Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-08-31
(From All the Year Round.1
HEIITY.


were better sleeper.
He always seems to have something on
his mind. He is not content to keep it
there either, but must forever be taking
the mOon-when there is one-into his
confidence.
He is dog who has keen sense of
his own responsibilities, too, and feels
called upon to bark at every boy who
whistles as he passes, and at every
dog who peeps in through the various
gaps in the wooden palings of his home.
So he does good deal of barking.
take it altogether, and is looked upon by
the inhabitants OF Paradise place in gen
eral as safe and sure protection against
burglars and all evil-doers.
Still, when working hard at "copy,"
for which I know the printers devil
will be bowling at my gates in the
morning, am sorry the hoarse dog is
CT such conscientious disposition.
When / say " bowling at my gates,' I
speak metaphorically. AS a matter of
fact, [ have only share in front door.
You knock three times, and that means
the little plaln-looking, shabby woman
in the second floor front
l am only lodger, you see, in Num-
Der Nine Paradise place, and ours is not
an aristOcratic neighborhood. Yet we
have an odd sight or sound that is pleas
ant In its way, for all that.
/ really don't think L ever saw finer
mignonette than grows In the window of
Number Twenty. over the way; and,
dear ne how sweetly the perfume steals
across the narrow street when the
wealth is still and warm.
Then there is the lark fastened outside
the attic window of Number Ten. Did
ever one hear such melody as he makes
when they put him out the first thing of
a morning? He squats Oh the square of
turf in the bottom of his cage, presses
his specKled breast to the bars-and [
shut my eyes, and am back in my old
country home. The burrows of the
freshly turned fields have fresh, pun
gent smell. [ hear my young brother
Qong since laid to rest in far-off land)
whistling as he comes home from his
work, with our blue eyed baby sister
toddling along by his side holding brave
ly on to one finger of his strong. sun
burned hand. The farm door stands
open; the passage inside is pied with
gently stirring leaf shadows from the ivy
that clusters all over the old porch; and
-yes-there is the mother I shall never
see again, knitting In hand, peeping from
the doorway at those two approaching
figures--the tall, stalwart lad and the
blue-eyed bit of lassie.
These are the visions [ see as I listen
to the lark, and hope he doesn't mind
very much being doomed to live in a
small wire house and cheer us DOOR toll
ers with his song.
Yes; even Paradise place has it's pleas
ures AS to the stories I write-why.
they are full of lords and ladies, and
everything is on the most genteel scale
imaginable. [ take in fashion paper to
study the dress of the upper circles:
though on this point [ am forced to admit
that the artist who ''does the illustra-
tons is trial to me, and often astonish-
es me with the look of my own creations
I am plf strangely marvelously alone in
the world. -
The old homestead, father, mother.
big brother, blue-eyed sister-all are
gone.
But that is not the story [ am going to
tell you now.
Suffice for you to know that am a
lonely woman, gray haired and sad-eyed:
almost penniless, save for what busy
pen can earn inclined to be querulous
with the hoarse dog at Number Nine,
but yet ready to bask in a ray of sun
shine; thankful for the lark's song and
the scent Of the mignonette; thankful
that there is work to be done, and money
to be earned thereby, sufficient for my
simple wants.
1t seems very small story I have to
tell, but yet it had keen interest for me
at the time it hapr ened, and often look
back upon it. I have often wondered I
had the courage to do as I did, but I
have never repented of what I did
Well, just assthe spring was passing
into summer; just as the fresh green
leaves of the trees in the Peoples Park.
that lay within a stones throw of
Paradise place, were beginning to get
bit dusty, and the primroses and violets
were going out of reason, pretty sight