The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-12-29
While Della was dreamily eying the

| Was JuS1 III w Soc yer udI1uly, HIion
Della. and she said I could accept Of
your company mean you could ac-
cept of mine-to go to the ball together.
Will We go?"
Would she? Was not her heart hop
ping up and down with joy? But she
said:
"Tll let you know tomorrow"
''Tll call tomorrow evening; but, De-
liza, if you don't go with me and do go
with Tim Sullivan I'll lick him so that
! he can't dance a STEP"
Della smilingly went home. Her
grandmother said sharply:
''Ye are late, DAILY, and don't want We
to get habit o talking in the street wild
ony one."
Larry Finnegan asked me to the
grand annual ball, granny. What did
you tell him?'
''Oh, faith, I said ye might go if We
want to, but I don't know what yell
wear, wild them Mulligan girls having
rale silk dresses too"
I've got four-ninety-nine granny.
Don't you think could do with that if
make it MYSELF"
"Um-m. I've ten-forty myself that
l can spare, for I'd like we to look well,
DAILY"
"I'll buy the stuff tomorrow, granny"
said Della, and then she went to her
story paper for a description of the re-
splendent gown that had captured the
prince, and all night long little Della
saw herself attired in a pink gown with
hoo
her to dance, but while the music
throbbed and her little feet twitched
she refused them all, for there in a
corner stood the prince in glittering
splendor, ''incognito," but looking out of
Larrys eyes.
There was but half day at the fac
tory the next day, and Della went to buy
her ball gown. She hunted and searched
in dozens of stores before she found
what she wanted in color. 1t was cheap
and wide, so that she could get enough
to make double skirt to loop up with
yellow roses, and then there was another
long search for roses to loop it up with
that were of rich and deep enough
tint to satisfy the demands of the gown
to capture the prince. These cost so
much that she could not buy gloves or
slippers, if indeed she felt the need of
them, for Araminta apparently had not
worn any, as they had not been men,
toned.
Larry called, and granny told him that
DAILY would be ready for the grand, etc.,
on New Years eve, and he was obliged
to go without having seen Della. She
was in such fever of delight that she
was afraid he would see it, and that
would never do. Besides, she was sewing
on her dress. Poor child! She worked
hard all day and sewed on that gown by
the light of little lamp, and the rosy
sunset clouds never looked lovelier to
her than the deep pink folds of her dress.
The waist did not fit very well, but there
was a great bunch of yellow roses on the
front The skirt hung unequally, and
the gathers were fuller in the front than
back, but the overskirt was Topped in
two places with enormous sprays of roses
and foliage. Her best white petticoat
had been starched as stiff as it would hold
by granny, and the whole outfit lay
spread on Delia's bed-a thing of ravish-
ing beauty to her and granny's eyes.
Della could scarcely eat or sleep dur
ing that last week, and now the eventful
night had come. The alley was ablaze
with lights, and these fell on the white
surface of the softly falling snow with
grand effect. Men hustled about, and
from her window Della could see the
brilliant hall" and then she put on her
first ball gown. The light brought out
the color of the roses in full effect against
the deepened pink of the tarlatan, but
Delia's plump white neck and arms, her
glowing eyes, and the roseleaf color COM
ing and going ON her cheeks, and the
glints of gold in the curling hair made
one forget the rest She had no gloves,
and she wore her best buttoned boots,
but they looked coarse to dance in. Still
she did not know it.
She was ready, with granny's shawl
to throw around her, when Larry made
his appearance. He had been shaved and
had his brown mustache curled and his
hair plastered down to his eyebrows in
two stiff scallops. He had blue neck
tie and a diamond pin that must have
cost at least $1.25 in it, His vest was
black, his coat gray and his pants brown,
but that was the fashion in Sullivan
alley. He bowed and scraped and got
red in the face as he saw Della in all her
beauty and magnifcence, and asked if
he had the honor of seeing her well, and
"
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