Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-01-02
THE TWO CRIPPLES.
Pathetic Story OF Flower-Loving
Milly and Little Jim.

| dark and narrow room that was yet
fortunate enough 10 boast one small win
dow on the street. Ay, that window was
Milly's glory; the joy and delight of her
existence. The street was dingy Lon
don one; hardly a thoroughfare, and,
therefore, not noisy; but gay, and even
delectably worldly in the child's eyes.
For She was not much more than child
as yet; though worn in face and serious
looking, she was young in years, scarce
seventeen surely at most, while in char
acter she was very childish still. Lon
don-bred she was, shrewd and quick in
many things, keenly alive to the neces-
sity of daily work, thoroughly expectant
of the money-loying ways of her employ
ers and astute with regard to life gem
orally; nevertheless a fund of freshness
and innocence in Milly's soul was wont
often to burst forth like a sweet pure
spring of water coming from depths un-
known, ready to gladden. and solaee the
arid hearts of her neighbors. She was
friendly to those neighbors, who some
of them befriended her But she had
| always been much alone. She was al
most like a prisoner, this little lame
and feeble-bodied seamstress, or rather
embroideress, who spent her uncared-
for youth bending over frame of
needle-work. carrying out the ideas and
designs of others-only occasionally, as
rare luxury, allowed To work her own
will and her own fancies into the threads
of silk and pieces of linen or satin left
over" If boys will be the winds
will, what shall be said of a girls? Is
1t light, ephemeral, like the sea-foam?
Or stronger, like bindweed in gardens?
Or firm and brave and shining, like the
marble that makes the coping-stones of
palaces? l know not.
Milly cared little for the vehicles that
sometimes went rumbling down her
street, nor for the sad-looking, poorly
dressed pedestrians who were the only
frequenters of that neighborhood, nor
for the loud-voiced vendors of cheap
goods in barrows. 1t was the corner of
gray sky occasionally pallid blue
which she liked, and which (by squeez-
ing we'll in betwixt heavy table and
the window-sill and craning her neck
painfully she could see and greatly en-
JOY, in contrast to the dingy atmosphere
of her lodging. But what she loved
best of all to gaze on from her window
was the shop opposite-a shop so glori-
Gus, so lovely, SO comfortable and yet
heart-stirring, that the child could new
err be satisfied with looking and wonder
ing at it.
A flower-shop it was. What are flow
ers made of, and how do they come?
ask the Londoners. How are they
gathered and brought together in their
infinite beauty of tone and color, in
their brilliancy and freshness, in their
tenderness and sweetness? Flowers in
pots, flowers in lunches, flowers in
sprays, struggling groups of flowers,
and stray single blooms-all these filled
and decked the window-panes of the
shop opposite, all these gladdened the
eager beating heart of the little lame
embroideress. 1t mattered not, when
her eyes were delighted with this
dream of fairy color, that she was lame;
nor did she remember her many sor-
rows when, with hot trembling hands,
she threaded her needle and piled her
lOveliest silks, glancing up now and
then to gain from beyond the narrow
a
inspiration. Fast flew her fingers, fast
grew the flowers beneath her touch; like
yet not like the originals; pretty, per-
chance, yet disappointingly different to
expectation, thought the little artist,
who realized without knowledge of the
why or wherefore) this failure of
great intention.
For she wanted to copy nature. Nay,
who that has once seen nature can be
readily contented with a counterfeit?
Every now and then, at sparse inter
walls of time when she was thoroughly
disheartened and disguised with her
own handiwork, Milly would fetch her
old hat and cape out of the cupboard
where she kept every thing, from
piece of dry bread to an empty backing
bottle and an old Bible-and dress her.
self laboriously and crawl over to the
opposite side of the street and stand
there, her face pressed against the
panes of the fiower-shop window, till
she could stand upright no more. If
the weather were cold, her slender form
shivered under the threadbare black
cape, her face grew more pinched and
brayely, studying the form, the make"
of the flowers, till she knew them so
well that she could shut her eyes and
reproduce them on that wonderful can
vas which we all possess as free gift
to plant our beautiful visions upon-the
clear white page of our own minds.
There was one thing hat troubled
her: the flowers died so quickly. MillJ
had neither time nor strength to pay
Srequent visits to the fower-shop, and
consequently never might she hope to
see her favorites quite close a second
time. She studied them, she loved
them, she strained her eyes to see them.
Good But few days iater they were
gone from their accustomed places, and
others, new comers-new, graceful,
fairy things-were displayed where the
old friends had slowly dropped or had
been hastily removed. That was the
way of the world, doubtless, but there
are some people who never get used to
ways of the world. Milly was haply
one Of these.
She had one friend-though | should
rather say one acquaintance, for he was
scarcely more-and that was the little
crossing-sweeper, the poor boy Jim.
Their misfortunes we're bond be-
tween them, perhaps; they were both
crippled, though slightly, from infancy.
He was humpbacked; she was lame. He
was swift of foot and of eye, and could
pilot her dexterously over the muddy
way, safe from horses feet or splash of
wheels; she, the girl, was stronger of
hand, brighter of face and of courage.
She had more than once taken the broom
from Jim's hand and swept away the
mud for pedestrians blithely and cheer
lily, so that she earned more coppers for
him in ten minutes than he knew how TO
gain in a weary mornings work. His
hands were SO weak and delicate; hers,
used to activity, were positively mus
cular by contrast.
There was one drawback-he never
| seemed to comprehend about the flowers.
He would stand on one leg by the brill
liant shop-window staring piteously, TAX
ing off his ragged cap and putting it on
again with gesture of perplexity,
scratching his head some times for greater
| doubt.
You see, jim" Milly whispered to
him one day, Il love them so-the flow
ers. They are so beautiful, so very, very
beautiful. 1t quite gives me pain, an
odd feeling here in my throat, only to
look a. thor,