains that candles burn to quickly
and wood is too dear. The chimney of
their attic is 80 big that q great log
placed in it looks like mere match,
that it ia 30 close to the roof that the
wind drives down the rain which freez
e. on the hearth in cold weather, also,
they had had to give it up and content
themselves with an esrthen chafing-
dish on which to do their cooking. The
grandmother had bargained for q stove
with second hand dealer living on the
ground floor, but be asked seven francs
and the times are too hard for 30 heavy
an expense, the family is in consequerc,
resigned 10 be cold for the sake oil
economy.
In proportion as Paulette talks feel
myself drawn more and more out Of my
deep dependency. The fret revela-
tons OF the little carton mirs have crea-
ted within me wish which has already
developed into project. l ask bel
! about her plans for the day, and she in-
forms me that after leaving me she was
| to visit with her brother, sister and
grandmother their different places o.
employment Ny scheme is also fixed
upon. l tell the child l will goto SEE
them in the evening, and bid her gooc
bye with renewed thanks. The pretty
plant has been placed in the open win.
dow, where a stream Of sunshine bids i
q warm welcome ; the birds are war
bling all about, the horizon has clear
ed up, and the day which came in q
gloomy has become rsdient. l lool