St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-14
VIRGIN ALLEY.

said. and in this case l am bound to
confess that the subject was well nigh
exhausted in its title, so far as that To-
cality was concerned. But when once
this street had won Its lrOnic title 1t
ceased to be particular on the score of
its nomenclature, and the barefOoted
urchins who dangled their pnched legs
from dOorsteps had names as abbrev-
lated as their stockings.
just where this Rue de SOdom
stretched its dirty length l shall not be
particular to say. 1t is not IN the nat
ure of my subject to be particular.
Enough said when / explain that it
was the lazar spot of certain small
town near this city; a row of low, wood
colored cabins little bigger than boxes,
where the canaiIle. 1.-The uhwaShed,"
swarmed and hived. 1t was bare.
Earth, houses, children-all bare. No
grass. no paint. no clothes. And like
the bald spot on the small head. its bar
renness was all the more conspicuous
because OF the smallness OF the village
that contained 1t.
The male inhabitants of Virgin alley
lived by fishing. hunting, gambling and
stealing in a small way. When they
drew the line at that the town was sat
iStied The female portion of the alley
lived. | draw tile line there.
Now and then some one OF the three
or four wealthy men of the town would
begin to talk about cleaning out Virgin
alley. This was the only way these
aristocratS had of announcing their CAN
didacy for president of the town board.
l only mention it because it is so re-
freshing to find an instance of poll
ticians badly catering to the virtuOus
and respectable part OF community.
But when these politicians began to
boast of how they would clean out
Virgin alley" they were reminded that,
as for the alley, fire would not burn it
and that greater than Mr.. SO-and-so
had been swallowed up 1T It's depths.
This latter alluSiOn was Intended TO
convey to Mr.. So-and-so that he would
better let we'll enough alone and tread
lightly on the virginia. toes OF the alley
if he hoped to tritle with town politics
with elaborate success.
The little alluSion, however, concealed
far more than it revealed. 1t is this
concealment that now concerns us.
A tradition Sprang up i'll Virgin alley
and was banded about the town geGer-
ally that once upon a summers day
gay youth struck the little town and
made the most of it. He was not col
porteur for the tract society nor the
agent for 4 f0undlings' home, but he
was as we'll dressed as either of those
phiIanthropic gentlemen,and like them,
soon ''struck his gait" and emerged
into Virgin alley. The moon was in
another quarter when he left it. He
went immediately to the railway station
and thence to the big city.
ItwaS soon whispered that this gay
youth was real live lord. Inasmuch
as he had not condoScended to make the
acquaintance of the remainder OF the
town, no one outside the alley was pre-
pared to dispute the .rumor, SO the
alley had its own way and say as to the
ge,iuineness OF his lordship. Lord or
not, neither his coming nor his going
seemed to make any in the alley or out.
of It the happier. THE neighborly vir-
gins rested their bare elbows on their
I, window sillSiand fence tops and scolded,
cursed and Spat at each other as spite
fully as ever, and their faces were just
as freckIed, dirty and deviliSh as before
his possible lordship came and went.
One person. however, seemed viSibly
affected by the innovation of the gay
youth into alley society. That person
was Little Lisette.2 She was sad. Those
who had known her from childhood had
never known her to be sad before.
Whatever else she may have been, sad
ness was not one of her vices. Naturally
her beauty would have made her mated
by every female in the alley, but her
Irresistible good nature made them for
give her for her beauty and love her
for her sunshine. Even the lazy hounds
would leap up from their lairs under
the wagons which always stood for
lack of better shelter, ranged along the
aley in front of the habitatiOn of their
owners-and way her hearty welcome.
She always stopped to stroke their
pointed noses and pull their long. soft
ears-a familiarity that few dare at
tempt.
Yes, happy little Lisette was ire
vocably sad. Not so with the other vir-
gins. When Lisette passed by looking
her saddest they smiled wisely and
seemed to see something quite laugh
Lisette was seventeen, and as girls have
been known to be in love at seventeen,
that might explain her sorrow were it
not for the fact that no one in the alley
had ever been known to commit that
weakness. 1t was contrary TO the tradi
lions of the place, and a piece OF nom
sense not to be tolerated. In fact, the
presumption of falling in love was re-
ceived as an assumption of superiority.
and was treated accordingly. 1t did not
do for a daughter of the alley to be-
come .'stuck up" Even favored Lisette
found that out.
After time Little Lisette dropped
the title of Little" and became simply
"Lisette," for the very good OF bad rea-
son that that diminutive prefix was
needed to describe a smaller LSette.
Six years passed and still Lisette was
unhappy, though for the life of them
the virgins of the alley could not tell
what LiSette had to make her so. 70
lie sure, she was not as handsome as at
seventeen, but she was still the hand
soonest woman i'll the alley-and that
ought to be enough for feminine ambi-
ton in that locality More than that.
Little Lisette was the handsomest child
in the aliey-and of sthe town, for that
matter. The highly respectable Of the
town would stop the child OH the street,
draw her long, golden curls through
their fingers, and sigh. What pity"
If no one was looking these ladies
would even kiss the child's brow. Sean
dalous. to be sure! Yet they did it.
They could not help it: the child drew
them SO.
Another summers day. Another gen.
tieDan energies into Virgin alley. He
is not the colporteur: not the agent for
tho foundlings' home. But he would
pass the world over for ''Man of the
Cloth" He knocks at Lisette's door
and is admitted. There is nothing
strange about that. 1t has occurred he
fore. But the strange thing about it is
that the Man Of the Cloth is as sad as
Lisette!
/ 1t is not yet noon, but Lisette and the
Nan of the Cloth are sitting in the
shadow of deserted cooper shop, talk