Wilmington daily commercial., 1874-11-14
.nIsCELLANEOUS.
vsLvETEEN BOOTS.


Solomon Messops, hoor-walker in Constant
Strings dry-goods establishment possesses
straghtness of back, length of limb, perfec-
ton Of coat and trousers, a look-and-die glance
in his muddy but largo and dark eye and ga-
mour OF whisker, that make a calm description
of him simply impossible to any woman under
forty. These attractions may be the reason why |
he stands to the neghborhood where our story |
transacted ITSELF or rather to the young ladies |
thereof, in some such relation as prize racing
cup, or champions belt. Certain it is that
Miss Mobet, whose father owned his own house,
wss as well known at Constant Il Strings as
the Law. figure In the window; that MISS Matilda
Mason aud Miss Selliquips were intimate friends
Of the deadliest type, for no other purpose than
TO reckon up this young gentleman; that dozen
other young women were at swords points about
him; and that all united in detesting Miss Jen-
ME Millfugus, as halt length ahead and likely
to win in virtue of her good looks and undenia-
BILE gentility. Therefore, | repeat abe should
never have said it, even IL there had been no
such thing as the Milfugus mystery.
And there was such q mystery. Jennie Mill
fugus, with her sister Harriet, lived In No. 10 of
block of three-story buildings well over to-
ward the west--brick houses with high steps,
wearing, IN some indetnable way, the air OF a
person with well-ceaned gloves, and old boots
sorupulously 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 year, and life on ten
dollars a week. And being thus, as it were, on
neutral ground, 1t was natural that they should
express the ill-at-ease condition OF all neutral-
ty also that all the inhabitants should be en-
gagged in a desperate hand TO hand struggle with
appearances, and that they should BIO very high
with an outside world aud observe toward each
other an awful punctilio.
Foremost among this little army Of pnched
and struggling martyrs were Harriet aud Jennie
Millfugus, as girls OF an excellent family; one OF
the sharpest stings, that last, of poverty. For,
II one must be poor, and can take II In tho nab-
ural way, planted squarely on feet stout, and
long, and wide, with sleeves rolled to the elbow
the affair is not no hopeless. The lady who
delighted me but now with nod OF
recognition from her fine blroueAe, hf-
teen years ago smoked pipe, and
was seen of mornings with bare feet.
But weighted with their ancestors about their
necks-as were Harriet and Jenme-those two
girls lived the life of border baron OF old, for
ever on the alert, forever menacel by the foe,
forever battling with the facts that we're contln-
ually forcing their way through the weak de-
Tense of appearance. Harriet was thirty-fourr;
the family mother, as often happens with an ell
der sister; aud most properly plain and practical
and adapted to the position. jennie was TWEEN
ty, and the women declared there was nothing
in her. Nevertheless she was OF very whole
some and womanly appearance-a rarer charm
than is apt to be imagined. Girls are jeunty,
stylish, pretty by the scorei but how often comes
one, to whom you drawn, as thoroughly and
essentially woman ? just this Jennie con-
tinually suggested You observed the dimple on
her cheek, the white parting OF her abundant
hair the wholesome redness Of her lips aud
Wilderness OF her skin, pair OF line gray eyes,
with black lashes and readily dilating iris, a
round waist, an easy grace in the very now oil
her skirts, inyountarily, and with quick sense
of pleasure. Perhaps this was why men and
Ar NfaoR
ing Perhaps, also, it was why the gem
tier inhabitants OF the block had
fashion of speaking OF her with a
sighting smile, and as 'poor thing u but why
che should never have been seen with her s.I sa-
ter--why when you called OH Tuesdays, Thurs
days and Saturdays, often Az you pleased you
found Miss Harriet fresh and smiling. to receive
you, and no hint of Jennie and If yon came OIL
Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays whenever
you pleased, you found Jennie fresh and smiling
and no hint Of Harriet and why the two ssters
differing 80 widely i'll years, should have dressed
precisely alike oven to the last bow and RULE
ali that was the Millrugus mystery. No ON
ever saw them out of the little dark, horse hal
furnished parlor. No one ever saw them to
gether. No one ever dined, or lnnched, o
took tea with them. and no one
had yet comprehended it. But to keep myste
ry wholly within the compass of ones life, ane
no loose end hanging out, is impossible; aud Q
steady and cautious pull at such an end -wha
might it not bring, pell-mell, after it, shout
some ones interest warrant the laying hold
it2
30, as l began by saying, she should neve
have said 1t. 1t was Jennie who sad it,and witt
an air of Triumph. A triumphant air is Away
wRuton attack on human Jealousy, gratuitou
waving of the red flag in the very eyes of tin
bull. It ia true she must have bsen almos
more than human had she not stopped to ga
she could not stop, and dropped the word "dai
dens, and remarked that she was going ther
that evening. And that Miss Mason should say
" with the Smith family, of course, was vex'
tious (; for why " of course2' as il she was
girl that could get nowhere unless pinned to til
skirts of some family And 30 she said 1t
:" 1t might be, of course. il it were you, Nis
Matilda but 1 am going with Mr.. Messeps'
That was fairly throwing down the glove
Very iuiprudont in lady hampered by myE
tory and with great blush, too, that flame
from her cheeks all over her face 1 suspe
Matilit could have forgiven the spseca mor
readily than the blush tle last was such an ul
impeachable witness OF happy consciousness o
Miss Mllfugus part but, assuredy, she wa
not the girl to refuse the challenge.
Gould Miss Mllfugus have seen-but whic
Of IA does foresee We open the door ourselve
TO Fate almost invariably ; yet which of us r
cognizes her Beyond satisfied impression
of I" serves her right" Jennie thought We
little about it, She was absorbed in more in
portant considerations. 1t was u saying betwee
her and her sister that % il either were call,
suddenly to die, their first impression would
that was impossible, as they had nothing fit
die in" And another, that "they lived on the /
come OF wolf, as in 1t there was no more pr
vision for clothes than If they had been bo
furry creatures"
Purchasing a dress they styled shooting h
rapids, so great were the peris, so nice the CT
culation necessary for the venture while tn,
wardrobe itself, il it could pretend to such
name, til BY chrstened ''All the Year Round
in buying gown, say for the SUNNI r, it W
necessary to calculate, also, how it could be
made In the fall, and what could be done with
in the-winter-a prophetic style of shopping
which only a clairvoyant or spiritual medit
might be supposed to achieve complete succe
And let none think lightly of these perplexit
SO long al human nature ID constituted az 1t
at present. so long not all the frouzy sayings
tant about silk worm, and sheep wool will CO
sole womallly woman when she DISCUSSES da
~ feet in coarse msshapen shoes; when II wa
and shoulders that would become silk and ca
el's-har are dHhgured in rusty and darned al
ca, when sashes, gloves, fans, chatelains, fl
ers, perfumes, combs, pendants, ribbons,
thousand triHes that are the real secret OF \
mans toilet, hang in the shop-windows, as
attainable as the apples Of the Hesperides
Jennie WINGED daily under these privatlons,
did Gulliver under the dartH OF the lilliputia
Something more than mortified pride, how
err was involved. ON the present OCCASION
prize Messeps, the part of the block, was
that critical condition where he mightbe said
DO tottering on the very verge of declaratl
Jennie felt, instinctvely, that the approach
expedition to the Gardens involved crisis
touch only WAS needed to flush the wo
whila NJ, tha CONTRARY IL IN wera