The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1875-03-11
MI. Grimn's Valentine.
BY ROSE TERRY COOKE.

BY ROSE TERRY COOKE.
MIR. Griffin was an old bachelor and a
stock-broker, man whose soul was alb
sorbed in money. 1t stood with him for
all other pleasures and objects in lite. Liy-
ing in New York, he never sought any
amusement but the roar and struggle of
the Stock Exchange. He never stopped
to look at picture gem, or a blossom
III anybody's window on his way down
town. He was the terror of the apple
selling boys and bouquet girls not one of
them dared to offer him their small wares,
nor did any little boot black venture to
pipe an invitation toward the forbidding
specimen, however muddy his thick boots
were. AS for love or love-making, they
were as far from Mr.. Griffin's thoughts as
any other too expensive luxury He lived
IN the third story Of a small brick house,
one Of block in a side street, almost up
to Central Park. He boarded with a widow.
a meek and shiny woman who, neverthe-
less. had taste tor money as well as Mr..
Griffin, and contrived to make him pay
good price for board. But a day was at
hand when Mrs Blivins should lose her
boarder. Mr.. Griffin, although one might
not have supposed it, had mother up in
the country. Probably he would have
loved her, if he could have loved any
body He went once a year to see her,
and stayed q full week His travelling ex-
penses were not quite as much as his
board 50 he perhaps made half dollar
by the operation, got a weeks pure air
gratis, and, always taking his s'run,' as
he called it, in the dull season, he lost no
business, But one day his mother died
Ia boI To 81.
staying his week out, ostensibly to settle
her affairs, he made a great discovery-it
really had cost his mother less to live a
week, servant and all, than it did HIM
Melindy Barker wasa stout, smart woman
of thirty, fresh and pleasant locking. She
had lived with old Mrs Griffin five years
and done all the work, besides being, in
good set ankee phrase, zone Of the tami-
iy."
Mr., Griffin owned a tenement house in
| the city, and Just now the fourth story flat
was vacant; nor had he any applications
for it. since it was now July He walked
up and down the gravel path good many
times, with his hands in his pockets, medi-
tatlng. If he had smoked, he would have
luIuiSated the idea; but he never omolzed
small vices are expensive. At last he
l4lf 4LCNt A1Cllli''N W ~ Duck W New j OK
and keep house for him There was his
mothers furniture, that would sell for
| nothing, but was quite good enough for
him and would save buying Meindv
would have half dollar week more
wages-tor he did not dare to offer her the
pittance that she had hitherto accepted,
though what he did offer bore but small
relation to the city tariff of wages; but
intent of all country immigration to the
city. Melindy pondered the request deep
ly over her cooking-stove and wash-tub.
She had longed a great while to ego to
York" She had been under the grim rule
of Mrs. Griffin in Peterstown long enough !;
that Struggling country village offered no
prospect to Melindy's ambition or hopes.
a vague outlook flattered her with ideas
of shops, visiting, dress, not impossibly
| matrimony. She decided to 60 Mr. Grif-
fin stald his week out, helped to pack the
furniture and left Melindy in possession
for few days while he went back to give
Mrs. Blivins warning. With that excel
lent woman he had perturbed interview
She insisted on fortnights warning or
payment; and Mr.. Griffin could not part
with so much money. He staid it out and
Mehndy renamed in Peterstown till the
first OF August, when, after three hours
sail, she found herself and her baggage at
the steamboats, dock, one sultry noon
We pass over in wise silence the scene
OF struggle, dirt, confusion and squalor
presented to home-sick Mellndy by the
aspect Of that fourth story flat in East
street; but she had good courage and a
deal of "faculty' mysterious shibboleth
of New England speech, that tells its pur-
port only to the initiated. She insisted on
cheap papers, to be selected by herself
and got them, on condition of putting
them up herself; she "struckn for pail
of whitewash and brush as permanent
institution, she refused to COOK dinner
till plumber had been sent for to mend
leaky water pipe And Mr. Griffin growled
audlby over the exterminators and polish
ers and powders OF sundry sorts he was
forced to buy-at the point of the bayonet,
so to speak. But the plumber! When
Mr.. Griffin. grinding his teeth. stopped to
! order that useful and unreliable mans inn
mediate presence, little did he think that
he laid the first brick of Melindy's dream
castle and the corner stone of his own dis
quiet and disturbance. So fate spins its
web out Of our own substance, fastens it
to our own cornices and pillars, tangles
us in the invisible destruction, traps us in
our tracks, and our last gasp is: .sIf
could only have known But we never
do know.
Fate also trapped the plumber; for once
| in hrs life he kept promise rather Won
dering at himself while he did so; but
August was not his busy season. He was
an Englishman by parentage, though city
born, and bis keen eye, used to the slender,
useless shapes and pallid prettiness of New
York lower-class girls, was at once at
tracted by Melindy's buxom figure, her
| fresh cheeks, her bright, clear, dark eyes,
and her prompt vigorous manners John
Perkins was a still man; but, like the
Dutchman's parrot, he thought the more
and while he went about his work in
silent masterful manner, that struck Melin-
dy as the right way. she also perceived that
he was man Of goodly presence, took
note of his appearance, and was pleased
when he said he would call again. and see
how the faucet worked. He did call again
lie offered to show Melindy the way to
the Methodist church nearest her masters
mouse lie escorted her to weekly PRAYER
meeting, after awhile, as regularly as Fri
day came round. If we are rather hurry
| ing our relation Of q matter which seemed
to Melindy as gradual and as natural as
the course OF the seasons, it is to demon
| strate that she did have some small con-
solations and alleviations in her new life,
before we relate its disagreeable features
for there were plenty of these. Mr.. Griffin
was scarcely established in his new quar-
ters before he began to find out-what
many others have found out before him
that housekeeping is more expensive for
small family than cheap boarding. Lit
tie expenses crept upon his purse daily
| that Wrung his small soul bitterly. He