The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-10-21
MY LITTLE SWEETHEART.
A STUDY FROM LIFE.

When first knew her, she was fifteen years old :;
I was twenty-four. She was a schoolmaster's
daghter l a schOOl-masters son. We first met
one September evening Her father was a strug-
Cling pedagOgue with a family of seven children
to support, and few pupils / had it in my head
to become his partner, and went down first to see
how things were looking. I arrived after a
lengthy journey, and the first thing l saw was a
little girl seated in an old armchair, with big
book upon her knee-such little girl in short
frOcks, hardly up to my shoulders. She shook
hands with me, and as she did so 1 noticed that
her eyes were blue, her hair was golden brown
escaping from its bond in Tippling wavelets, and
that she had curiously winning smile, smiling
not only with her lips, but with her eyes and face
and all Later on, was struck by the way her
little head poised upon her shoulders. She was
upright as a dart, and when she moved il was
with an infinite grace, as some tiny queen.
Her name was Emily To her friends she was al
ways En-. / am not and was not particularly
susceptible, but in some strange fashion this little
hfteen-yeaF-Old lady wound herself round my
heart a nobody ever did before or since. She was
the greatest puss. She was a full Of mischief as
an egg of meat. She was lazy she was untidy (;
she was perpetually-and deservedly-in hot
water; but, with il all, she was AZ some little
maiden stepped down from fairyland.
She and 1 struck up a friendship She always
did make friends with all male creatures, whether
then; and ] fancy the pride of authorship even in
50 small a degree, had a certain charm for her,
which set me up in her eyes. She wrote her name
in my birthday book, and beneath II ! wrote,
'My Little Sweetheart 1t lies before me at this
moment. She the most audaciOus talker
would prattle Of all things under heaven, and was
never happy if her tongue was still. she was full
Of the grandest projects meant to 90 the greatest
things; and in moment Of enthusiasm would
pour fourth her ambitious soul. She had no idea
of anything beyond the commencement; she did
know W al 70 "A
plan bat TO fling it from her. just like the idle
puss she One thing, and one thing only,
would she persevere in-mischef.
"RefOrm - she would say her sins being anew
found out "NOw, did you ever hear Of anybody
reforming at fifteen ?" This with her hands be-
hind her, and the most sOlemny cOmical look in
her blue eyes, which waited for an answer TO her
question. II Think" she would say, if you could
manage to be in earnest with her five minutes i'm
succession, 'f you only give me one more chance
I will-yes, / WiU be better"
But no. She would fly through her work like "A
bird hinging unwelcOme showers from her wing.
She could not see that life was real
Yet bad she good cause to see that il was so. II
was the hardest struggle I'm the world for her
father and mother to bring two ends together.
Very little money was ever hers. Her wardrobe
was OF the scantiest. She knew nothing of pleas
ure, as some people understand it; she had never
been ten miles out of the town where she was
born yet there must have been some fairy present
at her birth, for she was like Summers day, al
ways bright. Not that she could not be grave
That was one Of her nrest charms-her Gift OF
sympathy. Only let some one whom she knew
ana cared for be I'm sorrow, and En- would not be
far away. Dark, indeed, would be that sorrow
which did not change TO light when her sun was
shining. Her voice, her eyes, her arms all Joined
TO drive the shadows away, and soothe the sufferer
with the presence Of her love
Yet, was ii love? That is "A question that have
been long revolving. Did my little sweetheart
understand what love might be? Hardly. There
was no depth in her nature, and that foundation
Of patience upon which love must rest was
scarcely there.
Hers was heart which felt for all the world
but only till it laughed with her. Absence never
made her heart grow fonder; and if she sorrowe,
10 part with you to-day she joyed with your sue
cessor tomorrow. Constancy was more than sh
foolish fellow who would have her wait till n
carved his way to fortune. She could not under
stand that life real
two years was going for a rambling expeditio