The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1893-06-08

'FNT w
! rose and opened the door.
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
ut last was reduced to the necessity of
counting over the contents Of my purse.
This, however, was but brief resource.
"a short horse" as the proverb has it,
"is soon curried." The only coin worth
lingering on was bright. new half
eagle given me that morning by some
chance customer as my recompense for
"doing deed"
Limited rs my practice and my fees
had always been, half eagles were not
entirely novelty to me, and yet from
the prolonged attention with which in
my procrastinating frame of mind re-
garded it, a locker in might have sup
posed | was studying some rare antique
instead OF 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
II issued.
l compared the eagle on the one side
with my remembrance of such ornitho-
logical specimens as | had seen in trav.
cling museums, and of the effigy-then
solemnly believed to be of solid gold
which in my boyish days kept watch and
ward over Tommy Townsends coffee
house. ! scrutinized the head Of Lib
erty with the eye Of q physiognomist,
and in attempting with q sharp pointed
penknife to give the hybrid profile q
more feminine mouth | accomplished
sundry scratches, which might very
well 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. Come ini" Had
spiritual rappings been invented then |
might have thought that satan, his
patience exhausted by this new develop
ment OF wickedness, was about to fore
close the mortgage he is popularity sup
posed to hold on every member Of our
profession. As 1t was, only rose and
opened the door. The rudy freight
streamed out into the dark entry and
fell upon a 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 a young
woman WA WA earned scan. livelihood
by copying for lawyers: Why need
her?
An employment requiring easy PEN
and some acquaintance with
and periods, If not with the
more essential parts Of composition,
falls almost as o matter Of course to
those who at some period have had
greater sdvantages--to those who, in
that common but more touching phrase,
shave known better days" The result
Is easily guessed. 1t might be told in
many q tale Of patient suffering and
labor; Of bright eyes dimmed with late
of red cheeks blanched to the
hue Of the paper before them; of young
hopes withered and shrunk till they are
as 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 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 1t 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 a 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 q care which
told more strongly than any words the
importance to her of the trifiing sum
she was TO receive for the copying.
This was the first time had ever EN-
ployed her--in fact did not often find
IL necessary to obtain such extraneous
aid in getting through my business, and
the present occasion was due less to the
pressure OF my own occupations than to
the whims OF one Of my best clients,
who had declared that he would see me
In still worse place than Wall street
before he would spend time in decipher-
ing my legal chirography. or the school
boy pothooks and hangers of my only
and very juvenile r.srk.
took the .pacF ,Se and ran my eye
over its contents. They were written in
q neat, plain hand. just stiff enough to
show that the consciousness Of copying
for a lawyer had married the writer's
ease. As copies they were scrupulously
correct and finished even to the num-
bering Of the folios in the margin.
silently reckoned the price, and as did
it occurred to me that I could only pay
Ii that evening by the sacrifice of my
half eagle. 1t was in vain that once
more opened my purse, which certainly
was not Fortunstus'. for l found moth
ing more there than had seen in it an
hour before-small change of the very
smallest variety. Could put her off
till Monday Without that half eagle
my Saturday nights marketing would
be q very small affair.
But what will hers be without itY'
said my conscience. eff you feel the
inconvenience of an empty pocket so
much, what must 1t be to those who
earn food and shelter from day to dayi
Daily bread Is something more than a
mere form Of speech to themT
Perhaps little would serve her inn
mediate wants. Selfshness received this