Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-11-04

mountains [ picked up my daisy, nv
Margaret, my pearl. You remember the
summer when you sailed for Europe. The
same week | received commands from the
imperial Judith to follow her to Saratoga
or rather she insinuated that my presence
there would give her pleasure. took the
hint and followed, and after the manner
OF other devOtees before the altar of fash
ion we exchanged the monotonous weari-
ness Of fashionable life in New York for a
second edition Of the same thing at wa
tering-place. We danced and we rode and
we walked. | was the imperial Judith's
devoted cavalier. / had quite made I'D
my mind to lay my hand and fortune at
the lady's feet; and although I felt it
would not do to cucumber her with nv
heart, as she had never displayed the
smallest interest in that part of my per-
sonality, it nevertheless pleased my fancy
to think of the queen-like grace with
which she would preside over the hos
FATALITIES of the Vanderburgh mansion
and | concluded to be satisfied.
But one morning as we were walking
toward the springs, the fair hand of royal
Judith lying on my arm, a sense of the
importance of the step [ was about to
take began to Cypress me. / felt a long
ing for few weeks of perfect peace and
quiet before I undertook the manifold
responsibilities Of married man. Bust
ness became my excuse, and in the after
noon fled toward the East, only couple
OF hundred miles, and found myself in a
little New England town lying at the base
of great, peaceful-looking mountain.
The landlord of the coy little hotel, a
small building all white paint and green
blinds, received me graciously; and |
liked the old man immensely in spite of
the fact that his hair stood on end when
asked him for sherry -cobbler. spent
the night there, and in the morning the
old gentleman offered me his horse and
his fishing-rods to help me pass away the
time, and then suggested that perhaps |
would like to visit the Nails
By the end of the first day / had ex-
! hausted the horse and the fish, and bored
myself pretty thoroughly, and on the next
morning | determined to try the mills.
| Did you ever see a cOtton-mill, Jack, one
Of those enormous, red-brick structures
reeking with steam and heat and damp
ness and horrible noises? | saw the pro-
| prietor, and he took me through the build
| ing. [ looked at the great looms, the
whizzing spindles, and all the ingenious
machinery which man has devised to
supply the necessity for clothing brought
| about by the transgression of Eve; but
what most attracted my attention was the
pale faces of the operatives standing about
those terrible machines, the children,
( prematurely old and haggard, breathing
that terrible dust and sweltering in that
| awful heat
[ passed through the files Of languid
| children and weary women on my way to
the office, where the proprietor offered me
a chair. AS | sat down I saw, in one cor
ner Of the room, a small figure bending
over a great pile of heavy, business-lke
books. She turned her head as her en-
ployer spoke and | saw another pale face
so pale, so gentle, with great violet eyes
that seemed to ask everything they rested
upon, Why am I so unhappy The
same eyes, Jack, my boy, that smiled at
you so brightly over your dinner half an
hour ago"
Not factory girl''
Not exactly; one of those girls you
find so often in New England, thoroughly
| educated and lady-like, but impelled by
necessity to work. She was employed as
assistant book-keeper by the great firm of
Watson & Co., that owned the mills All
at once, Jack, [ became interested in cot
ton. | used to haunt that great, shrieking
Bedlam of mill investigated all the
processes the plant went through from the
| time it enters the mill in great fluffy bales
| till it goes out in smooth white muslin. |
think the proprietors took me for dry
goods clerk or a politician. | became so
learned that knew all the grades from
| paper-cambric to sheeting, and [ dis
coursed upon the tariff and the necessity
of protecting American manufactures
like member Of Congress. | even made
researches into the art of bookkeeping
And all, Jack, for the sake of pale little
factory girl with blue eyes-I, the last of
the Vanderburghs! How I used to lean over
that great, gawky, ink-stained desk and
watch the small figure in the shabby al
| paca frOck! How | used to intercept the
| little girl on her way back and forth to the
great MILL and watch her blush when her
great, blue eyes met mlne!''
Had you made up your mind to marry
herr"
"God forgive me, 1 had not thought
about it."
"You scoundrelm
"Ask Pearlie if I am scoundrel,
Jack?''
81 have no doubt she worships you,
you most unworthy wretch She looks
like Just such sweet, foolish little dar-
| ling"
Il am ashamed to confess it, Jack. but
for two hours in my life | was villain
only two, though, and l am thirty five
years old: the proportion isntso bad, is it :?
One morning it dawned upon me all at
once the mischief had been doing. And
that very hour told little Pearlie I was
| i