The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-01-02
WENIFRED's CANVASS.
"what haye we come to, Winirredw
BY A. p. STEVENS.

windows, diamond yaned;. q generous
mantel-piece OF oak, inlaid with walnut;
tiled tire-place,7 whereOny %with great
patience and unlimited imagination.
could be deciphered the Bible story of
Joseph. These things, to give the room
the tlavor-of the antique it had;r evil
dentiy the G0ths and Vandals of fashion,
and modern taste had never SCI foot
here. 's' ~.
For the rest there was acheery bright.
ness Of the preseht; books, flowers,
music sheets and a piano; "a dnintywork-s
basket, with some trltle of fancy work
lying unfinished in it; "a bird cage swing
ing in the sunlit window, with its yell
low-coated inmate going wild over The
Joy OF song.
Beside The workable was an invalid's
chair; It's occupant, sWee-Iaced Ten
der-eyed woman, past middle age. a
" oman born 10 love and Lrust: a woman-
ly womau-the mostdelicate mechanism
from GOd's hand.
Delicate-ye5 is there something mar
velous in the power of fendurauce, which
is the special heritage oi these natures,
and this fair. frall! woman had met
Drayely, many grievous, losses, and
passed patiently through bitter SORROWS
since tue bright day, thirty years be-
fore, when Lawrence Storer brought her
his bride to this old dhUuse. that had been
his BIRTH place; whose fires had first
been lighted when his fathers mother
kllelt, a bride, upon the hearthst0ne.
Wealth and health had gone from her;
she had wiped the deWs Of death from
the face of the husband oil her youth, the
father Of her children; sne had endured
the agony Of knowing that stranger
hands had closed the blue eyes OF her
tirst-born; that ne, whose future had
been her one ambitious dream, lay III
Southern soldier grave, "unknelled, un-
coflined and unsung." These Things she
had suffered with patient fortltude.
"She is a saint, and too near heaven
for trouble to touch the hem OF her gar
mentsW said one VINO came to console
her at The news of Walters death, anu
went away mute, tnGing her above the
reach OF comfort.
But the speaker was an enthusiast,
and-is it not natural sequence!-no
student of human nature.
Mrs. SgOrer was not saint, only
delicate atured, delicaJely We
man. Capable, as we have seen, OF sui
tering and oil doing great things; also
incapable of doing or bearing anything
when it came to The little "WhereWlth-
ais" of daily life.
You have seen such people, all Of you
who go about with your eyes half open:
people 10 whom tue jar aud iret oil the
Iusning, pushing, scramDllng world is
nothing short OF PandemoMium, to state
| it mildly. II you recall one such nature,
us you read this, il is probably IL woman;
| if you can count over ten, perhaps one
Of them is a man. But, man or woman,
the one gifted Cor cursedD with this
nigh-Wrought, UYer-SensitiYe nature,
needs to be shut within the walls OF 1t
protecting love for all time,
AWAY from all din of battle,
| Away from the strife OF life"
1t sounds absurd, but it is the truth, to
say OF such one, tnat he, or she, as the
! case may be, could meet danger and
death without tilnching, but must run
from "tne butcher, the baker, the can
ulestick- akeT' in uncOHquefable ter
| ror.
How early in life Winilred Storer
| learned TO understand her mothers
strength and weakness, she could not
| have told. But The wisdom born of love
was hers. She was only twelve when
| her father died; at sixteen, When Walter
Heft them, she uneohselously took his
place III household affairs.
| Ii was sac who met "butcher and
gave them their just dues and no more,
Ieituer. Ii was she who persuaded her
mother that the great house, which, with
It's furniture, was all That was left Ia
lhem was 100 large and empty for two
lone women. When once her mother was
convinced of this, it was Winiired WnC
found desirable tenant willing to pay
such a rent as seemed perpetual Ior
tune to the young tinancler
"We can actually cal. and drink oul
precious pictures and dear old carpets
and Jnen have Them left to us-'subjecl
to natural wear and tear,'" she quoted
from the lease her 1ather's old IrIenu
Mr.. Woodward, had drawn for her.
ga good business head" he told his
wife, that night. ''though where she gol
it | don't know; it don't run in the lam
lily. Lawrence Storer could go through
more money than any man ever knew
and have less to show for it at The enL."
.sDO you think they need any more
helpw asked his wife. ..... ,.
"Ou! don't knoW--I guess not. ,Tha
rent, III Winitreu'5 hands, ought 10 sup
port them. Are. we going out to-nlghtP
Aud So The two passed to their owl
affairs, and forgot Winlfred's; but.
third, who mad listened and not spoken
t did not forget. .s ....... ..... .....-
| Anu w lullteu luOugUJ. IL was enough
too, and built castles not q few as. to tn,
investment of the leftover capital atte
: the troublesome. eating and drinking
should be provided for. --..
I she was so merry and brave over TIL
change, and the fitting up of the fou
rooms they had kept on lhe sunny sid
OF the second h)Or, that her mothe
, caught her spirit, as Wmifred kne Sill
would, and really tnought 1t quite dc
! srabLe thing TO do, though if she coui
nave seen ali that passed through Lh
child's Miad in thUse lew day, or
some outside Influences had not bee
! kept outside by resolute Winifred, sh
wOuld have been broken. n.hearted.
! When it was all arranged, Winifre
: rested content awhile. "Our goose {
! the golden egg" she called Inc house.
!. But by degrees there crept upon ne
. the knowledge that all trouble was nl
|, to be pacifed by The rent-rol. I5Woul
, feed Lnem, and buy comforts and sue
? luxuries- ior her Invalid mother as sl
must have,s at all COSTS; by economy
IRON it Wlnifred could buy gloves All
, music, and now and, Ihep IA new bool
: And they were LIVING very quietly, fer
a while, alter w alters death. But, SEQ
WInifred knew that she Would be ii
| yitad out To this and that tripnd's hollSr