Smyrna times., 1892-05-04
AN OLD LADYS LILIES,
A STORY.

| inPOSe upOu me. Ihey dc
indeed. There they are again, talking
talking, talking, just on the other sid
OF my door.
Ii go to the window I shall hav
an easy con science and-rheumatism
Ii remain by the fire shall hea
every word and feel like a miserable
sinner. Why can't it once in a Will,
De the right thing that has the warmth
Cne llght and the cushions, the wron.
that hobnObs with gloom and STRAIGHT
backed chairs ?
| believe I'm cross.
have learned all the dodgers ''by
ear" From the man who is so oruf +
and grOwly to the girl who is al wav,
laughing, not one has escaped me, fol
my rooms are the two parlors, and no
one enters or leaves the house without
having something to say in "the
Think oft! Only door, a typical
lodging house door, between the hall
and me, between those eternal voices
and my hushed little room where onIy
a clock has a word to say.
My cough is alarming only in one
sense of the word. No one paws anv
attention to it or me. They must
know hear. l wonder if they really
don't care. l wonder if should have
cared If any quiet, unmalicious old
lady had heard things said to me long
ago.
How long ago was pretty, then
yes, really. Sometimes l think | am
pretty yet, but only from a sense of
duty, only to keep myself little hap-
pier. Try it some time. It's Just as
easy and not bit more frivolous to
remember how soft and white yOur
halr is than to be counting the wrin-
kles and making yourself believe YOU
are hideOus.
There I've started to talk about
myself, and what l wanted to saw is
mat l noticed a new step in the hall
to day, quick light step, followed bv
a falnt swish of gown on the stairs
then in a trice slender girlish figure
passed my window.
My pecil is so sharp for to-nipbt,s
paper-chat it ought to say something
TO the point. II we could sharpen our
wits so easily Necessity can do it. Tve
discovered. She comes along with a
knife so keen that we quite mistake
her for genius as she cuts awav the
sluggIshness, the indecision, the preiu-
dlces that surround us, and for a little
while we hope to make our mark. but
We don't some wav.
a II you dislike mildly philosophical
hora, skip that paragraph above. I
snail not feel hurt. What did set
out to say? This; l have seen nv
dainty maiden of the new step. and I
record it here, like her.
How does she look? d? Indeed I can.
not say. All caught was glimpse
OF short brown curls and gown that
must have been made from a sun.
shower cloud. How else could there
be that glimmer of gold when really
she is all in gray?
Why, then, do l like her. since I
have seen so little? Because she does
not talk in the hall, and no one has
been in this house before of whom that
could be said.
The big escOrt--for of course there
is big escOrt-doffs his hat and is
gone almost before the shivers from
the front door can reach my room.
Did you hear that cry on the porcb
Some one has fallen. Now there are
voices in the hall-a mans voice trou-
oIed and questioning a girls voice
saying, Don't care so, Ned, please
don't care so, it really didn't hurt me
at all, | was only frightened"
1t is my little maiden.
Now l am not grabbed. | insist
-am-nOt grabbed, yet something
very mnch like ill-nature comes over
me at the name of Med" It never
can seem right for anyone else to use
that word. 1t belongs to me and to
my story my poor little love story
that was never finished.
am silly. There's no denying it, l
am very babyish old body indeed
Here have / been sitting all the long
evening thinking, if it be thinking to
see over aud over again the same picC-
lre OF saucy little brook babblipg
over the stones and among the MOSES
in grove l knew we'll long ago: of a
happy, wilful girl dipping her fingers
IN it, and, in the name of her vouth
and of her lOYe christening some one
Lover Ned" Lover Ned" iftwentv
solemn ministers had sprinkled down
upon him long and dignified name.
Lover Ned !" It's odd, isn't it, how
he hrelight brings tears to old eyes ?
have met my dainty maiden.
Her name is Miss Dora, and by this
lme we are very good friends, She |