The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-07-09
THE KAISER FREDERICK.


the lace department. and displayed and
measured till her little body ached every
night. Pink d Plodding flourished in a
brick and plate-glass block, kept score or
two of salespeOple and runners, and
dIaped all the fashionable world. Their
spring and fall openings - disturbed
square miles OF feminine hearts land
purses) and in any season their counters
were throngcd. Virginia thought herself
fortunate at first TO be taken into Pink Il
Plodding's establishment. Butw are un-
grateful beings who tire of our blessings.
She came TO the city lone creature with
nothing to advance her except a letter TO
the Rector of st. Paul's. The Rector OF
st. Paul. kindly recommended her to Mi.
Flooding, who wanted young woman be
hind his lace-counter just then, and Mr..
Flooding took her.
There she stood day after day, some
times great circles darkening around her
eyes, spreading fabrics hunting unheard-Ot
patterns. and going through violent gym
nastics for hurried customers, who, per-
haps, piled the counters with tangleS up TO
their chins, and went awag leaving the
shOp-Yirl nothing but trouble. She was
not quite pretty child; she had great
deal of dark brown hair and swift dark
ewes. and baby hands; wien she came to
work in the morning she was flushed and
fresh. as sleep and youth will make the
heaviest-laden of us all but, as her day
sands slippe , so slipped her bloom, till
night drove her, h ggard and Old-faced, to
her homeless boarding place. To be sure.
she saw the world. Ii flowed constantly
past her, loved TO hurry aid veX her,
and shook its leisure. its plenteOus happi-
ness and full purse, forever in her face.
Virginia had no companions among her
fellOw-clerks. They consisted of fluffy
young women and cOTectly-gOtten-up
men. Girls who hung variegated hair
round their skulls, and who told you
thing was 'vur pooty," or " chawming,"
or " delaightful ;" who, in short, aped all
the dawdling Of upper-tendom. Men OF
that cut and-dry appearance which a life
behind counter gives a tamily-man. To
be sure, above all stood Miss Blum, the
cashier, whose mouth shut like an oyster
shell, and snapped so when it was forced
to unclOSe that you wouldn't pry at 1t
often. But she was not of the lower
earth, earthly. The girls disliked Nir-
ginia; they considered heran upstart her
reserved ways We're "airs; !" and, alto
gether, she wasn't their style;" they
snubbed her. The cut-and-dry men were
so occupied between the r1shes of business
and mental attempts to stretch their sala-
ries around the year. that they forgot this
fatherless daughter in their midst.
Mr.. Flooding was 4 leathery old fellow,
who worked his human machines hard,
and looked well to their operations. The
flesh and blood. and soul part of them, he
had nothing to do with.
Different was Mr.. Pink-that elegant be-
ing! He was gentleman-merchant,
whose father had set him up in business,
and who did the fast horse driving of the
establishment, leaving it TO old Plodding
to do the fast bargain-driving. Mr.. Pink
seldom entered the store. but he delighted
i'm sending a fiutter after him when he did
enter. lie scattered compliments, and silly,
patronizing speeches, right and left.
When Mr.. Pink saw Virginia, he fixed
his eyes on her and promised to amuse
himself with that little girl. But he never
got on with her at all. Respectful toward
him. she yet held herself so much above
him that all his boasted shots struck below
her feet. The serene shOp-girl declined
Irritation with that fascinating being.
She was so lonely. Her bOarding-place
was chill resort, where ''boarders'' were
boxed in small rooms, fed sparingly and
solemnly. and told the price of every arti-
Gle of food while it WAS between their
teeth. by that severe widow, Mrs. Stump,
who surveyed her victims from the head
of the long table. Here, again. people
were negative TO Virginia.
Not many recreations were there for her.
She seldom saw play or heard music; a
city'S wealth of resources rolled around
her, and she stood like TantaluS, unable
to command them. Sometimes she slipped
into the free seats at st. Paul'S and watch
ed the pomp of religion. If the Rector
ever saw her after service, he gave her a
patronizing nod. There was nothing for
her. she told herself again and again, but
TO stand i'm that store, pay her earnings TO
the b0arding-house keeper, and keep the
tread-mill going till she died.
Often this unhelpcd child grew des-
perlte, and. when she came home
of nights. she threw herselfupon the floor,
and beat her tired. bursting head against
the wall. Ii was fOolishness, to be sure,
but the foolishness of human being in
mental agony was what drew out the ten
dereSt compassion. from One who once So
jOurned on the earth.
NIf | had some one,'' cried Virginia,
lust somebody! A friend!"
Ii did not strike her TO say a lover.
Lovers she might have found among the
youths who frequented Mrs. Stump's. and
looked upon Virginia with some favor.
But in none of these could she find her
friend. Many young girls have passed
through such experience in big, lonely
CITY. and have taken the husks which
chance threw them, or, worst OF
all, have been goaded by mad
dening heartache down the dark
road of ruin. She sometimes pushed up
her sleeves. and looked at the pink, soft
arms they held. She was so young to be
oil lAEf in hn hiar
She wondered, bitterly. why she had been
created at all, The gift of life comes to
many of MS wrong side out. We pull il
this way and that; but we shall find the
design, the beauty. and the glory of it, il
we re patient. Some are to find the mean
ing of life in love: some in splendid work
and happy few in heroic deeds reserved
20 them, which will echo down the centll-
rieS.
Never mind, Observation-Disclosures
Just pull away. You're sure to come out
dry and high, if you keep good heart and
stiff lip. rH ~FE
One night, as Virginia leaned against
the window, looking at the heavy. sky, she
heard violin. The sound was faint; but
as she listened. il grew till it filed all hel
sense of hearing. 1t talked to her like al
angel. Her heart swelled. She leane'
toward the darkness from Whlch IL Spok'
strained after il. Its sweetness. IL
pathos, its compass cannot be described
She took no thought of the hand upon II
She loved that violin. Through hours sh,
listened. leaning over the window-Sill
feeling the eity's breath in her face, 6u
the breath of Heaven in her heart. Sh,
thought about it all next day, and waiteC
impatiently for it next evening. Night by
night it talked to her. becoming part O
her existence. If itneglected her. she wa
restless and fretted. When it did its best
she paid it distant tribute by elapping he
hands and whispering in ecstacy, ''Oh
you darling old fiddle, do love you
You've got soul, / wish it was per
son!' she often added; 81 wish it coulC
be friend TO me. The man at the bow i
some orchestra man, of course: like thos.
tat fellows who go into beer-saloons. Blu