Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-08-26
NADINE.
BY RUTH WARD KAHN.

woman. 1t half cOnceals itself behind
Ihe seat, and if no notice is taken of II.
t remains there as mute, as motionIess,
Is the little porcelain negroes, cardle-
bearers, which are placed in the great
halls of the Venetian palaces. You
lave seen them with their wooley heads.
heir caciques diadems, their golden
bracelets, their sky blue tunes, their
ed cushions-a costume half Oriental,
la!f Louis Quinze.
This old negro slave of mine had
leitner diadem nor bracelets, nor even
sky-blue tunic. Neither had she a
red cushion. She crouched in an ab-
ect position; she was old and ugly
ugly but eXquisitely clean She had
formerly held, / know not what office
companion or nurse in a creole
.amily, which had now disappeared.
An old black silk dress, the age of
which no one could tell, shining in
many places through excessive brush
ng, enveioped her shrunken limbs
Her tie, rich with starch, dazzling
white swelled out like q cuiress over
ler heart. She had on her feet heavy
,hoes which always shone, however
leep might be the mud.
1 said that Nadine did not speak.
Two reasons closed her mouth-her
lnfamiliarity with our language and
ler excessive timidity. Timidity is
lot the word; humility is what mean.
Some persons are humble from vir-
ue. To bring them TO that poiut,
many struggles and prayers have been
ieeded. Not So Nadine. She was
tumble because she naturally thought
10 good of herself at all. Her own
person was a stranger to her. She did
lot look at her own actions, she did
lot hear herself speak, she did not pity
aer own sorrows, she hardly realized
hem. Her thoughts, in their perfect
implicity, did not form the thousand
,ircles of which self is centre. She ex.
,ected little, asked still less, and when
ny one aided her, her establishment
)ordered on ECSTASY.
From time to time she came, eau
ions, close-mouthed. and crouched in
he corner OF which ! have spoken. If,
n passing by, | saw her, it was well
hat was enough. If | did not see her
he remained silent. Without the prov
ence of others she would have left
IS see came.
Now the effect which this reserve and
ieference, and these explosions of graf
tude, had upon me, was to shake my
conscience more deeply, L avow 1t to
ny shame, than ten tine sermons upon
'harity would have done.
In the presence of this silent and
1odest creature, who received the
smallest gift as heavenly mama, one of
hose sudden questions rose in my mind
he serenity of which freezes my blood
sharp questions of unavoidable direct
less, truths which start out of the
ihadow, the result of which is confu-
ion, or more than that, distress
which only leaves us cast down with
he weight of our sin at the feet of Him
Who pardons.
Nadine, simple creature, would have
,een very mich sstonished at the di-
;ection she gave my thoughts.
To the respect with which all men
| inspired her, TO her traditional defer
snce toward the aristocracy, was uni
ed an incomprehensible yeneration
;or the white race.
Now, she, poor, black, and old as
she was, possessed treasure OF which
he contemplation filed all her days.
1t was child. her grandson, fatherless
md motherless-her very life.
She was nothing. But her boy, her
beautiful boy, Hugoi
The child was amulatto-a quadroon,
To Nadine he was white; he belonged
| % the race OF masters. The grand
| mother pass d her feeble fingers through
he somewhat obstinate hair of his lit
| lie head, and pulled out the curls-to
| ler they were very silky. But that waG
nothing. She loved with all the
! trength of her poor solitary heart, she
inalyzed nothing, she enjoyed ardent
J..
Nadine would have asked nothing to
| ustain her old existence, but for the
| 'ake of her beautiful boy she came t.
| Jerform those duties for me, her silent
discharge of which moved my very
,oul.
The old woman occupied q sunny
title room on the Boulevard. 1t wa:
ow, whitewashed-the poor negress
| lad white everywhere-and In the dec
,ratious of these four walls was seen the
Ipirit of her people.
At the windows were rose -coloreC
,ur aims; on the walls were gay prints
| he mantlepiece was strewn with toys
| 8uttJns, bits OF mother % pearl, shells
| title looking glasses, brass nails, endi
IF bright wire, everything shone.
| .hought involuntsrily of those charm
| ng birds which adorn their nests fol
| heir wedding, Nadine had adorned
lers for her child
The beautiful boy was happy. How
many hours he spent in looking, one
after another, al the wonderful object:
which sparkled in the sun like precious
stones. What long reveries, distsn
ourneys to the land of the sun, anG
absorbed there. his eyes intoxicated
With gorgeous colors, he asked for the
undredth time an explanation of thi
IT that image.
| In truth, when | entered this little
nome, so brig I and warm, after Ma
| line had recovered from her embarra, S
nen', when l saw her sitting with tn,
| 'hild on her knee and the sunlight
littering among the glass, l also felt
Spauded like plant on a sunny morn
ng.
Hugo gave every promise of healti
md streng b. He carried his hea(
] leai high ard looE ed straight befor,
Inn with martial air and an instinc
/ u NGIC iOl CO
sble. Good natured, ready with re
,lies, somewhat proud-a veritab,
'auphin.
Toward Spring, when the weather
vas, dry Nadine vent to tine Boulevard
With her charming boy. The grand
mothers legs could not carry her far
hey seldom went beyond the Ions
vhite line bordered on one side b!
Toung elms, on the other by the STALL
# marble cutters and the sellers of i'm
uortelle.
As for trees Hugo knew only thes
Ilender trunks, with their crown o
gray rather than green leaves Fo
lowers, he knew only the little yel!o7
.ufts which, when they are touched
-ustle like paper, which never fade, i
true. and which grow all read,
plated into garlands. 1t was quit
,nough for him.
All, how delighted he WIS when pull
ng the old negress along by the road