Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-25
LOVE OH CRUTCHEE.
an OLD Story in a New Way.

i'io'S ciiit 'lopiHt!- ii HIT 81 otiu.
dear. dear - said She presently. pecring out
do for dressmaker:"
why. where is Rhoda Tracy?"
Gone to fill vacancy, mamma. In other
words she has married a widower.'
Mrs. Talbot laughed.
We'll, let her go, my dear; you can have Mrs
Blake"
"Oh, but Rhoda is better Only think of her
leaving me and becoming somebody's second
wife. For my part l wouldn't thank any man
for his affections warmed over.
My little Perss. don't fret. No man will ever
offer you his affections either freshed orwarmed
over. You may depend on that
Then he needn't. and shan't have to refuse
him. retOrted Persis, gaily, as she dipped
swallow like, this way and that, laying away the
silks
But there was painful flush on her young
cheeks and a moment aftef she swept gracefully
out OF the ROOM Unless you looked twice you
would never have OWNED the cause of her pecu-
liar sideways motion. The gold-mounted crutch
which peepcd in and out OF the folds of her dress
was like wand of enchantment. and. as was
said OF Nile. Sale, '.all her steps were senti-
mcnts."
When Persis was baby her perfect beauty
had well-nigh wrought her ruin The nurse.
proud of her superb little figure and graceful
poses. was accustomed with criminal reckless
ness to perch her on a broad mantel and show
her oil to visitors. In this way the little crea-
t'fe had fall which made one limb shorter than
the other, and famed her for life Persis had
suffered very little physical pain but the morti-
hcatlon had been intense: it had given a morbid
coior1nS to an otherwise roSecolored life
No man will ever offer you his affections
You may depend on ti!at, repeated she bury
ing her face in sOfa-piIlOw. Mamma saws it.
and 1t is true; | knew it all before. Stanley
warner means nothing by his tender words and
tender Chances. He is as proud as Lucifer and
would never abide the modification of lame
wife 1t does seem cruel But / will not eat
NY heart for any man. exclaimed she. spirited
y. springing up and dasliing of the nnshe1
cPuS And now for the party. and a CAV new
dress. III send for Mrs Blake forthwith
IL so happened that Rhoda in flying away with
her widower had dropped her mantle on Mrs.
Bake, who used her needle and scissors like
fairy straight from the land of elves How mar
vicious dress she fashioned out Of ..sucb stufr
as dreams are made of, and how Persis floated
OH III IL IKE vision OF beauty! AS fair aud
sweet. said Celia Warner as wounded dove"
pcrsis Caught the words. and the little morbid
spot in her heart Gched afresh.
No, Mr.. Warner, said she proudly. as he
asked her to dance Il prefer to sit in this win
dow; 1t Is SO pleasant to watch the crowd in mo-
ton" INV
Pardon me-" replied Mr.. Warner, biting his
moustache, and moving away with a graceful
flourish Il was thoughtless to make the re-
quest"
And he never dreamed that his words hurt.
ne 1Orgets sometimes that am wounded
dove" sighed Persis from the window-seot.
but sooner or later he always comes to his
senses ~ 'i''
There was one man who did not forget. and
tnat was Eplraim Zelie. But, then Persis did
Rot care very much what Ephraim remembered
or what he forgot. He was a worthy youno
man, and she said in her girlsh intolerance, sit
there's one thing stupider than another il is
your worthy young mani He taught school,
STUDIED law. ana am not sure but he carried
on a large farm at the same time: but when Won
tried to draw him out in a general congregation
IL was IKE drawing sound tooth He was the
most industrious OF men. and the kindest of sons
10 widowed mother; but. then his ewes were
Sea-sreen. under rugged cliffs OF eyebrows: his
h';hds were horny, and all his angles as acute as
a lawyers wits 49,
Seeing Miss Persis alone in the window seat
ne yentured to 60 up ard address her. though
ms heart thumped loud opposition to such
How do you do. Miss Persis?" said he offer.
ing his honest hand, while his plain face mar
fOwly escaped becoming expressive
very Wei. Ephrairn; and how are you:" re-
pied she, rousing from a sad reverie She al
ways calls him ''Ephraim," because she had
known him from boy Hehad lived a wear at
her fathers, and worked for his board while
attending the academy. How Ephraim at
TINS moment envied other youths their
noncnalance OF manneri Here was he
stahulhs beside the very woman he
wished most to please. but he was tOngue-tied.
she SAT there seif-possessed and beautiful scan
ming him from head to foot, he thought. She
was not naughty in the least, but she might
nave placed him at his ease. and she did not
care 70 do It, If she had once turned the con-
VersallOn TO ''Old times" and the weii-remem-
bered incidents Of that too happy year. Ephraim
would have been himself in a moment World
he ever forget the afternoon on the basin and
the efforts he made to teach her how to skate
having nrst modelled for the shoemaker pair of
mite skates which We're misinated To fit
her unequal feet. How carefully he had puided
hef over the ice. He kept the precious red com
forter still, the ''lite-preseryer" she had called
1t. by which she had chung to him in her timid
efforts to stand upright
In those old times PeTsis liked him. he vas
sure she did. He had sat in the kitchen while
he piodded at his Latin grammar-IH was a hard
student aiways-and her bright face had been AS
good a5 an extra lamp. She had coniide,l to him
ser clllldish sorrows, which generally sprang
rom one caGse-her lalneness; and he had pitie
her with ali his heart. Then his avkwardness
and ugllne3s had raised no barrier between
them, but latterly it seemed different Persis
as young Iady was much admired. She
had learned to set high value on wealth
ana appearances; much of the childIike
simplicity was gone from her Character
Ephralm never saw her now but he
thought OF his ungainy hands and feet. and
every hoe-hil of defect doomed up like a
mountain Persis had spent years at boarding
school forming her mind and manners. and
though Ephraim was fully alive to ali the ac-
CURED elegance, he incurred for the old-time
eordaty. 1t had got lost in the process of polish
ing. He was rising in the world: he thought
that she might see one day that he had not been
laboring for naught; but his hope of winning
her for wife was dying slow, hard death.
While he was still stammering before her. try
ing to find words for his thoughts, STANLEY War
ner approached, sparkling with the exhilaraton
Of his dance. Persis had been watching him
while she talked absently with Ephraim; and
now, as he smiled down upon her graciOusly, she
looked up at him with a glow in her eyes which
the poor young lawyer could not bear He
turned On his heel and walked away. grinding
some rescntful thought under the sole of bis big
boot.
Persis scarcely noted that he went. Some
time hence, when years Of experience should
soften her harsh Judgments she would learn to
appreciate lump of genuine gold, even though
half buried in quartz; not vet.
WAS it a pleasant dance Mr. Warner?" said
wi fha dali 70 q, she ia