River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-01-11

Otluc uOLlc again. Sut Sdlu utI pray Ell 3
and cried little before she went to
bed, and then slept as tired woman
sleeps. Dec. 3lst, 1875.
III.
Scarcely up to the conventional
ideal is warm New Years Day, but
1t has its advantages. People will go
TO church, for instance, on such day
more readily than when there are
lcicleS at the ewes, and the wind is
cold and ruthless. So, when New
Years morning came like morning
in April, and the pleasant clangor of
the church bells went aba0ad over the
idle city, people were attracted as
they had not anticipated, and came
out upon the streets in hundreds. Into
one church in particular a steady
throng kept pouring, church whose
bell had an especially inviting tone,
and whose general smooth exterior
and expansive doorway seemed to in.
dictate a Christianity, not too austeTe,
an orthodoxy, not too straight-laced
for the masses. There were all sorts
of people in the gathering congrega-
ton. Came the business man who.
with half regret that money-making
must be suspended for the day, wanted
to doZe away an hour of the enforced
rest. Came the well-dressed woman
who could not endure that one oppor-
tunity for display should be- omitted
Came the beauX and bells who saw
each other, and saw little else. Came
the music lovers, who delighted in the
Organist and choir, and cared not for
the preacher. Came.the many before
mentioned whom the church-bells had
charmed away from their homes, they
could not tell the how or why. Came
the deyOut few who in their hearts
were thankful for the past and prayer
fGl for the future. Came the rugged
man with twisted leg, who limped
and whose ways were rather awkward,
but whose face was not without its in
terest. Came neat little woman of
about thirty, clad plainly but attract
lively, quietly decorous in all her ways,
following the hymns and not unmind-
full of the sermon.
The exercises of the day went on in
the church. the organs notes and the
voices of the singers filled the air with
pleasant sounds and then the preacher
talked. He talked very well, too, in a
sermon quite adapted to the day. 1t
was discourse suitable for the begin
ming of the New Year, full of earnest
ness and faith, and incentive. 1t was
strong and healthy and honest. Even
the listless listened before he closed,
and when the end came all the congre-
CATION felt somehow as though start
ing out on a new journey with new
impulses and added hope and better in
tentiOn. The closing exercises passed
again the deep notes of the organ
swelled upon the air, and, keeping in
voluntary time with the steady meas
ure, the congregation suTged slowly
out upon the street and into the world
again. There were very many people
and the walk was full. A MISS is al
ways unwieldy and careless, ana in this
great crowd the weaker drifteo with
thepresSure rather than walked, What
wonder, then, that slight figure in
trim, plain garb should be carried
close TO the gutter, so close as to be in
imminent danger of being forced quite
off the pavement, and what more nat
ural than that a rough man with a
twisted leg and plain clothes, but
gentlemen's instinct, should reach out
an arm TO rescue her.
BEG pardon, miss. You'd better
take my arm till the crowd lessons q
little"
The slim woman in plain garb 10
up into the face of the rough man III
plain ditto, as she takes his arm. And
then she turns pale for a moment,
after which a flush comes over her
face. At the same time he looks down
on her, and he, too, becomes pale as
death, but he doesn't blush afterward,
as she does. The paleness mas died
away gradually.
"IIetty! !"
sob, John y
There is a mnmentary timidity and
indecisiOn about each of them, and
then he draws more closely the arm
she has taken. She comes nearer with
a kind of flutter. and they go on with
the people. But they do not separate
when the crowd lessons. They break
the silence between them again, after
a time, and they have great deal to
talk about. They explain much and
forgive much and regret much. Then
they consider the present. A laboring
man and milliner with little custom
can scarcely establish a sumptu0us
household. Well, the new year may
bring them better fortune. They can
do more where each has sympathy.
They think they can live comfortably,
happily, anyhow.
And that same April breeze which
has got into December fans their
cheeks, and it does seem to them that
no frigid, frosty New Years Day such
as the old songs tell of, could compare
with this, or be half as happy i'll any
way.
And more than the reader can have
dreamed of there is in the story, for
the foundation is on solid fact, and
there ii be plain wedding very soon.
No cards.