The national leader., 1889-03-09
to step up to the desk and hold out his

hand.
You are mistaken Eleanor took
the words from his lips. You have
small right to rail against narrOwness,
you who judge girl to be petty be-
cause she is pretty, and estimate her
brain in inverse proportion to the size
of her bang. You are doctor; do you
doubt that even this Miss Cynthia
Howe was born without hearth Do
you suppose that shower or gold
makes nothing but weeds grow in it?
Prejudice is the Child of ignorance, they
say. You wonder that 1 speak as
warmly a, if were a specialist on this
subjectp Before I was Nurse Wood
worth l was society girl. DR.. Sey-
mour, and llved-there.'
Her hand touched the crOcky wood
cut of the palatial residence OF Mr..
Matthew Howe caressingly. and her
eyes, which had been flashing, were
dashed With tears as they fell again On
the pictures Of her old home. There
was nothing to do but to say good
evening In voice that had begun to
choke little, and slip out of the office
door.
A month later when Eleanor made
her weekly visit home, she found her
mother unusually dismal. Generally
the girls presence alone acted as a
tonic, but on this day it seemed i'm
possible to route the blues. In vain
she told of overhearing Grandma Nash
complain to the matron.
Nobody tells me anything except
Miss WOOdwOrth, and she don't know
much
Mrs. Wool worth saw nothing drOll
in any remark which deprecated her
daughter. Eleanor despairlAgly gave
yet another turn to her chatter:
Mother, there's been one thing about
this last month that has made it seem
like old times. Pm again al object of
interest to man. Mrs. WOodwOrth
frightened.
% my dear, who is he? OF course it
would be such comfort to see you
but how do you knowP'
'Only one of the doctors, Mother, the
only one who seems to study me as a
woman rather than a nurse. And L am
a woman! Last night, while sat
tanning patient, kept wondering If
| could have that tan. cOlOred dress
dyed. What do yon thlnkp'
But the parent had not extracted all
the honey she wanted o 1t of the hint
the daughter had given. and she re-
verted to the doctor till Eleanor saw
with dismay that she had laid corner
stone on which her mother was already
erecting castle in Spain.
Moreover, from week to week, Mrs.
Wood worth expected new building
material for her air-castle. and Eleanor
tried TO satisfy the maternal interest
and pride without lingering on sub.
iect whose bloom is rubbed off with
words. That she could jest at all about
it is not to her discredit, for society
girl who had seen DIxey fifty times,
and heard on all sides the innuendOes
and cynicisms SO charmngly put by
Life love cannot be the unutterable
thing that it IS TO simple country
maiden. 1t may be- Joy beyond all
previOusly-tasted joys, but it IS not
altogether a revelation. 1t is as if she
said, not.
What is this wonderful blossom that
1 have never seen before?' but
'Ah, yes vloletsI My favorite
flower
Thus it came about that Eleanor
WoOdworth, hearing her mother talk
as if 1T must happen, at last caught
herself wondering what she would say
il 1t should happen, if DR.. Seymour
should speak.
'I'm busy and cOntented with my
work and piecing together those parts
of my life that were left when the crash
came; then why-but l should make
Mother so unhappy If l didn't, that
perhaps
Her suspense was not long. Neither
shall yours be. Within few more
weeks DR.. Seymour detained Miss
Wood dworth after giving her the medi-
cine for precious Case that he trusted
to her alone, and he said:
Miss Woodworth, l want to say to
YOU what | have been saying to myself
since-that evening. want to confess.
did not believe that society woman,
taIOr-made girl, could be so sensible
and helpful as you have been. That
has always been prejudice of mine,
and certain experience I've had b IS
hardened me to 1t. | became engaged
a few years ago to young lady whom
I met in the summer, when it was all
play aud no work for everybody. But
when l returned to my post, and she
to her whirl of pleasure it seemed
incOngruous that we should try to
compromise on a way Of living. l
always heard Of her as social success,
and she-never heard Of me. l let
myself decline more invitations where
might meet her in a throng and got,
as l confess I deserved, fewer invita-
tions to meet here tete-a-tete. And
when she went abroad last fall, our
engagement was at an end.
Miss Woodwork, l never thought
to speak words of love again, but since
have known you, your noble meeting
of every emergency. your womanliness,
that DO one before you ever convinced
me could be animate in bosom fash
ionably bared-all this has made me
feel that | have much to learn from
one whom my old belief told me to
class scOrnfully as d pretty girl. and l
Il Am again going to ask the prettlest
of them all to be my wife-to ask her
hnmbly I do not mean to spare nv