Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1890-02-27
A MODERN MARTYR.
An Enoch Arden Who Came Not
A Pathetic Little Sketch.

manager who spokel, / saw many an odd
and interesting bit OF life. i was
pretty close sailor TO the wind in those
days, and sought humble lodgings
wherein TO rest myself when the bust
ness of the day was over, because my
purse could pay for no other.
As | was busy at the theater much of
the time night and day, always hunted
up lodging as near it as / could, and
sometimes found myself under strange
roofs, undergoing queer experiences.
In the winter OF "a the star whose
performances | arranged for was TO play
at the Arch Street Theater. in PhiladeI-
phia, then under the management of
Mrs. John Drew. As usual, | went
knocking about in the near neighbor
hood of the theater, looking for cheap
lodgings. II was dark when began my
search, and | could but dimly see the
little white cards on the walls ANNOUNCE
ing that furnished rooms could be OBJ
tanned within.
looked at room after room. but all
were beyond my means, even in the
humble quarters in which ventured to
search. At last, feeling unusually tired
and little discouraged, saw a card on
plain little frame house which prom
ised, from its appearance, a scale
Of prices low enough 70 satisfy my
attenuated purse. 1T was very
plain little place, indeed yet it had
about it nothing which suggested that
its people belonged to the low classes.
On the contrary, certain daintiness sat
upon it and almost ovcrcame the dismal
signs of poverty which hung about it.
There is such 4 thing as noble poverty,
and | saw it for the first in that house.
| rang the bell, and remember to this
day how its loud tinkling startled me,
so near was it 10 the outer door and so
silent the house You know how iang-
ling and pervasive is the noise made by
cheap door-bell.
1t was quite dark by this time, and as
/ stood on the narrow little step | Won
dered if the house was not, after all.
tenantless After few moments the
door opened as noiselessly as doors al
ways open in blood-curdling Stories and
there stood before me woman-surely
the whitest-faced and most worn-spirited
looking woman | ever saw-apd at first
glance the oldest. For few seconds l
forgot the object of my call, so strange
ly did She affect me.
Well, ! engaged room in her house
and took possession Of it at once Pow
erty had marked every thing for its own
within those walls. but it was not pow
erty of the repelent order. 1t was
even attractive and commanded ones
instant respect. for over it cleanliness
and daintiness had spread their refining
mantles SO that its terrors were put out
Of sight.
| saw my hostess but seldom She
moved about the house more like
spirit than a human being, and of after
moons and nights sat sewing, sewing,
necessarily sewing, in the little sitting
room on the first floor. Beside myself,
she was the only inmate Of the house.
AS | began to notice her more | saw
that the appearance of age which had
struck me so forcibly al first sight, was
but an appearance. There was some-
thing about il not real. If you can inn
agine any one who is old. and yet not
old, you will know what mean when /
say that her age was not real. | can't
explain it, but l understand it. Say
you knew a woman who was but twenty,
and in one night some awful thing
would sweep over her soul which would
make her appear sixty. You would
know, then, that her apparent age was
unreal. wouldn't you? Well, it was
so with my hostess. She was like one
who had been suddenly stricken, and
had not grown old with years 1t was
after ALL but the external appearance of
age that enveloped her like a garment
of sorrow which covered and smothered
youth.
She was always in the sitting-room
when | came home after the theater,
sewing, sewing as all women sew who
have no other weapon with which to
fight. the wolf than needle Some
times she asked me to sit down few
minutes and talk, and ! found her intel
igent and interesting in conversation
though her grave. serious manner never
changed to animation.
My star was playing ''Enoch Arden.
and | gave my hostess tickets to the
play. She went. When | returned
from the theater that night She was in
the sitting-room as usual, though not
sewing, and She asked me TO come in,
Il want TO talk to you" she said in
broken tones. and there was strange
light in her eyes and an eagerness in
her face quite unusual
She sat by a table on which a lamp
was feeblF burning. The wrap Size had
worn to the play hung over the back Of
her chair and her bonnet had been
hastily taken of. leaving her snow
white hair slightly disarranged.
y have been IS the play sse said,
fastening ser eyes upon me with an in.
tensltr q gaze that made me 4ncom
Portable.