Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-08-01
THE LASS THAT LOVED A SAILOR
BY CHARLES WARREN sropDARD.

Well, hardy eVer!' SAID the gallant
captain, with vague gesture, as he
slipped his cable and bowed himself in
to space. For half an hour | had
basked in the reflected sunshine of gold
lace tempered with navy blue. 1t was
high noon, high tide, high time to be
drifting down toward the club. but l
held him spell-bound by one button in
high relief, and the substance of the in
tsrview was not unlike the following:
az know her, my dear fellow" said
|, with customary and pardonable
feryor, az have known her for ages
AS child she was pink and white, pref
ty and pert. In trundle-bed society she
was pose to degree she will never
again approach until she is pdsse.
"And at school? AT school she was
one of those dormitory heroines who
are always called Tom, Dick, or Harry.
or possibly Jack, by the adolescent
adorers of her class. She was the pos
sible Jack who whistled like maybe,
who marched through wet marshes in
fishing suits, who smoked in the semi
nary tower and could say danaa' with.
out shudder
at was she alone who withstood the
blast when a sectarian revival swept
through the institution and moved
down the inmates by hundreds. There
wac weeping and wailing and gnashi1g
of teeth, and when the hysterical tribes
united and implored Jack 10 surrende:,
that the clerical siege might be raised.
the defiant girl was found locked in her
chamber with licorice and novel or
rations and utter disgust seated upon
her banged brow.
"She strummed the inevitable piano.
forte with superficial grace, sang with
uninteresting correctness, could ill
chasm in any conversation with her
narrow-gauge French and tiirted-filrt-
ed like hornet. Girls are liberal with
their sting. But yet their stingi is IN no
wise to be avoided; there is hardly
more harm than honey in it.
81 have seen her blossom into so
ciety, coy, conscious, coquettlsh, and in
vite admiration with that negative
magnetism which is, perhaps, twice as
compelling as any other force. She
has thrilled me on the street with a
sudden recognition that was paralyzing
as it was unexpected, and l know that
/ dropped my cane audibly aud dotted
my hat with the wrong hand when was
fully three PAGES in the rear.
"At the opera / felt myself happy
convenience, a verbal directory for the
elite in the boxes and the stalls. Her
interest wasn't centred in me; but then,
thank heaven! her interest was not
centred-it radiated like the quilts Of
the fretful porcupine. To be sure, she
retained me between the acts with
smiles and glances. Her glance was
like with smile q TRANSPORTATION, but,
like the blind butterfly it was impossible
to capture her without probably fatal
results.
"At the kettle-drum, queen rose OF
the rosebud garden of girls did ever
queen receive homage with such chill
ing influence She had lived too long
to be unconscious of her power, but not
long enough to have learned its limit.
"She offered coterie of admirers;
and that night, standing by her mirror,
clothed in white samite, loosenlng her
Medusa locks of wriihing gold, this but.
terhy became fury, and rocked be.
tween rage and repentance until the
dawn betrayed her.
"After this, having loved and suffered
as only a child can love and suffer, she
was borne to Europe in the bosom of
her highly respectable family.
"She developed an individuality, at.
tributable TO change Of climate and
the constant change of scene. She
adopted the manners and customs Of
The continental races, enlarging and
improving on each. Her vocabulary
is materially altered. 1t is no longer
possible for her to express her emotions
in the American dialect, but French,
German and Italian are as necessary to
her as the black coffee and cigarettes
other adoptions.
"Oh, that wisp Of paper that she
rolls at intervals, the small, fiat, fuml-
ferrous cigarette, with tropical twist at
each end-charming enough IN her
lips, but a mere delusion in mine. II
is her handiwork; she has wasted much
good tobacco in the construction there.
OF, but she burns it with the abandon OF
q parlor Carmen
Her name rebounds in the tourist
columns Of Cdiiqnani and the Americdn