The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1889-11-28
BORN--TWO SOULS.
ELLA W. PEATTlt..

of course they had no business Ia get
married. Neither Of them had amy com
mon sense. Besides there was not u ten
dollar bill between them. IL they had
been very young and very beautiful il
would have been very different. Then, at
least, osn poet might have written about
them. but us il was, there were none OF
the elements of the romantic. They were
m~iddlc-agcd. They had no stern parents.
They were far from beautiful. Perhaps
they were not even very much in love.
They had nothing hut their poverty tn
recommend them tai the pOet-that IL. sup
posing there had been a Ioet. but the
truth is, that in Omaha poets are not a
drug On the market.
This all happened, IL will be understood,
in Omaha, ON the top of one Ut those
cream-colorcd clay hanks that start dig
ally mp from the pavement. These are
such a com non feature of the place that
they arr. Thought nothing of, although
some of them shoot sixty feet up from
the street, and support on their lodges
fragile rcminiscenccs that once were
houses. The house i'm which these
prosaic but not prosperous people
lived was up scven,y-fivc stairs.
Unfortunately, these stairs were
not reliable. II cannot In. exactly said
that they waved in the wind although,
that wos,ld he NO great exaRgeration; but
il is certain that they swstyed from side
to sid with tlis. weight of the slightest
person that climbed them. And that per-
son WAS the mistress. The scale barely
tipped at sd when she put her little flat
foot on il, and sls. reached Just below tile.
shoulder of her husband, VINO did not az
count himself ~ tall man.
There il 80 much in a name! The loves
c~ontcunptible! But how about the loves
of n johnson and ~ Jones: Ii il a~llitera-
tive, but IL is, for the purpose of art, hope
Johnson. She was-weli, the dew of
youth WAS mo longer on her cheeck. when
this case WAS the plIsll-covercd table in
the front room of slIe Presbyterian min
ister-a good man who made the fees
light because of the shabbincss al the
wedding garments. and who will have his
reward in heaven il he does talk through
his nose.
been dead for s.pu.hs. Al least il seemed
epoShs. Ever since that time, whenever
il was, she had been ri"rking in q dry
goods storc, AT the hosiery counter. There
was NOT "A line of gosnls in the market that
she did not understand. IL Was the, only
subject she understood. To arise i'm the
dim light amid the familiar surroundings
of her boarding house, don the same little
ill-fittina dress, eat d~yspcptically in the
weekly illustrated Journals heapcd
in the corners, ats sewing ma
s ,aM,i a vii" '"; u,rn.,.nh" nca r,.n
tory ON the ledge of the. front window, then
to hasten shivcring through ths. morning
air, stand all day selecting stockings for
the woman who never knew the numher
they wore, then home tai IA greasy dinner,
"a half hours readinY by the dim light. and
a. broken sleep. WAS to lead - life that in
the course of the cposhs referred tai, bc-
comes tedious. hut IL takes "a certain
amount OF emancipation and imagination
to make IA person say that life il tedious.
Miss Jones' had never got that far. Ihc
farthcst shc ever got was tn wonder some
times II dying was very hard when You
came to il.
Mr.. Johnson drove IA milk wagon. He
did no; own il. That would have been
re-ent- mooney. and MIR. johnson never
had that. Every morning. for months
that merged into years. he had seen Miss
Jones gong her Hurried way tai the shop.
She always walked as If she were late.
Certainly, she never looked to right or left,
and il she had it is not likely she would
have Hooked AT "A man driving - milk
wagon. There. ~ a great gulf yawning
between the clerk at a hosiery counter
an.ithe driver of "a milk wagon.
But the gosis arr not all unkind. One
day thert. was "a slect. But Miss Jones.
VIII" had dressed by gaslight. did not
know this. That il how il came that she
wore no rubber, and that she fell when
she ventureh out of the basement door.
hail haTin sa , sroITh. her Mr ~J Jnlns :" the s.m ,"T Ssr
fall, heard her gasp, spring from his seat
regardless of the consequence Ia
for which le had so long vainly sighed.
He tendcrly picked mp the groaninH
little woman and carried her into the
house. After that he used to ask how
she was, and once me- took the liberty
of sending her mp "a pint of cream.
In two weeks Miss Jones was at her
couuter again. No one thought to- ask
her how she was. No one had missed her
except the cashier, who deducted the
amount of hcr wages for the time of alb
sence.
But one night when the little woman
came out of the door, drawing ON hcI
gloves with the worn fingers, "a man
stepped ont of thu. dusk and spoke tn her
Ii WAS the first time that such "A thing tiad
ever happened to Miss Jones. She
thought of screaming. Then sl. recog
nizcd the speaker. Ii was Mr.. johnson
in "a fresh suit of clothes. with ~ ~cclluloid
collar and IA brown tilc-which he lifted.
hcn "a wonderful thing happened. Mr.
johnson walked home with Miss Jones
Ii was "A new social experience for eacl
of them, and il was Intoxicating! So mod
est and so dull had these two simpl,
people been that il had never occurred 4
them shat they had u right to enjoy thu
pleasures that other men and womeI
indulge in. Never i'm her life ha,
Miss Jones' felt the exaltation q
conscious coquetry. She had nevc
tried Ia please. she was AS ignorant Of tn
sound of u compliment as she was of life
The counter. the table, the ned ~ that wa
her life. As for Mr.. Johnson, he la
lived next door To The stable. That wa
his life. Everything in IL had been suipo
dinated To the stable. IL his clothes ha
not been new they would have smelle
~ IL