Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-04-15
"CLlCK.'
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.

who had run away and married dark
eyed young Portuguese sea captain,
who was lost of the Florida reef within
a wear of their marriage. And little
Clarissa was brought home to the Yer
mont hills by the curiously-cOstumed
foreign woman who had closed her
mothers eNt~.
ooh, dear me-" sighed Mrs. Bald
win, who had four daughters OF her
own, and not a great deal of money to
bring them upon, "what is TO become
of the child" She's weakly and feeble,
and perhaps Providence will see nit to
take her.
But Providence didn't. Click grew,
andthrOve and bloSsOmed out, somehow,
among the New England sheep pas
lures, into a strange, foreign sort OF
beauty. Nobody wanted her, it was
very plain. She was tolerated, and that
was all. Plenty to eat, little pallet
bedstead in the corner of the farm
house garret, calico dress now and
then-she certainly did not cost them
much. And no one ever knew the
warming heart hunger that she resOlute-
IN repressed within herself.
At the district school she picked up,
now and then, a little learning; at husk-
ing frolirs, quilting bees and apple par
ties she got an Odd idea of social Obser-
vance; and a. for the rest, her soul grew
and expanded, and reached out like a
wild cOnvOlvulusHine, guided only by
the great hand oinature.
And one day Click came to Mrs.
Barley, the millers wife, who had
store carpet" in Ter best room, and
4 kept city bOar,ierS il the summer time.
hDO YOU want my Strawberries"
said she, pushing ba& the hood of her
green bingham sun bRuet as she leaned
against the kitchen dor.
"StrawberrieSw Sai Mrs. Barley.
4 Didn't know there wss none ripe yet.
II Amt it dreadful early III Strawberries"
II YES" nodded Clickawith conscious
tpride. 'But these grow, on the south
Side of Lyndon Hill, wlsre the cedar
Itrrcs keep OF the w0d. Nobody
knows ofthe patch but ne. I've been
Matching 'em this long while. And
last weeks sunshine dead-pened 'em."
| "N'cs, I'll take 'em," sal Mrs. Bar
ky. but can't pay you very high
price, for my boarders aims all come
!. Willow mucha" said Clio. with a
, speculative greed which bd Onged to
one of hcrancestry, There's y quarts
full measure
Three cents Il quart, " said rs. Bar
ley.
Clicks face fell.
Not more" said she.
"Not a penny" said Mrs. Barrie.
"Oh. dearvT said Click. sAnetha
will only make eighteen cents. 4ud |
wanted To get money enough to Try a
ticket To Mr.. CheveuiN's Hlstcical
Lectures"
GLOW much would it take?" aid
Ms. Barley, kindly sympathetic.
an dollar" said Click. There re
four lectures 4
chuckling with her tongue. That's
deal of money"
Yes, know" sighed Click. can
the lectures begin tomorrow night, anC
there won't be any more strawberrle'
ripe for two days.
iiCan't YOU think of any other way o
earning money!" said Mrs. Barley
goOd-naturedly.
'rNot unless l discovered a pot o
money on the sea-shOre, where Graz!
Simeon Is always digging for Captain
Kidd's treasures" said Click, with lit
tie laugh.
"Ciek, look here" said Mrs. Barley
''Have you seen the hair man YETI"
'EThe-what?r said Click, opening
her great black eyes, fringed with curl
ing silk.
SHis name is Lemuel Price," sale
Mrs. Barley, laughing. HE has takeI
the agency of a Boston hair store, anC
he's through the country buying hair
Sidonia Simonds sold hers to him fol
two dollars, yesterday. You've got nice
hair, you know, Click"
Click smiled.
YES" said she, taking off the green
gingham sun-bOnnet, and withdrawing
one or two hair-pins, so that the
luxuriant mass of blue-black tresses fel
nearly to her slim waist, ats well
enough. And it would soon grow again,
YOU know. Oh, Mrs. Barley, do you
think he would give me two dollars fol
mine"
There's nothing like trying" sait
the good natured miller's wife. "He'.
putin pat The Three Crooked Keys.
SidOnia SimOnds will go there with you
I've no doubt"
So Click went to the shrewed faced
Yankee who dated his letters from
"The Three Crooked Keys" and came
away shOrn of her lovely shining hair,
but with tha two dollar bill safe in the
rocket Other dress: and the Baroness
Burdette- CCuts herself couldn't have
felt richer than Click.
Two dollars! two dollarsw the girl
kent repeating 10 herself. Enough for
the historical lecture, and dollar over,
all for my Very own,
Mr.. Charles Cheveuix was a gentle
man who came sometimes To the will
tlerness to rest from the fatigues of city
literary work. Click knew him little.
He had once walked home with her
from church, OF 3 rainy evening, when
she had no umbrella; he had now and
again spoken pleasantly to her at picnics
or spelling matches; and, unconsciously,
the girl had harmed to idealize him.
And this opportunity OF attending this
course of historical lectures, which he
was To- deliver at the corner school
} house, seemed Ike glimpse of Para
disc to the poor. msOphisticated cOun-
try damSel.
With her mind full of the coming
treat, sheOpened the kitchen door of the
Baldwin farm house and went in.
The family Were at dinner-for the
primitive Ceder Sttep-ites dined when
the sun touched the noon mark on the
kitchen tlOOr-and, for second, there
was sort of beathlesS, appalling
silence, followed all too soon by shrek
of deriSive laughter.
Click looked inquiringly around, her
color deepening little as she saw, sit
ting close to her Uncle Elihu's right
hand Mr.. Cheveuix himself.
What is the mstter?" she said.
What were you laughing at, Sarah
and Keturah@'
And then, all ola sudden, she re-
membered-her poor shorn head!
Replacing the green gingham
smh"n&et with cryshe darted out of