Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1889-04-21

| K1nd intuitions Of tho struggles of toilers"
futtered through the hearts Ct friends In her
| old set Society simply drew its Intangible
: line. and Laura soon diScerned In its waning
devotion that the best of It's service had been
tho interest of self love To join tho great
! army OF practical workers now gave her
freedom and relief She realized that
tranquil and satisfactory life may befollowed
almost anywhere where there are no fictitious
wants and no exaggerated ideas OF happiness
and unhappincSS Plans for the children be-
came plain and possible, for she had proved,
experimeutally, that, 50 far Gs utility Is con-
cerned, poetry gives way to bread
| A position at Bartholomew was gained
without difficulty 1t was On English house,
| filed with personal articles Of the most
! Injurious and costly kinds, and being con-
Quoted with great librality, the Bartholo-
NEW stamp bad become the seal Of fashion.
Hence it WIS bit Of good fortune at the out
SGT, Laura thought, 20 DO awarded the UNI
breila department,
Tho equinoctisl had bean severe in the fsu
whereof this chronicle is mado, and umbrella
sales bad been particularly active On tho
morning already mentioned the young at
tache to The Daily Argosy had come hurry
| ing into Bartbolomew's from sudden OUT
burst Of tho clouds, and while properly cour-
teous, appeared O little over critical in bis
choico Of an umbrella Laura opened one
after another of the handsome shields when,
| at last, becoming nervous, she hastily closed
a patent fastening, and imPaled one OF her
| fingers upon O wire. With all her self con-
troll and resolution tho pain ovoTcaIne her,
and she tainted Confusion followed; every
one in the establishments Gockod around her,
while tho proprietor and the would Be pur-
ch.ssr extricatoh tho wire from tho laceTated
thumb. When tho snfIerer recovered SUM-
GENTLY, q carriage was called, and tire gray
haired porter of the establishment escorted
Laura home
Several days passed by before she returned
TO her duties. end meantime Morgan Starr
called daily at Bartholomew's 70 inquire
after the invalid. AS If the attention re-
ouired excuse, he never failed, NJ the perad-
venture Of criticism, TO remark to Mr.. Bar
tholoInew that "such q wound in such SEN
sitive place might DO a serious matter" AT
which at last the merchant smiled and said
within himself that it appeared 70 DO seri-
Gus matter TO Mr.. Starr, just as it was
,, In due time laura returned TO duty, and
the philanthropic qualification evinced By
Morgan Starr when be found her there one
| cherry morning was a credit 10 his kind.
Within day or two be called again to-oGer
| a particularly fne lotion eficncious TO de-
gree in Other cases Of thumbs iInpaled on
wires. and after dreary hiatus Of a week,
, during which he drew heavily on his Topics
for PoausS he saunteqed In with plaster adj
visei by O famous Prussian surgeon, and just
hero there came an end TO Lis visits, for
Laura told the young Journalist that he could
not be allowed TO mako her conspicuous, and
OF the chance Of seeming ungratef'l for his
kindness, she must request him not TO call
again.
"Is it necessary" said the gentleman, THAT
VIC now go hack, and become utter strangers,
because OF conventionality, for which pre-
SUMO you caro- as little as | do"
1T is not conventionality that is in ques-
tion," answered Laura, ut is propriety and
the correct demands Of self fer self, and not
society at all With the latter have moth
ing to DO. Ey days are passed here, my
nights with my family. read and study, go
occasionally 70 see q good play or hear fine
music, and over and above ell am intensely
interested in"- An interruption bere oc-
CURED. aud then another, and finally no OPP
porpruity came up for a renewal OF the con-
yerSation. The door soon closed on the
young Journalist, whose heart fairly beat the
measure Of war dance as he walked up
town, wondering "whethor any other fellow
had as many disappointments as he, and
whether there were ever any girls who turned
out Just as a fellow expected And tins was
ouch an annoying matterl There were 50
many WAYS by which Laura Eyertale and all
her kith and Kin could have proved ham hon
orahle and not unworthy their acquaintance"
For days something like melancholy op-
pressed him. Again he drew heavily on
''Tepics for Poems" and occasionally on
sTopics for Stories" but oil his work devel-
oped morbRly.
Christmas days not long afterward ar
rived, and the shops were beautiful to look IN
upon. Daily as be passed to and fro along
Broadway, looking into the gayly decorated
windows, DO thought OF the beautiful girl
who had so strangely insisted on his baAish-
ment
ITO forget O thing find means almost al
WAYS remembering it" said Morgan Starr
one morning, ''end just this once III sumter
into Bartholomew's and see il Miss Everdale
is thers." Up and down the place no walked,
but no glimpse Of Laura rewarded him.
Then he paused and looked at umbrellas
"ghe might come in," be said TO himself.
And then he thought possibly he might write
something about historical umbrellas; Paul
Pry's, Sairey Camps, the one Dick Swivelier
wanted, bat which the Marchiones had, 50 TO
speak, put up, not over her head IN the usual
way, but around the corner at tho pawn
brokerA Then he leaned upon the counter
and thought OF Menelans spreading his green
ish guard aloft as he tore himself, Ia a drench
Of tears away from beautiful Helen.
"What an idiot amp said he, as his elbow
crashed through square Of glass in the
show case upon which be had leaned, while
everything in heaven above and earth Boz
meath faded out in his reyerie concerning
Laura.
The crash returned him TO the vulgar pres
ent, and brought Ir. Bartholomew TO the
spot A bit OF broken glass had grazed Nor
CANS wrist, and while the proprietor bound
It with handkerchief, be put on an air Of
indifference that was all the moro conspicu-
Gus because IL was SO artificial He could
not resist saying TO Mr.. bartholomew that
this little Incident reminded him Of another
that occurred In that very store, and which,
bat for this mishap, be probably would not
have remembered. Did Mr.. Bartholomew
recoliec. the accident by which a young
girls thumb was impaled upon an umbrella
wirei
r. 1
Va IL ~