The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-02-17
RICHMOND,
live happy life, and be worthy the
everlasting esteem of
YOUR VALENTINE"

YOUR VALENTINE.
Nelly read it with rising color and
little culver about her mouth, which
Bertha understood; but she read 1t
with firm voice and careful, deliberate
accent.
"Then," she said, when she had fin
ished. Il shall burn up all the rest OF
my valentines, and send only this one;
tor it is what L mean, in earnest. and,
as old Aunty Smoke says, Eff it don t
do no good, it can't do no harm.
ITO whom shall you send it, DEAR.
Bertha asked gently, little subdued
by Nelly's epistolary success.
Il hadn't made up my mind. Nelly
answered thoughtfully; they all need
it"
''Oh, send it to Jack" cried Kitty
Greene. He boards with us, and HE
needs it-bad enonqh- II avor /" bog
was full of his pranks Jack is, and if
ever boy tormented girls life out,
Jack does mine"
A color clear and bright as fame
glowed on Nelly Hunts cheeks. Had
She had dark eyed Jack In her mind
all the while? She only answered
very quietly:
II don't mind. 1 had just as lief
send it to Jack. That is, I'll send it
to him if you'll promise, on your sa-
cred honor, never in any way to let
him know who wrote it.
"Oh, I will-true as [ live and
breathe I'll never tell him, and never
let him guess If can help it.
And all you girls p Nelly asked,
with the pretty pink glow deepening
in her cheeks. "Will you all prom
ise %
And they all promised, for there
was a sort of honest earnestness in
Nelly s nature to which they found it
natural to yield.
So the valentine was directed in
Nelly's most neat and proper manner
to Mr.. Jack Greene. and was
dropped into the post-ofice with the
rest Of the valentines the girls had
written that day.
On the fifteenth the six girls were
all together at school comparing notes
and exchanging condolences. But
Kitty Greene drew Nelly aside, and
said, while they walked up and down
the hall together, their arms around
each other as girls will.
$ saw Jack get it Nelly
"Nelly's pretty cheeks glowed and
her eyes shone like stars, but she
asked no questions. Indeed they were
scarcely necessary, for Kitty was eager
enough to tell her story.
He got it, don't you think, along
with half-a dozen others, and he read
them all before he came to this one.
I knew this, you know, by the shape
of the envelope. When he came to it
saw him read it all through, and
then I saw him go back and read it
again / heard him say to himself:
That's an honest letter from some
little saint.
Then he came up to me and held
it toward me. while / pretended to be
very busy with my valentines. Then
he spoke:
DO you know that handwriting,
Kit?"
Il felt like an awful little liar, but
/ had promised you. ] stretched out
my handy for it, and said, carelessly:
Why, amt it Sue n
"She is his sister, you know. So he
thought did not know who it came
from, and he changed his mind, and
put it into his pocket, and went off.
When teased him afterward to let
me see it, he said:
mo; there are some things fellow
would be coward to show"
$50 | saw it hit him, and we'll it
might. 1t was tremendous letter,
Nelly"
And Kitty ended with hug and a
kiss, and look of that loyal admira-
ton which girl can give another girl
now and then.
When the spring came Jack Greene
went away from Chester, and did not
come back there any more. No doubt
Nelly Hunt would have forgotten his
very existence but for the valentine,
which she could not forget. She used
to blush, as she grew older, to think
how "bumptious it was. as she used
to call it to herself. What was SHE,
that she should have undertaken to
preach sermon to that boy? What
if he remembered it only to think how
it was, and to laugh at it?
But. luckily, he did not know from
whom it came; and with that thought
she cooled her bushes.
Nelly was twenty when Jack Green
came back to Chester again. And
now he came as physician, just
his studies, and anxious to
build up practice. Soon his fame
grew. His patients were among the
poor at first, and he cured them; aud
then richeHp people heard of it, and
sent for him. But, while he took all
the patients that came. he never gave
up his practice among those who most
needed MIN. His praise was in all
their mouths. There had never been
any doctor like this one.
Nelly was Miss Hunt now-for
Bertha had gone away from her into
the next country-and Nelly's grief
had made her gentle heart yet more
gentle and her helpful spirit yet more
helpful.
Toward night, one summer day, she
had gone to see an old woman who
had been her nurse once, and had
found her very ill-quite too i'll to be
left alone, and certainly in need of
physician. So Nelly tore a leaf from
her memorandum book and wrote on
it few lines, begging Dr. Green to
come at once, and then called to the
first passerby and entreated him to
take it to the doctor.
1t was scarcely half an hour before
DIR. Greene came in quietly and grave
ly. He attended to his patient with
that careful consideration which made
all those poor souls whom he visited
adore him. Then he turned to Nelly.
Nv ho will stay with her to- night p
be aRed; for. indeed, she hardly
ought to be left alone
Il shall stay, was the quiet an
swer.
Then come to the door with me,
please, and let me give you your direc-
lions
Nelly followed, and stood there. in
the soft summer dusk-a pretty pic
ture-with the wild rose flush dawn