Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-02-07
4 LONDON STORY.

Milly was the pooi ,i.'i "S'
~ one had ever called her anything else
ola made her scanty living by en-
ON 'I.rr residing in forlorn looking,
wv and narrow room that was yet
s a.nnate enough to boast one small win
l wv. an the street. Ay, that window was
", 'U,Ivs glory; the JOY and delight of her
A D.',once The street was "a dingy Lon
,an one: hardly a thoroughfare, and
s therefore not noisy, but gay. and even
u '',artably worldly, in the child's eyes.
c-s sho was not much more than child
.ret. though worn in face and serious
'soLino. she was young in years, scarce
:, ,,reIv at most, while in character she
.,s very childish still London bred,
NO was shrewd and quick in many
,s;ocs. keenly alive to the necessity of
dsily work thoroughly expectant of the
money loving ways of her employers
md astute with regard to life generally:
.overtbeIess, a fund of freshness and in
ooconee in Milly's soul was wont often
,oburst forth like a sweet, pure spring
n water coming from depths unknown,
,s,dy to gladden. and solace the arid
hearts Of her neighbors.
She was friendly to those neighbors,
who some of them, befriended her. But
se had always been much alone. She
was almost like a prisoner, this little
lame and feeble bodied seamstress, or
rather embroideress, who spent her I'M
cared for youth bending over frame of
ueedlework; carrying out the ideas and
,sirls 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
# boys will be the winds will, what
shall be said of IA girls! Is it light,
ephemeral, like the sea foam? Or strong
er like bindweed in gardens? Or firm,
end brave and shining, like the marble
that makes the coping stone of palaces?
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
hequenters of that neighborhood. nor for
the loud voiced vendors of cheap goods
ID barrows. 1t was the corner of gray
sky-occasionally pallid blue-which
she liked, and which (by squeezing well
in betwixt heavy table and the window
sill and craning her neck painfully she
could see and greatly enjoy, in contrast
10 the dingy atmosphere of her lodging.
But what she loved best of all to gaze
from her window was the shop 0po-
Ste-a shop so glorious, so lovely, SO
comforting and yet heart stirring that
the child could never be satiated with
boxing and wondering at it.
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 brill
ancy and freshness, in their tenderness
and sweetness? Flowers in pots. flowers
ID ounches, flowers in sprays, struggling
groups OF flowers, and stray single
OOOns-all these filled and decked the
window panes of the shop opposite: all
mese gladdened the eager beating heart
@the little lame embroideress. 1t mat
Wted not when her eyes were delighted
WIN this dream of fairy color. that she
was lame; nor did she remember her
many sorrows when, with hot trem-
Onle hands, she threaded her needle and
pnsu her lovelest silks, CHANGING up now
'lu lheh TO gain from beyond the narrow
aieet new draught from her source of
INSPIRATION, Fast flew her fingers. fast
grew The flowers beneath her touch;
aAe' YET not like, the originals; pretty,
F''nancc' yet disappointingly different
expectation, thought the little artist.
'uO feallzed without knowledge of the
wy or wherefore) this failure of
great Intention.
rt !" Sle wanted to copy nature. Nay,
'HU 'lat has once seen nature can be
qlii! content with counterfeit?
very now and then, at sparse inter
S ALL VI Time when she was thoroughly
ts" a5af'ened and disguised with her own
olh' Milly would fetch her old
w.t. anu cape out of the cupboard-her
ts where she kept everything.
S 'A piece of dry bread to an empty
d,..a s bottle and an old Bible-and
i, ~ ~ He'Self laboriously and crawl over
w,a Ie opposite side of the street and
nna 1 'aere' her face pressed against the
r0 nrIs u The flower shop window till she
ws,, d stand upright no more. If the
s,sd I'' was cold her slender form shiv-
h, unuer the threadbare black cape.
h,. lace grew more pinched and blue
Il s,n O5iore' but she held her place brave
aowo. Jug The form, the make" of the
cha a"., .ii she knew them so well that
Them W. smut her eyes and reproduce
We oil VI mat wonderful canvas which
kautifrI J0Se =. as free gift to paint our
Moo ~ Visions upon-the clear white
n r. u our own minds.
hs sa' was one thing that troubled her
,etba, .ers died so quickly, Nlilly had
visits To I ne nor strength to pay frequent
suep,l " the flower store, and conse.
tavO,iioa" ever might she hope to see her
sudaS quite close second time. She
usnaa 'nem' she loved them, she
Bot nef eyes to see them. Good
: .eW days later they were gone
cbe,. ,''e" accustomed places, and
Sjnoss' "ew comers-new, graceful, fairy
kera. "efe displayed where the old
hstilv va" a slowly d. 'oped or had been
ta ~. ,,ehioved. That was the way of
peOnla ~, doubtless, but there are some
d hs "no never get used to the ways
Aee World Milly was haply one of
Mal