The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-07-09
LOVE IN LEATHER.

No wonder he looked a bit lcathcry: no
wonder ne tied his tie in u manner sug-
| costing shoe strings and expressed his es-
Innate of u fellow mans character by the
mysterious lcttor a, Il or d. He was
"in the shoe business He always cx-
! pressed it in that way as sounding some
| what better than the moro vulgar &C.
! Acknowledgement, Il am clerk in shoe
! shop But he was. And his fingers had
! tied and united more shoe laccs than even
the foreman of the establishment. Now,
although his eyes were trinc weak, NOT
to say pink and watcry, his trousers knees
shiny, and though he possessed several
other unpleasant drawbacks, his heart was
! a heart after all.
| He never knew he had n heart until the
day she came to get some slippers TO wear
! at her own coming out party. Mamma
was with her-mamma, pondcrous 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:
"Whcre is Mr.. .JenkinsonY could never
! think of having shoes fitted by any other
young person."
So when they called him-he was ut the
back of the shop explaining lucidly the
! intricacics of n transfer clerk to II lady
from out of town, who was suspicious of
fraud in the mattcr-he came at once.
81 rcmembcr-fivcs C, isn't it?" said he,
bowling before her magniflccnce of furs
and silks.
ooh, but it isn't today, Mr.. Jenkin-
| son" said mamma, in u superior way.
| Its twos, and the narrowcSt you have.
And then, for the first time he saw her
! rpt pft a If INDG
her foot which stole his hcart-healthy
and tough in the matter of pretty feet,
| from having been in the business for years
/ and more.
But that little foot! Or rather those lit
tie feet, for he fitted them both. They
were slender, arched in instep, curved like
! the most exquisite of shoCmakCrs lasts.
| Not n foot for an artist to admirc-not in
the least-but a foot to wear and dance in
a No. 2 shoe in manner to win the heart
of the most blase shoeman.
"White satin, please and quite jolly
high heelsr' said u small, impcrious voice.
And such dreams of slippers, such sug-
gestions of coquetry in the matter of heels,
us the amiable Mr.. Jenkinson procured
frolh out mysterious green boxes!
No wonder she was satisfied.
"For I'm never going to wear ones
again, you understand, until I'm either
married or dead, )" said the small, impe
rious voice, cssaying Il laugh
"HOrrOrs!" said mamma. "What reck
less way of talking you have learned at
school! l feel quite like finding fault. l
do indeed"
But she only laughed again and skipped
merrily out to be tucked into robes by a
pompous footman.
After that, when that footman waited
before the door of the shop, it was more
often "twos, quite narrow" than "fives,
broad
And poor Mr. Jenkinson!
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 us dared raise his
pink, watery eyes from her feet?
"She's got the dandiest foot in town,
bless hertz Mr.. Jcnkinson would say to
! himself.
And he came to brood upon it. Once,
when she tried on walking boots, she kick
ed off some tiny mules which she had most
audaciously dared to wear during her trip
into town in the tiny brougham and said:
"You need not send them home; they
are so worn. "
That night Mr.. Jenkinson instituted
walnut, which was adorned as to exterior
with knitted mat and n 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 exhibits! And
she never knew. That fact impaired a
strange melancholy to the air, in Mr..
Jenkinson's opinion. And how busy she
kept him! Pink Shoes blue slippers, green
satin and lemon satin and such wicked,
wicked rosettes and heels!
At last-for there is always that inevita-
BILE lat last in affairs of the heart, even
though it be not IA shoeman's heart-there
came to Mr.. Jenkinson u blow-a bitter,
bad blow. You would not think II pair of
white satin high heeled "No. 2's, mar
row. could administer as severe one.
But so it was. Had she not said, 81 will
never wear another pair of white ones I'M
til 1 marry or die?" And she was very
much alive. He could not wish her dead
an 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 wear
with wedding gown" But at the last
moment Fiflne, the little maid, said in
horror as she fitted them upon the brides
silken covered foot: "But, madam-but,
miss-there are really strange marks
upon the satin! One might call them
tearsp' cts too late to do anything about
1t nown' said mamma fussily. But
really it was very careless of Mr.. Jenkin-
son! AS matter of fact, they do look
like tears. / wonder
"And if they were tears, cried the lit
tie bride, care not tears pearls? And 1 Or
! dered them" Poor Mr.. Jenkinsonl-Jo-