The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1880-08-05
she began to feel more like sister or n
mother to Edward then like an acquaint-

more intimate Anacquaintance grows
Mt the start not like lump of sugar dis
solving in tea, but like crystal of Glau-
bers salts forming in saturated solu-
ton: that is, from a small beginning it
becomes larger. 1t may fall away after
wards, but t!iere always is point at
which it is greater than atthe beginning.
This is the general law Of acquaintances
and the case Of Edward and Sarah was
not an exception.
They had never been in each others
rooms.
"Tell me your history" said Edward
to Sarah, on the stairs one day.
How can I tell it here?" she said,
smiling. eff you will come into my
room and sit down"
| Edward started and plunged deep
regard into the eyes of the young girl.
He was obliged to confess that he
saw nothing whatever. IT will come"
he said -
Arriving ut the little room, he was re,
assured by its barrenness. "This sim
plicity," said he to himself, "arises out
of innocence" Then he looked ut the
solitary chair with some embarrassment.
"That is for You, Edward, said the
young girl II can sit on the bed"
"No, I thank you, Sarah; l prefer to
stand" said Edward severely, and
handed her the chair with gesture of
determination. She took it with o sigh
and little laugh. "Then I will make
my history short" said she. ....
All life histories are hitched at inter
walls on to the infinite. To make n life
story short, therefore, is necessarily to
make it incomplete. Sarah knew this,
but she would not ask Edward to sit Oh
the bureau, SO she made her history very
short indeed.
81 know nothing about myself" said
she, Except that I was born in hos
pital, brought up in an aims house, and
support myself by making shirts"
"That is noble" said Edward, with
enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is q volcano OF
flowing sympathy.
"The only clue 1 have to my parents
is broken agate, singularly carved"
continued the young girl.
ga broken agate" stammered Ed.
ward, feeling in all his pockets with one
sudden impulse The young girl re-
garded him with establishment. A sud
den suspicion came into his mind. Sus-
picion is both mother and daughter of
distrust. The world had been hard with
Edward, although he whistled. For a
moment he suspected that Sarah had
been rummaging his room. By some
mysterious instinct she OWNED his
thoughts.
"Wait, said she imperiously. Push
ing away impatiently her simple dress,
she disclosed a very prettily rounded
but plain gray stocking
Edward turned, embarrassed and un-
easy, towards the window.
The young girl made movement of
absolute simplicity. ''Do not be
ashamed" she said "This is my wooden
leg
Edward started, and approached her
with tears in his eyes, "Sarah," he said,
''you are adorable, and II was don
key"
She smiled little and gave him her
hand Then she unscrewed the wooden
leg and from recess i'll the top took out
sister, said she softly, "and this you see,
is why clatter on the stairs"
1t was an indescribable moment. Full
of tender love and .brotherly respect,
Edward yet could not properly embrace
his sister with a well ground fear of up
setting her frail chair. And she she
could not rise and throw herself upon his
neck With the air of one sacrificing at
the altar, he knealt, gently lifted the
wooden supplement of his sisters per-
sonality and screwed it carefully into its
socket. Then both rose, gazed into the
new worlds of each others eyes, and
melted into one figure, sobbing and
smiling.
So when the commonest water-bucket
is upset in the snow and the thin,
solid looking ice across its face il broken,
pours out the wealth Of that wonderous
fluid that runs round the world-bar-
ring the salt.
One thing we can only CUES, at blind
ly. We do not know why Edwards first
allusion to her infirmity should have
flashed into Sarahs mind the thought
that he was her brother. 1t was, per-
haps, the working Of beautiful instinct
"a new sensitiveness on hor
by nature as compensation for the loss
of her leg. But we may say it was this.
4 " 4 -
knowledge is the agreement in CON
seriousness of an object with its
ideal. This being the case, how should
we know? Or how should we know we
know?
Being sister was new experience to
Sarah. "But," she reflected after mo-
ment. since I have only one wooden
leg | cannot be cverbody's sister" 1t
was the working of the mind of begin
ner in new field Perhaps she should
have said, although / have wooden
leg" However, her longing for an ac-
qnaintance returned. Edward" she
said "you must have friends. Make me
acquainted with them"
He made her acquainted with mai
named John whose hair was red, and
whom she married John used her
wooden leg as medium of reproach and
reproof, and finally cut her head off and
threw it out of the window. John was
executed. Edward became a blear-eyed
drunkard, and was killed by an italian
in street fight. The italian took poi
son.