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

Doy pOCnOOkS ana hangers OK my only
and very. juvenile r.axk. nj
I took the pact 10 and ran my eye
over its contents. they were written in
a neat, plain hand, Just stiff enough to
show that the consciousness OF, copying
for lawyer had marred the writer's
ease. As copies they were scrupulously
correct and finished even to the num-
bering Of the folios in the margin. l
silently reckoned' the price, and as l did
it occurred to me that could only pay
1t that eveiing by the sacrifice of my
half eagle. It was in vain that once
more opened my purse. which certainly
was not .Fortunaus', for found moth
ing more there than had seen in it an
hour beforo--smal change of the very
smallest variety. Could / put her of
till Mondayf Without that half eagle
my Saturday nights marketing would
be q very small affair.
''But what will hers be without it?"
said my conscience. eff you feel tho
Inconvenience of an empty pocket so
much, what must it be to those who
earn food and shelter from day to day2
Daily bread is something more than q
mere form OF speech to them!'
Perhaps little would serve her i'm
mediate wants. Selfshness received this
suggestion very approringly, and ]
turned from my papers to the copyist to
make the suggestion.
She stood on the other side Of the fire.
place as motionless as if she had been q
carved pillar placed there to support tho
mantel against which her shoulder rest
ed. One foot-a neat one, even in its
worn, wet shoe-peeped from beneath
her dress, as if drawn irresistibly toward
the grateful warmth. Indeed her whole
attitude seemed to express the same feel
ing. She did not bend and crouch over
the fire as q beggar would have done.
She did not sit before it and court its
cheerful heat as if it had blazed on her
own hearthstone..
Scarcely swerving from the most erect
position as she leaned against the mar.
BILE, her clasped hands hanging before
her, she seemed to be bracing herself
against an attraction that would draw
her completely into the flame. l could
almost fancy that, if left to itself, her
slender form would be drawn closer and
closer, till finally it mingled with the
Pickering blaze and with it passed into
viewless air.
But when l lifted my eyes to her
face saw that she was at least uncon-
scious of the fancied impulse. Her fixed
eyes and q faint smile on her lips told
that some pleasant thought had be-
guiled her even there into day dream.
Following the direction of her gaze
saw that it rested on the same solitary
coin which had been the subject of my
own lneditations, and which lay just
where l had dropped ton the table
when startled by her knock.
Modern critics are very fond Of talk
ing about the suggestive in art and litera-
ture. To my own mind because it is
and worldly, l suppose they
would say there is no word in the lam
guage SO suggestive as money-no work
of art that brings up SO many and so
varied thoughts as those very remark
able profiles and efigies which adorn
our current coin. Dross in itself, if the
will have it SO, yet as a
means, tool, q path, is it not wonder
full in the versatility Of its power? What
magician ever worked such wonders in
the material world? What spirit works
30 universally, SO unfailingly, SO unceas-
lngly, in the moral? Even that single
coin on my table-that infnitesimal drop
in the great ocean of wealth-how much
lies within the circumference Of such .
small piece Of metal?
To my own mind-worldly and hack
neyed, as have before observed-it had
been suggestive of great many things.
Compressed within its disk, had seen
my Sunday dinner-ample, done to
turn, rich with dripping gravy and
smoking hot from the roasting jack.
From its metallic rim ! had already
slipped in imagination the rare old
Amontillado. A fragment Of the gold
had curled my lips in fragrant wreaths
OF smoke. And II l, to whom even
half eagles were not infreQuent Wis
itors and who. II l had known pow
erty at all, had known him only as Q
neighbor to be Stunned, and not as an
inmate to be fought, who, even In my
worst estate, had been spared the pain
OF seeing him enter at my own door
and sit down with my dear ones at their
scant meal: if could see so much in
q half eagle, what q worldwide prospect
of happiness might it not open to that
poor girls eyes2 / dared not dwell ON
the things she might Bee there, lest l
should loathe myself and the we'll fed
Christian men around me, who 60 rarely