Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1889-12-25

yOuth uI0huAb VI OCOOht1S q A6blC0k
diva. But alas as has 30 often proved
to be the case, her voice turned out to
possess only parlor compass, and che
drifted into the ballet. Still it possessed
cadences of great sweetness and ex.
preston, and assisted by the delight.
full contralto of Eva and the mellow notes
of the guitar, which she played
with master hand, the concert was one
which not only might smuse an invalid,
but would have been listened to with
pleasure by the cognoscsnti. 1t came to
an end in due time; and Rosalie and
Walter, who both occupied rooms in the
same tenement as that inhabited by Eva
and her mother, retired, and left the lat
ter to themselves.
Scsrcsly had the last sound Of the re-
treating footsteps vanished from their
ears than Eva laid her head in caress-
ing way on her. mothers bosom, and
said: e
Mamma, am afraid you are going to
be very angry with me-"
"Why, my darling?"
"I have written to Uncle Ephraim,
mamma. really could not help it. AS
long as there was some hope of your eyes
getting better 1 could not have thought
of doing go against your wishes. But it
is not right that your own brother, living
in the same city, should see his only
sister go blind simply for the lack OF
proper medical attendance and care. 1t
is not right, and told Uncle Ephraim
so."
"My dear child, you do not know the
hard nature of your uncle. For years he
has devoted himself to the acquisition of
wealth. He led a youth of privation,
and when money came to him he made
it his God. 1 never dreamed the play
fellow of my girlhood's days could ever
develop such mercenary fanaticism.
For years he has had no thought for any
thing but the Almighty Dollar. He wor-
ships it with Pagan and blind idolatry,
as the African does his fetch. 1 would
long ago have sacrificed my pride, for
your sake, and sought to melt his heart,
but I knew how useless the effort would
have been. 1t matters little, my darling,
for my few remaining years, whether the
blessed light of heaven shall be denied
to me or not. All my anxieties are CEN
tered in you, and all the more because
you are engaged in business 80 perilous
to young girl"
Here, for the present, we draw the
curtain over this confidence of mother
and daughter.
RETROSPECT.
The reader will naturally wonder what
train of circumstances could have led up
to the associations outlined in the fore.
going sketch. And yet it all occurred
very naturally and without any startling
incident. Mary Burling, brought up on
a thrifty New England farm, had, in the
ordinary evolution of New England life,
been met and wooed by handsome and
energetic young shipwright, who had
waxed prosperous and had removed to
New York. With the means he had &C.
cumulated he thought he saw in specula-
tion the certainty of colossal fortune, as
30 many others had done before him,
and as 30 many will do in the future.
His entry on Wall Street was signalized
by ups and downs, and slowly but ;rre-
sistibly the usufruct of years of industry
and business enterprise were drawn into
that mighty maelstrom. The downward
descent though slow was sure. From
comparative opulence, Burling, his wife
and young daughter knew all the trans
itions from shabby gentility to deep and
irremediable poverty. Repulsed by a
wealthy brother-in-law, who had piled
up riches in a plodding way, and who
had found in his later career far better
returns in usury than ever follows specu-
lation, except in the rare instances which
simply serve as lures to destruction to
the general run of mankind, Burling
mad fallen dead on his threshold as
he returned to announce to his broken
hearted wife the failure of his mission
to seek aid from her brother. Left abso.
lutely without means, with fifteen year
old daughter on her hands, the widow
had no recourse but her needle. For
tunately she was proficient in line of
work which commanded remuneration
of higher grade than that which was
paid to the ordinary needle-woman, and
in this she was assisted by Eva. Be-
tween the two they managed to main
tain their modest household in that
decent poverty which is accepted un-
complainingly by so many of the de-
serving poor. The widow was not only
content, but thankful, and having been
brought up in poor but refined house
hold, she was able to give Eva the bene.
fit of a careful instruction during the in
tervals of their common labors.
Thus matters passed for some time,
until finally cloud was cast over their
household, whose significance none but
the very poor ever know. The mother
sight began to fail. Disguise it as the
poor woman might, it made advances
which it was impossible to conceal from
her daughter, and still less easy to hide
from her employers. The character o.
her work began to deteriorate. The
end as to her own labors was clearly
near at hand.