Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1891-12-12
AN INVERTED LOVE STORY

am a poor, paralyzed fellow, who for
many years past nas been confined TO a bed
l OF sofa. For the past six years have
! occupied a small room, looking on to one
/ OF the narrow side canals OF Venice. hay
/ ing no one about me nut deaf old woman.
VINO makes my bed nd attends 10 my
food; and here exc cut poor income Of
about $50 year by making water color
( drawings Of flowers and fruit (they are the
cheapest models in Venice and these |
send to a friend in London, who sells them
/ to a dealer for small sums But. on the
whole, am happy and content
] 10 Is necessary that | should describe the
position Of my room rather infinitely. Its
1 only window Is about five feet above the
wafer Of the canal, and above it the house
projects some SIX feet, and UyeIhangs the
water, the projecting portion being sup
ported 10y stout piles driven into the bed
of the camel This arrangement mas the
disadvantage tamOng others) of so limit
| ing my upward view that am unable to
see more than about ten feet of the height
Of the house Immediately opposite to me,
although by reaching as far out of the win
| dow as my iutirmity viii permit ! can see
! for considerable distance up and down
| the canal. which does not exceed fifteen
| feet IN width But. although | can see
but little of the material house opposite, |
can see Its reflection upside down in the
canal, and | cUntrive to take good deal
| of inverted interest in such OF It's inAab-
i'ants AS show themselves from time to
| tin always upside DOWN on its balconies
ana at its windows.
When first occupied my room. about
six years ago, my attention was direated
| to the reflection Of little girl Of is or so
| Gas nearly as | could Judge), WHO passed
every day on balcony Just above the up
ward range of my limited field of view
She had a glass of flowers and a cruuix
on little lab'e by her side, and as she sat
there, in fine weather, from early morning
until dark, working assiduousiy all the
time concluded that she esrned her liy-
ing 10y needlewOrk. She was certainly an
industrious little girl and as far as
could Judge by her upside down reflection,
neat in her dress and pretty. She had an
old mother, an invalid, who on warm da s
would sit on the balcony with her, and it
interested me to see the little maid wrap
the old lady IN shawls and bIlng pillows for
her chair and stool for her feet, and
every now and again lay down her work
and kiss and fondIe the old lady FOR half a
minute, and then take up her work again
Time went by, and as the little maid
grew up Ler reflections grew down, and at
last she was quite young woman Of, /
suppose, l6 or II. ! can only work tor a
couple Of hours or 80 IN the brightest part
of the day, 80 | had plenty of time on my
hands IN which to watch her movements,
and sufficient imagination to weave a lit
tie romance about her, and TO endow her
with Il beauty which, TO great extent,
bad 10 take for granted. SAVIOR
fancied that could see-that she began
TO take an interest IN my reflection (which,
of course, she could zee as | could see
hers); and one day, when it appeared to
me that she was looking right at me-
tried the desperate experiment of noddmg
to her, and to my intense delight her re-
Election nodded TO me in reply. And so
our two reflections became known TO one
another.
1t did not take me very long TO fall in
oys with her, but long time passed be-
fer | could make up my mind to do more
than nod TO her, every morning when the
old woman moved me from my bed to the
sofa at tha window, and again in the even
ing, when lhe little maid left the balcony
for that day. One dav, however, when
saw her reflection looking at mine, ! nod
ded to her and tnrew a flower into the
canal She nodded several times in re-
turn, and ! saw her direct be- mother >
attention 70 the incident Then every
morning threw flower in the water for
good morning, and another in the even
ing for good night and | soon dlscoy-
cred that had not thrown them altogeth-
er in vain, for one day she threw a flower
to join mine, and she laughed and clapptd
her hands as the two flowers joined forces
and hoated away together. And then
every morning she threw her flower when
threw mine, and when the two flowers
met she clapped her hands and SO did |;
but when they were separated, as they
sometimes we're owing to one of them
having met an obstruction which did not
catch the other, she threw up her hands In
n pretty affectation Of dies pair, which
tried toimitate, but in an English and I'M
successful fashion And when they were
rudely run down by passing gondoId
(which happened not infrequently) she
pretended 10 cry and ] dia the same.
Then, in pretty pautomine she would
point downward TO the sky, to tell me that
it was destiny that caused the ahipwr elk
OF our flowers, and ], in nantOmine not
nearly so pretty, would tr5 TO convey TO
her that destiny would be kinder next
time, and that, perhaps, tomorrow our
flowers would I've more tortunate-aud 20
the innocent courtshjp went on One day
she showed me her ordci6x and kissed it..
and theIeupon took little silver cruCifx
y hich always stands by me, and kissed
that, and 30 she knew that we were one in
religion
One day the little maid did not appear
on her balcony, and for .evrral days J saw
nothing of her, and although ! throw my
flower as usual no flower came to Keep il
company However, after time She re-
appeared, dressed in black and crying
often, and then knew that the poor childs
mother was dead, as far as knew she was
alone in tho world The flowers came no
more fer several days. nor did she show
any sign of recognition, but kept her eyes
on her work, except when she placed her
handkerchief to them And opposite to
her was the old lady chair, and [ could
see that from time to time she would lay
down her work and gaze at it, and tnen d
food Of tears would come to her relief.
But az last one day she reused herself TO
nod W me and then her HpUpr came Da,