The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-09
A LADY HELP.


Her father, Commander Dundonald Pop
pinger, had the gunboat Iris when his wife
presented him with little black browed,
dark-eyed daughter. So, against the dictates
of her own taste, which would have led her
to give some more appropriate name to the
Dlive-skinned, dark-eyed stranger, Mrs. Pop
pinger acceded to her husbands request and
had the baby baptized Girls" Time went
on according to its well-established custom,
and little Iris was succeeded by many other
little Poppingers, whose names are not of the
slightest consequence to this story. She
grew from babyhood to childhood and on to
young girhood, in semi-respectable street
IN a seaport town that was not even semi
respectable when its sins of cruel immoral
ity, dirt, drunkenness and deprayity are
remembered against it. Nevertheless, in this
town Iris grew up in fower-like purity and
prettiness though the latter was of the order
of tropical bloom rather than that of the
delicate, religious-tinted gray-blue iris,
whose name she bore; grew up to be very
refined, agreeable and accomplished addi-
ton to Badsmouth society, when her father,
who had retired on the munificent sum al
lowed by paternal government to the sons
who can neither work nor fight for it, was
living in shabby gentility. He was an Off
Ger and gentleman and all his life he had
associated with officers and gentlemen; and,
poor old man, it was fact that he took
much pride in his position, and took what he
and his wife thought q certain stand upon
it,
Poor olive-skined, dark-eyed Iris Her
mothers relatives spoke of her as 'deplera-
bly, dark" for they were all of the whitley
brown order themselves, and despised poor
Iris for her pronounced tints. What was to
be done with her? This was the hard prob
lem that arose for them to solve as Gil the
little Poppingers, her brothers and sisters
grew up. She was ahead Of all the others in
years, so it was supposed that she was ahead
of them all in understanding also. There
fore all the family advisers-and they were
many-decreed that Iris should go out and
do something to maintain herself" They
made their suggestions freely but their s1g-
gestions were indefinite. In lower stratum
OF society the well-to-do advisers are willing
to name the vocations they think their
impecunious relations should follow Cook,
housemaid. scullerymaid or general" they
suggest. But in the case of Captain Dundon-
aid Poppinger's pet, no one liked to be the
first to Flint that Iris had need to be thank
full if she could get the place of a nursery
governess. So they only said airily that "it
would be well for her to think OF doing
something, however humble, for herself be-
fore her fathers death" Gan event which
they sympathetically suggested might come
off at any time) Obliged her to put her
shoulder to the wheel"
The wheel never revolved within her
reach, and while she was making strenuous
efforts to get near it her father died, and her
mother was left to glory in his memory and
"a pension of f70 year. Things that were
very appalling to the girl were said to and of
her then by rich relatives, who assumed the
riOhf 10 nd har ifo INIT hO
never gave her shilling to help make that
life respectable one. Under the guise of
nffectionate counsel the most bitter things
were said by those who claimed the right to
utter them on the plea of "blood-relation-
ship" She was scoded and sneered at for
not having cultivated some special ara ex-
pensive branch of education which would
have enabled her to teach it as a
specialist extensively to Others. She was
called TO account sharply for not having
been sufficiently attractive to have won
some well-of man to marry her. She
was made to feel that she numbered the
face of the earth, and that it was entirely her
own fault that she did So And despairing
cry went out from her young soul to God
that He would take her away, and not suffer
her to cumber the earth any longer 1t was
only the unreasoung cry of unreasoning
young creature, who had not learned yet
that to be refined, sensitive, helpless and
poor is an objectionable combination in the
eyes of well-to-do relatives. Some of these
latter would really have generously doled
out Suitable food and raiment to Iris for
the rest OF her life, II only she had begged
hnmbly. and abased herself in a sycophantic
way. But, as she did not think of doing
these things, the well-to-de relatives found
it easier and cheaper to say all manner OF
nHkind and uncharitanie things about her,
and then to 'wasn their hands of her''-a
cleansing process which is both cheap and
convenient
Poor Iris! Bright, clever, and amusing,
there was nothing she could do sufficiently
well when it came to the point to entitle her
to teach it to others. Moreover, she had not
the gift of imparting knowledge, even if she
had received itfrom others in the first place;
nor had she the gift of acting a false part,
and pretending to be capable OF doing that
of which she was incapable.
Things soon went from bad to worse Ia the
Poppnger household, which had now to be
managed" on seventy pounds year. Mrs.
Poppinger "broke down" in health and
spirits, and it is the presnmptuous habit of
delicately-nurtured women to break down
when they grow old and are overweighted
and underfed. She became SO seriously i'll
that rich cousin-a city notwithstanding
that she might die, and her children be sent
to the Union, and so disgrace him, offered to
have the little ones cheaply and practically
educated, and to give Iris home on certain
conditions" The conditions were hard, and
Iris would have revolted, only-she couldn't
They we're that Mrs. Dundonald Poppinger
should take the situation of matron in the
cheap and practical school to which her
younger children were TO be sent, and that
Iris should take up her abode with their ben
efactor as lady help"
The conditions were accepted. OF course
they werel Don't the convicts accept their
~skilly," and doesn't the hare accept his fate
Mt the paws of greyhounds feeter and
stronger than himself? Mrs Poppinger went
as matron to the school, where an illiber,l
education was given llliberaIly to her little
ones; and Iris went as unpaid drudge to her
mothers rich Cousins wife, Every one who
knew little about her, and heard her speak of