The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1893-07-15

$50 sUtC VHu OlICuCu Utc UOOT.
Late one Saturday afternoon in Ger
tain December ! sat by good sea coal
fire in my Office, trying to muster cour-
age enough for an encounter with the
cold winds and driving storm outside.
Half ashamed to confess my cowardice
to myself, | had done every unnecessary
thing could think of to kill time, till
at last was reduced to the necessity of
counting over the contents of my purse.
This, however, was but u brief resource.
d "A short HORSE" as the proverb has it,
sis soon curried." The only coin worth
lingering on was q bright, new half
eagle given me that morning by some
chance customer as my recompensc for
s'doing deed"
Limited as my practice and my fees
had always been, half eagles were not
entirely q novelty to me, and yet from
the prolonged attention with which in
my procrastinating frame Of mind re-
garded it, locker in, might have sup
posed was studying some rare antique
instead OF a very ordinary specimen of
Uncle Sans daily spending money.
examined it chronologically with refer
ence to the date, and geographically in
respect to the mark Of the mint whence
It issued.
Lcompared the eagle on the ono side
with my remembrance of such ornitho-
logical specimens as l had seen in trav-
cling museums, and of the effigy-then
soielnnly believed to be Of solid gold
which in my boyish days kept watch and
ward over Tommy Townsend's coffee
house. scrutinized the head of Lib
erty with the eye Of physiognomict,
and in attempting with sharp pointed
pentnife to give the hybrid profile q
more feminine mouth l accomplished
ssnndry scratches, which might very
we'll have passed for mustache, besides
cutting my fingers and breaking at once
the knife blade and the third command
Ment.
A knock at the door checked the half
uttered malcdiction, and was only re-
peated when | cried, "Cone in!' Had
spiritual rappings, been invented then /
might have thought that satan, his
patience exhausted by this new develop
lnent OF wickedness, was about to fore
close the mortgage he is popularity sup
posed to hold on every member Of our
profession. As it was, only rose and
opened the door. The ruddy freight
streamed out into the dark entry and
fell upon slight figure that seemed
almost the embodiment of its GOODNESS
and gloom. The figure, however, was
too familiar to me to inspire any super
natural fears, being that Of young
woman who earned . scan. livelihood
by copying for lawyers. Why need
describe herr
An employment requiring easy PEN
manship and some acquaintance with
commas ind periods, II not with the
moro essential parts Of composition,
falls almost as q matter Of course to
those who ut some period have had
creator advantages-to those who, in
that common but more touching phrase,
shave known better days." The result
IL easily guessed. It might be told in
many tale Of patient suffering and
labor; of bright eyes dimmed with late
watching; of red cheeks blanched to the
hue Of the paper before them; Of young
hopes withered and shrunk till they are
rs. lifeless and void of meaning to the
weary heart as the dry legal phrases of
the copy to the tired hand that tran
scribes themi
And while I had been lingering idly
by my fire, dreading to face the storm,
this scantily clad girl had walked all
the way from her distant garnet. She
did not tell me that she was weary and
chilled to the very heart, but read it in
her pinched face, in the frozen sleet
which covered her dress of faded mourn
ing and in the eagerness with which
she drew toward the fire, as starving
man would approach food. III protected
rs she was from the storm, she had man.
aged to cover the papers she brought
from its drenching with a. care which
told moro strongly than any words the
importance to her Of the trifiing sum
she was tosreceive for the copying.
This was tho first time had ever en-
ployed her--in fact did not often find
it necessary to obtain such extraneous
aid in getting through my business, and
the present occasion was due less to the
pressurcos NY own occupations than to
the whiHf. Of one OF my best clients,
who had declared that he would see me
IN still worse place than Wall street