Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1877-10-27


am ei4hty-one years cid so-nighi
whcn the e1eck strikes twelve My name
h Ezra Steele, and WIS born in the city
Of New York. II was o different place
then from what it 10 now, and people
walked I'm the BOwery for fresh air, and
thought Pearl street pretty far up town
Our home was almost out of town
nearly where Canal street is to-day. We
had q garden about il, and our garden
touched that Of q neighbor, who was q
German by birth, and fond of his flowers
a. q German can be.
He had beds Of great gaudy tulips and
wonderful roses and enormous double
peoples, but / used to think the sweet
white lilies the prettiest of all, and al
ways thought little Gretchen just like
one Of them.
She never had much color, but her fore
head was like snow, and her hair, long
and light, curled down to her waist.
She used to come to her side of the
fence and look over it, and talk about
such things aswe were interested In. Some
times she came in to play with me, but
my mother would never allow me to 60
into neighbor Werner's garden, for fear
that / should ipjurs the flowers, through
which could never learn to walk quietly
and reverentially, as Gretchen did.
Indeed, neighbor Werner was not fond
Of children, and not one to tempt them
into his garden or his home, or anywhere
where they would be apt to meet him; q
gruff, oldish man, who had lost bis wife
years before, and who had no one in his
house to care for his little girl, who was
quite left to herself, and had q womanly
way with her at ten that some have not
ct sixteen. \
She knew even then how to make her
fathers soup and coffee, and how to put
the buttons on his shirts. Work which
was too much for her little hands he
must have done himself; but the house
was very clean and bare and tidy, not q
carpet on any floor, and not blanket,
for--as my mother said, who had seem,
they slept between feather beds as though
they wanted to smother themselves.
but such a. the house was, little
Gretchen took more and more care of it as
she grew older, and helped her father
with his flowers, and knew each individ-
ual blossom. 1t used to seem to me that
they knew her.
While I was very young, mere child
in years, used to say that Gretchen
should be my little wife, my mother al
ways answering:
az couldn't wish you q better, If she
grows up what she Is now.n
When I was older / stopped saying this
out Of shame, but / thought so more than
ever. Iknew before / was old enough to
be called q man that should never love
any one but Gretchen Werner. She never
thought about IL ut all, until put it into
her head by making love to her. FL
Fora while she was very shy and would
mot listen to me; but at last she told me
that she liked me better than any one
elss In the world, and let me kiss her.
I had not known her before since vas
snn gears old. Thea I was cne-end.
fwensy. have sesn young men Hiss the
Girls sheY love IN light careless way,
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