Daily Republican., 1879-04-11

/ will chase him round the room,
While his nose shines through the gloom,
Baby mine, baby mine,
THE FLOWER GIRL.
You may have seen her on Chestnut
street, some sunny day in early spring;
she always used to come with the re-
turn Of the birds, with the first blos-
SONS which wakened in the woods.
You will remsmber::eher by her great
blue eyes and abundance ol fair hair,
which undeniably proclaimed her Ger"
man origin. There was something
about the wistful face which always
attracted customers, and MANY pass
er down the crowded thoroughfars re-.
fused the tempting alluTements Of
more gorgeous displays Of roses and
pinks and psnsies, TO drop dime in
the palm of this little vender Of the
pets Of the woods and wayside, violets
and arbutus.
At first, I only stopped to admire.
But when touch Of the girlish fingers
sent out shower Of dew and watt Of
fragrance from the beauties, my heart
turned to sweet picture Of the past
Of dim old wildwood and . troop Of
merry children scattering the last
years. leaves with ruthless hands, IS
they plucked the pink arbutus from
its bod. The children Of that bygone
spring are all grown now, and As my
heart throbbed with cld-n memories,
| stretched forth my hand and drew the
fairest cluster from her basket and
buried my face in its fragrant bloom.
'Arbutus. thou dost family swlns
The subtle censor of tho spring;
sip thy wine. kiss Thy lips,
softly touch thy pinky tips
The poets words came yelling up TO
my lips, and Hilda watching my emo
tion " tn eager interest, asked, softly,
1.-The lady loves thu brantiful flowers.
So do |. They know me; they under
stand me when | talk 10 them. See,
they turn to greet me when 1 lit them
up"
"Whers did you find tlrem, little
one?" | inquired, studying the ami
mated face lifted so earnestly to mine
"Just over there" indicating with a
wave of the hand the direction in which
home lay.
"In the country, ,your home is then ?"
ooh, yes, in the country! Lichen-
fields they call it at the station"
"Liehenfelds Elysian fields it must
be, to grow such rare blossoms. And
you gather them in the woods and
bring them all this aong way to sell
them ~
"Oh, it isn't far. Sometimes when
the day is cool, walk; sometimes a
countryman offers nae a ride, and some
times come on the cars
"And the monsy you earn is all your
own, is it' What little fortune you
must be laying up''
"Yes, it is all nEne--my very own,"
she said, dropping hsr head, as though
reluctant to tell NE tnOre.
That was the first of our acquain.
tance, but not tlie last. Gradually she
took ME into her confidence and told
me of her life. She was Hilda Won
Hurst. Hans, her father, and Gretchen,
her mother, had come from their beauti-
full German home to America to try
their fortunes together. 1t was such
lovely, lovely Lcme--that cottage by
the blue river, overlooking the purple
vineyard ground in fsr away Germany.
Mamma Gretchen was always pining to
20 back to IL, and to the poor old grand
mother left behind. Papa Hans
promised to take her just as soon as
tn. money could be saved from the
flowers but there were their own
wants to supply, and baby Hilda to
care for, and it was very little they
could lay by for the long voyage.
Meanwhile, the old grsndmamma
was growing olda- and Older, her once
bright eyes wore dim, and she had no
one to read aloud 80 her now, as Gretcli-
on had been wont to do, ami when shs .
wrote to the dear daughter ever the
seas, the lines were blurred with tears
Of longing, which caused Poer Gretch-
EMS heart to ache bitterly. But they
saved and saved, ana every year the
fund grew little, and Hilds was seven
and large enough to help much by
the flowers for mamma to
make into bouquets, which papa sold
in the great city.
How they planned together. 1t was
such beautiful year-that ono when
the flowers were all sold and tbs frost
had come-for, by another spring there
would be- money enough in the treasure
box to take them all back to Germany.
'tIf the Lord was willing," Hans al
ways added, with his haud on Gretch-
EMS fair hair, as they talked of the
ioys of that blissful future.
But the Lord was not willing. He
called papa Haus one day, and she
great doctors said he must die with the
tever-.a dreadful fever which took his
reason away, and made him caE,
- Gretchen, Gretchen I" over and over
again, though she was bending over
his hedsi IL night and day. Sae must
have taken the fever Of him, 4he doc.
tors decided, when, after poor Hans
was laid to rest, she moaned and raved
aud begged for Hilda and
grand mamma, until at last rest and
peace came, and she closed her blue
eyes aud never opened them more.
A ssd, sad story, was il not! Hilda
became very dear to me after that. She
lived with a good old farmer and his
wife, who loved the little girl dearly
and humOred her strange whim to sell
lowers all the summer through. But
hey never quite understood her. She
was q mystery to me, as well: for whom
4 L L.. Il