Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-11-10
4 LONDON STORY.

che made her scanty living by en-
Aro;dcry. residing in a forlorn looking
',a,r and narrow room that was yet
fortunate enough TO boast one small win
dow on the street. Ay. that window was
MILES glory; the joy and delight of her
sx;stence. The street was dingy Lon.
Am one: hardly tlloroughfare, and
therefore not noisy, but gay. and even
delectably worldly, in the child's eyes.
ror she was not much more than a child
: yet. though worn in face and serious
licking. she was young in years, scarce
n surely at most, while in character she
was very childish still. London bred,
che was shrewd and quick in many
things. keenly alive to the necessity Of
daily work, thoroughly expectant Of the
money loving ways of her employers
and astute with regard to life generally:
nevertheless, a fund of freshness and in
uocence in Milly's soul was wont often
m hurst forth like a sweet, pure spring
Of water coming from depths unknown,
ready to gladden. and solace 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 almost like a prisoner, this little
hme and feeble bodied seamstress, or
rather embluiderrss. who spent her I'M
cared for youth bending over frame of
needlework. 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"
fla boys will be the winds will, what
shall be said of a girls? Is it light,
ephemeral, like the sea foam? Or strong
err like bindweed in gardens? Or firm,
and brave. and shining, like the marble
that makes the coping stone of palaces?
know not.
Mlly 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 squeezing well
in betwixt heavy table and the window
sill and craning her neck painfully she
could see and greatly enjoy 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 ppo-
Ete-a shop so glorious, SO lovely, SO
comforting and yet heart stirring that
the child could never be satiated with
looking 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
fancy and freshness. in their tenderness
and sweetness? Flowers in pots, flowers
In punches, 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 gaddened the eager beating heart
OF the little lame embroideress. 1t mat
tered not, when her eyes were delighted
with this dream of fairy color. that she
was lame; nor did she remember her
many sorrows when, with hot trem-
ollng hands, she threaded her needle and
piied her loveliest silks, glancing up now
ana then to gain from beyond the narrow
street new draught from her source Of
inspiration. Fast flew her fingers. fast
grew the flowers beneath her touch;
ike, yet not like, the originals; pretty,
psrchance, yet disappointingly different
70 expectation, thought the little artist,
VINO realized (without knowledge of the
why or wherefore) this failure of a
great intention.
fof she wanted to copy nature. Nay,
"no that has once seen nature can be
readily content with a counterfeit?
Every now and then, at sparse inter.
walls OF time when she was tboropqblv
asheartened and disguised with her own
iandiwork, Milly would fetch her old
na' anu cape out of the cupboard--her
ssupooard where she kept everything,
om piece of dry bread to an empty
.aoAihg bottle and an old Bible-and
ness herself laboriously and crawl over
me opposite side of the street and
0'and there, her face pressed against the
p pa's OF the flower shop window till she
.ouia stand upright no more. If the
weather was cold her slender form sbiy.
~ uhder the threadbare black cape.
,ha. lace grew more pinched and blue
H. oeiofe' but she held her place brave.
a. 9'uuylng the form, the make" OF the
0"ers tlil she knew them so well that
,hs. .ouid shut her eyes and reproduce
wa ~ vi that wonderful canvas which
heau ~ possess as free gift to paint our
n.ra visions upon-the clear white
r'Se oi our own minds.
t,s .usre was one thing that troubled her.
n r.as uowers died so quickly. Milly had
visits - ''n,e nor strength to pay frequent
mau s 70 the flower store, and conse-
fayor;;y. never might she hope to see her
snS;a '.es quite close second time. She
Stu; them. she loved them. she
But her eyes to see them. Good.
'ew Gays later they were gone
o ,sSan their accustomed places. and
thinas' new comers-new, graceful, fairy
friaasS SIwere displayed where the old
has,;, us mad slowly dropped or had been
the wo, removed That was the way of
peon,a o.a' doubtless, but there are some
Of the "no never get used to the WAYS
these world Milly was haply one Of
rath". mad one friend-thoueh should
scarcely one acquaintance, for he was