The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-02-22
LOVE IN LEATHER.

No wonder he looked bit leathery; no
wonder he tied his tie in manner sug-
costing shoe strings and expressed his es-
innate of a fellow mans character by the
mysterious letter A, OF D. He was
Sin the shoe business - He always ex-
pressed it in that way as sounding some
what better than the more vulgar ac-
acknowledgement, 81 am clerk in q shoe
shop" But he was. And his fingers had
tied and united more shoe laces than even
the foreman of the establishment Now,
although his eyes were trife weak, NOT
to say pink and watery, his trousers knees
shiny, and though he possessed several
other unpleasant drawbacks, his heart was
heart after all.
He never knew he had heart until the
day she came TO get some slippers TO wear
at her own coming out party Mamma
was with her-manIna, ponGeFous and
imposing, but whose shoes he had fitted
for years with all the patience imaginable
Said mamma that day as she swept into
the big shop:
"Where is Mr. Jenlxinson? oould never
think of having shoes fitted by any other
young person"
So when they called hiIn-he was at the
back of the shop explaining luc1dly the
intricacies of a transfer clerk TO q lady
from out of town, who was suspicious Ck
fraud in the 1natter-he came at once
81 remembcr-flves c, ISN'T its'' said he,
and silks.
''Oh, but it isn't today, Mr.. Jenkin-
son." said mamma, in superior way.
Its twos, and the narrowest you have"
And then, for the first time he saw her
or rather her foot, for, after all, it was
her foot which stole his heart-healthy
and tough in the matter of pretty feet,
from having been in the business for years
and more.
But that little footl Or rather those lit
tie feet, for he fitted them both. They
were slender, arched in instep, curved like
the most exquisite of shoemaker's lasts.
Not foot for artist to adInire-not in
the least-but foot to wear and dance in
a No. 2 shoe in a manner to win the heart
of the most blase shoeman.
white satin, please, and quite jolly
high heelsl'' said small, imperious voice
And such dreams of slippers, such sug~
gestions of coquetry in the matter of heels,
as the amiablc Mr.. Jenkinson procured
from out mysterious green boxesl
No wonder she was satisfied.
"For I'm never going to wear ones
again, you understand, until I'm eitle1
married or dead, said the small, iInpe%
rious voice, essaying a laugh.
"Horrors!'' said mamma. 'tWhat reck-
less way of talking you have learned at
SCHOOL, 1 feel quite like finding fault !
do indeed -
But she only laughed again and skipped
nerrily out to be tucked into robes by
| ponpous footman-
After that, when that footman waited
before the door of the shop, it was mora
| often ftwos, quite narrow" than "6vess
broad
And poor Mr.. JenkinsenI
How could little girl just from school
and reveling in her first season know that
among her fifty odd adorers there was one
| who never so much as dared raise his
| pink, watery eyes from her feet?
| AoS he H. foot int
bless herI'' Mr.. Jenkinson would say ia
| himself.
| And he came to brood upon it. Once,
when she tried on walking boots, she kick.
ed of some tiny mules which she had most
| audaciously dared to wear during her trip
into town in the tiny brOugham and saidi
''You need not send them home; they
! are so worm
That night Mr.. Jenkinson instituted
| shrine. 1t consisted of corner cabinet 81
walnut, which was adorned as to exterior
| with knitted mat and q china dog. AT
| night, when he unlocked the door of the
little walnut cabinet, one might see two
tiny half worn mules of bronze kid That
| WAS all.
Yet many men have worshiped less. And
| if on the last great day all is made open
and all secrets disclosed, what strange, not
to say laughable, shrines of the bachelor
heart will be among the exhibitsl And
she never knew. That fact impaired
strange melancholy to the air, In Atr.
| Jenkinson's opinion. And how busy she
kept himl Pink shoes, blue slippers, green
satin and lemon satin and such Wickeds
wicked rosettes and heelsi
At last-for there is always that inevitas
BILE ''at last in affairs of the heart, even
though it be not q shoeman's heart-thers
came to Mr.. Jenkinson a blow-a bitter,
bad blow. You would not think a pair OF
| white satin high heeled 'No. 2's, nar.
row. could administer as severe a one.
But so it was. Had she not said, 81 viii
never wear another pair of white ones
til I marry or dieY'' And she was very
! ali, no-but it was very hard to bear. He
leaned quite over that little dear foot as
he fitted the slippers of a bride upon it.
She could not see his face as she said,
please see that they put real seed pearls
on the tulle rosettes, for these are to wea1
with wedding gown" But at the last
moment Fihne, the little maid, said In
horror as she fitted them upon the brides
silken covered foot; - But, rnadam-but,
miss-there are really strange marks
upon the satinl Ono might call them
tearsl'' "It's too late to do anything about
it nowi" said mamma fussily. But
really it was very careless of Mr. Jenkin-
sonl AS a matter of fact, they do look
like tears. 1 wonder
'tAnd If they were tears, - cried the lib
tie bride "are not tears pearls? And or
dered them Poor Mr.. Jenkinsonl-J0s
hanna Stats in Philadelphia Press.