The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-09-27
WHITE MITTENS.
BY JOHN AEBEH,

New England country. villages which
look like hives of happy and peaceful
bees are often nests of wasps. There
is very little honey in them. Within IL
paper cell the wasp cultivates Il soft
grub which hartehs lii time, alih is
sues with wings, sting and Il buzz
This has always seemed to me a good
emblem of one feature i'll the lives of
one. There IL oh The othtf hiihd liu-
expected sweetness: there is often u
neutral Refinement More eiigaging
than the, manner of city solons; there
is friendly helpfulness, more. touching,
ana as it comes nearer to it's object,
more effective than the charities aud
philanthropies of cities. There are also
humble romances, and, occasionally,
tragedies, acted out OH d small stage,
before an audience familiar with the
actors and every incident, and savugely
critical or intensely sympathetic, us the
case may be. - -
l CHANGED to be present at one such
entertainment, which lasted for d coin
siderable time, but which I shall con
dense into two bf three sealies.
The curtain rises-and I see only
two actors on the narrow stage which
v.
road, trees and in the distance water.
This latter looks ,as If intended for the
sea. There walk along the road toward
the sea Il young mun. tall and stnlwurt,
and young woman, also tall. and Of
very slight figure. Her eyes and hair
are dark, and her features IRE somewhat
too sharp for handsome fnce. Her
name is Rebecca: Chainperh6wh. She is
the last Is: descsShd;int Of d very, antient
most her only inberri}ahcte. No She coiild
nave believed that she would fall in love
with a tlsherman; least of all her moth
er. But so it has happened. She loves
kcuten Gage, captain of the fishing
schooner Anna Sheafe, and they walk
together and meet az often us they can
fine opportunities. These ure not fire.
4nent. rs he is away u large part Of
the time; and her mother watches her
coming and going with sharp eye unfl
Il bitter tongue. Az mcst of Che villag.
ers arc of lowly birth aud forttine they
rather delight in the prospect of seeing
one of the IL own kind aspiring to the
hand of the Ohly aristocratic girl in
town.
As Rei,bsh and Rabsgea Walk ai5pg
the ROAD THY db ipf 4ppeht, to. taik
much. She seems cold and distant; bit
IN her heart is a fire of love that burns
lls
And she is obliged to repress it, for
Reuben is shy. awkward and undemon-
sstrative. Yet. in some way, perhaps by
her womanly intuitions, she has discev-
cred his great, manly, affectionate nat
ure. They have now been intimate a
whole, year, and every one supposes
them lovers and probably engaged; but
word Of love. Reuben has often been ON
the point of speaking, but the right
tives. which he is not much used to
handling, failed hin; ,hild something
arose in his throat that t1oked utteraiicd:
And ,Rebeeea has waited, eager, a little
impatient at TIMES, and at others ALMOST
deed is Just what is NEEDED; she is, con-
she asks herself. Then she goes homie
from her interviews with Reiibeii tS her
room and cries until her. eyes are red
and siHoilen and Her m6ther's re1r5atE-
es: follow, and make her life So Wholly
misera Bile that, she wishes hefself dead
i Sne rfeS2xersa het t T. day Of tw6;
meeting which is always timed BIZ Ills
return from his fishing trip, and thiiiks
matters between them will surely be set
tied. She longs for something to happen
that will decide the question. At other
times she almost resolves to please her
mother, give up the attachment, and die
an old maid as, have most of the women
in her family, too proud to marry down
and too decayed Ia fortune and station
to marry their equals-in genealogy But
no woman ever reasons against her
heart successfully; and she is not going
to give up Reuben; no, her heart is I'M
alterably fixed; and if she dies an old
maid her affection CAN never decline:
reuben is equally pefplexed In his
simple mind; he is sure of only one
thing, that is the state of his own feel
ings, but he is not able yet to decide
whether Rebecca loves him. Her an
parent GOODNESS puzzles him. He would
like sign, something, however slight,
that would show him where he stood.
Men are always longing for this sign,
some token, not words, but more GER
tain, not significant. something to treas
ure and remembe as long as they live.
Of late he has been unlucky ON his
fishing trips in the Anna Sheafe. a small
vessel which he commands and of which
he owns one-quarter. After the vessels
expenses were paid there hnd been little.
to divide among the owners. The winter
was coming on and with it hazardous
and often improbable business of trawl-
ing. He met Rebecca less and less often.
Somehow without money in his pocket
he could not enjoy so much being with
her, felt less 4 man and an inequality
he could not explain. Then it was. how
ever, that he discovered the depth of his
attachment. He suffered was unhannv