New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-04-09
FIFTY CENTS A TICKET, J"

FIFTY CENTS A TICKET. "
She was spreading towels and table,
cloths on the crisp, short grass to
bleach, when he saw her frst-a slim,
Diana-like young creature, with large,
limpid eyes, a brown skin not entirely
innocent of freckles and mass of jettv
shining hair, which had broken loose
from its coarse horn comb and fell in
ink-black ripples down her back.
There was a little brook twining it's
transparent sparkles around the.
gnarled roots of an ancient tree, and a
background of black-green laurel,
which with the sun bathea meadow in
froEt, made q sort of rustic picture
that struck Paul Gessner's artistic fancy
as he crossed the wooden bridge.
II should like to sketch her, he
thought to himself. Il wonder, now,
what she would say to it!''
But before he. could get his pencil
and mill-boards out the young Diana
had poised her empty basket lightly on
her head and was gone.
Pm sorry for that" soberly pom
dered Gessner. ''She had "a brilliant
Charlotte Corday sort Of face that
would have stood the test of perpetual
ton on papern'
And then Mr.. Gessner went into the
inn and set himself at work to elabor-
ate the notes of his lecture on sThe
Literature of Queen Anne's Time,''
which was to be delivered the next eve
ming at the VILLAGE hall.
There were plenty of people at the
inn. Brookbridge was wild, sylvan
sort of place, which attracted people in
the summer season. Every farmhouse
and cottage in the vicinity was crowd
ed, and lecture was something to
stir the stagnation Of their everyday
life. Moreover, Paul Gessner had a
reputation for scholarly polish and
graceful wit which had reached even
to Brookbridge. In our New England
villages the cooks are often aesthetic,
and the hired men critics, and every
body was talking of the lecture.
Cant I go?'' said Natty Purple.
.Oh, wish could go!''
The towels and table-cloths were all
bleached whittier than snow, between
the daisied grass and the July sun
shine, and Natty was sprinkling and
folding them now, with quick, deft
fingers, in an obscure corner of the
kitchen.
'.You 60, indeedr' said Miss Garry
Podham, who condescended, to wait at
table during the crowded season.
'You've too much to do in the kitchen,
and besides the tickets are fifty cents
each!''
Natty Purple sighed dolorously.
FIFTY centsr' she repeated. .sOh,
then of course it's out Of the question:
For Natty's slender wages were all
of them expended in the support Of a
good-for-nothing old grandsire who,
when he was not drinking great deal
too much whisky, was suffering I'M
heard-of agonies with the rheumatism.
She never wore anything but calico,
and drudged away in the inn kitchen
like a modern Cinderella, without any
of the eclat which, in ancient story, APP
pertained to that young person.
But later in the evening the head
stable-man looked into the kitchen,
where Cinderella was darning a we'll
worn table-napkin and Mrs. Podham
was preparing brook trout for a break
fast for the morrow's early travellers.
Where's Jim?' said the head stable
man.
Gone out, said Mrs Podham,
CURLY.
Il want some one to row one of the
boarders out on the lake." said the
stableman.
He's a picter-painter, guess. He
wants moonlight effects, he says" with
chuckle.)
I'D deal ruther hev feather pill
low effects myself. Then where is
Dick?'
dick neyer's on hand when he's
wanted, y Mrs. Podham replied. Il
haven't seen him since supper
Then he'll lose a 50 cent job said
the stableman. well, dispose / can
hunt up some one somewhere. .
Fifty cents!" cried Natty Purple,
springing to her feet. III go, Thomas!.
I'm handy with the oars, and I'm Just
perishing for breath of cool air from
the water.
Them napkins isn't .mended,n
croaked Mrs. Podham, discouraging.
..I'l finish ,em when / come back
said Natty, coaxingly DO let me go,
just once!''
So that when Mr.. Gessner came out
to the edge of the lake with his pictur-
esque Spanish cloak thrown across one
shoulder, and his sketching apparatus
under his arm, Matte Purple sat in the.
boat ready to row him whether he
would 90.
.Hello!'' said Paul. why, you're
a girl!''
es. I'm a girl. apologetically con-
fessed Natty. But I'm good hand
TO row, and / know all about the lake.
can take you straight to Echo Cove,
where the Water-lilies grow thickest,