Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-07-24
LOVE ON CRUTCHEs.
An Old Story in a New Way.

Pefsis came hopping in like bird.
Dear. dear :" said she, presently. peering on,
from a cloud of silks and lace3, what shall
do for a dressmaker?"
Why. where ia Rhoda Tracy:"
Gone to I'LL vacancy. mamma. Ir othe;
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 hei
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 or warmed
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 a painful flush on her Young
cheeks, and a moment after 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 peeped in and out Of the folds of her dres:
was IKE wand OF enchantment, and, as was
said of Mile Sale, 'all her steps were senti-
ments."
When Persis was baby her perfect beauty
haa Weil-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 mantcl and show
her Of to visitors. In this way the little crea-
fure 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-
hcation mad been intense; it had given a morbid
coioring to an otherwise rose-cOlOred life
NO man Will ever offer you his affections.
you may depend on that, repeated she. bury
ing her face in sOfa-pillow. Mamma saws it.
and it Is true; knew it all before Stanley
arner means nothing by his tender words and
tender Chances He is as proud as Lucifer. and
would never abide the modification of a lame
"iIe- 1t does seem cruel! But will not eat
Wy heaft Tor any man. exclaimed she. spirited
y spr1n9lng up and dashing off the unsbed
erars; And now for the party, and a gay new
dress! I'll send for Mrs Blake forthwith"
III so happened that RhOda i'm fiying aWay with
ner WldOWer, had dropped her mantle on Mrs.
b!aNe, VINO used her needle and scissors like a
1airy straight from the land of elves. How mar
vicious dress she fashioned out of ..such stnff
as dreams are made OF" and how Persis fiOate1
on In 1t like vision of beauty! AS fair and
sweet, said Celia Warner, as wounded dove. !"
fersis caught the words, and the little morbid
No, Mr. Warner" said she proudly. as no
asked her to dance. 50 prefer to sit in this win
ton" Wv" la A"o-
Pardon me" replied Mr. Warner. biting his
inoustache, and moving away with a graceful
houfisa. II was thOughtlesS to make the re-
quest"
Ana ne never dreamed that his words hurt.
ne 1orgets sometimes that am wounded
dove, sighed Persis from the windOw-seat
Senses '' w LID
There was one man who did not forget and
that was Ephraim Zelie. But, then. Persis did
not care very much what Ephraim remembered
OF what he forgot. He was a worthy young
man. and she said in her girlish intolerance ..if
thereS one thing stupider than another it is
your worthy young MANI He taught school
STUDIED law. and am not sure but he ..carried
on large farm at the same time: but when Won
tried 10 draw him out in general conversation
IL was Ike drawing sound TOOTH He was the
ihost INDUSTRIOUS OF men, and the kindest of sons
TO widowed mother; but. then his eyes were
sea- green. under rugged cliffs of eyebrows: his
liahds were horny, and all his angles as acute as
a lawyers wits. "o
Seeing Miss Persis alone in the window seat
ne ventured TO go up and address her, though
!, ms neart thumped loud opposition to such
How do you do, Miss Persis?" said he. Offer
ing his honest hand, while his plain face mar
rowly escaped becoming expressive
very wei, Ephraim; and how are you?" re-
piied she; rousing from sad reverie She al
ways calls him .'Ephraim," because she had
known him from a boy He had lived wear at
her fathers, and worked for his board while
attending the academy. How Ephraim at
tms moment envied other youths their
nonchaance Of manner Here was ne
standing beside the J.: very woman he
wished most to please, but he was tongue-tied.
She sat there self-pOssessed and beautiful. scan
nlnS nina 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 to do it, II she had once turned the con
!, sersatiOh 10 oid times" and the well-remem-
Dered incidents of that too happy year, Ephraim
would have been himself in a moment. Would
ne ever forget the afternoon ON the s'basjn. and
the efforts he made to teach her how to skate
having first modelled for the shoemaker a pair ri
iittie skates which were mismated to fit
ner unequal feet. How carefully he had ruided
her over the ice! He kept the precious red com
forter still, the life preserver' she had called
II. by which she had chung to him in her timid
efforts to stand upright
In those old times Persis liked him: he was
sure she did. He had sat in the kitchen while
he plodded at his Latin graInmar-fh was a hard
student alWays-and her bright face had been as
GOOD az an extra lamp. She had confded to him
her childish sorrows, which generally sprano
from one cause-her lameness; and he had pitied
HCi Will al Ills heart. linen his aWkWardlpSS
and ugliness had raised no barrier between
them; but latterly it seemed different. Perss
as young lady was much admired She
mad learned to set a high value on wealth
ana appearances; much of the chldlike
simplicity was gone from her character.
Ephraim never saw her now but he
thought OF his ungainy hands and feet. and
every lOle-hlll of defect doomed up like a
Persis had spent years at boarding
schoOl forming her mind and manners. and
though Ephraim was fully alive to all the ac-
quired elegance, he mOurned for the old-time
cordalty 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 exhiaratiOn
of his dance. Persis had been watching him
while she talked absently with Ephraim: and
now, as he smiled down upon her gracionsly. she
looked up at him with glow in her ewes which
the poor young lawyer could not bear, He
turned on his heel and walked away grinding
some resentful thought under the sole Of his big
boot 30
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.
I" Vas 1t pleasant dance Mr.. Warner?" said
81 A la rxk~Itt 6.xlsa