Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-11-13
VELVETEEN BOOTS.

VELV EIEEN BOOIS
She never should have said it!
But first should observe that Mr..
Messeps (Solomon Messeps, floor
walker in Constant q Strings dry
goods establishment possessed Il
straightncss of back, Il length of
limb, a perfection OF coat, and trou-
scrs, a look-and-die glance in his
muddy but large and dark eye, and a
glamour ofwhiskcr, thatmadc calm
description of him simply impossible
to any woman under forty. These
attractions may be the reason why he
stands to the neighborhood where
our story transacted itself, or rather
to the young ladies thereof, in some
such relation as prize racing cup, or
champion belt. Oertail>it is that
Miss Moblot, whose father owned his
own house, was as well known at
Constant 4 Strings as the lay-fgure
in the window; that Miss Matilda
Mason and Miss Selliquips were in
innate friends Of the deadliest type,
for no other purpose than to reckon
up this Young gentleman; that doz-
en- other young women were at swords
points about him; and that all united
in detesting Miss Jennie Millfugus,
as half length ahead, and likely to
win, in virtue of her good looks and
undeniable gentility. Therefore, l
repeat she should never have said it
even if there had been no such thing
as the Millfugus mystery.
And there was such a mystery.
Jennie MIillfugas, with her sister Uar-
riet, lived in No. 10 Of Il block Of
three-story buildings well over toward
the west brick houses with high steps
wearing, in some indeiinable way, the
air of person with well-clcaned
gloves, and old boots scrupulously
BACKED. According to the way in
which you choose to put it, these
houses are the last bulwark of the
street against the tide of poverty
rolling in from the river, or they are
the connecting link between life, four
blocks away, on ten thousand a year,
and life Oh ten dollars 4 week. And
being thus, as it were, on neutral
ground, it was natural that they should
express the ill-atease condition OF all
neutrality; also that all the inhabit
ants should be engaged in desperate
hand-to-hand struggle with appear
ances, and that they should be very
high with an outside world, and Oh
serve toward each other an awful
punctilio.
Foremost among this little army of
pinched and struggling martyrs were
Harriet and Jenny Millfugus, as girls
of an excellent family; one Of the
sharpest stings that last of poverty.
For, if one must be poor, and can
take it in the natural way, planted
squarely Oh feet stout, and long, and
wide, with sleeves rolled to the elbow,
the affairs are not so hopeless. The
lady who delighted me but now with
nod Of recognition from her fine
barouchc, fifteen years ago smoked
pipe, and was seen of mornings
with bare feet. But weighed with
their ancestors about their necks-as
were Harriet and Jcnnie-those two
girls lived the life of border baron
of old, forever on the alert, forever
menaced by the foe, forever battling
with the facts that were continually
forcing their weak defense of appear
ances. Harriet was thlrty-four, the
family mother, as often happens with
an elder sister; and most properly
plain and practical and adapted to
her position. Jennie was twenty, and
the women declared there was moth
ing in her; nevertheless, she was
very handsome and womanly-a rare
er charm than this is apt to be inn
agined. Girls are jaunty, stylish,
pretty, by the score; but how often
comes one, to whom you are drawn,
as thoroughly and, essentially as a
woman? Just this Jennie continually
suggested. You observed the dimple
at her wrist, the white parting Of her
abundant hair, the wholesome redness
of her lips and whiteness Of her skin,
a pair of fine grey eyes with black
lashes and readily-dilating iris, a
round waist, an easy grace in the very
flow of her skirts, involuntarIly, and
with quick sense of pleasure. Per
haps this was why men and Mr.. Mes
seps found her charming. Perhaps,
also, it was why the gcntler inhabit-
ants of the blocks had a fashion of
speaking of her with a sighting
smile, and as "poor thing!" But
why she should never have been
seen with her sister-why, when you
called on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays, as often as you pleased,
you found Miss Harriet, fresh and
smiling to receive you, and no hint Of
Jenny; and if you come on Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, whenever
you pleased, you found Jennie, fresh
and smiling, and no hint of Harriet;
and why the two sisters, differing SO
widely in years, should have dressed
precisely alike, even to the last bow
and ruffle-ah, that was the Mulligan
mystery. No one ever saw them out
of the little, dark, horse-hair furnished
parlor. No one ever saw them to-
gether. No one had ever dined, or
lunched, or taken tea with them, and
no one yet comprehended it. But